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.