ARCHPRIEST ALEXANDER IVANTSOV-PLATONOV: POSITIVE DIRECTION IN LITERATURE AND LIFE

Abstract

The article examines literary and aesthetic views of a wellknown theologian and church historian Alexander Ivantsov-Platonov. The study traces crucial milestones of his scientific and creative biography which can not be always found in reference books. His work About positive and negative attitude towards life in Russian literature published in a Slavophil periodical Russkaya Beseda is the main subject of this study. The ideas stated in this article develop Slavophiles’ aesthetic programme. On the one hand, Ivantsov-Platonovs's conception of positive and negative literary directions repeats some of Konstantin Aksakovs' ideas. On the other hand, however, the church publicist develops the Slavophiles’ theory with new concepts of Russian literature. This article studies the problem of correlation between Christian values and secular art as it was seen by Ivantsov-Platonov. It also analyzes his attitude to Dostoevsky's creative works. All Ivantsov-Platonov's contemporaries describe him as a soft man, tolerant to opposite views and opinions, and always ready to help “his neighbours”. The author of the article comes to a conclusion that Ivantsov-Platonov predicted the way Russian literature would develop. The works of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky proved that he was right in his vision.

Keywords

• Alexander Ivantsov-Platonov
• positive and negative directions
• the Slavophiles