German mystic and theosophist Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling (1740–1817) gained immense popularity in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. This fact is proven by numerous translations of his works and reminiscences of his ideas in literary texts and memoirs of the time. Scientist, philosopher, and writer A.T. Bolotov (1738–1833) was his great admirer, follower, and popularizer. The reception of Jung-Stilling is reflected both in Bolotov’s poetic experiments and his works «The old man with his grandson, or Conversations of an old man with his young grandson» (1822), «Assumed events in the Afterlife» (1823) and «About the souls of dead people» (1823) written in the form of Platonic dialogues. Bolotov’s example makes it possible to analyze the reception of the German mystic’s ideas and their dissemination in the non-academic environment.

The article aims to examine V.I. Kryzhanovskaya’s literary work as a means by which representatives of the occult environment introduced the general public to the diversity of occult doctrines. Based on archival and published sources, the article delineates the occult preferences of V.I. Kryzhanovskaya, describes the phenomenon of popular occultism in the context of the occult market in Russia in the late 19^th – early 20^th century, offers a definition of «occult novel» and reveals its understanding by occultists as a means of spreading occult views. The artistic space of fantastic literature is defined as a space alternative to the spaces of both reality and fantasy, and claiming to perform a mediating function between subjective and objective experience. The author suggests that fiction for the occult served not only as an artistic means of transmitting views, but also as an ideal artistic medium, allowing the question of the reality of occult phenomena to remain open, leaving the final decision to the reader.

The article analyzes Mikhail Kuzmin’s poetic cycle Sofia. Gnostic Poems (1917–1918) in the context of his political position in the second half of 1917. Contrary to the assumptions that this cycle, inspired with Gnostic symbolism, became Kuzmin’s way of escapism and his departure from actual problems, a new interpretation of the cycle is proposed. Analysis of the poetics and pragmatics of the cycle against the background of his other works and diaries of 1917 suggests that the gnostic theme has become the way of his mystical understanding of the revolution. Taking into account the fact that the poems were written during a period when Kuzmin shared revolutionary enthusiasm and welcomed both the February and October revolutions. The central Gnostic myth, the descent of Sophia, Kuzmin juxtaposed onto current events, trying to see in the revolution a project for a radical reorganization of the world and the spiritual renewal of man.

The text analyzes the biographical and cultural context of the memories of Harms by the artist A.I. Poret. Harms’ attitude to clinical medicine, occult medical practices and the phenomenon of medical quackery, falsification of medical knowledge as a conscious subversive practice is being reconstructed. Medical subjects and images of doctors are considered in the prose and dramatic works of Harms. An assumption is put forward about the impact on Harms of the image of Agrippa Nettesheim in the novel by Valery Bryusov «The Fiery Angel» and the book by J. Orsier «Agrippa Nettesheim: the famous adventurer of the 16th century» (published in translation into Russian in 1913 with a preface by Bryusov). The prospect of further study of the topic is outlined.

The article examines the life and ideas of Eugene Burnouf (1801–1852), one of the leading European Buddhologists of the 19th century. His work «Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism» is considered the first scientific study of Indian Buddhism. The human image of the Buddha recreated in this work formed the basis of the concept of the «historical Buddha», which prevailed at the end of the 19th century in Buddhist studies. For a long time, Burnouf’s work was considered outdated, but an English translation published in 2010 brought this research back into scientific circulation. The article briefly describes Burnouf’s biography, examines the state of European knowledge about the Buddha and Buddhism by the beginning of Burnouf’s activity. The article analyzes the image of the Buddha created by Burnouf as a preacher of morality and early Buddhism as a simple moral teaching. It is shown that such a representation is due to the classification of texts adopted by Burnouf. The author shows the shift of his research interest from the Mahayana sutras to earlier texts. The final part of the article describes some new ideas and possibilities arising from the modern reading of Burnouf’s text, in particular, the revision of the concept of the «historical Buddha» and the genesis of the terms «Mahayana» and «Hinayana». A hypothesis is proposed about the possible influence of the «Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism» on L.N. Tolstoy.

The attitude towards Buddhism among its researchers has always been different. In the works of the first Buddhologists there was a separation of the philosophical conceptions of the Buddhist religion and its ceremonial side, and the latter was often either criticized or ignored altogether. In the postrevolutionary period many Buddhist works paid little attention to the ritual side of Buddhism, and the situation changed only in the post-war years. The article examines the works of domestic Buddhologists of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union from 1831 to 1991, where the lower boundary of the period under consideration is the date of publication of the first academic work on Buddhology, and the upper one is the collapse of the USSR.