Lev Shestov: Philosopher of the Sleepless Night

Description

The Jewish philosopher Lev Shestov (1866-1938) is perhaps the great forgotten thinker of the twentieth century, but one whose revival seems timely and urgent in the twenty-first century. An important influence on Georges Bataille, Albert Camus, Gilles Deleuze and many others, Shestov developed a fascinating anti-Enlightenment philosophy that critiqued the limits of reason and triumphantly affirmed an ethics of hope in the face of hopelessness. In a wide-ranging reappraisal of his life and thought, which explores his ideas in relation to the history of literature and painting as well as philosophy, Matthew Beaumont restores Shestov to prominence as a thinker for turbulent times. In reconstructing Shestov’s thought and asserting its continued relevance, the book’s central theme is wakefulness. It argues that for Shestov, escape from the limits of rationalist Enlightenment thought comes from maintaining an insomniac vigilance in the face of the spiritual night to which his century appeared condemned. Shestov’s engagement with the image of Christ remaining awake in the Garden of Gethsemane then, is at the core of his inspiring understanding of our ethical responsibilities after the horrors of the twentieth century. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Figures Acknowledgements Introduction: Staying woke and staying awake Chapter 1: Athens and Jerusalem: Lev Shestov in Gethsemane I II III Chapter 2: Philosophy and anti-philosophy: Shestov’s interventions I II III IV Chapter 3: Angels of history and death: Shestov’s constellations I II III IV Chapter 4: Garden and wasteland: The art of Gethsemane I II III IV Chapter 5: Sleep and the sleepless: The night of Gethsemane I II III IV Conclusion: Auschwitz and the end of the world I II III Notes Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Conclusion Bibliography Index