The nascent mass society ideology: Stepun vs Gorky in defense of Dostoyevsky

Abstract

One of the most interesting debates in pre-revolution Russia is considered, that is the debate between F. Stepun and M. Gorky about F. Dostoyevsky. According to Stepun, it’s the metaphysics of tragedy that Gorky failed to discern in the works by Dostoevsky. It is shown that Gorky did reflect the affitude of the nascent mass society that did not want to see the tragic aspect of life and so aligned themselves with those who represented authoritarian principle, such as Bolsheviks and Nazi. It’s indicative that Gorky was backed by Lenin and other bolshevist publicists.