Nikolay Andreevich Khrenov,
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor,
All-Russian State University
of Cinematography named after S.A. Gerasimov.
e-mail: nihrenov@mail.ru

The Superman in the Russian version:
philosophical aspects of the novel by F. Dostoevsky's "Demons"
and V. Khotinenko's film based on this novel
(continued)

Abstract. The article analyzes the novel by F. Dostoevsky's "Demons". It also makes some observations on the attempt of director V. Khotinenko to present his cinematic incarnation. Realizing that during the adaptation of this novel, the criminal-adventurous theme usually comes to the fore (in general, such plots turn out well in the cinema, and this is due to the specifics of this art form), the author tries to analyze those philosophical meanings of the novel, without which the aesthetics and poetics of the works of F. Dostoevsky simply does not exist. Aiming to demonstrate the philosophical implications of the novel "Demons", the author shows that Dostoevsky's ideas are consonant with Western philosophy and not only of the nineteenth, but also of the twentieth century. Thus, S. Kierkegaard and F. Nietzsche appear in his field of vision. Through the prism of the philosophical ideas of these thinkers, the ideas of the novel "Demons" are considered. In this sense, attention is drawn to the author's desire to present the hero of the novel, Nikolai Stavrogin, with what F. Nietzsche calls a "superman". "Man-god" as a concept used by Dostoevsky in the novel is a synonym for "superman" by F. Nietzsche. Dostoevsky represents such a trend in philosophy, which in the twentieth century receives a designation as the philosophy of existentialism. Another representative of Russian existentialism, L. Shestov, reads Dostoevsky's later novels in this vein. Singling out Stavrogin's Demons among the characters of the novel, the author of this article seeks to show that the biography and ideas of this central hero in the novel, representing the sixties of the nineteenth century, or, more precisely, nihilists, must be considered in a long time, which began with the "Voltaire" of the XVIII century and ending with the decadence of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Dostoevsky anticipates not only the Russian Renaissance of the early twentieth century, designated today as the Silver Age, but also decadence. Thus, the author confirms the idea of D. Merezhkovsky, who presented Dostoevsky, as well as L. Tolstoy, by anticipating the heyday of Russian culture, which is known as the Silver Age with its spiritual breakthroughs, but also with longing and attraction to Thanatos.

Keywords. Dostoevsky, the novel "Demons", Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, V. Soloviev, L. Shestov, N. Berdyaev, S. Bulgakov, Kant, D. Merezhkovsky, Camus, nihilism, positivism, romanticism, superman, man-god, God-man, existentialism, Stavrogin, Verkhovensky, Bakunin, Nechaev, Marquis de Sade, decadence, Legend about the grand Inquisitor, the man from the underground, Plato's cave, big time, V. Khotinenko.

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[45] Shestov L. Dostoevsky and Nietzsche (Philosophy of Tragedy) // Shestov L. Selected works. Moscow: Renaissance. 1993. pp. 159 - 326. p. 232.
[46] Ibid. p. 233.
[47] Ibid. p. 318.
[48] There same. p. 307.
[49] Ibid. p. 176.
[50] Bulgakov S. Ivan Karamazov as a philosophical type // Bulgakov S. Essays in 2 vols. Vol. 2. Moscow: Nauka. 1993. pp. 15- 45, p. 24.
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[52] Ibid. C. 9.
[53] Ibid. C. 430.
[54] Ibid. C. 436.
[55] Ibid. p. 436.
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[65] Ibid. p. 264.
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