"He reflects on the years after his release from prison and the events leading up to the Second World War. His powerful recollection of the blockade of Leningrad provides the reader with a horrific insight into the harsh effects of war, hunger and survival. Likhachev goes on to describe post-war Russia and how his own livelihood developed from literary editor to a return to Leningrad University as Professor of History. This compelling autobiography finishes with Likhachev's return to Solovki as a free man."--BOOK JACKET.
This compelling and often traumatic book is the memoir of one of the most important figures in modern Russian history, Dmitry S. Likhachev, revered as ‘a guardian of national culture’. Reflections on the Russian Soul is an incredible account of an intellectual’s turbulent journey through twentieth century Russia. Likhachev re-counts the fortunes of people with whom he came into contact and reproduces the air of passed years in Russia. Likhachev vividly portrays his childhood years in St. Petersburg and continues into his student life at Leningrad University that led to an agonizing period of imprisonment and near death. He describes how a harmless prank caught the attention of the Secret Police, resulting in his exile and confinement within the infamous prison island of Solovki. He describes his first-hand experience of brutality in prison during the early Stalin years and the incident that not only saved him but also haunted him for the rest of his life. He reflects on the years after his release from prison and the events leading up to the Second World War. His powerful recollection of the blockade of Leningrad provides the reader with a horrific insight into the harsh effects of war, hunger and survival. Lichachev goes on to describe post-war Russia and how his own livelihood developed from literary editor to a return to Leningrad University as Professor of History. This compelling autobiography finishes with Likhachev’s poignant return to Solovki as a free man.
These essays will interest readers familiar with the work of Nobel Prize–winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and are a great starting point for those eager for an introduction to the great Russian’s work. When people think of Russia today, they tend to gravitate toward images of Soviet domination or, more recently, Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. The reality, however, is that, despite Russia’s political failures, its rich history of culture, religion, and philosophical reflection—even during the darkest days of the Gulag—have been a deposit of wisdom for American artists, religious thinkers, and political philosophers probing what it means to be human in America. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn stands out as the key figure in this conversation, as both a Russian literary giant and an exile from Russia living in America for two decades. This anthology reconsiders Solzhenitsyn’s work from a variety of perspectives—his faith, his politics, and the influences and context of his literature—to provide a prophetic vision for our current national confusion over universal ideals. In Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West, David P. Deavel and Jessica Hooten Wilson have collected essays from the foremost scholars and thinkers of comparative studies who have been tracking what Americans have borrowed and learned from Solzhenitsyn and his fellow Russians. The book offers a consideration of what we have in common—the truth, goodness, and beauty America has drawn from Russian culture and from masters such as Solzhenitsyn—and will suggest to readers what we can still learn and what we must preserve. The last section expands the book's theme and reach by examining the impact of other notable Russian authors, including Pushkin, Dostoevsky, and Gogol. Contributors: David P. Deavel, Jessica Hooten Wilson, Nathan Nielson, Eugene Vodolazkin, David Walsh, Matthew Lee Miller, Ralph C. Wood, Gary Saul Morson, Edward E. Ericson, Jr., Micah Mattix, Joseph Pearce, James F. Pontuso, Daniel J. Mahoney, William Jason Wallace, Lee Trepanier, Peter Leithart, Dale Peterson, Julianna Leachman, Walter G. Moss, and Jacob Howland.
The Singing Heart: A Book of Quiet Reflections is a collection of reflections on human nature and morality; the beauty of nature and its relationship with man as created being and God as creator; man's duties, responsibilities, and destiny in life; and the interplay of heart, mind, and soul. These reflections from a "singing heart" are beautifully written in a language steeped in love for Russia and the Orthodox faith and provide a glimpse into the soul of a man who refused to be beaten by the cruelty of his time but found beauty in the darkest of days.
The book examines the wide panorama of Russian theological reflection found in a variety of sources—ecclesiastical books, sermons, literature, poetry, theater, historical treatises, scholarly works, and free translations of theology books. It presents not only the reflections of authors who remained in the framework of the official Orthodox theology, but also dissenters, primarily Old Believers and masons, who often sought to infuse Orthodox Christianity with a more personal approach.
The last ten years were decisive for Russia, not only in the political sphere, but also culturally as this period saw the rise and crystallization of Russian postmodernism. The essays, manifestos, and articles gathered here investigate various manifestations of this crucial cultural trend. Exploring Russian fiction, poetry, art, and spirituality, they provide a point of departure and a valuable guide to an area of contemporary literary-cultural studies which is currently insufficiently represented in English-language scholarship. A brief but useful "Who's Who in Russian Postmodernism" as an appendix introduces many authors who have never before appeared in a reference work of this kind and renders this book essential reading for those interested in the latest trends in Russian intellectual life.
Why is the name of this composite book “Mystifying Russian soul”? Let’s apply to Wikipedia: “The concept arouse in the second part of the 19th century due to a philosophy of the leading Russian writers such as Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. In their popular in Europe books not ethic, but aesthetic principles as well as not entertaining, but moral needs are playing the dominant role. “Spirit” of such writings turned into “Soul” and lead to a concept “Mystifying Russian soul” popular abroad. Except Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy almost all the writers who became classics of Russian and world literature took part in this process. The composite book “Mystifying Russian soul” contains more than twenty their novels, tales, plays and poems. Contents: Nikolai Gogol Dead Souls Nikolai Gogol Taras Bulba Fyodor Dostoevsky The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky The Idiot Leo Tolstoy War and Peace Leo Tolstoy Anna Karenina Alexander Pushkin Eugene Onegin Alexander Pushkin The Daughter Of The Commandant Alexander Pushkin The Bakchesarian Fountain Ivan Turgenev Fathers and Children Ivan Goncharov Oblomov Anton Chekhov The Witch and Other Stories Anton Chekhov The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov The Three Sisters Mikhail Lermontov A Hero of Our Time Aleksandr Ostrovsky The Storm Mikhail Saltykov A Family of Noblemen Aleksandr Kuprin The Duel Maxim Gorky Mother
This collection of daily thoughts to nourish the soul from the world’s sacred texts by Leo Tolstoy feature gems of inspiration and wisdom—author Thomas Keneally calls this book “transcendent, and that we are grateful he lived long enough to endow us with his grand inheritance.” This is the first-ever English-language edition of the book Leo Tolstoy considered to be his most important contribution to humanity, the work of his life's last years. Widely read in pre-revolutionary Russia, banned and forgotten under Communism; and recently rediscovered to great excitement, A Calendar of Wisdom is a day-by-day guide that illuminates the path of a life worth living with a brightness undimmed by time. Unjustly censored for nearly a century, it deserves to be placed with the few books in our history that will never cease teaching us the essence of what is important in this world.
Fred Dallmayr bridges the gap between the self and the outside world in 'Freedom and Solidarity'. Drawing on new scholarship and his work with the World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations, he challenges dominant worldviews and heralds new possibilities for political thought and practice.
