Lev Shestov (the pen-name of Yehuda Leib Shvartsman) is a Russian-Jewish philosopher of the Silver Age period of Russian culture, whose thought continues to fascinate and inspire sensitive, although not necessarily numerous, readers inside and outside Russia. He was born in Kiev on 31 January (12 February) 1866 and died in Paris on 20 November 1938, having fled Soviet Russia in January 1920.
A representative of the irrationalist trend and to a large extent a precursor of Sartrean Existentialism, whose philosophical-literary works were well known in the French intellectual circles of the early 20th century, Shestov remains obscure in the English-speaking world, although partly rediscovered in his native Russia. By the same token, arguably he remains unread (i.e. not understood) to this
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Citation: Tabachnikova, Olga. "Lev Shestov". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 October 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12621, accessed 22 November 2024.]
