looking to the east: thomas mann and max weber’s view of

Hitotsubashi Review of Arts and Sciences 7　　17

Looking to the East : Thomas Mann and Max Weber’s View of Russia （2）

Nobutaka YAMAMURO

The latter part of this study examines the reception of the Russian literary pair Tolstoy

and Dostoevsky by Thomas Mann and Max Weber from the turn of the 20th century

to the years after WWI. Of this literary pair, Tolstoy first became prominent, with

Dostoevsky later gradually exerting a strong influence. Thomas Mann saw Tolstoy

primarily as a creative artist, while Max Weber saw him as a charismatic prophet.

Mann found Dostoevsky’s idea of Russian “humanity” to be related to his own

“Humanität”. Weber discovered the “Liebesakosmismus” （the concept of “acosmic

love”） in the novel characters of Dostoevsky, which was in his opinion characteristic

of Russian religiosity. Through Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Russia appeared to both

Mann and Weber “a holy land of love”. In conclusion, the importance of the two

Russian writers is considered for the national identity of Mann and Weber. They both

showed ambivalent interest in the Russia as represented by Tolstoy and Dostoevsky,

while presenting the positive and negative self-images of Germany accordingly.