The Dostoevsky Image of the Sunday Circle Lukács/Lesznai

Abstract

Károly (Carl) Mannheim affirms in Soul and Culture, a study which was the written version of his opening lecture for the Free School of Spiritual Sciences, that Dostoevsky’s mind had one of the greatest impact on their generation (and, practically on Sunday Circle): „we would like to follow: Dostoevsky’s ideology, and feelings of life, , in our ethical conviction Kierkegaard, in our philosophical position the German Logos, the Hungarian Szellem, Lask and Zalai”. Furthermore, he indicates Paul Ernst’s, Riegl’s and Cézanne’s activities as aesthetical examples to follow, as well as the artistic results of the new French poetry (Nouvelle Revue Française), and the art of Endre Ady and Béla Bartók. Therefore Dostoevsky’s work was an important inspiration for almost every member of the Sunday Circle. Although it did not necessarily affect them as an aesthetical experience, but grounded their ideological point of view, bringing them a new feeling of life. The topic of my study is this impact, but my goal is not a complete overview: I’ll stay in the 1910’s and 1920’s (even if the Sunday Circle did not exist in the twenties, many of its members met for a long period of time). However, Anna Lesznai’s and György Lukács’s writings in question are mostly not elaborated sketches and notes, sometimes they are no more than short brainstorming. (The texts I’ve discussed have a documentary value as well, since Anna Lesznai often wrote the conversations of the members of Sunday Circle, and put down further thoughts about these.)