Fallen Leaves

Vasily Rozanov is one of the most original Russian philosophers and literary critics of the Silver Age. Literary work was for him a way of life, a mode of existence, a daily activity, and a necessity. At the same time,... Rozanov never tried to write anything specifically 'artistic' and wondered why no one had thought to write like this before, simply, without any invented characters, without depicting the setting and circumstances, without immersing oneself in the plot. Rozanov created a unique genre — 'fallen leaves', comparable perhaps only to contemporary online diaries — blogs. The book 'Fallen Leaves' (1913–1915) consists of individual notes of thoughts and impressions that 'flow continuously' and which the author shares with readers in a confiding manner; their sequence forms the plot. This edition also includes two other significant works by Vasily Rozanov: 'Solitude' (1911), where the type of philosophizing originally arises, continued in 'Fallen Leaves', as well as the essay 'The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor by F. M. Dostoevsky' (1891), dedicated to the novel 'The Brothers Karamazov' and which brought Rozanov fame.