Abstract

In this dissertation I examine four aspects of the life and work of Mikhail Osipovich Gershenzon : his philosophical writings, historical monographs, studies of Aleksandr Pushkin and his attitude toward his Jewish roots. My aim is to depict Gershenzon as a vital figure and representative of the Moscow intelligentsia at a time of literary experimentation and cultural ferment. Gershenzon's interaction with the intellectual movements of Symbolism, anti-positivism, Neo-Kantianism, philosophical idealism, Marxism, vitalism, religious populism, Formalism and the political movements of socialism, Zionism, Russian chauvinism and Bolshevism are investigated. In addition, his personal involvement and ideological relationships with V. Ivanov, A. Belyi, V. Rozanov, D. Merezhkovskii, V. Khodasevich, P. Struve, N. Berdiaev, L. Shestov, S. Bulgakov, S. Frank, S. Vengerov, P. Shchegolev, N. O. Lerner, G. Florovsky, G. Plekhanov, B. Tomashevskii and Iu. Tynianov are explored. ;My work is motivated by the need to reevaluate Gershenzon, who has been unduly neglected in studies of Russia's Silver Age. Using a historicist methodology, I view Gershenzon from within the literary codes and norms of his culture and compare him with the other major writers of the period to get a more accurate understanding of Gershenzon's true place in the dynamic cultural life of Russia's Silver Age