The Cruel Art of Beauty: Walter Pater and the Uncanny Aestheticism of Isaak Babel′'s Red Cavalry

Author: Bullock, Philip Ross¹

Source: The Modern Language Review, Volume 104, Number 2, 1 April 2009 , pp. 499-529(31)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

This article argues that Walter Pater's writings may have played a crucial, largely unsuspected role in shaping Isaak Babel′'s aesthetics. After tracing the translation and reception of Pater in Russia, it examines ways in which Babel′'s reading of Pater may have influenced the composition of Red Cavalry: the representation of the nature of art and the artist's calling; the use of ecphrasis as a literary device emphasizing the role of imagination in aesthetic contemplation of artworks; and the relationship between aestheticism and (homo)eroticism. Finally, it suggests that Pater's amoral aestheticism allowed Babel′ to resolve the tension between his appreciation of Lev Tolstoi's style and a dislike of his didacticism.

Keywords: Walter Pater; Isaak Babel′'s aesthetics; translation; reception; Russia; ecphrasis; aestheticism; (homo)eroticism; Lev Tolstoi

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Wadham College, Oxford

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