CfP "Models of Conversion in Russian Cultural History", Fribourg

[HERLTH Jens]

We are looking for contributions for a volume on "Models of personal conversion in Russian cultural history of the 19th and 20th centuries". A small workshop was held at Fribourg University in November 2011, but not all the relevant aspects of the matter could be covered by the participants. We would like to invite specialist in the fields of literary criticism, cultural studies, philosophy, religious studies, intellectual history to send their proposals to Jens Herlth (jens.herlth at unifr.ch<mailto:jens.herlth at unifr.ch>) by April 30, 2012. Abstracts should not exceed 400 words. Potential contributors will be informed whether or not their abstract has been accepted not later than May 15. Articles (max. 6'500 words) will be due by September 30, 2012. Please see below for a detailed description of the project.


"Models of personal conversion in Russian cultural history of the 19th and 20th centuries"

The notion of 'conversion' signifies, first of all, a radical turn from one creed to another, though not necessarily religious in nature. The characteristic feature of a conversion in any of its forms is a fundamental change in value perspective: What was 'good' now becomes 'evil.' In most such cases the past is viewed as having been a compromise or as a state of paralysis brought on by habit to be overcome by conversion to a new faith.
The most interesting modern conversions are situated between reason-driven philosophical or political conversions and religious conversions under the sign of divine grace. These forms combine active and receptive aspects. According to Charles Taylor, the common feature of an intellectual conversion from an objectivist-mechanistic worldview to some form of transcendence involves the languages of literature and art, which provide models to express uneasiness with what has come to be regarded as old, worn out, conventional.
The question whether this optimistic view of the relation of art and religion is sufficient to describe the Russian case can be examined by considering particular cases. A first glance at the cases of conversions among Russian writers suggests a degree of skepticism in this regard. Often it was not a matter of finding a new, more 'subtle' language of art but a conflict with art itself, leading to a break with everything 'artistic,' now seen as the source of 'disintegration' of one's former life. Art, like science, is judged to be incapable of integrating the newly found 'absolute truth' (e.g. Gogol's conversion, Tolstoy's 'ukhod', the attempts of conversion in Dostoevsky's heroes, the poet's Stanislav Krasovickii turn to the priesthood). However, other examples show that such a radical understanding of 'Russian' conversions is of limited value only. Viacheslav Ivanov's conversion, for instance, from Russian Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism was a harmonious process free of conflict with his self-perception as a poet.
An as yet underexplored chapter of conversions - it seems to us - involves the wave of baptisms that occurred among the intelligentsia during the late Soviet period. Bohemian lifestyle, underground poetry, and the art of the 1970s and 1980s were often accompanied by a favorable orientation toward orthodox belief. And, after all, there have been prominent opportunist conversions closely connected with profound historical caesuras, as evidenced in the times around 1917 and 1991.
Contributors are invited to focus on individual conversions within the Russian cultural tradition (artists, writers, philosophers, religious and political figures), on the settings of conversions as portrayed in literary works, and more broadly on rhetorical, semiotic, as well as ideological aspects of conversion narratives in modern and contemporary Russian culture.

Prof. Dr. Jens Herlth
Universitaet Freiburg (CH)
Departement für Sprachen und Literaturen
Slavistik
Rte d'Englisberg 7
CH-1763 Granges-Paccot
tel +41 26 300 79 12; mob +41 78 904 96 77 fax +41 26 300 96 97
http://www.slavistik-fribourg-bern.unibe.ch; jens.herlth at unifr.ch




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