“Evening Lights” by A. A. Fet as a Dialogue with A. Schopenhauer About Love

The article considers the concept of love in the philosophy of A. A. Schopenhauer and A. A. Fet’s last collection of poems “Evening Lights”. Schopenhauer and A. A. Fet’s last collection of poems “Evening Lights”. The features of the creative dialogue between A. A. Fet and A. Schopenhauer related to the concepts of “eros” and “agape” are analyzed. Love, artistically conceptualized by Fet, turns out to be inextricably linked with death and will. Love as eros (carnal love) is what contributes to the triumph of the world will, and love as agape (sacrificial love) is what helps a person fight the world will and contributes to the individual’s awareness of himself. Using the material of Fet’s philosophical lyrics, the article examines the problem of the author’s reception of A. Schopenhauer’s love philosophemes. The differences between the two erotological models are revealed, which consist in Fet’s rethinking of the Schopenhauerian concept of eros. This study allows us to analyze the dynamic structure of the concept of love in the artistic world of “Evening Lights” and identify connections with Fet’s late work by updating individual elements of the dialogue between the Russian writer and the German philosopher.