Visible and Physical as Unspeakable (Fedorov – Tolstoy – Shestov – Rozanov – Shklovsky)

At the turn of the 19th–20th century and in the first third of the 20th century literary conventions changed, the poetic word reached the limits of the expressible. The article argues that aesthetic thought in this period is developing largely under the influence of L.N. Tolstoy’s late period of work, when he radically revised his view of the unity and monolithic nature of narrative, testing a new mode of writing. On the other hand, it is shown that the views of N.F. Fedorov and L.N. Tolstoy’s role of scientific knowledge largely determines the worldview during this period. The article proves the position that the limits of the expressible in art also correspond to the desire of the creator to image his personal presence in the work as evidence of its truth. In particular, it was revealed that N.F. Fedorov sees in a close reading of a book and studying system of views of its author the source of his bodily resurrection. L.N. Tolstoy expressed the search of truth “for himself” as religious feeling. The article shows that the visible and physical verify to the truth of absolute unity in the philosophy of V.S. Solovyov. Author’s personal presence in his work (literally “author’s face”, according to L. Shestov) is a way to resist the “lie” (according to A.A. Potebnya) of expressed and published thoughts. The lie also examined by V.V. Rozanov. He contrasted “literature” and “handwriting of the soul” as the work “for self”. The conclusion emphasizes similarity of views on the nature of art from Tolstoy and Fedorov through Shestov and Rozanov to Shklovsky.