Father-Child Correspondence as an Experience of Connection between Generations in the Russian Cultural Tradition

Abstract

The idea of confrontation between parents and children is embedded in myths. At present,  though, the relationship between generations tend to acquire new features. Gerontocracy has become a political and educational issue, while in everyday life we face a very powerful multifunctional stratum of older generations, which includes  mothers and grandmothers, slightly fewer fathers, and even fewer grandfathers. The older generations gave life to the younger ones, created culture, technologies, material and spiritual values, which are offered for use to the young. They are offered,  instead of being mastered in the course of joint activity. The abundance of opportunities not conditioned by needs has given rise to a unique cultural crisis, the generation gap, which is believed to result from technology. Is this true, and is it possible to overcome the value gap? In the author's opinion, the problem consists not only in broken communications, but also in questioned humanity, since technologies are beginning to replace people and the relationships between them. Do the elders and previous generations have any experience? Overcoming the crisis requires, first of all, not just decisions and actions, but comprehension, philosophical reflection on what we call traditional values and ways of their genuine transmission, meaningful assimilation and actualization in everyday practices. One of the ways of preserving/returning/cultivating intergenerational connections may be found in the correspondence between parents (mostly fathers) and their children. These are famous fathers, whose names have been preserved by history. For centuries, such correspondence has been a common thing, a truly cultural practice of  sharing worldly wisdom.