Abstract
In chapter 1 I present the narrative method as I use it, and outline its application to philosophy in sections 1.1-1.2. In section 1.3 I discuss the important recent achievements as to methods and vision in Solovyov studies, in order to show the obvious shift from general doxographical, biographical, and historiographical approaches to studies of either separate works by Solovyov or narrow case-studies. I also discuss recent studies of aesthetic and literary elements in Solovyov's works appearing in the Russian and Western academic world. In section 1.4 I assess the advantages and disadvantages of a narrative approach as supplementary to the long tradition of Solovyov studies. In chapter 2 I analyze in detail the poetic and rhetorical elements of The Crisis of Western Philosophy, the first major work of Solovyov, his Master's dissertation defended in 1874. Neither the content of this work, from the beginning of Chapter I to the end of Chapter V, nor the functions of the characters, different types of narration, Solovyov's account of the history of philosophy, rhetorical figures, points of view, motifs, metaphors and other tropes have yet received adequate analysis. Chapter 3 deals with artistic elements in other works of Solovyov, such as The Philosophical Principles of Integral Knowledge, Lectures on Divine Humanity, The Justification of the Good, and Three Conversations. I also trace the return and transformation of some features of Solovyov's narration. It thus offers an analysis of so-called 'poetics of philosophy.' I offer an interpretation and interpretative approach to The Crisis (and other texts) which is new and supplementary: I investigate and describe the narrative mechanisms and tropes in The Crisis of Western Philosophy. My study is the first monograph about a work of Solovyov in 'Solovyoviana' (an informal name for the tradition of study of Solovyov's life, works and their connections to Russian intellectual history). I describe which narrative structure lies at the basis of this text, and what makes this text attractive and interesting to the reader. As a result, I hope to create a new perspective in Solovyov studies and a new vision of his philosophical texts as examples not only of elaboration of a clear universal philosophical doctrine (integral knowledge, All-unity, etc.), but as texts with a significant artistic, poetic, and rhetoric element.
