Antinomies of Modern Science and Technology in the Texts of Andrei Bely (Soviet Period)

For the spiritual situation at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, it is appropriate to speak of the project of the new man, which was caused by a grandiose revolution that had various dimensions, including scientific, technological, and artistic aspects. From this perspective, it is useful to distinguish between two models of the relationship between experimental art and science and technology. According to the first model, art assists science and technology to create the new man, with science and technology playing a fundamental role (Futurism). According to the second model, art opposes science and technology, which poses a threat to the individual and humanity as a whole. Bely is closer to the second model, but with important clarifications. The treatise The History of the Formation of the Self-conscious soul occupies a central place among his philosophical texts. In this treatise, the author examined the development of culture from Christ to the beginning of the 20th century. Bely worked on The History in the USSR, but did not plan to publish it. Therefore, he freely used the anthroposophical methodology and conceptual methodology, which led to the radically experimental (avant-garde) character of the treatise. In The History, science and technology are an important expression of culture, but by no means the highest. Their significance is determined by when and how they contribute to understanding the spiritual laws of the universe. At the same time, Bely published a review of Fyodor Gladkov’s novel Energy in the Soviet magazine Novy Mir, in which he continued to criticize the cult of science and technology being self-sufficient. Finally, in his experimental novel Moscow, Bely explored the tragedy of the scientist in modern society. The protagonist of the novel makes a scientific discovery that has potential for industrial (military) applications. The character realizes the danger of the discovery, and he is tortured, but he does not reveal the discovery to either foreign spies or the communists. In other words, in his Soviet-era writings, Bely did not so much deny the importance of science and technology as he did prioritize spiritual work and art. Thus, his texts express the type of interference between scientific reflection and avant-garde art that R. Poggioli described as “general dynamism”.