The paper is devoted to the methodology of axiological approach in literary criticism. This
approach, known to many humanities (sociology, psychology, cultural studies, etc.), is aimed at
studying the phenomenon of value in art and combines the achievements of the theory of literature
and axiology – philosophy of values. Based on the definitions of the terms “approach” and
“method”, the author describes two fundamentally different levels of any methodology. The first one represents theoretical and philosophical principles, and the second one − the various stages of
analytical and interpretative work with the text. In other words, the approach is included in the
method as a theoretical setting. Therefore, several methods can be developed based, for example,
on the axiological approach since the situation of value relations (the position of a subject and
an object), as well as the specific aspect of artistic content or form to be analyzed, remains
variable.
Referring to the history of axiology as a philosophical discipline, the author identifies seven
characteristics of the “value” category that are important for this category to be analyzed in the
literature. These characteristics include the subject-object nature of value; the relationship between
the type of value and its medium; hierarchy; optional character; teleologicity and
ontologicity. Then, three levels of axiological research, contributing diverse meaning to the concept
of value, are examined in detail. At the level of a literary work, value is understood as a separate
element of the artistic world. The subjects of value relations are various narrative instances:
implied author, narrator, character and implied reader. At the level of a literary process, the value
is a complete literary work, occupying a specific place in the literary hierarchy of a particular
culture. The subject of value relations, in this case, is a real reader, including a literary critic and
literary scholar. At the level of the writer’s biography, value is a component of his value system,
an ideal that is reflected not only in his artistic work but also in non-literary texts (memoirs, journalism,
letters) and biographical facts.
Bakhtin M. M. Sobranie sochineniy: V 7 t. [Collected works: in 7 vols]. Moscow, LRC Publishing
House, 2003, vol. 1: Filosofskaya estetika 1920-kh godov [Philosophical aesthetics of the
1920s], 955 p.; 2002, vol. 6: “Problemy poetiki Dostoyevskogo”, 1963. Raboty 1960-kh –
1970-kh gg. [“Problems of Dostoevsky’s poetics”, 1963. Works of the 1960s – 1970s], 799 p.
Blagoy D. D. Afanasiy Fet – poet i chelovek [Afanasy Fet – a poet and a man]. In: Fet A. A.
Vospominaniya [Memoirs]. Moscow, Pravda, 1983, pp. 3–26.
Borev Yu. B. Iskusstvo interpretatsii i otsenki. Opyt prochteniya “Mednogo vsadnika” [The
art of interpretation and evaluation. The experience of reading “The Bronze Horseman”]. Moscow,
Sov. pisatel’, 1981, 399 p.
Compagnon A. Demon teorii. Literatura i zdravyy smysl [The demon of theory. Literature and
common sense]. Moscow, Sabashnikovy Publ., 2001, 336 p.
Esaulov I. A. Literaturovedcheskaya aksiologiya: opyt obosnovaniya ponyatiya [Literary axiology:
an attempt at substantiating the phenomenon]. In: Evangel’skiy tekst v russkoy literature
18–20 vekov: tsitata, reministsentsiya, motiv, syuzhet, zhanr [Gospel text in Russian literature of
the 18th–20th centuries: quotation, reminiscence, motif, plot, genre]. V. N. Zakharov (Ed.). Petrozavodsk,
PetrSU Publ., 1994, iss. 1, pp. 378–383.
Esin A. B. O chekhovskoy sisteme tsennostey [On the value system of A. P. Chechov].
Russkaya slovesnost’. 1994, no. 6, pp. 3–8.
Esin A. B. O tsennostnoy sisteme A. T. Tvardovskogo (“Vasiliy Terkin”) [On the value system
of A. T. Tvardovsky (“Vasily Terkin”)]. Russkaya slovesnost’. 1995, no. 5, pp. 34–38.
Filatov A. V. Aksiologicheskiy podkhod k izucheniyu knigi stikhov: ontologicheskiye
tsennosti v “Chuzhom nebe” N. S. Gumileva [Axiological approach to the study of poetry book:
ontological values in book “The Alien Sky” by Nikolay Gumilev]. The New Philological Bulletin.
2016, no. 3, pp. 119–128.
Filatov A. V. Aksiologicheskiy podkhod k izucheniyu mifopoetiki: adamicheskiy mif v lirike
N. S. Gumileva [The axiological approach to the study of mythopoetics: the Adamic Myth in
Nikolay Gumilev’s lyrics]. The New Philological Bulletin. 2017, no. 4, pp. 141–149.
Filatov A. V. Aksiologicheskiy podkhod v trudakh V.E. Khalizeva: tsennostnyye oriyentatsii
v literature i nauke o ney [The axiological approach in V. E. Khalizev’s works: value orientations
in literature and literary criticism]. The New Philological Bulletin. 2018, no. 3, pp. 16–26.
Fukson L. Yu. Problemy interpretatsii i tsennostnaya priroda literaturnogo proizvedeniya
[Problems of interpretation and axiological nature of a literary work]. Dr. philol. sci. diss. Kemerovo,
2000, 282 p.
Hartmann N. Estetika [Aesthetics]. Kiev, Nika-Tsentr, 2004, 640 p.
Ingarden R. Issledovaniya po estetike [Studies on aesthetics]. Moscow, Inostr. lit. Publ, 1962.
572 p.
Jauss H. R. Istoriya literatury kak provokatsiya literaturovedeniya [Literary history as provocation
of literary theory]. New Literary Observer. 1995, no. 12, pp. 34–84.
Kagan M. S. Filosofskaya teoriya tsennostey [Philosophical theory of values]. St. Petersburg,
Petropolis, 1997, 205 p.
Khalizev V. E. Teoriya literatury [The theory of literature]. Moscow, Vyssh. shk., 1999,
398 p.
Khalizev V. E. Tsennostnye orientatsii russkoy klassiki [The value system of Russian classics].
Moscow, Gnozis, 2005, 432 p.
Kikhney L. G., Merkel’ E. V. Aksiologiya povsednevnykh veshchey v poetike akmeizma
[The axiology of everyday things in the poetics of akmeism]. Tomsk State University Journal of
Philology. 2015, no. 1, pp. 129–138.
Kolobayeva L. A. Filosofiya i literatura: paralleli, pereklichki i otzvuki (Russkaya literatura
20 veka) [Philosophy and literature: parallels, echoes and reminiscences (Russian literature of the
20th century)]. Moscow, Russkiy impul’s, 2013, 224 s.
Kozhinov V. V. Stat’i o sovremennoy literature [Articles about modern literature]. Moscow,
Sov. Rossiya, 1990, 542 p.
Losskiy N. O. Tsennost’ i bytiye. Bog i Tsarstvo Bozhiye kak osnova tsennostey [Value and
existence. God and the Kingdom of God as the basis of values]. Paris, YMCA PRESS, 1931,
136 p.
Mukařovský J. Esteticheskaya funktsiya, norma i tsennost’ kak sotsial’nyye fakty [Aesthetic
function, norm and value as social facts]. In: Trudy po znakovym sistemam [Sign systems studies].
Tartu, 1975, iss. 7, pp. 243–295.
Nedzvetskiy V. A. Stat’i o russkoy literature 19 – 20 vekov. Nauchnaya publitsistika.
Vospominaniya [Articles about Russian literature of 19th – 20th centuries. Scientific journalism.
Memoirs]. Nal’chik, Tetragraf, 2011, 628 p.
Nietzsche F. Volya k vlasti. Opyt pereotsenki vsekh tsennostey [The will to power. The experience
of revaluation of all values]. Moscow, Kul’turnaya Revolyutsiya, 2005, 880 p.
Novikov A. M., Novikov D. A. Metodologiya: slovar’ sistemy osnovnykh ponyatiy [Methodology:
the dictionary of the system of basic concepts]. Moscow, Librokom, 2013, 208 p.
Popova E. V. Tsennostnyy podkhod v issledovanii literaturnogo tvorchestva [Axiological approach
to the study of literature]. Dr. philol. sci. diss. Moscow, 2004, 326 p.
Rickert H. Nauki o prirode i nauki o kul’ture [Science of nature and science of spirit]. Moscow,
Respublika, 1998, 413 p.
Sartre J.-P. Bytiye i nichto. Opyt fenomenologicheskoy ontologii [Being and nothingness:
An essay on phenomenological ontology]. Moscow, Respublika, 2000, 639 p.
Scheler M. Izbrannyye proizvedeniya [Selected works]. Moscow, Gnozis, 1994, 490 p.
Stolovich L. N. Krasota. Dobro. Istina: Ocherki istorii esteticheskoy aksiologii [Beauty.
Good. Truth: Essays on the history of aesthetic axiology]. Moscow, Respublika, 1994, 464 p.
Stolovich L. N. Priroda esteticheskoy tsennosti [Nature of aesthetic value]. Moscow,
Politizdat, 1972, 272 p.
Sultanov K. K. Natsional’naya samobytnost’ i khudozhestvennaya tsennost’: k voprosu
o vzaimodopolnyayemosti etnokul’turnogo diskursa i aksiologicheskogo podkhoda [National
identity and artistic value: to the question of complementarity of ethno-cultural discourse and
axiological approach]. Studia Litterarum. 2018, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 230–251.
Sultanov K. K. Natsional’noye samosoznaniye i tsennostnyye oriyentatsii literatury [National
consciousness and value orientations of literature]. Moscow, IWL RAS, 2001, 200 p.
Svitel’skiy V. A. Lichnost’ v mire tsennostey (aksiologiya russkoy psikhologicheskoy prozy
1860–1870-kh godov) [Personality in the world of values (axiology of Russian psychological
prose 1860–1870s)]. Voronezh, VSU Publ., 2005, 232 p.
Voropayev V. A. Dukhom skhimnik sokrushennyy…: zhizn’ i tvorchestvo N. V. Gogolya
v svete Pravoslaviya [The Monk saddened by Spirit: N. V. Gogol’s life and work in the light of
Orthodoxy]. Moscow, Mosk. rabochiy, 1994, 159 p.
Zobnin Yu. V. Nikolay Gumilev – poet Pravoslaviya [Nikolay Gumilev – the poet of Orthodoxy].
St. Petersburg, SPbUHSS, 2000, 384 p.