“Uncreated Firmament”: Vyach. Ivanov and S. Bulgakov (about a Poem)

Abstract

Russian symbolist Vyacheslav Ivanov and religious philosopher Sergius Bulgakov were connected by formal relations and friendship in 1905–1918. In 1914 Ivanov published the poem “Mother” (“Te glyby chto nezhno zasypali grob...”), with a dedication to Bulgakov. The article discusses this poem and its draft version, which allows to trace the movement of the poet’s creative thought. The biographical context is the death of Bulgakov’s mother — he described his intimate experience in the “Unfading Light” (“Svet Nevecherniy”). Special attention is paid to the symbols and motifs typical to Ivanov’s poetics: the firmament, the sun-heart and the motive of transparency. An idea, common both for Ivanov and Bulgakov, is that of some preworld feminine principle that appears in their texts under different names: as Sophia, the Soul of the World, Great Mother, Mother Earth. They are also united by the special attitude towards death which is understood in a Christian way — as a birth into a new life and just a step on the path of resurrection. The intertextual connections of the poem with the philosophical and theological works by Bulgakov may be considered as a result of mutual influence and their reliance on common sources.