Issue #38

Abstract: Parfentiev P. Echo of the Good News: Christian Motifs in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien. — Moscow: TTT; TO SPB, 2004. — 322 p. The book by Pavel Parfentiev, a church historian and one of the founders of the Tolkien Society of St. Petersburg, is a study of Christian motifs in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The author analyzes key aspects of Tolkien’s mythology in their connection with Christian teaching: creation, freedom, good and evil, heroism and humility. The book also polemicizes with other Tolkien scholars, such as Tom Shippey, and offers the reader both a coherent picture of Tolkien’s work in the light of Christianity and an accessible introduction to some theological themes.
Rozin V. From the Analysis of Works of Art to Understanding the Essence of Art. — Moscow: Golos, 2022. — 261 p. The book is composed of the author’s articles on the nature of art. Rozin polemicizes with L.S. Vygotsky’s concept from “The Psychology of Art” and offers his own approach, considering art through the prism of artistic communication, artistic reality and creativity. He analyzes both contemporary works of art (G. Yakhina, R. Negarestani, M. Shalev, the series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) and the phenomenon of music.
Neretina S. “The Earth Humming with Metaphor”. Philosophy and Literature. — Moscow: Golos, 2022. — 604 p. The second volume of the book devoted to the comparison of philosophical and literary works (the first volume — “No Word Is Better Than Another”. Philosophy and Literature”). Analyzes Western European and Russian works (Lermontov, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Gorky, Platonov, Shalamov, Okudzhava, etc.). The book explores the philosophical and literary history of modernity, overlaying it with a postmodern grid, and reveals the metaphorical “hum of being” as an expression of the internally revolutionary thought of the New Age.