The ideas of the Russian masonry in I. Turgenev's works ofthe 1870s

The article discusses the question of the role and place of the Russian mason ideas of the last third of the 18th century in the works of the 1870s of I. Turgenev. Directly or indirectly, A Lear of the Steppes (1870) and the story "The Walking Corpse" (1874) include references to the mason journal Pokoyashchiysya trudolyubets (1784-1785). It gives the right to raise the question of the creative interaction principles of the writer with religious, philosophical and moral mason orientations. The text about a Russian king Lear is directly set towards Shakespeare's tradition, and Turgenev includes two fragments from the journal articles of N. Novikov's edition - "Argumentation about disorders made by men's passion and about measures to take in such cases" and "A letter from the other world to Moscow from Muimiag to the small earth son Ant who lives in the Ant hill" in this text. The writer gives footnotes with a very detailed bibliographical description to the quoted extracts. The content of the two articles from Pokoyashchiysya trudolyubets correlates with the problems of the story's main character - Martyn Kharlov. The proud and powerful landlord, guided by the mason journal instructions, attempts to abase his selfish nature, to reform his personality and to educate and improve his soul. One of the acts of the transformation is division of his estate between two daughters. However, Kharlov does not execute the program of self-perfection, firstly, because the character cannot refuse his power and will and, secondly, because of his idea about an inevitable death that he cannot put up with. In the story "The Walking Corpse" Turgenev does not give any quotes or any special references to Novikov's journal. Nevertheless, the main character's destiny demonstrates an original variant of Kharlov's story. The connection with Pokoyashchiysya trudolyubets is found at the level of the correlation of the corporeal and the spiritual. The mason idea (of the internal person's transformation: the drama of the death turns into a spiritual act of the all-conquering joy) is expressed in the countrywoman Lukerya's image. Turgenev's attitude to the mason ideas is extraordinary complex and ambiguous. The writer considers the Russian masonry as a national spiritual phenomenon. He acknowledges its significance in the philosophical and moral aspects. However, he does not accept the mason religious, mystic and ascetic teaching. The writer perceives the complete refusal from all spheres of the earth existence as a contradiction to human nature.

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