Personality and the awareness of God in Zinaida Gippius's theory of androgyny

Zinaida Gippius's literary works are striking for the development of the theme of androgyny.Chapter One examines the major Russian Symbolist intellectuals in their treatment of androgyny, which was animated by a desire to transfigure the world. Gippius's treatment of androgyny was at odds with the prevailing theory because it was not based on the defeminization of humanity.Chapter Two addresses Gippius's reconstruction of Symbolist androgyny theory and explains the rejection of gender-based motivation in her metaphysical system by its orientation toward personality and an awareness of God.Chapter Three shows how she used her poetry and prose to advance her belief that a perfect, androgynous love could reunite humanity with God. While Gippius's prose describes the search for this type of love, her poetry deals with it as a lyric experience.The religious motivations of Gippius's redefinition of Symbolist androgyny indicate the need to re-evaluate the place of Orthodox Christianity in the evolution of Russian Symbolism