Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2018 number

The article is written in the framework of the research area of intellectual history. The author deconstructs the image of Akim Volynsky, a philosopher, literary and theatrical critic, “fighter for idealism”, presented in ego-texts by L.Ya. Gurevich, a publisher of “Severnyy Vestnik (The Northern Herald)”. Gurevich creates his image as an intellectual, highlighting the following features: philosophical education, merciless mind, and ascetic way of life. Lubov’ Gurevich describes Volynsky as a demiurge who formed her personality, put her on firm ground, and disclosed a purpose in life. She describes Volynsky in her memoirs as an indisputable intellectual, her mentor at her early professional activity, and a leader who failed to become an intellectual mastermind for the whole Russian reading audience. Probably, Gurevich wanted to create the image of Volynsky, which she considered necessary to preserve in history. Gurevich regarded the debates in press between Akim Volynsky and Nikolay Mikhailovsky as a battle for the future of the Russian literature. The confrontation between the two journalists had seriously harmed Volynsky’s reputation. It should be noted that both Volynsky’s critical articles and his conflict with Mikhailovsky, “a thought leader” in Alexandra Davydova’s salon, divided the adherents of these two literary figures into various literary salons and worldviews camps. Initially, A. Volynsky and A. Davydova’s salon were a guide in “the world of young literature” for L. Gurevich. After the final break of A. Volynsky, the editor of “Severnyy Vestnik”, with N. Mikhailovsky, the journal editorial board at first became the center of the circle of Volynsky’s supporters, and then this role was played by jour fixe organized by L. Gurevich. Besides published sources, the author used letters by Lubov’ Gurevich, Yakov Gurevich and Akim Volynsky stored in Gurevich’s fond at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art.