The Fourth Research Seminar «Magic, Astrology, and Science in Russian Modernism»

The fourth research seminar «Magic, Astrology, and Science in Russian Modernism», during which Varvara Kukushkina presented a report «“The Occult Path Has Begun”: Emily Medtner, Goethe and Anthroposophy” was held on April 24.

The report was dedicated to the role of occultism in the intellectual biography of E. K. Medtner, the main editor of the publishing house «Musaget». Reconstructing the story of his acquaintance with texts written by German anthroposophist Rudolf Steiner, the speaker offered a few comments on Medtner's book «Reflections on Goethe» (1914). Medtner's preoccupation with the figure of Goethe was determined not only by Steiner, who participated in the philological publication of Goethe's scientific writings but also by Medtner's ideological desire to separate Russian symbolism from anthroposophy. It is also worth noticing that Steiner's concept of spiritual science (Geheimwissenschaft), created to unite all the spheres of human knowledge, heavily relied on the interpretations of Goethe's scientific ideas by German positivists, primarily Ernst Haeckel. The second comment explored secondary sources of Medtner's knowledge in the realm of physiognomy. Analysis of psychological literature, with which Medtner was acquainted even before his friendship with Jung, aids in understanding the connection between physiognomy, aesthetics, and the history of psychology. Popular psychiatric texts about Goethe (in particular, the works of Paul Möbius) also preserved relics of physiognomic techniques. Finally, the speaker commented on some anti-Semitic motives in Medtner's book. For example, the usage of the word «freedom» highlighted Mednter's view of Goethe as an Aryan genius.