Architects of Utopia: «A Town Without a Name» of V. F. Odoyevsky
Theoretical significance of Utopia has not lost its projecting importance because constant want of cardinal changes, the wish to exceed the bounds of reality and to accomplish the impossible are the known signs of Utopian thinking, discrepant and dual by itself. From the one hand, it gives hope for happiness and, being subverting in its nature, impudently, in an innovatory manner withstands and disputes the existing reality. From the other hand, Utopian thinking associates with ideological deviations which are peculiar to the projects based on the model of hard, even severe order or constructed according to «ant necessity». However, one way or the other, Utopian rationality each time renders the colourful mythological topics of the faraway future, and then the architects of Utopia play the role of precursors possessing the gift of prophecy and prevision. This article intends to show that the practical realization of Utopia has a negative effect which comes not from Utopias themselves but from the people ready to carry out their own or another’s abstract thoughts. Appealing to the philosophical and literary works of V. F. Odoyevsky is the direct expression of the indicated intention. His original writing «A town without a name» is an intellectual examination of I. Bentham’s practical moral with regard to social future. On this way, for him before and for us now, the clue to understanding of unrealizability and doubtfulness of the utilitarian theory despite of its visual convincingness is lying.
1. Rozanov V. V. Chaadayev i kn. Odoyevskiy(Chaadayev and prince Odoyevskiy). Odoyevskiy V. F. Zapiski dlya moego prapravnuka. Povesti. Stati. Pisma. Kritika i vospominaniya sovremennikov (Odoyevsky V. F. Notes for my grand grandson. Novels. Articles. Letters. Critics and reminiscences of the contemporaries). Moscow, 2006. Available at: http://imwerden.de (accessed 15 November 2016) (in Russian).
2. Maymin E. A. Vladimir Odoyevskiy i ego roman «Russkie nochi» (Vladimir Odoyevsky and his novel «Russian nights»). Odoyevskiy V. F. Russkiye nochi (Russian nights). Leningrad, 1975. 317 p. (in Russian).
3. Sakulin P. N. Iz istorii russkogo idealizma. Kn. V. F. Odoyevskiy. Myslitel. Pisatel: v 2 ch. (From the history of Russian idealism. Prince V. F. Odoyevsky. Thinker. Writer: in 2 parts). Moscow, 1913. Vol. 1, part 2. 480 p. (in Russian).
4. Sumtsov N. F. Knyaz Odoyevskiy (Prince Odoyevsky). Moscow, 1884. Available at: http://imwerden.de (accessed 15 November 2016) (in Russian).
5. Zenkovskiy V. V. Istoriya russkoy fi losofi i: v 2 t. (History of Russian philosophy: in 2 vol.). Rostov-on-Don, 2004. Vol. 1. 544 p. (in Russian).
6. Odoyevsky V. F. Gorod bez imeni (A town without a name). Odoyevskiy V. F. Russkiye nochi (Russian nights). Leningrad, 1975. 317 p. (in Russian).
7. Sorokin P. Novyy trud o Bentame (New works about Bentham). Eticheskaya mysl: nauch.-publ. chteniya (Ethical idea: Scientifi c-public reading). Moscow, 1990, pp. 349–358 (in Russian).
8. Sorokin P. Sotsialnaya i kulturnaya dinamika: Issledovaniye izmeneniy v bolshikh sistemakh iskusstva, istiny, etiki, prava i obshchestvennykh otnosheniy (Social and cultural dynamics: study of changes in large systems of art, truth, ethics, law and public relations). St. Petersburg, 2000. 1056 p. (in Russian).
9. Mori T. De optimo reip. statv, deqve noua insula Vtopia: libellus uere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festiuus... . Basileae, 1518. Available at: http://www.ub.uni-bielefeld. de/diglib/more/utopia/ (Russ. ed.: More T. Utopiya. Moscow, 1978. 417 p.).
10. Bulgakov S. N. Dushevnaya drama Gertsena (Psychical drama of Gertsen). S. N. Bulgakov. Soch.: v 2 t. T. 2. Izbrannye stat'i (Works: in 2 vol. Vol. 2. Selected articles). Moscow, 1993. 752 p. (in Russian).