A.F. Losev on the Classification of Arts in the German Aesthetics: Theses of 1933, Losev, Aleksei F., “Classification of Arts in the German Aesthetics”, ed. by Rezvykh

Abstract

The article delivers a preface to and a commented publication of theses by the famous russian philosopher and classical philologist Alexey Losev (1893–1988) written as he was no more a prisoner of the White Sea – Baltic Canal concentra­tion camp but still lived and worked there. The author puts forward a hypothesis that the text was a preparation for a lecture delivered by Losev in the camp. He shows that Losev continues and elaborates in the manuscript the main ideas of his studies on the history of aesthetics from 1920s, first of all of his GAKHN lectures as well as his book “Dialectics of the artistic form” (1927). At the same time the author demonstrates that Losevs conclusions about the contemporary evolution of art in it’s connection with production correspond to some key the­mes of his prosaic fiction from 1930s, particularly of his novels “Meteor” and “Encounter”, both written about 1933. In the context of Losevs fiction his theses of 1933 can be read not only as an important source for reconstruction of his aes­thetic theory but also as a document humain that reveals an existential dimension of his philosophy.