Description
Book SynopsisThis collective volume aims to highlight the philosophical and literary idea of apocalypse within key examples in the Slavic world during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From Russian realism to avant-garde painting, from the classic fiction of the nineteenth century to twentieth-century philosophy, not omitting theatre, cinema or music, the concepts of “end of history” and “end of present time” are specifically examined as conditions for a redemptive image of the world. To understand this idea is to understand an essential part of Slavic culture, which, however divergent and variegated it may be, converges on this specific myth in a surprising manner.
Trade Review“This collection enhances our knowledge and understanding of the apocalyptic vision in Russia and Eastern Europe. It introduces experts on Russia to important figures in Bohemia, Croatia, and Poland, and it offers fresh interpretations of well-known Russian authors.”
— Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal (Fordham University), in the Slavic and East European Journal, 59.1 (Spring 2015)
“The volume should be of interest to specialists of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Russian literature and the arts, the Eastern Orthodox Church, or Slavic spirituality in general. While there is great variation among the authors of the ten essays, they all address their genres from a religious or spiritual point of view. As a result, the reader will find some unexpected ‘reads’ of familiar works in the literary and arts sections and an interesting variety of opinions regarding Eastern Orthodoxy and apocalypse in the philosophy section.”
— Sarah Predock Burke, Trinity University, in The Russian Review, January 2014 (Vol. 73, No. 1)
“For anyone concerned with or interested in the topic of the apocalypse in arts, literature and philosophy in Slavic culture this book would be invaluable and it is likely to become a primary reference source for future research in the study of religious concepts in general, and the apocalypse in particular.”
— Ayse Dietrich, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, in the International Journal of Russian Studies, January 2014.
