MEMORY OF CULTURE: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVE OF V.V. WEIDLE

Abstract

“Memory of Culture” as a special topic of research and discussion is currently acquiring new conceptual turns and substantive aspects. It covers many thematic layers: philosophical, existential, historical, social. At the same time, although the relevant topics are pervasive and literally gaining greater conceptual coverage before our very eyes, the presence of some ideological basis is becoming more and more clear in it, which allows even in the dynamic conditions of our time to call this topic an intellectual constant of culture. Autobiographical narratives appear as a special cultural and historical expression of the unity of this topic. They act in this role because of their fundamental concreteness and immersion in historical situations, making cultural memory especially relevant. The author demonstrates this feature of the autobiographical narrative by referring to one of the key figures in the philosophy of the culture of the Russian emigration ‒ Vladimir Vasilyevich Weidle. His memories “Winter Sun” and “Evening Day” provide an opportunity to see many refractions of human memory in the cultural and philosophical heritage. The theme of memory and the author's self-awareness gains a special resonance in the context of Weidyle's life trajectories, and his discourses on art in an era of cultural crisis are today, in fact, predictive and demonstrate the philosophical significance of cultural memory.