|
This paper examines Valery Bryusov&rsquos interpretation of the idea of &ldquolifecreation&rdquo (жизнетворчество), as crystallized in the myth of Pygmalion and established as the cornerstone of Russian symbolist aesthetics. Russian symbolism projected the idea of lifecreation, as the ideal artistic creation, into the ancient myth of the artist Pygmalion, who carved a statue of a woman named Galatea and then breathed life into it, making it into a living lover for himself. Three major symbolist writers&mdashInnogenty Annensky, Fedor Sologub, and Valery Bryusov&mdashformed their own views on the idea of lifecreation represented by the myth of Pygmalion by rewriting the related myth of Laodamia and Protesilaus. Bryusov&rsquos drama Dead Protesilaus (Протесилай умерший) demonstrates that he saw artistic creation in terms of epistemology. In representing the meaning of lifecreation, which unites life and art, Bryusov&rsquos lifecreating artist Pygmalion, implied in the figure of Laodamia, does not bring her husband Protesilaus back to life. Instead, Bryusov sees the unification of life and art in the artist&rsquos existence itself, in his own modus vivendi of living his life by measures of artistic creation such as intuition and passionate lunacy. The absence of a statue in his Dead Protesilaus, and denial of metamorphosis of Protesilaus from a dead into a living man, epitomize Bryusov&rsquos conviction that lifecreation means epistemological metamorphosis of the artist&rsquos existence. |
