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Home , Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Giovanni Papini

VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY

Ugnius Keturakis

PROMETHEISM IN CREATIVE WORK OF JURGIS

BALTRUŠAITIS AND

Summary of Doctoral Dissertation Humanities, Philology (04 H)

Kaunas, 2010 The doctoral dissertation was prepared at the Vytautas Magnus University from 2005 to 2010.

Scientific supervisor: Doc. dr. Asija Kovtun (Vytautas Magnus University, Humanities, Philology – 04 H)

The Dissertation will be defended before the Council of Philological Sciences of Vytautas Magnus University:

Chairperson: Prof. dr. Irene Buckley (Vytautas Magnus University, Humanities, Philology – 04 H)

Members: Prof. habil. dr. Tomas Sodeika (Kaunas University of Technology, Humanities, Philosophy – 01 H)

Doc. dr. Jadvyga Krūminienė ( University, Humanities, Philology – 04 H)

Doc. dr. Gabija Bankauskaitė – Sereikienė (Vilnius University, Humanities, Philology – 04 H)

Oponents: Prof. habil .dr. Virginija Šlekienė – Balsevičiūtė (Vilnius Pedagogical University, Humanities, Philology – 04 H)

Prof. habil. dr. Vytautas Bikulčius (Šiauliai University, Humanities, Philology – 04 H)

This dissertattion will be defended at public meeting of the Council of Philological Sciences in the Marija Gimbutienė hall (room 211) of Vytautas Magnus University Faculty of Humanities at 10:30 a.m. on May 31, 2010. Address: K. Donelaičio 52, LT – 44244 Kaunas, Lithuania.

The summary of the doctoral dissertattion was sent out on April 30, 2010. Those interested may acquaint themselves with the doctoral dissertattion at the Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas library and at the libraries of Vytautas Magnus University and the Institute of the Lithuanian Language.

VYTAUTO DIDŽIOJO UNIVERSITETAS

Ugnius Keturakis

PROMETĖJIZMAS JURGIO BALTRUŠAIČIO IR

GIOVANNI’O PAPINI’O KŪRYBOJE

Daktaro disertacijos santrauka Humanitariniai mokslai, filologija (04 H)

Kaunas, 2010

Disertacija rengta 2005 – 2010 metais Vytauto Didžiojo universitete

Mokslinis vadovas: Doc. dr. Asija Kovtun (Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija – 04 H)

Disertacija ginama Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Humanitarinių mokslų krypties taryboje:

Pirmininkas: Prof. dr. Irena Buckley (Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija – 04 H)

Nariai: Prof. habil. dr. (hp) Tomas Sodeika (Kauno technologijos universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filosofija – 01H)

Doc. dr. Jadvyga Krūminienė (Vilniaus universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija – 04 H)

Doc. dr. Gabija Bankauskaitė – Sereikienė (Vilniaus universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija – 04 H)

Dr. Aurelija Mykolaitytė (Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija – 04 H)

Oponentai: Prof. habil .dr. Virginija Šlekienė – Balsevičiūtė (Vilniaus pedagoginis universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija – 04 H)

Prof. habil. dr. Vytautas Bikulčius (Šiaulių universitetas, humanitariniai mokslai, filologija – 04 H)

Disertacija bus ginama viešame Humanitarinių mokslų krypties tarybos posėdyje 2010 m. gegužės 31 d. 10 val. 30 min. Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Humanitarinių mokslų fakultete, Marijos Gimbutienės auditorijoje (211 kab.). Adresas: K. Donelaičio g. 52, LT – 44244 Kaunas, Lietuva

Disertacijos santrauka išsiuntinėta 2010 m. balandžio 30 d. Disertaciją galima peržiūrėti Lietuvos nacionalinėje Martyno Mažvydo bibliotekoje, taip pat Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto ir Lietuvių kalbos instituto bibliotekose.

INTRODUCTION In European culture the myth of Prometheus, which represents mind, spiritual power, heroic service to people, suffering for the sake of their happiness, a challenge for God and trust in human powers always retained its actuality by arising in the cultural self-consciousness during the periods of epochal crises. Prometheus is the symbol of human creativity and at the same time the symbol of suffering of the earthly existence, raising fundamental questions the answers to which were searched by ancient and Romanticist poets, and later – by : What is a man’s position in creation? Can art change the world? What price does a man have to pay for progress? The significance of prometheism, as one of the fundamental concepts of European culture at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century for the world-view of the authors of this period, determined Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s choice of this aspect in their creative work. In European culture the myth of Prometheus, which represents mind, spiritual power, heroic service to people, suffering for the sake of their happiness, a challenge for God and trust in human powers, was never completely buried in the past and always retained its actuality. The image of Prometheus is alive in the creative work of , Goethe, George Gordon Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Alexander Scriabin. The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century in European culture is the period of historical crisis when the truths of and morality were questioned, “God died” or at least alienated and a man found himself to be the architect of one’s own life. Ancient mythology naturally became the primal view of the titanic mission which was accepted by European authors of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. This mythology was based on the figures of the legendary bard Orpheus and the great rebel against the God’s will Prometheus. One of the features that is typical to both characters and which attracted the imagination of poets of century junction was the role of the mediator between Heaven and Earth, God and man, body and soul. As the myths of Orpheus and Prometheus raise different aspects of this mission – Orpheus, pre-eminently, represents the divine power of art, whereas Prometheus signifies the tragedy of liberating rebellion – in their works poets symbolists referred to both mythological figures.

5 The world-view of Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s creative work is based on the tradition of ancient dualism, according to which the world is separated into the earthly, or material and the divine, or ideal. It should be noted that interest in antiquity which is typical to the intellectual life of the period of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century arises from the crisis of Christianity as a necessity for the man after the “death of God” to become the creator of the world himself, to take the place of God. Antiquity was treated as the origin of Christianity, thus the look back to idealistic philosophy, firstly – to Plato, and Greek mythology (figures of Orpheus, Prometheus as mediators between God and people) meant the attempt to revive the worn-out belief, to find the new connection with God. Continuing the research of the topics which started attracting scholars’ attention in the ninth decade of the 20th century and most of which were forbidden to investigate for the science of literature until that time, this dissertation discusses the origins of Lithuanian symbolism emphasizing the contours of complex cultural polylogue encompassing Russian, Italian and Lithuanian cultures. The letters written by Baltrušaitis to Papini are for the first time presented to the scientific community. Using new factographic material – letters written in Italian by Baltrušaitis to Papini 153 of which are stored in the Manuscripts Department of the National Library of and in Giovanni Papini’s archive in Fiesole – European genesis of Lithuanian symbolism is proven, when the new European tendencies of art have reached Lithuania through the Russian creative work by Baltrušaitis. The scientific issue of the dissertation. On the grounds of the correspondence between Baltrušaitis and Papini that is characterized by the world-view of prometheism this dissertation for the first time discloses the tradition of Lithuanian symbolism. This research also complements and expands the association of Lithuanian symbolism only to the Russian context which was settled in Lithuanian humanistics. Manifestations of prometheism in the creative work of Baltrušaitis and Papini are not separated from the studies. With this dissertation the author attempts to ascertain what determined the differences of the expression and development of the promethean world-view in the cultural dialogue of these authors – why, in Papini’s case, the promethean attitude brought Papini closer to and what characteristics of Baltrušaitis’ promethean viewpoint destined the fact that the poet did not conform to Bolshevik ideology. With

6 this investigation the author also tries to highlight the European context of Lithuanian symbolism. The hypothesis of the research. Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s viewpoint of creative work is common – prometheism, however, its ideological grounds are different: philosophical conceptions of Solovyov’s “God-man” and Nietzsche’s “superhuman”. This hypothesis necessitated to include works of European researches and sources of European symbolism into the scope of investigation. The object of the dissertation. Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s epistolary inheritance, creative work of both authors, which was published at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century in Russian and Italian periodical press and collections of poetry and prose, are for the first time actualized and analysed in Lithuanian humanistics. With this dissertation the author attempts to investigate the texts which, according to their poetical principles, signify artistic searches of the period under investigation – the promethean world-view and aesthetic ideals. The aim of the dissertation is to investigate the characteristics and differences of promethean viewpoint in Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s creative work. The following objectives have been set: - to highlight prometheism as an aspect of symbolism and to characterize European origins of prometheism; - to trace the forms of poetics that should be treated as inheritance of prometheism in Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s writings; - to demonstrate the development of aesthetic ideals of prometheism in the texts by Baltrušaitis and Papini; - to discover the Lithuanian reflection of prometheism; - to analyse the connections between prometheism and the cyclicity of creation. Previous researches. Symbolism, which was for a long time was left out of consideration after its, as a way of art, end of existence, was newly actualized after World War II and now many fundamental works have been written on it. The main works that are necessary to mention are the following: The Symbolist Movement in the Literature of European Languages. 1984. Ed. Anna Balakian. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; Pierrot, J., 1981. The Decadent Imagination. 1880-1900. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press; Pyman, A. 1994. A History of .

7 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Prometheism in the context of European and Lithuanian symbolism did not attract scientists’ attention. Prometheism was not investigated in West European literaturology. As an idea, this conception arose in a work by “Philosophy of Free Spirit” (Философия свободного духа, 1927 – 1928), later this conception was taken up by Maceina who wrote an article “Promethean Tragedy of Culture” (1932), a study “The Problem of Prometheism” (1938), in 1940 his writing “The Collapse of Bourgeoisie” was published in which, according to the philosopher, three ideas of European culture, on which life focuses, are accentuated: bourgeois, Christian and promethean. However, during the Soviet period Lithuanian literaturology skipped this topic. In this paper the conception of prometheism in Baltrušaitis’ creative work is analysed for the first time, on the grounds of his letters to Papini. This allows taking a brand new look at Baltrušaitis’ writings and viewpoint. Particular notices about artistic searches and separate aspects of promethean viewpoint of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century can be found in studies by Viktorija Daujotytė dedicated to Baltrušaitis’ creative inheritance: “Jurgis Baltrušaitis” (1974), “Юргис Балтрушайтис: монографический очерк” (1983). However, Lithuanian humanistics still lacks generalising researches which analyse the meaning of prometheism as one of the aspects of symbolism in Lithuanian literature. The expressions of promethean style in Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s creative work have not been analysed. Vytautas Kavolis investigated the myth of Prometheus in the context of analysis of civilisations claiming that it is “(...) a basic model of human moral evolution” (Kavolis 1993, 364); Algis Mickūnas referred to this myth discussing the establishment of political community indicating that “(...) in this classic Greek mythology the conception of personal responsibility for one’s own actions is developed” (Mickūnas 2007, 364). In the above mentioned works the promethean style is not named, however, a number of features of this style are discussed. In 1998 a study “A Journey to the Beginning of Time: Indian Idealism, Vydūnas, Krėvė” by Regimantas Tamošaitis was published, in 1998 an article “Prometheism in the Creation of Peer-writers” by Virginija Balsevičiūtė was published in a magazine “Filologija” (Philology), in 2005 an article “Promethean Viewpoint in the prose by Jonas Biliūnas” by Mindaugas Kvietkauskas was published in a magazine “Metai” (The Years).

8 Scientific novelty and actuality of the research. 1. Origins of prometheism of Lithuanian symbolism have been analysed, a distinctive interpretation of prometheism has been carried out and basic directions of modern researches of symbolism have been discussed. 2. Theory and practice of prometheism, which offers basically new horizons of Lithuanian symbolism and generally researches of Lithuanian literature, has been actualized. 3. Expressions of prometheism in Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s creative work have been investigated, sociocultural aspects and peculiarities of development of this world- view have been disclosed. 4. Differences of Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s prometheism, which determined the relations of both authors with totalitarian regime established in Russia and at the beginning of the 20th century, have been analysed. 5. In this dissertation the author discusses aesthetic categories of Lithuanian symbolism which by now attracted little attention, the theory of promethean world-view is raised and explored, Baltrušaitis’ epistolary inheritance that has not yet been investigated up to our days is added to the scientific knowledge. Terms. While discussing culture, art and literature of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century the same term of “prometheism” is applied, although in literaturology of other countries – Russia and Italy – the conception of “orphism” is generally used. Such a choice was determined by the fact that the term of “prometheism”, introduced by Antanas Maceina, settled in Lithuanian philosophical works and studies of literature. Methods of research. While comparing Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s texts and searching for connections of Russian, Italian and Lithuanian cultures comparative method, disclosing typological matches, similarities and differences, is employed. This method enables perceiving the individuality of the investigated works and cultures, authentic way and forms of development which reveal co-European cultural searches of the period under investigation. Discussing the expressions of Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s creation the following principles are also applied: hermeneutical principles suggested by Friedrich Schleiermacher, Wilhelm Dilthey, Hans Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricouer,

9 principles of wider cultural horizon, disclosure of world-view systems, immanence of text perception and interpretation proposed by Antanas Maceina. Results of the research. Milestones of European symbolism of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century have been indicated and the meaning of prometheism as fundamental category of symbolism has been determined. It has been explored that the origins of Lithuanian symbolism do not only date back to Russian symbolism but through it they are connected with the broader co-European context. It has been established that one of the fundamental categories of Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s viewpoint is prometheism, its political aspect characteristic to both authors has been analysed. It has been determined that Baltrušaitis’ promethean viewpoint is based on the philosophy of Solovyov according to which “God-man” is the synthesis of humanity and divinity; whereas Papini’s promethean viewpoint refers to Nietzsche’s idea of “superhuman” as an absolute category, a man who became God. The connection of Papini’s identity metamorphoses and prometheism viewpoint has been investigated; it has been demonstrated that prometheism influenced the twists of Baltrušaitis’ intellectual biography and the changes of his relation with Lithuanity. The connections of Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s prometheism with the political attitude of authors has been analysed, it has been established that the differences of this attitude were determined by diverse philosophical fundamentals of Russian and Italian prometheism. Structure of the paper. The dissertation consists of introduction and three chapters in which the expression of prometheism in European culture, world-view peculiarities in Russian and Italian cultures as well as in Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s creative work are discussed. These chapters are divided into several sub-chapters. At the end of the paper conclusions are presented, sources and literary references are provided.

I. Idea of Prometheism. 1) Origins of titanic mission. In the second half of the 19th century in Europe reached the culmination of its power: science and technologies seemed to have triumphed outright, positivists announced art and religion a relic. One of the main reasons which determined the feeling of recession hovering in Europe at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century was the crisis of belief: the world lost its datum-point in the eyes of Europeans. The reason of this crisis of belief was the

10 establishment of positivism and scientism, new discoveries and hypotheses of geology, astronomy and palaeontology. These factors kept destroying the traditional interpretation of the origin of the world proposed by the Bible that existed by then. It was impossible to believe the same way as people believed up to that time, but thinkers and authors were not satisfied with the image of the world that became the combination of only material and physical powers. Rejecting positivistic world-view, as an alternative they announced belief to be supernatural world. Revival of idealism was a try to disengage from the image of the world proposed by positivists where a man was trapped in the prison of relentless laws, only in the physical dimension of human existence declaring only the things that can be investigated, observed and tangible. People rediscovered the world of emotions and feelings as an opposition to deterministic conceptions of consciousness by raising the conception of spirit which, traditionally, is inevitably related to the sphere of religion. A man’s role in the world, the connection with God and the limit of the possibilities of spiritual growth was the fundamental question of symbolism. Therefore it is not a coincidence that at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century the ideas of “God-man” and “superhuman” emerge in the thought of European philosophy. The most distinguished theoretician of “superhuman” was a German philosopher , and the most eminent academic of “God-man” was a Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov. In Nietzsche’s philosophy “superhuman” is an absolute category, it is a human who became God, whereas Solovyov’s “God-man” is the synthesis of humanity and divinity. The essential difference between the philosophical conceptions of Nietzsche’s and Solovyov’s perfect human being is the fact that “superhuman” rejects morality and compassion for other people, whereas “God-man” retains it. Prometheism is an essential constituent of the world-view of the symbolist movement. It rises from the conceptions of a perfect human being – the “superhuman” and the “God-man” – existing at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century in European culture. 2) Actualization of the myth of Prometheus. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century an image of a hero able to restore, as per feeling of the authors of that period, the lost connection between the Earth and Heaven. This image is commonly impersonated by the figures of Orpheus and Prometheus. Due to the settled

11 conception of prometheism in the tradition of Lithuanian humanistics the discussion of this European phenomenon in the paper is based on this concept, and the conception of Orphism is applied only in the cases when it is necessary to highlight the aspect of the divine power of art. It should be noted that prometheism of poets symbolists is addressed not against God but, contrarily, it is directed towards the establishment of new relation to God. The author is a prophet, i. e. intermediary between the godless reality which is inadequate to the real heavenly order and the extreme truth. The fire of Prometheus is also an image that is directly linked to the conception of prometheism. In the cultural self-consciousness this image has the meaning of constant thrust forward, pursue for high objectives of science and art. In general, it marks the culture as the direct expression of human powers – what a human being is able to accomplish on his own, without the assistance of God (according to Greek myths, Prometheus the Titan stole fire and gave it back to mankind, he taught people to build houses, to farm, to read, to write and many other activities). So prometheism, on the one hand, marks powers of human being, but, on the other hand, it also signifies the tragic separation form the nature as the plan of the divine world. 3) Reflection of the tragedy of rebellion and hope. Every age and every author represents an individual interpretation of the myth of Prometheus. Thus discussing the position of figure of Prometheus in the cultural vision of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century works by Hans Georg Gadamer and Antanas Maceina have been invoked in the dissertation. In his article “Prometheus and the Tragedy of Culture” (1946) Gadamer makes an observation that the myth of Promeetheus symbolises the culture which is impossible without sacrifice. On the other hand, this sacrifice establishes over-sized self-confidence. The transfer of fire represents the joy of liberation as well as the danger of self-confidence of humankind. Striving for Promethean culture speaks not only of liberation from the nature but also of the loss of moderation and supercilious self-exaltation. Therefore, according to Gadamer, the myth of Prometheus is not only the demonstration of cultural consciousness but also the criticism of cultural consciousness. Philosopher Antanas Maceina was the first academic who theoretically reasoned about prometheism in Lithuanian humanistics. He perceived the tragedy of promethean culture as the tragedy of a modern human being. This is the tragedy of the culture which totally disregards the requirements and

12 guidelines of religion in science, art and practical life. The philosopher accentuates that the promethean attitude which denies the meaning of religion in the realisation of cultural ideals does not necessarily mean the denial of the religion itself, religion is not ignored, rather it is thrust forth announcing that the culture itself, with its means can create the status of complete happiness. The tragedy of prometheism lies in a man’s endeavour to reach this goal in an individual, not God’s, way, to acquire perfection by a wilful action and not by listening to God’s commandments. According to Maceina, prometheism acknowledges and seeks the divinity of person, but when a wrong way of this proposition is taken and when it is realised only by one’s power and will, prometheism, maintaining divinity, denies humanity and destroys it. In the opinion of Lithuanian philosopher, the way out from this promethean tragedy is restoring the balance of religion and culture because any distortion of the relation of religion and culture destroys life and prevents a person from complete happiness. 4) Models of moral evolution of Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s human. Baltrušaitis’ promethean conception of creation is not based on the idea of “God- man” suggested in Nietzsche’s philosophy, where “superhuman” is the Supreme Being that has taken the place of the dead God and that does not have any commitments neither for God nor for humans. His promethean conception is grounded on the interpretation of Nietzsche’s philosophy suggested by Solovyov, where “superhuman” becomes “God-man”, i. e. absolute human being naturally connecting the human and divine origins, absolute truths, the synthesis of absolute goodness and beauty. The idea of natural equality of all people which raises morality and claims that another person cannot be forced spiritually improved is highlighted in Solovyov’s philosophy. This idea determined the fact that Baltrušaitis’ promethean mission to change the world is based not on forced renewal but on the idea of love. For his whole life Papini remained faithful to the promethean conception of creation proposing the idea of “God-man”, taken from Nietzsche’s philosophy, where “superhuman” is the Supreme Being that has taken the place of the dead God and that has the absolute meaning. According to this philosophy, “self”, which was by then focused on objective values of morality, religion, science etc., now endeavours to become the centre itself determining all the values. The conception of “super-humanity” implies that the perfection of a man happens only through a battle, both a battle with

13 oneself and with others. Papini transfers the proposition of the German philosopher, according to which the weak have to obey the strong, to political, cultural and social spheres. He makes this statement the slogan of inter-fight in which only the strongest survive, referring to Nietzsche’s philosophy and denying morality as an obstacle in the emergence of “superhuman”. II. Baltrušaitis’ principle of holy violence. 1) The promethean conception of . The beginning of the symbolist period of , the Silver Age, is associated with Dmitry Merezhkovsky who belonged to the group of the so called “senior” symbolists. Other members belonging to this group were , , and Nikolai Minsky. This new generation of authors strived to independently determine what art was and what role the author had in it. At the end of the 19th century an extensive essay entitled “On the Causes of the Decline and on the New Trends in Contemporary Russian Literature” (1892) by Dmitry Merezhkovsky was published which became the manifesto of Russian symbolism. Merezhkovsky held an interest in the great historical cataclysms, the époques of collapse of entire systems of world-view. The author, in a way, saw the reflection of his own époque in these times. At the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century Christian faith started being destroyed by several new philosophical conceptions – positivism, Marxism, Nietzsche’s philosophy – which ruined the universal image of the all-unifying world. As a counterbalance to the downfall of such an image Merezhkovsky proposes the idea of new religiousness which is connected with intellectual, artistic, emotional and physical experience. Such an expansion of the conception of God that is based on individual experience of a man as well as on the relation of the individuality of divinity and the human individuality was one of the fundamental motives for Merezhkovsky and, generally, for symbolist poets. 2) The predictive Baltrušaitis’ self-consciousness. The authors of the Silver Age who were searching for the new world, were unified by the belief that the new forms of life should emerge through them, as the mediators between the human and the Heavenly worlds. The main element of the symbolist cognition, the purpose of which was finding the basis of the world of ideas, was imagination encompassing the powers of seeing and clairvoyance. The predictive self-consciousness of the poet becomes evident from

14 Baltrušaitis’ letters to Papini: creation is perceived as a holy, religious deed, the liberation of the spirit from the material world and development; the poet is recognized as a mediator between divinity and humanity, as a prophet; the earthly reality is perceived as wasteland, the negative of the divine reality. The real, divine cognition for the poet is possible only as cosmological and theosophical seeing of the light, as ecstasy. 3) The idea of the creativity of a liberated man in Baltrušaitis’ world-view. The destined tragic position of the poetical program of symbolism between two opposite poles – idealism and reality – determined the uniformity of Baltrušaitis’ creative work, permanence of topics and cyclicity. The poet expressed his longing for idealism and a hope to reach heaven and at the same time he proclaimed his inveteracy in the earthly world. The whole creative path of the poet – both during the Russian and Lithuanian periods – is marked by the feeling of unifying these oppositions. All creative work of Baltrušaitis is cyclical because it is directed towards one point – the world as totality. With his creation Baltrušaitis endeavours to achieve the divine knowledge which is universal and indivisible. Baltrušaitis perceives creation as spiritual extension to the outside, to the world. The world here is the chaos of matter in which the thread of the divine wisdom lies, unifying this world. The poet, representing the spiritual origins, is called from this chaos to create harmonious universe obeying the divine laws. Baltrušaitis called his own creation a building, using the images of temple, tower and belfry. Baltrušaitis’ creative work is distinguished by the attempt to cover the most of the world as unity, it does not include anything insignificant, and therefore the world of Baltrušaitis’ poetry is changing so intensely that it is in constant growth and development. The poet implements the symbolist project of spiritual extension to the outside; the ultimate objective of this project is the absolute spirituality of the victory of the spirit and thus free reality. As distinct from other symbolists, the cyclicity of Baltrušaitis’ poetry is not characterized by such a clear systemisation. It is the growth, development and deepening of the same idea – the divine wisdom, Sophia – which is sometimes contradictory but, basically, it is united. Baltrušaitis’ poetry corresponds to the

15 conception of creation as climbing the divine steps of wisdom, proposed by the author himself on numerous occasions. 4) The conception of “deo ignoto” in Baltrušaitis’ creative work. In the second book of poetry “Mountain Path” (Горная тропа, 1912) by Baltrušaitis the perception that human cognition is limited and that the divine wisdom is unattainable for it is being emphasized. God remains incognizable – this fact is proclaimed even by the title of the poem, e. g. “Deo Ignoto”, 1912. The conception of prometheism gets even more extended, it increasingly encompasses earthliness which was previously ignored and denied. The correspondence of the two promethean minded poets – prophets was interrupted by which also ruined the mythologem as a belief in the possibility of changing the world, and by the , following the war. Baltrušaitis loses the Russian addressee of his promethean mission because eventually all his poetical writing is directed towards the transformation of reality. The poet believed the February Revolution to be the morning of the long-awaited new world, which, according to all the canons of prometheism, dawned through compulsion and split blood but which gives hope for the new reality. However, Baltrušaitis perceived the October Revolution completely differently: as violence for the sake of violence, blind compulsion which does not create but barely destroys and has nothing to do with the promethean “holy violence” and with the Word (Logos) that all the poet’s life and creative work is directed at. This meant the end of Baltrušaitis’, as the promethean creator, mission in Russia, correction of the program of prometheism and promoted renationalisation. The perception that human powers of creation are limited and that human freedom is the realized undertaking of the divine order is getting emphasized in Baltrušaitis’ Lithuanian creative work. III. Papini’s program of forced renewal. 1) The idea of “being God” in Papini’s creative work. Italy at the junction of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, as well as the whole European culture of that time, is marked by the crisis of belief in positivistic truths of science and in the analysis of cause and effect as the universal means of explaining the reality. This crisis of positivism in Italy was complemented by the final collapse of national rebirth, Risorgimento and Romantic ideals.

16 Positivist philosophy and naturalism, the ideological foundations of the outgoing époque are interchanged by Nietzsche’s philosophy, Bergson’s intuitivism, agnosticism and . The truths of philosophy followed by then, principles of traditional morality and the forms of literature were rejected. The young generation of Italian enlightened people was feverishly pursuing ways of restoring culture. This generation frequently ignored the previous experience as empty rhetoric, they treated traditional values as old-fashioned and extinct. The principle of artistic and cultural dynamism which has to correspond to the reality of the new times (in other words, modernness) as well as the principle of extreme are raised. This combination of dynamism and individualism is an inducement to the conception of aristocratic culture which underwent mutation into a nationalistic myth announcing the rebirth and strengthening of the nation. Individualism generates the cult of a strong personality that has to govern the country and accomplish its “historical mission” – to create “the Latin Empire”. So, Nietzsche’s philosophical ideas about superhuman reverberate not only in Italy’s cultural but also in political space. The myth of creation of the new world encompassed all spheres of life. In his autobiography “A Man-Finished” (Uomo finito) Papini directly declares the endeavour to take the place of God. 2) The promethean Papini’s world-view. Desire for absolute knowledge, absolute existence forced the writer to view world as unity that can be covered only from various perspectives, through all the possible contradictions never stopping at any of them because this would mean captivity. That is what the diversity of Papini’s intellectual world is attributable to: avant-garde, futurist, , catholic. In his intellectual autobiography Papini relentlessly admits that such a principle of challenging everything arose from the desire to know absolutely everything, and this indefiniteness was the cause of ineffectiveness of the program of symbolism to encompass and transform the world. Prometheism was not pointless for Papini, its purpose was very particular: to transform the world and to provide it with the qualitatively new form. According to Papini’s belief, this new world was supposed to be the world of constant growth, thus, in turn, also the world of constant battle. Not only the battle with others but also the inner fight: this corresponds to the ancient promethean conception of a man as the being of two origins – spiritual and material. The essence and spirit of a man

17 crystallizes through suffering, constant destruction and renewal of the own forms of human existence. 3) The promethean – the idea of destructive will. Futuristic period of Papini’s creation marked yet another rise of the promethean creator to the battle, his even more savage anti-conformism and anti-traditionalism. During this period, like on other Papini’s attempts to propagate his promethean program to the society as widely as possible, the dissidence between him and his fellow-men quickly became obvious. This can be explained by the fact that all Papini’s actions in the public space were only an attempt to disclose oneself to his own creative genius (to that solitary individuality that arises above commonness), to enforce his will on others and in this way accomplish the program of the promethean creator who developed the spirit and therefore has a right to govern people who are in slavery to the material world. Papini’s attitude towards war was also based on the promethean conception of a perfect personality, according to which the perfection of the world is possible only through battle. On the 1st of October, 1914, Papini published his article “We Love the War” (1914) in which he states his attitude towards war as an act of clearing the spiritual as well as physical dimension of the world. War is the tool of personalities that are not afraid of development, unclosing for the tragic structure of the world in which spirit and matter are in a constant fight, challenge for the existence of mediocre philistines that is complete and peaceful but that does not possess any vital spark. This attitude corresponds to the promethean conception of a perfect personality: only constant conflict of spirit and matter guarantees the development of a personality and a country; in this case war was paradoxically perceived as a spiritual act that coincided with Papini’s well-liked sharpness of verbal discussions. 4) Papini’s principles of creating the “new world”. Papini comprehended World War I as a clash of two cosmic origins – spirit, represented by Italy, and matter, or Germany. The war which broke the faith in Italian military power forced Papini to adjust the program of the promethean creator – to reject compulsion as the principle of creating the new world. The role of Italy remained the same – it was the castle of spirit and culture defending its old spiritual values. However, the role of Germany, demolished after the war, as the bastion of materialism was taken by the United States of America.

18 Therefore Papini proposes the new strategy of Italy the essence of which can be outlined by one word: Christianity. Since Italy is the country of rich culture but weak economy, it cannot implement policy by force, therefore self-expression and entrenching in the world must be performed on the spiritual level. Papini looked back at Christianity modifying the program of promethean perfection smoothing its extremeness both in the public, political and in the internal, spiritual spaces. He rejected the principle of a power as the law of oppositions and focused only on the spiritual actions. The forced renaissance of Italy, pursued by Papini, did not prove out. The fact that Christianity for Papini was only the skin of his promethean strategy demonstrates that he fully supported Mussolini’s policy of intervention and propagated Italy’s involvement in World War II. For his whole life Papini remained faithful to his conception of promethean creation proposing the idea of “superhuman” that he has taken from Nietzshe’s philosophy. According to this philosophy “superhuman” is the Supreme Being that has taken the place of the dead God and has the absolute meaning, “self”, which was by then focused on objective values of morality, religion, science etc., now endeavours to become the centre itself determining all the values. Nietzshe interprets the up-rise of “superhuman” as the highest-level act of metaphysics and at the same time as a new stage of biological evolution of a human being, “superhuman” is totally free, he does not have any religious duties for God or any social responsibilities for people, all the weak obey to him as “the New God”, to his will which also possesses the meaning of authority.

CONCLUSIONS 1. Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s creative work expresses the moods of cultural, religious and social crisis dominating in Europe at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Historically these moods expressed as irreconcilable contraposition of the values that emerge from 1) objective, measurable time of civilisation and 2) individual, subjective imaginable personal time that is created by the expression of the “self”. This conception of time and the “self” marks the beginning of the modern culture. It explains the feeling of crisis characteristic to the artistic variant of modernisation which, after “God’s death” lacks a substantial moral or metaphysical foundation. However, the modern artistic self-consciousness which emerges from the

19 isolated (that cannot match desacralized and thus dehumanized society, the public space) “self” also lacks such a foundation. Therefore the search for this foundation became the basic objective of . 2. The role of a man in the world and the limit of spiritual development was the fundamental question of symbolism, therefore it is not a coincidence that the ideas of “God-man” and “superhuman” are formulated in the conception of European philosophy at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The image of a hero that can conquer this crisis emerges in the cultural vision. Ancient mythology, which is based on the figures of Prometheus, the great rebellion against God, and Orpheus, the great bard, became the image of the titanic mission taken upon by European authors. The feature characteristic to both figures which attracted the attention and imagination of the poets of the period of the junction of centuries was the role of the mediator between Earth and Heaven, God and human, body and soul. As the myths of Orpheus and Prometheus raise different aspects of this mission – Prometheus represents the tragedy of liberating rebellion whereas Orpheus represents the divine power of art, in their creative work symbolist poets referred to both mythological figures. Philosopher Antanas Maceina was the first academic who theoretically reasoned about prometheism in Lithuanian humanistics. He wrote an article “Promethean Tragedy of Culture” (1932), a study “The Problem of Prometheism” (1938). Maceina perceives the tragedy of promethean culture as the tragedy of a modern human being. This is the tragedy of the culture which totally disregards the requirements and guidelines of religion in science, art and practical life. According to Maceina, the way out from this promethean tragedy is restoring the balance of religion and culture. 3. The most eminent theoretician of “superhuman” was a German philosopher Nietzsche who proposed his idea of “superhuman” in the writing “Thus Spoke Zaratustra” (Also Sprach Zarathustra) (1883 – 1885). The German philosopher contrasts the imperative of Christian love for the close ones with the love for the distant ones, a human being constantly has to conquer himself, the purpose of a human being is to create a being that is higher than the man himself, the essence of life is not the human being but rather the “superhuman”. Proposing the vision of his “superhuman” Nietzsche raises creation as the highest value of superhuman claiming that creation is the only

20 freedom. The aspiration of development makes the essence of life and “superhuman” is a human being who is characterized by the attempt to get higher himself through creation. In Nietzsche’s philosophy “superhuman” takes the place of God. 4. Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov presented his own perception of “Godmanhood” and “God-man” which debated with Nietzsche’s idea of “superhuman” in his work “Lectures on Godmanhood” (Чтения о богочеловечестве) (1877 – 1881). In this writing “Godmanhood” represents “mankind which is connected with the divine origin though Christ.” Referring to the patristic Christian philosophy, ideas of Slavophils and the German idealist philosophy Solovyov created Christian philosophy of universal unity. One of the basic conceptions of this philosophy is the divine wisdom or Sophia. According to the Russian academic, the essence of the whole existence and its development is the return of the nature and human to the divine unity. Divine wisdom leads the whole creation to the stairs of cosmic development which are constantly rising upwards and it guides mankind to the pursuit of more perfect life that expresses vital human’s relation with God. 5. Baltrušaitis’ promethean conception of creation is based on the interpretation of Nietzsche’s philosophy suggested by Solovyov, where “superhuman” becomes “God- man”, i. e. absolute human being naturally connecting the human and divine origins, absolute truths, the synthesis of absolute goodness and beauty. The basic task of “God- man” is to liberate mankind from the death and to materialize the dream about the Kingdom of God on Earth. The ideal of “God-man” forecasts natural equality of all people against God and an individual self-determination on which side they will stand during the fateful battle between Christ and Antichrist. The promethean program of Baltrušaitis’ creation is especially distinctly expressed in the poet’s letters to Papini. The world is here divided into two spheres – the earthly and the divine, and the mission of the creator is to connect them. The letters also demonstrate the motives of promethean world-view which are not so obvious in Baltrušaitis’ poetry: the motive of a poet-prophet, clairvoyant; self-creation of a human- creator, development into a divine, perfect individuality that can re-build the world; pursuit of absolute creativity as complete freedom of the creator; faith in the human ability to build a tower that reaches the sky – revival of the myth of tower of Babel; defiance of idealistic attitude and earthliness and pursuit of divinity; exaltation of

21 seeing, vision as the only connection with the world of ideas. Baltrušaitis’ and Papini’s correspondence allows relating Baltrušaitis’ creative work not only with the Russian but also with the European tradition of symbolism. It also enables to expand the European context of Lithuanian symbolism. 6. Papini proposes the idea of “God-man” taken from Nietzsche’s philosophy where “superhuman” is the Supreme Being that has taken the place of the “dead God” and that has the absolute meaning. According to this philosophy, “self”, which was by then focused on objective values of morality, religion, science etc., now endeavours to become the centre itself determining all the values. Nietzsche interprets the up-rise of “superhuman” as the highest-level act of metaphysics and at the same time as a new stage of biological evolution of a human being, “superhuman” is totally free, he does not have any religious duties for God or any social responsibilities for people, all the weak obey to him as “the New God”, to his will which also possesses the meaning of authority. 7. Solovyov’s interpretation of creating a perfect human and a perfect world which forecasts the crucial role of God, and not a man, determined the fact that the process of human development progresses gradually in Baltrušaitis’ creative work, rejecting compulsion as the possibility to force other people to develop spiritually. According to the idea of natural equality of all people proposed in Solovyov’s philosophy and taken by Baltrušaitis, a human being cannot be forced to develop spiritually. This idea caused the fact that Baltrušaitis’ promethean mission to change the world is not based on forced renewal, the poet pursues “God-humanity” for the good of other people. The aesthetics of Baltrušaitis’ creative work is characteristic of the conception of human as the becoming absolute, raised in Solovyov’s philosophy. The fundamental feature of Baltrušaitis’ poetry is total indifference and insensibility to the earthly reality. This is also a variant of the promethean aesthetics: the creator’s endeavour to interflow with the world where nothing is accidental, the world which is eternal, intelligent, perfect and divine nature. However, according to the poet, this interflow is only possible through the “forgetting” of earthly, outer world. It should be noted that this “forgetting” is achievable not by disassociating from the world, on the contrary – by getting involved into it, getting the insight of its divine plan. It should also be accentuated that it is the promethean world-view of Baltrušaitis’ creative work which is characteristic pursue of

22 the divine wisdom as overall knowledge that causes the cyclicity which is obvious in Baltrušaitis’ creative work. This cyclicity represents the principle of uniting everything around. 8. To realise the program of the development of the promethean personality Papini chose compulsion – the method of self-creation of “superhuman” formulated by Nietzsche: it corresponds to the dual conception of a human and was a means for liberating the higher “self” which is restricted by objective truths of religion, morality and science. It should be noted that Papini applied this method of compulsion to himself. Papini’s model of prometheism refers to the idea of “superhuman” raised in Nietzsche’s philosophy which maintains the thought of “death of God” and proposes that this place can be taken by a man. It is the conception of the promethean personality that allows explaining sudden twists of Papini’s intellectual biography: it was a way to crystalize the new reality, opposite to positivist development of life. The principle of cyclicity is also characteristic of Papini’s creative work, formed by the tension between reality and ideality. This principle marks the author’s well-liked method of searching the unities of oppositions through cultural, social and political contradictions. 9. The reason of correcting Baltrušaitis’ promethean program, formed by European contexts of symbolism, was not World War I but the October Revolution which took place in Russia in 1917. In reality Baltrušaitis quickly rejected the humanistic ideals which he previously declared: unfulfilled Slavophil expectations became the reason of his renationalization, The was no longer the addressee of the poet’s promethean program – now it was The Republic of Lithuania, the whole promethean program was modified by synthetically connecting religion and culture. The Lithuanian period of Baltrušaitis’ creative work which extended the promethean journey of the author and marked the new stage of maturity of prometheism signifies yet tighter connection of a man and God, their closeness, God is here depicted as the Thinker. 10. For his whole life Papini remained faithful to the promethean conception of creation proposing the idea of “superhuman”, taken from Nietzsche’s philosophy, where “superhuman” is the Supreme Being that has taken the place of the “dead God” and that has the absolute meaning. According to this philosophy, “self” rejects the objective values of morality, religion, science etc., now endeavours to become the centre itself

23 determining all the values. Therefore Papini’s prometheism foresees the possibility of forcing others – the weak – to renew, as proposed by Nietzsche’s philosophy, to bring them under control. This attitude which is moved from philosophical to political level was the reason of Papini’s closer relations with and promotion of war as a means of natural selection. The fact that Christianity for Papini was only the skin of his promethean strategy demonstrates that he fully supported Mussolini’s policy of intervention and propagated Italy’s involvement in World War II.

24

Ugnius Keturakis

PROMETHEISM IN CREATIVE WORK OF JURGIS

BALTRUŠAITIS AND GIOVANNI PAPINI

Summary of Doctoral Dissertation

Išleido ir spausdino – Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto leidykla (S. Daukanto g. 27, LT-44249 Kaunas) Užsakymo Nr. 27. Tiražas 30 egz. 2010 04 28. Nemokamai.