Between Otto Weininger and Vassily Rozanov: Constructing the Feminine and the Masculine in Dmitry Merezhkovsky’s Works

Abstract

Despite his revolutionary views on Christianity, Merezhkovsky believed in the traditional role of God concerning gender distinction and was attached to the Plato’s idea of androgyns, considering the nature of Christ in androgynous terms. The combination of the notions of gender and personality, that is, the Mysteries of the One and of the Two, must lead, according to Merezhkovsky, to the historical unison of paganism and Christianity, to the Mystery of the Three, e.g. to the Society understood as the Kingdom of Heaven. In this aspect, he moves beyond Rozanov, who also wrote on the bi-gendered nature of Christ. Merezhkovsky widely uses Weininger’s idea of immanent bisexuality of a person while he dismisses Weininger’s thesis that a woman does not possess personality and metaphysical being. Taking into account Rozanov’s suggestion of introducing gender in religion and Weininger’s idea of bisexuality, Merezhkovsky, as the article shows, occupies a somewhat middle position.

Keywords

• dmitry merezhkovsky
• vassily rozanov
• otto weininger
• feminine
• masculine
• androgyn
• sex
• gender.