The Question of Life and Death in the novel “Sanin” by Mikhail Artsybashev Cover Image

Zagadnienie życia i śmierci w powieści „Sanin” Michaiła Arcybaszewa
The Question of Life and Death in the novel “Sanin” by Mikhail Artsybashev

Author(s): Patryk Witczak
Subject(s): Philosophy, Studies of Literature, Russian Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: M. Artsybashev; F. Nietzsche; Übermensch; superman; overman; motif of death in literature

Summary/Abstract: In this article the author attempts to reinterpret “Sanin” by Mikhail Artsybashev presenting the novel as philosophical rather than pornographic. The focus here is on the motif of life and death, which occupies a central position in all the works by Artsybashev. The novelist’s understanding of life and death was clearly influenced by the views of German philosophers: A. Schopenhauer and F. Nietzsche. What echoes most vibrantly in the novel are the ideas expounded in Nietzsche’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, especially the theory of “Übermensch”, variously translated as “superman” or “overman”.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 25
  • Page Range: 64-72
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: Polish