Profane Mysteries: the Otherworldly in Caricature and Satire of the Russian Fin de Siècle

Abstract Russian fin de siècle drew much of inspiration from the ideas of the occult: poets, philosophers, and artists of Decadence and Symbolism engaged with spiritual ideas in pursuit of capturing the ephemeral by means of artistic expression. Their enthusiasm for the spiritualist soon became an object of parody and ridicule in the press. These comical representations of the otherworldly were brought about as instruments of social and cultural critique that defined the categories of “normal” and “abnormal” in social life and artistic practices. I argue that the satirical journal Oskolki distilled the expressive language of Decadence and Symbolism to ready-made formulas, and contributed to the public image of the occult, as well as to the discourse on mental health and institutional care.