UNIVERSAL HISTORY
Laurus, a prominent novel by Eugene Vodolazkin, is widely considered a pioneering work for the future of storytelling, particularly Christian storytelling. It has profoundly influenced individuals engaged with culture and Christian narratives.
The novel masterfully combines an ancient understanding of reality with the complexities of postmodern society. Its narrative is primarily an exploration of limits, encompassing both spatial and temporal boundaries.
The novel commences by revealing the protagonist's awareness of geographical confines, populated by mythical creatures such as the Cynocephali, or dog-headed monsters, famously associated with Saint Christopher. Allusions to Alexander the Great's voyages further establish the narrative as a journey into the world's perceived boundaries.
This theme of limitation extends beyond physical space, deeply embedding itself within the book's temporal fabric through a pervasive exploration of the concept of the end of the world, or multiple, superimposed "ends".
This is manifested through prophetic visions, confrontations with mortality, and a distinct breakdown of narrative coherence experienced by the main character. The linearity of the story is intentionally disrupted by anachronisms, where elements from vastly different historical periods, both past and future, merge within the same moments.
Borders and Finitude
A central concept in Laurus is the border, intrinsically linked to finitude. A border serves not only as a separator but also as a catalyst for interaction, as engagement is only possible with what is in direct proximity. In the contemporary global landscape, a perceived dissolution of borders between states, individuals, and cultures is noted.
While this might initially appear unproblematic, closer scrutiny reveals that the loss of boundaries leads to the erosion of distinctionsbetween cultures, peoples, and individuals. The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic is presented as a collective, unconscious global effort to re-establish these borders, despite previous pandemics not resulting in a complete global closure.
Within Laurus, the protagonists actively transcend both space and time, manipulating these dimensions at will and even attempting to dismantle them.
They overcome boundaries metaphysically, venturing into realms where neither space nor time exists. This metaphysical transcendence of borders fundamentally distinguishes the novel's approach from the phenomenon of globalisation. Despite depicting a confusion of linearity, space, and time, the character consistently progresses towards this transcendence.
Episodes of memory fragmentation and injury might suggest a loss of self, yet the character ultimately advances into a transcendent state, even if this transcendence is not always overtly apparent. For instance, the main character's death, though seemingly a dissolution, is ultimately portrayed as a passage into this transcendent sphere.
Time and Eternity in the Medieval Mind
The medieval worldview, as depicted in Laurus, fostered a more intricate relationship with time and eternity than modern perspectives. Medieval lifetimes were relatively brief, typically ranging from 40 to 50 years, yet they were perceived as extended because each moment contained a direct connection to heaven, a realm beyond temporal and spatial constraints.
Individuals measured themselves not by the immediate "here and now," but by the standard of eternity. Time was less dictated by rigid schedules; in the early Middle Ages, clocks were rarely used, as the sun's position sufficed for temporal orientation. Life was serene, centring on God and eternity in personal experience.
Socially, particularly in Russia, the monastery functioned as the pivotal institution, serving roles equivalent to universities, schools, and academies of sciences. This holistic perspective cultivated a distinctive attitude towards time and space, offering a notable illustration of a "correct" approach to time.
Christian thought, especially through liturgical time, continues to offer a glimpse into this unique temporal perception, with its movements and culmination towards the union of heaven and earth, angels, and cyclical prayers.
The novel specifically addresses the concept of Christian time, contrasting it with pagan temporal views. Pagan societies conceived of time as circular, believing that similar circumstances would yield similar outcomes, thereby facilitating life within this cyclical pattern. In contrast, Judeo-Christian history is fundamentally linear, possessing a definite beginning and perpetually anticipating its ultimate end.
However, Christian history is most aptly symbolised as a spiral. While events may recur as "rhymes," they do so with a drastically altered aspect, exemplified by typological exegesis such as Christ as the new Adam or Mary as the new Eve.
Christian time therefore possesses a linear progression from beginning to end, yet it is simultaneously imbued with an eternity dimension, akin to a circle. The collaboration of time and eternity constitutes the most essential characteristic of Christian time and history.
This is visually represented in the final imagery of the Book of Revelation, where the New Jerusalem encompasses the Garden of Eden, signifying both a return to the origin and its transformation into something entirely new, perpetually ascending towards God. Within Laurus, this concept is explicitly conveyed to the protagonist by a monk who illustrates the spiral nature of time by walking and then "flying" in circles around a monastery.
Realism and Christian Re-enchantment
Laurus uniquely blends the realism characteristic of great Russian novels with a pronounced "magical aspect". This includes episodes such as holy fools walking on water and numerous other miraculous occurrences.
Unlike the fantastical elements found in works such as Bulgakov's Master and Margarita, which often serve a solipsistic fantasy aligned with surrealism or late 19th-century symbolism, the fantastical elements in Laurus are integrated as a movement towards a Christian re-enchantment of the world.
The novel's approach to mythology is rooted in a medieval rather than a modern perspective. Mythology is understood as a compensatory mechanism, valuable when there is a lack of concrete knowledge. For instance, Moses' description of creation over six days is appropriate for its historical context, as terms from geophysics or genetics would have been incomprehensible.
While knowledge gradually becomes more concretised into scientific understanding, this does not fundamentally alter the broader picture of the world. The novel critically observes that modern categorisations have become so precise that they impede understanding of ancient modes of thought.
Reducing a category like "dragon" to a measurable biological phenomenon, for example, entirely misses the essence of how the dragon functioned in medieval thought. This highlights a perceived divide between two distinct worlds of understanding.
Medieval metaphorical language, far from indicating primitivism, conveyed fundamental truths. While modern knowledge offers details, it is suggested that the "whole" remains largely unknown.
Universal History and Mythology in Christianity
The Middle Ages were characterised by a universal history consensus, which harmonised biblical narratives, Christian legends, and ancient mythological patterns such as the Trojan War or the exploits of Alexander the Great. Texts like the Aeneid, the Eddas, and the Arthurian cycles, for example, traced their origins to Troy, while figures like Gog and Magog appeared in Alexander's romances. This culminated in works like Dante's Comedy, which endeavoured to trace a mythological unity between ancient stories and biblical accounts. This unified mythological framework has been progressively dismantled by modern scholarship, which employs historical techniques to isolate pagan origins or demonstrate factual impossibility. Nevertheless, a deep human desire for this unity of story persists, evident in the revival of interconnected legendary worlds in contemporary popular franchises such as Tolkien's works, Star Wars, Marvel comics, and Harry Potter. Laurus directly alludes to this universal history through references to Alexander and mythical creatures at the world's edge.
Christianity is presented not as a religion arising from a vacuum, but one that historically incorporated elements from prior religious cultures. For example, the figure of Saint Christopher with a dog's head is traced back to the Egyptian jackal god Anubis, a portrayal prevalent in Russia and Ireland due to direct connections to Egyptian monasticism. This tradition was later interrupted in 18th-century Russia when a metropolitan decreed that Saint Christopher should be depicted with a human head, humorously arguing that a dog's head would deter prostitutes. Similarly, pagan feasts, such as the solstice, were transformed into Christian observances, like the feast of John the Baptist. Christianity skillfully engaged with pagan mythology. The Byzantine chronicler John Malala, for instance, synchronised biblical tradition with ancient mythology using the Euhemerist method, positing figures like Chronos as a son of Noah. From a Christian perspective, there was only one universal history, necessitating either a rejection of pagan gods as demons or their incorporation. Christianity employed both strategies, with incorporation proving instrumental in its establishment. Chroniclers engaged with former pagans by speaking their language, as seen in the first Russian chronicle, The Tale of Bygone Years, which paid special attention to angels as a means of transitioning from polytheism to monarchy.
Regarding the contemporary utility of exploring these connections, particularly in a post-Christian society experiencing a resurgence of neo-paganism and new mythologies, the situation is viewed differently. While such integration was justified at the dawn of Christianity, after its establishment, no such justification exists, as everything essential was revealed through Christ. The only valid approach today is to regard mythology as a special metaphorical language, akin to poetry. In this context, it is crucial to maintain a clear distinction between poetry and religion, avoiding the attribution of metaphorical metaphysics to art.
However, the enduring popularity of authors like Tolkien, whose fantastical works aim to reveal the coherence of the world through a palatable lens, suggests a continued human need for mythological structures. Tolkien, once forgotten, has been rediscovered due to his unexpected resonance with modern problems and perspectives. In a post-Christian society, the human need for metaphysics remains undiminished, as individuals inherently seek a connection to another dimension, even if they struggle to articulate it. This "great thirst" often leads to the adoption of less elevated forms of metaphysics, as exemplified by Harry Potter, which, while potentially serving as a preliminary step towards another dimension for some, represents a return to a type of metaphysics characteristic of pre-Christian mankind.
Christian Art and Storytelling
A persistent challenge in contemporary culture is the perceived mediocrity of explicitly Christian art, often criticised as propagandistic and superficial in its metaphysical approach. This issue is attributed to the idea that Christianity has become "too much at home" in certain societies, leading people to devalue something readily available in favour of more exotic alternatives. Aspiring artists are encouraged to seek new insights within old and potentially forgotten sources, particularly the Bible. The Bible is presented as a complete narrative source, capable of evoking laughter, tears, and being more engaging than popular fiction.
A disservice by modern scholarship has been its tendency to strip scripture of its narrative power, reducing it to technical textual and source analyses, thereby neglecting the richness of typological reading and narrative parallels. However, postmodernism may inadvertently facilitate a renewed appreciation for the "strange" and "weird" elements of scripture, allowing for a rediscovery of its inherent wonder and strangeness. From a writer's perspective, scripture is recognised for its narrative quality and literary strength, as evidenced by Christ's rhetorical question about the nine ungrateful healed men, or the potent imagery of Nebuchadnezzar being "weighed on a scale and found very light". The biblical narratives, including Nebuchadnezzar's transformation into an animal, are described as astounding. Ultimately, the Bible offers a key to understanding world history, which, unlike Marxist interpretations, is seen as possessing rhythms like a wave, with outcomes often beyond human prediction or discernible patterns. The unpredictable nature of divine ways is illustrated by the joke of a devout priest questioning why a drunken bus driver is also in paradise, only to be told that the driver's dangerous driving compelled all his passengers to pray, unlike the priest's sermons which induced sleep. This illustrates that God's ways and those of His creatures are often hidden, and actions may have unforeseen, even paradoxical, positive effects. Laurus is thus positioned as a work that offers critical insights and examples for Christian artists seeking to create vibrant and meaningful narratives in the contemporary world.