Nicolette Schwab

FIQWUS HA9-10 Ms. Cohl & Ms. Shmit

October 29th 2018

How the enlightenment impacted 19th Century Russian Literature and Society

     The ideas and expectations of love in societies around the world are constantly changing. This evolution however, did not occur with the drop of a hat. Especially so in 19th century Russia when chivalry was rich and enlightenment philosophy was starting to infiltrate the common person’s mind. The period of enlightenment was a time when love, tenderness, and passion had a societal importance and when social classes had the most amount of intermingling. The stone-cold sovereignty of Russia had melted into a vivid land that valued literature, art and most of all love. Russia was thought to be an industrially strong nation, but once the Age of Enlightenment created developments on not only the arts but also on free thought the nation came into its full potential. Montoya further explains this claim and how progressive enlightenment expansion not only pertained to Russian society, but all of Europe; “It is only through ‘raison’, the Cartesian inner light implicitly contrasted to divine illumination, that humankind has extricate itself from its original state during ‘les primiers ages’” (496). The ideas of enlightenment is what formed Russia into the prosperous and culturally rich society that it is today. Without these enlightenment ideologies, Russian society would have stayed in a time when love and sexuality held no social importance. The enlightenment brought light to the hearts of the scholarly and eventually the common folk in 19th Century Chivalric Russia, changing how the world viewed Russian Society forever.

     Before Russia had reached its golden age in the 19th century, the nation went through a variety of political and social struggles that birthed a society where love was of no value to bread and the sovereignty of Russia. In this time Czars still thrived on the land and westernization was a fresh and touchy topic among the elite. There was pushback against powerful in Russia on the acceptance of enlightenment ideas as well as aspects of Western life. Russia was considered to be a very sheltered nation, very fixed in its own ways. If the elite of the nation had not allowed westernization to begin, Russia was not seen as the world superpower that it is today. Once the nation became open to western industrialization and technological advancements of the west, Russia also opened the doors to the world of enlightenment philosophy and thought. These ideologies were rooted in Greek philosophers’ hypothesis about why humans reacted, physically and emotionally, the way they did to relations with love. Some of the most renown were Hippocrates and his theory about the four humors of the human body, “…a four humor artist (the yellow bile, phlegm, blood, and black bile of Hippocrates)” (Kharasch,1).  Hippocrates hypothesized that an unbalance in the body of these four humors would result in serious illness. Blood and black bile were considered to be the two most important elements of the human body and having the most profound effect on the human psyche and body due to love relations in that person’s life. Blood representing erotic behavior, passion, love, and infatuation and black bile representing heartache, melancholy mood/grief, and delirium. Another philosopher whose ideas transcended through several generations and became very prominent in 19th century Russian literature was Plato. Plato believed that there were two main forms of love, an ideal love (being earthly and pure) and a vulgar love (filled with deceit and deception). These ideologies are seen in a number of 19th century Russian love stories, “…nineteenth-century Russian literature with particular emphasis on the works of Bestuzhev-Marlinsky and Destoevsky.” (Sinel,1), as well as Russian philosophy which carried over to have a grand effect on Russian society.

     The introduction of literature, art, poetry, theatre and the importance of the human mind are all things that the enlightenment brought to Russia. Since Russian society pre-enlightenment was extremely ridged and the subjects of the land were to live their lives strictly for the Czar of the time, the effect that enlightenment ideals had on social interactions was even more bold. Western enlightenment bolstered the gesture that chivalry was an honorary act and that there was something very romantic about the era of chivalry in Russia. Western enlightenment set the stage for the golden age of Russian literature, specifically Russian love stories, to bloom and infiltrate the minds of the youth, creating an uproar in Russian society. Literature was filling the minds of the public with ideas that social classes no longer held a strong importance when it came to who you would marry, the new possibility that love had no bounds was introduced in the society and in turn caused the Russian society to soften in the eyes of love. This softening lead to the intermingling of social classes, which was something that was meekly seen before the age of enlightenment had reached Russia. Before enlightenment ideas has infiltrated Russian writings, literature had never had such a massive societal impact in Russian society. In turn, this made literature hold a much more important place in Russian society, something that is still seen today.

Much of the literature works of French, German, and Italian writers also began to take great effect on not just the scholarly in Russia but the public people as well. Enlightenment writers included Niklas Luhmann, Alessandro Manzoni, and Stenhal, all having large impacts on the Russian public. Their works all reflecting on ideas of sexuality, pleasure, passion and pain in relationships between man and women. These works of literature brought over the themes of the femme fatale, damsel in distress, and the opposition of good and evil into 19th century Russian literature. This new acceptance of sexuality into society created more room for Russians to find pleasure in their romantic relationships instead of viewing them as a job. In turn, people began defying their family’s choice on marriage arrangements and marrying not off of class rank, but off of what their heart wanted.

These ideas presented by the writers of the Enlightenment can be seen, along with several other enlightenment ideologies in the text The Blizzard by Alexander Pushkin. Pushkin writes, “Our lovers wrote to each other and every day met secretly in the pine grove or near the old chapel. There they vowed eternal love to each other, bemoaned their cruel lot and made various plans.” (21). This story is based off of a love that is doomed from the start because of social classes. The love that the two main characters, Marya and Vladimir, have been a symbol of defiance to that, especially with their master plot to run away together and wed happily. Pushkin also implied that the young Mayra of the tale has been reading French love literature, exemplifying the effect that enlightenment words had on many. The startling change in Mayra’s health; “A severe fever developed, and for two weeks the poor girl lay at death’s floor.” (26), is a direct reference of Hippocrates hypothesis on black bile and how an increase in black bile due to severe heartache can cause a lover to become severely ill. Black bile in the body was a concept that was unheard of before Russian literature started caring some of the same ideologies and showcasing those ideologies through a series of vibrant stories and novellas.

     One of the peaks of intrigue in Russian Literature was when characters would challenge one another to a duel in the honor of love. Enlightenment ideas such as the beloved created Russian society to hold love and honor to such a high degree that duels became a very common act, not only among the noblemen but among common folk. Sinel comments on the importance that romantic enlightenment ideas had on the birth of the duel in Russian society;  “…and the movement from civic to personal concepts of honor combined to make the duel an intrinsic part of nineteenth-century Russian society and a central theme in its literature (2). Duels made 19th century Russia even more centered around chivalry and added an element of romanticism to the nation since duels were almost always fought for the hand of a lady or bruised honor. Interaction between man and woman became very limited unless the intentions of courting an individual were clear. This added an element of excitement and purity to the ideal love that was wished for in Russian society. The time of enlightenment allowed for a shift in societal interactions between man and women. Although chivalric Russia was extremely patriarchal, the ideas in enlightenment love gave more power to the woman because it implied that her love could make her have emotional and mental power over a man. Increase in the feminine power is seen in the case of Nevfsky Prospect, this idea that love can cause one to do irrational things is very evident. Gogol writes “Abandoning everything, forgetting everything, he sat with a crushed, hopeless look, filled only with his dream. He did not think of eating anything; without any interest, without any life..” (262). These words a direct reference to Plato’s ideologies about vulgar love and uses love as a justification for erotic behavior.

     Western enlightenment, coming from dozens of intellectually prosperous nations, transformed several societies in terms of ideas of love, society and even government. The ideologies seen in the enlightenment period shine though in the golden age in 19th century Russia, changing the way that the nation moves forward to later become one of the most powerful and successful nations of all time. Russian literature birthed a shift in 19th century Russian society, creating the break in social classes, and the intensification of social decorum in chivalry and honor, would not have been possible without enlightenment ideologies entering Russian Literature.