Ru
EnA. Markov
Echoes of the philosophical-musical ideas by A. Losev in V. Mikushevich’s novel “Resurrection in the Third Rome”
The novel “Resurrection in the Third Rome” (2005) by V. Mikushevich combines characteristics of an ideological and philosophical novel, a novel with a key, a conspiracy novel and a novel of everyday life of the Soviet intelligentsia. The prototype of the main character was A. Losev who acquired a number of literary traits (Faust, the Merovingian king, Wagnerian knights). The main character is a spiritual heir of both N. Fedorov and St. George, and he is credited with influencing the course of Russian history in the 20th century and the paradigm shift in Western humanities. In the ideological structure of the novel there is an ongoing dialogue with V. Karpets, a Russian conspiracy philosopher who created an original synthesis of A. Dugin’s conservative ideology and N. Fomenko’s “new historical chronology”. Based on the methodology of A. Konakov, who showed the influence of the USSR transition to a consumer society on esoteric and unofficial ideas, I draw the main plot of the novel, otherwise broken up into a series of sketches, and explain a number of dark places, which formed the subject of dialogue between Karpets and Mikushevich. The author of the article notes that in addition to Losev’s general reflections on the moving rest of music, Losev’s interpretation of the legacy of Wagner, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Art Nouveau ballet are significant for Mikushevich. Drawing on Losev’s ad hoc remarks, Mikushevich reformed the conspiracy novel into an interpretation of European history as a Wagnerian opera and intellectual experience as a Gnostic ballet.
Key words
V. Mikushevich, A. Losev, key novel, conspiracy novel, philosophy of music, intellectual history, music and politics.
For citation
Markov A. Echoes of the philosophical-musical ideas by A. Losev in V. Mikushevich’s novel “Resurrection in the Third Rome” // South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2022. No. 4. Pp. 48-55.
