Russian intellectuals, political culture and violence. History & Literature

• Grant number: 16/22746-2
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - Brazil
• Start date: March 15, 2017
• End date: June 14, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History
• Principal Investigator: Bruno Barretto Gomide
• Grantee: Bruno Barretto Gomide
• Visiting researcher: Daniel Aarao Reis Filho
• Visiting researcher institution: Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF). Instituto de Ciências Humanas e Filosofia (ICHF), Brazil
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

I intend to undertake, as a Visiting Professor in the year 2017/2018, studies on the relations of Russian intellectuals with the issue of violence. They will be taken as main references the route of Alexander Herzen and Isaac Babel.These authors had forecast at the time in which they lived and continue raising interest and controversy. His texts are expressive of society in which they lived and relevant, it is appropriate for the analysis that I propose.In Alexander Herzen, it is well established the radical questioning of the use of violence that led symptomatic and symbolically, to his complete political isolation. This did not prevent later the rescue, though with reservations, his name and his work by the victorious revolutionaries in 1917. My hypothesis is that his political isolation is connected exactly to your rebuttal to resort to violence .In Isaac Babel, in contrast, in addition to its sweet and affectionate character ( "incapable of killing a fly"), the seduction by violence and physical strength is manifested in living form, through his writings, in his admiration for outlaws. Like many other intellectuals, Russian and foreign, let yourself be fascinated by the use of violence exercised against a power considered unfair, or a power, conceived as revolutionary. (AU)