G. MACDONALD'S VIEWS ON PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE (BASED ON THE WRITER'S CREATIVE ACTIVITY)

Cheremisina Anna Ivanovna, Postgraduate student, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (37 B. Pokrovskaya street, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia), trina_des@mail.ru

82-312.1

Background. The problem of artistic realization of philosophic ideas in literary works is of current importance in modern philology. Besides, the works by an original Scottish writer G. MacDonald require deep analysis. The aim of the research is to analyze G. MacDonald’s philosophy of nature and its realization in his works in the context of his religious and philosophical conception.
Materials and methods. The materials of the research were fiction («Phantastes», «Sir Gibbie», «Lilith») and publicistic («Wordsworth’s Poetry», «The Fantastic Imagination», «Unspoken Sermons») works by G. MacDonald. Historical-literary and comparative-typological methods were used in the research.
Results. The article considers G. MacDonald’s philosophical views on the world order (comprehension of the categories of matter and motion, time and space, concept of nature). The researcher pointed out the influence of predecessors’ philosophical ideas. The image of nature in G. MacDonald’s works was analyzed. The
author’s comprehension of the nature’s essence and mission and the idea of intuitive, irrational cognition of nature are researched in this article.
Conclusions. G. MacDonald’s philosophy of nature is a synthesis of Christian and panentheistic worldviews. It is expressed in the archetype of the Great Mother, in musical and poetic images in the writer’s works. According to G. MacDonald’s religious and philosophical conception, the man by means of his/her imagination can feel God’s self-expression in the nature and in the whole world and thereby he/she can approach to understanding of God’s truth.

George MacDonald, philosophy of nature, Christian romanticism, panentheism, imagination, archetype, myth, chronotope.

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