Crisis in the modernist period: Dmitry Merezhkovsky's interpretation

Abstract

This article looks at the topic of crisis in general and its interpretations exemplified by the creative legacy of Dmitry Merezhkovsky, one of the brightest representatives of Russian symbolism. History shows that the crisis had a manifold influence both on social development and all spheres of human activity and changed the character of communications and the vector of development of spiritual culture and civilization. Such transformations explain the strong interest of Russian and foreign researchers in studying the phenomenon of crisis, its characteristics, and role in social processes. Special attention is paid to the interpretation of crisis as a socio-cultural phenomenon and as a contradiction between culture and civilization, which manifested distinctively over the period of modernism and Russian symbolism. It is shown that not only did Merezhkovsky create his classification of crisis based on historico-cultural analysis and project the historical experience on the then-current cultural situation but also tried to forecast the future by offering his vision of overcoming the crisis.