The article presents selected literary texts of Russian Romanticism, which can be classified as utopian or dystopian literature. Attention was drawn to the fluidity of borders between the species of positive and negative utopia. Works by Utopian writers were divided into two groups: those sympathizing with decay (A. Ulybyshev, W. Küchelbecker) and those representing the Pushkin era: J. Senkovskij and V. Odojevsky. The analysis of utopian texts showed that they belonged mainly to escapist utopias, and Russian Romanticism significantly influenced the development of negative utopias, which were open to the literary experiment. It was also shown that the works in question are related to the genre of travel literature and scientific fantasy.

The theme of the article focuses on the description of the tactile sphere selected for the presentation of Russian literary prose figures from the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 21st century. The term “homo hapticus” is understood in the article as a characterization of a figure expressed through touch. At the same time, haptics, representative of the physical, biological side of the characters’ functioning in the world, is closely related to their spiritual sphere and can be referred to types of saintly characters. These dependencies are expressed by both the touching and the touched subject, and in particular by the body elements involved in the haptic turn – in my examples these are the hands and the mouth. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that the haptics of the analysed characters abolishes the binary between the material and spiritual worlds. He points out that touch reflects not only a specific physical action, but is closely related to the Russian cultural context, primarily the religious. It is the haptics of the figures who act as healers that allows them to be called righteous men – expressing a loving Christian attitude towards their fellow man.