The Hermetic Symbolism of Andrei Bely's History of the Becoming of the Self-Conscious Soul
[Article]
Angelika Schmitt
Leiden
Brill
This article addresses some of the main theses of the dissertation on Andrei Bely's opus magnum, The History of the Becoming of the Self-Conscious Soul. Bely's work on philosophy of culture will be discussed in contrast to Rudolf Steiner and on the basis of a drawing illustrating its content. Convergences and differences concerning the crucial concept of the self-conscious soul with regard to Bely and Steiner are pointed out as well as some peculiarities of Bely's historiosophical approach. The third part demonstrates the cognitive principles of the self-conscious soul, which for Bely are connected to its development during modern times. They also provide the means for the formation of the poetical structure of Bely's text. A fourth part provides some examples of the metaphorical level of the text and shows the implications of Bely's interpretation of the 'spiral of history'. The last part discusses the definition of Bely's method as "hermetic symbolism". This article addresses some of the main theses of the dissertation on Andrei Bely's opus magnum, The History of the Becoming of the Self-Conscious Soul. Bely's work on philosophy of culture will be discussed in contrast to Rudolf Steiner and on the basis of a drawing illustrating its content. Convergences and differences concerning the crucial concept of the self-conscious soul with regard to Bely and Steiner are pointed out as well as some peculiarities of Bely's historiosophical approach. The third part demonstrates the cognitive principles of the self-conscious soul, which for Bely are connected to its development during modern times. They also provide the means for the formation of the poetical structure of Bely's text. A fourth part provides some examples of the metaphorical level of the text and shows the implications of Bely's interpretation of the 'spiral of history'. The last part discusses the definition of Bely's method as "hermetic symbolism".