I.S. Turgenev's strange Asya: apophaticism of Russian eros. Culturological analysis of the story

The object of the article is apophaticism of Russian verbal culture. The apophaticism of love, of Russian Eros serves as the subject. This article is based on Turgenev’s well-known short novel “Asya”. The hermeneutic reconstruction core is represented by the symbolic space of the 19th century novel. Much attention is paid to the problem of love metaphysics, its apophatic aspect in the Russian cosmo-psycho-logos, which is essential for understanding the philosophical nature of the writer’s creative work. The research methodology is mainly represented by the holistic ontohermeneutic analysis aimed at highlighting the cultural potential of the literary work in question, which makes it possible to approach the specificity of the writer’s creative process ontologically and delve into the wordsmith’s treatment of genesis. Much attention is paid to the comparison of Pushkin’s Tatiana from the novel “Eugene Onegin” and Turgenev’s story protagonist. The notions of “imagination”, “apophaticism”, “cosmo-psycho-logos” are introduced for profound culturological analysis of the work. The research results are represented by identification of cultural and philosophical potential of the novel “Asya” for further study of the problems of Russian artistic culture apophaticism, metaphysics of Russian Eros, national style of life. The results may be of interest for literary historians incorporating literature in the extensive dialogue of cultural space, and may be also used in teaching courses on cultural studies and philosophy.