D. S. Merezhkovsky's ‘Lecture on Antisemitism' (1928)

Abstract

The article publishes the handwritten draft and clean copy of D. S. Merezhkovsky's “Lecture on antisemitism” (1928). These are dated April-May 1928: no earlier than the articles by L. P. Karsavin (“Russia and the Jews”), D. V. Filoso-fov (“Not antisemitism, but persecution of Jews in Soviet Russia”) and N. A. Berdyaev (“Jean Izoulet. Paris Capitale des Religions ou la Mission d’Isra6l”; “Russian religious thought and the revolution”), which are mentioned in the lecture, and no later than the debate “On antisemitism in Soviet Russia,” which took place in Paris on 27 May 1928. The draft version is unfinished: in the conclusion the author intended to read an anonymous letter sent to him, which has not been recovered. It is conjectured that the letter in question is the one cited in Merezhkovsky's talk “Which one of you? Judaism and Christianity” (1928). An examination of the letter shows that it can be treated as a provocation of a “right-wing” emigre, which was triggered by Merezhkovsky's and Gippius's endeavour to analyze antisemitism from a religious viewpoint. The letter's offensive nature is emphasized by fragments from V. V. Rozanov's “Fallen leaves” (1915) featuring a hostile comment about Merezhkovsky. The publication of the copies demonstrates the antinomic nature of his thought, as well as his intertextualism. It also illuminates his role in the newspaper debates of Russian emigres about political and religious issues, in particular with respect to V. V. Shulgin's viewpoint in his book “The three capitals” (1927).