Anton Chekhov Through the Eyes of Russian Thinkers: Vasilii Rozanov, Dmitrii Merezhkovskii and Lev Shestov

Olga Tabachnikova

Anthem Press, Oct 1, 2012 - Literary Criticism - 312 pages

The collection is comprised of twelve scholarly essays written by leading Chekhov specialists from around the world.  Each essay analyses an interpretation of Chekhov by one of three prominent Russian thinkers of the Silver Age of Russian culture - Vasilii Rozanov, Dmitrii Merezhkovskii and Lev Shestov. This volume is particularly valuable in that its main focus is placed on the perception of Chekhov's art by those who existed on the border between literary criticism and philosophy. This is complemented by a literary critique of their accounts, and therefore remains faithful to Chekhov's poetics.

The collection thus examines the hitherto under-researched relationship between the origins and the results of the cultural phase that we now refer to as the Silver Age, and focuses specifically on the complex connections between Chekhov's legacy and the Russian culture of that period. Through its stress on the philosophical perception of Chekhov, this book offers a thematically consistent and systematic revelation of new dimensions to Chekhov's creative heritage. The essays are supplemented by biographical accounts of Rozanov, Merezhkovskii and Shestov.

Contents

• Acknowledgments: ix
• List of Names: xxxi
• List of Russian Cultural Concepts: xlix
• Overcoming Literature: 3
• Vasilii Rozanovs Reading of Chekhov: 13
• Contemporaneity Competition and Combat: 37
• Two Types: 93
• Merezhkovskiis: 113
• An Illuminating Misinterpretation? On Merezhkovskiis: 129
• Lev Shestov on Chekhov: 169
• ShestovChekhov ChekhovShestov: 199
• Chekhov and Shestov: 219

About the author

Olga Tabachnikova holds a PhD in Mathematics and a PhD in Russian Literature and Philosophy. She is now a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Russian Department of the University of Bristol.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Anton Chekhov Through the Eyes of Russian Thinkers: Vasilii Rozanov, Dmitrii Merezhkovskii and Lev Shestov; Anthem Series on Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies
• Editor: Olga Tabachnikova
• Publisher: Anthem Press, 2012
• ISBN: 0857282271, 9780857282279
• Length: 312 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / European / Eastern; Literary Criticism / General