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 20^th century, Shestov remains obscure in the English-speaking world, although partly rediscovered in his native Russia. By th

This article in full comprises 3897 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

First published 12 October 2009

Citation: Tabachnikova, Olga. "Lev Shestov". The Literary Encyclopedia. 12 October 2009.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12621, accessed 21 November 2009.]