Specifics of V. K. Kuchelbecker's artistic historiosophic views (based on the materials of his European Letters)

Gofshtein Oleg Georgievich ORCID: 0000-0002-0419-6456 Postgraduate student, Department of Linguistics and Literature, Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University 455000, Russia, Chelyabinsk region, Magnitogorsk, Lenin str., 38 zavuch@magpedcol.ru Other publications by this author

Rudakova Svetlana Viktorovna ORCID: 0000-0001-8378-061X Doctor of Philology Professor, Department of Linguistics and Literature, Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University 455000, Russia, Chelyabinsk region, Magnitogorsk, Lenin str., 38 rudakovamasu@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The question concerning the study of artistic historiosophy is actively discussed in contemporary philology. Such researchers as S. A. Golubkov ^[3], V. Yu. Darensky ^[4], N. V. Zaitseva ^[5], N. V. Kapustin ^[6], I. A. Kiseleva, K. A. Potashova ^[8], A. A. Matevosyan ^[11], S. A. Nikolsky ^[12], O. F. Rusakova ^[15], i.e. Sorokina ^[18], convincingly showed that the concepts of "historiosophy" and "artistic historiosophy" are not identical, that historiosophy is an area of interest primarily for historians, philosophers and sociologists, and literary critics are interested in artistic historiosophy. Artistic historiosophy provides an opportunity to take a fresh look at the work, correlating its content with historical, political, moral and philosophical processes of social development, thus revealing new meanings.

The beginning of the 20th century in Russia was marked by the active development of narrative literature and the change of stylistic principles that were used in the practice of creating works of fiction by Russian writers. The literary process in the first quarter of the nineteenth century is distinguished by the fact that it was a time of interaction of various literary trends, it was an era of cardinal changes in the field of literary life, and these changes occurred rapidly. If at the beginning of the century it was poetry that occupied the leading position in literature, it was the defining kind, the authors in lyrical works, first of all, reacted to the changes taking place in society and culture, it was in poems that the key issues of modernity were posed and comprehended. If we are talking about the literature of the 1820s, then it becomes somewhat different, even the process of reading itself acquires a different character. S. P. Shevyrev reflects on this in his article "A Look at the modern direction of Russian literature": "The circle of literary action, the circle of readers is spreading more and more; it was narrow in the time of Lomonosov; it became wider and wider in the time of Catherine; it spread even more under Karamzin; it reached the most remote strata of reading society under Pushkin: this is a circle of waves spreading rapidly from a stone thrown into their middle. Under Lomonosov, reading was a strenuous occupation; under Catherine, it became a luxury of education, the privilege of the chosen; under Karamzin, a necessary sign of enlightenment; under Zhukovsky and Pushkin, the need of society" ^{[22, p. 12]}.

Accordingly, literature and creativity began to be perceived as evidence of the manifestation of high culture, and the author who creates literature, immersed in literature, was perceived as an educated person, as a person of a high intellectual level of development and fine mental organization. We see that it was during this period that Russian literature became more and more distinctive, national specific themes were born, and a national picture of the world was formed. The concept of the canon remains in the past, a new type of artistic word begins to form, a new type of author is born, for whom national issues, the opinions of readers, the public, society are not an outsider, but a very important factor, an author for whom history, like modernity, is what he lives and breathes.

The singularity of V. K. Kuchelbecker's "European Letters" is manifested in the fact that this work combines the features of three genre forms. On the one hand, the name itself hints at a connection with such a form as epistolary. In European and Russian literature of the late XVIII – early XIX century, the epistolary form becomes one of the popular literary forms (see in more detail: ^{[10],[14],[21]}). One can recall, for example, the "Letters of a Russian Traveler" by N. M. Karamzin, on which, undoubtedly, V. K. Kyukhelbecker relied and from which he based himself in the creation of his story.

On the other hand, of course, the second genre form used by the author in building the plot of his work is taken into account and actively used – this is a journey. The genre of travel is also very popular in both European and Russian literature during the late XVIII – early XIX century. In the form of travel notes, travels, travelogues, both documentary and artistic works appear. The most famous literary works were created by Defoe, Swift, Smollett, the authors of the XVIII century, who in their works, novels, stories tried to present, on the one hand, real life, on the other – gave some rigidly satirical assessments, revealing the ulcers of the modern world. Accordingly, in his travel texts, especially if we recall Gulliver's famous journey described by Swift, we understand that in his fantastic, allegorical stories there are hints of some ideal social model according to which society should develop, or, on the contrary, as an anti-example, a model was described that should not to be implemented in the modern social space. If we are talking about Russian reality, then the genre of travel here also has its own history, respectively, and its own examples (see in more detail: ^{[1],[2],[13],[17]}). This genre became popular already in ancient Russian literature, it was known as the genre of walking (you can recall the famous "Walking for three Seas" by Afanasy Nikitin (1466-1472). All these traditions Kuchelbecker absorbs and implements in the space of his works. But, probably, of all the Russian texts, the greatest influence on the formation of Kuchelbecker's idea was "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" by A. N. Radishchev. The work, on the one hand, is correlated with the real world, depicting the realities of the social, economic, political, cultural life of Russia at the end of the XVIII century, but, on the other hand, there is clearly a harsh satire in this text, due to the author's desire to expose the vices of contemporary social reality in order to work out ways to gain the opportunity for realization a new, as it seemed to the author, correct political model. This experience, of course, was assimilated by Kuchelbecker and implemented in the space of his "European Letters".

 And finally, the third genre, the traditions of which are also taken into account by the author, is the utopia genre, which has a long history of formation in both Russian and European literature ^[16],[20].

Accordingly, the combination of the features of the three genres determined the specifics of Kuchelbecker's story. But the main thing for the author, unlike his predecessors, is not so much a literary model, not even a plot, not focusing on the psychological experiences of the protagonist associated with meetings or breakups (what was, for example, significant for the works of Rousseau, Goethe, Karamzin). The focus of Kuchelbecker's attention is primarily the search for a socially ideal world and the presentation of a hero worthy of respect, a hero who can become an example to follow.

The story of V. K. Kuchelbecker "European Letters" was first presented to the reader in 1820 on the pages of the magazines "Competitor of Enlightenment and Charity", "Nevsky Spectator", and a little later in "Mnemosyne". The story is created on the principle of dialogic narrative characteristic of utopias ^{[20, p. 137]} – it consists of 12 letters from the "observer-wanderer", which are addressed to a friend.

Already in the preface, the author, addressing the reader, gives him an installation for the perception of the subsequent story: he suggests that anyone who decides to get acquainted with his work, mentally transfer to the future, "... in order to judge modern incidents, customs and their probable consequences, should mentally transfer to another time" ^{[9, p. 302]}. That is, the author makes the reader understand from the very beginning that the pictures of the future are modeled by him primarily in order to better see through them, as through a prism, what is happening here and now – in the present time.

The author takes the reader into the distant future. The action takes place in the distant XXVI century. The narrator is a young American who decided to go on a trip to Europe. He, along with the reader, witnesses the decline, sees how the formerly highly developed European peoples degrade and go wild. Initially, Europe for him is a world associated with the birth and existence of polar phenomena: "I am here, on the sidelines, on the sidelines from which slavery and enlightenment, murder, robbery, arts and sciences, the Inquisition and the meek teaching of Christ poured into our part of the world – I am in Europe" ^{[9, p. 302]}.

The main character of Kuchelbecker's "European Letters" is a traveler, a young man, he can be called a noble knight who is looking for genuine freedom in society, who does not accept vulgar reality, for whom heartless indifferent people deprived of civic aspirations are something impossible, unacceptable. We see that the hero is opposed by the author to both European nobles and Asian nobles with whom he meets: "Despite the spirit of chivalry and the politeness of the European nobility, the grandees of Spain were not inferior in jealousy to the pashas of Syria and Algazira ... <...>. The husband spoke to his wife as to the queen, but locked her up as a slave" ^{[9, 303]}.

In his novel "European Letters", Kuchelbecker uses the techniques of fiction to create his historiosophical concept. He, as we have already said, transfers events to the distant year 2519. And we see that by implementing fantastic techniques in the space of the story, the author gives the reader the opportunity to look at the present through the prism of the future, and in addition, allows you to get away from censorship, because the hints are not obvious, but for the attentive reader all the mentioned countries and the characteristics of their condition make it possible to understand the author's attitude to the events taking place in the European space.

By sending his traveler to the distant year 2519, Kuchelbecker forces readers to look at the present through the prism of the future and presents descriptions of a number of European countries that are falling into decline at this moment. The reader sees how the hero-traveler witnesses the collapse of those European civilizations that were known for their culture, their education, their achievements in various fields in the previous period. Spain, Genoa, Rome are described in a situation of destruction, in a situation when these spaces, which were once the centers of European thought, trade, politics, culture, are experiencing the deepest decline, Paris and London have disappeared altogether.

Analyzing the artistic originality of the "European letters, N. A. Stafeeva drew attention to the fact that Kuchelbecker "uses the technique of binary oppositions", which "obeys the comparison of the past and the present", "destruction – harmony" ^{[19, p. 183]}.

Kuchelbecker thinks about a number of social, philosophical, and political issues, the most important among which are questions about slavery, political and spiritual freedom, and equality in society. And we see how the author, turning to the past, reflecting on the present and looking into the future, offers his understanding of history and man, he plays the famous phrase of Archimedes in an interesting way: "Give me a point outside the earth, I will move the earth from its axis." We see that for Kuchelbecker this idea is realized in the context not of physics, but of politics and culture, and therefore it turns out to be unacceptable: "God save us from such a thought!" ^{[9, p. 302]}. The author asks a question and tries to find answers to it, suggesting to his reader what ill-considered, unreasonable actions implemented in the field of history, in the field of socio-political life of a particular country and Europe as a whole can lead to. The notes left by the young traveler are noteworthy: "I saw the ruins of Naples, Messina, Palerma. I saw that magical, but dishonored island in history, from which the monsters Nero and Tiberius looked at the blooming shores of Italy. <...> Now Portici itself does not exist <...> and Vesuvius itself has already burned out — here destruction has destroyed the very instrument of destruction" ^{[9, p. 316]}.

Unlike its predecessor A .N. Radishchev, who in the "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow", exposing the painful points of modern Russian serfdom reality, speaking out against slavery, showing the horrific manifestations of the serf system, summed up the idea that only a popular revolution can become a means of changing the political picture of the world and improving the political and spiritual-cultural situation in the country and the only correct form of government is a republic, for Kuchelbecker this option turns out to be unacceptable, just as unacceptable is what is happening in many European countries just in the mid–20s of the nineteenth century, namely the revolutionary national liberation movements. From Kuchelbecker's point of view, although slavery is an unacceptable state, because all people are equal from birth, nature gives everyone equal opportunities, the serfdom system is something that disfigures both a person subordinate to power and a person endowed with power. Nevertheless, the idea of revolution as a way of solving political tasks to transform the political, economic, and cultural situation for Kuchelbecker, oddly enough, despite the fact that later he became one of the brightest representatives of the Decembrist movement, was unacceptable, for him the futility of such revolutionary movements was obvious both in the context of a separate country and and the European community as a whole. And in this regard, the position of the hero of Kuchelbecker is largely consonant with the position of the hero of the traveler from the Letters of the Russian traveler" N. M. Karamzin. Both of them believed that the violent form of changing the life of the country and the people is unacceptable, it threatens disaster for both the people and the country: "Every civil society, approved for centuries, is a shrine for good citizens, and in the most imperfect one should be surprised at the wonderful harmony, improvement, order" ^{[7, p. 20]}.

"European Letters" in many ways give the reader the opportunity to see, on the one hand, the author's disappointment in the revolutionary European movements of the mid-20s of the nineteenth century, and on the other hand, his belief in the exceptional position of Russia, in its spiritual messianism.

So we see in the story an ideal picture of the social structure is presented, and this ideal social structure is correlated with the Russian world. Russian Russian hero Kuchelbecker meets a man here on the ruins of a former European civilization, who introduces him to a Russian colony, the ruler of which turns out to be Dobrov, also Russian by origin.

Dobrov is represented in Kuchelbecker's story as an ideal ruler. He is quite a real person in everything: he is frank, he is friendly, and he shows these qualities not only in relation to people of the same status as him, but also in relation to people of the lower class, including his servants, he is hardworking and virtuous. He is educated and enlightened, distinguished by following high moral principles, that is, for Kuchelbecker, he is essentially an ideal, true person.

That is why Dobrov, as an ideal ruler, organizes a society based on the principle of equal rights for all citizens and the principle of harmonious personal development. And we see that in the settlement headed by Dobrov, civic principles and impulses are highly valued. We see that in the space of this Russian settlement, which has preserved and multiplied some ideal, social, social, cultural and spiritual values against the background of the collapsing European civilization, the main thing becomes following the spirit of enlightenment, the spirit of humanity.

Good people project the values of education, knowledge, culture, and morality into the world. The reader sees that in this space not only the state is based on such an ideal educational model, this educational model is also implemented in individual structures, the so–called cells of society - in the family. The author focuses our attention on Dobrov's wife, this is a real spouse who is on the same wavelength with her husband. She is smart, educated, sincere, in fact, she becomes her husband's right hand, helps him with advice and business. In this story, Kuchelbecker uses the example of the Dobrov community to create an ideal social and family model.

The reader sees that in the community of Dobrov, the main principles that guide the ruler are the principles of virtue, humanity and prudence, the principles of justice and leniency towards people. The ruler is kind to his people, loves his people, for him every person is important, everyone is evaluated by deeds and beliefs, and everyone is worthy of respect.

In the Russian community, equality reigns in the description, as the hero of Kuchelbecker presents in his letters. The inhabitants of this community truly sincerely love their ruler, it can be argued that the principle of open acceptance of the will of the elders by the younger ones and the principle of natural subordination to the one who is smarter, wiser, more experienced is implemented here.

Kuchelbecker, focusing on Dobrov, makes his reader understand that the transformation of public life begins with a person, with a moral, educated person, a person who organizes an aesthetic, special spiritual atmosphere around himself, which seems to infect everyone else, making them more perfect, more interesting, more harmonious.

The harmony of the individual, the harmony of society in the understanding of Kuchelbecker is achieved, first of all, by respect and trust in a person.

The utopian model of the future, which is being created against the background of the destruction of the previously advanced, civilized, prosperous European world, is based on spiritual and moral principles that determine the natural form of family relations, which has been developed in a community governed by a Volunteer.

On the one hand, the story "European Letters" by Kuchelbecker is a fantastic story that takes the reader into the distant future, however, the way the author describes Europe, mired in vices, disintegrating, giving a sense of absolute decline, makes the reader realize that the author is talking not so much about some invented world, as in an exaggerated, to some extent, in an exaggerated form, it exposes those real social vices that characterize the current state of European countries. It can be said that in this work the author seems to be pushing two worlds: the Russian community is presented in a utopian context, and the once prosperous Europe, on the contrary, is described from the perspective of dystopia. 

On the other hand, in this work, Kuchelbecker, unlike his other contemporaries, expresses a negative attitude towards the perception of Europe as a world that can and should become an object for imitation. The author seems to bring to a certain logical and almost absurd finale the processes that took place in European countries, and shows that these processes can lead these countries not to evolution, but to degradation, and rapid and terrible. Accordingly, in this regard, we understand that despite the fact that the work is being created during a period of social upsurge, despite the fact that Kuchelbecker, unlike many of his contemporaries, had the opportunity to visit Europe and look at it both from the outside and from the inside, was not fascinated by the paintings presented to him, but experienced absolutely other emotions. And, having returned to Russia, he became not a Westerner who would urge to embark on the path of Europeanization and more actively follow the models offered by the European community, but acted as a Slavophile, proving an exceptionally specific national path along which his country should move.

In the "European Letters", Kuchelbecker's specific historiosophical view of the present is conveyed through the prism of the future, in this story the author expresses messianic ideas about the future of Russia, which should become a kind of center for the revival of both man and the social world, a place of finding harmony both between man and the state, and in man himself.

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