Authors

Discussion

In this paper, I will examine different types of mediation in the late-Soviet intellectual world. I will draw on published memoirs and oral history interviews I conducted during my doctoral research.

Firstly, intellectuals themselves often fulfilled mediating functions. For example, the philologist Sergei Averintsev, whose case I study in detail in my dissertation, performed the role of a cultural hero, i.e. a mediating figure, providing Soviet audience with access to the ‘true’ (pre-revolutionary Russian or European) culture. Much like mythological cultural heroes, such as Prometheus, who acted as a mediator between the worlds of gods and humans, bringing the latter cultural goods and knowledge on how to use them, Averintsev was a cultural and religious educator, introducing his listeners and readers to new names and facts - but above all, offering them an alternative way of viewing culture.

Secondly, mediation could be exercised by the members of a close circle around an intellectual figure. I will discuss the role of Aza Takho-Godi, the second wife of the prominent philosopher Aleksei Losev, in organising his life and work. She managed a circle of his students and followers (kruzhok), controlled visitors’ access to him, selected bright postgraduates to work as his secretaries, and, after his death, used her extensive social connections and academic resources to secure Losev’s place in the Russian intellectual canon.

Thirdly, editors could serve as mediators by helping intellectuals to circumvent censorship and publish their works. One such figure was Iurii Popov, an editor at Sovetskaia entsiklopediia publishing house, who made it possible for Averintsev to publish his entries on religious subjects in Philosophical Encyclopedia. Based on my interview with him, I will discuss editorial tactics as a form of mediation and negotiation with Soviet institutions of control and censorship.