Ivanov, Vyacheslav Ivanovič

IVANOV, VJAČESLAV IVANOVIČ. - Russian poet, philosopher and philologist, born in Moscow on February 16 (28),

1866, died in Rome on July 16, 1949. Defined by N. Berdjaev as "the most refined and universal representative not only of 20th-century Russian culture, but perhaps of all Russian culture in general," I. was, alongside his teacher Vladimir Solov'ev, one of the greatest thinkers of his country who, without renouncing any of the mystical and ritual values of the Eastern Church, desired—by becoming Catholic—to return to the primitive unity of the universal Church.

I.'s poetic work secured him a front-rank place among the Russian poets of his time, namely among the "symbolists." His works of philosophy, aesthetics, and criticism, his research into the historical and religious nature of pre-Dionysian cults, and his philosophical and religious interpretation of Dostoevskij are gradually becoming part of the common treasure of European civilization. In his poetry and essays, I. traced the broad outlines of a system which, drawing inspiration from the Platonic doctrine of anamnesis, a profound knowledge of the classical heritage, and constant meditation on Christian Revelation, lies at the base of his Christian humanism, or rather of the "docta pietas" he advocated. "Christianity alone (I. writes, in Il Convegno), being the absolute religion, has the power to revive the ontological memory of the civilizations it replaces... Universal anamnesis in Christ—this is therefore the aim of Christian humanist culture...".

A student of Mommsen in Berlin, after a few years he left the study of Roman history to focus on Greece, philology, and the history of religions. He traveled for many years in Italy, France, Germany, England, Greece, Egypt, and Palestine. In 1905 he settled in St. Petersburg, where his home (the "Tower") soon became a center of art and thought. Having left Russia in 1924, I. settled in Italy. In 1926, in St. Peter's, he pronounced the formula of adherence to the Catholic Church. According to the wish of Pius XI, he assumed the chair of Russian and Old Church Slavonic language and literature at the Pontifical Oriental Institute and the Russicum.

Among his principal works: the poetry collections, Gli Astri Piloti (1903); Cor ardens (2 vols., 1909); the tragedies Tantalos (1905; German translation Dessau, 1940); *Pro-

metheus (1919); L'Uomo (1915-18; Italian trans. Milan 1946). Aesthetic and critical works: Vigilia delle stelle (1909); Solchi e limiti (1916); Cose parte e universali (1918); La corrispondenza da un angolo all'altro (correspondence on cultural problems with the historian M. Ghersenzon, Moscow 1920; translated into various languages, Italian ed. Lanciano 1932); Dionisio e i culti predicinisici (Baku 1923); Dostojevskij, Tragödie, Mythos, Mystik (Tübingen 1932, in German); Die russische Idee (Tübingen 1930, in German); important essays in the journal Corona (Zurich-Munich, years 1931-38); in the journal Hochland (Munich, years 1934, 1937-38); in the journal Il Convegno* (Milan 1934).