In search of the ‘life’s delo’ (life’s work): The history of the concept ‘delo’ in Russia in the second third of the 19th century

Abstract

The concept of ‘delo’ (matter, affair, work, case, deed) remains almost unexplored, despite its importance for the Russian culture. In the middle of the 19^th century many Russian thinkers were obsessed with the search for the ‘delo’, which found its reflection in the works of Russian classics. The article aims to partially fill the gap in the study of this concept. It focuses on the second third of the 19^th century—the period when different modifications of the ‘delo’ began to take shape. An essential role in these processes was played by networking in the format of so-called circles, familiarity with German philosophy and attempts to use new concepts in self-discovery. All this was underpinned by the emergence of new forms of activity that could make up the ‘life’s delo’ (life’s work): literary criticism, teaching, social activities, and, later, the revolutionary movement. What we have is an interdependent process where a new understanding of human life is seen from the perspective of new possibilities. This expands the semantics of the concepts describing life. Attempts to find a ‘delo’ are related to the new synthesis of the private, individual and general, in other words, the possibility—at a new level and on a new scale—of achieving unity in a way similar to the past when each social class knew and did their own ‘delo’.