An influential forerunner of French Existentialism, the Russian-born thinker Lev Shestov (1866-1938) elaborated a radical critique of rationalist knowledge and ethics from the point of view of individual human existence. Best known for his ground-breaking comparative studies of Tolstoy and Nietzsche, and of Dostoevsky and Nietzsche, Shestov defined his conception as the 'philosophy of tragedy'. Shestov's philosophical hermeneutics of the literary work of art was later developed and disseminated through the writings of his disciple, the Romanian-born Benjamin Fondane (1898-1944), who was also a poet, filmmaker and playwright. The two authors provided one of the earliest and most consistent critical accounts of Husserlian phenomenology in France. 'The philosophy of tragedy' and its associated notions of 'revolt' and existential truth had a lasting impact on a number of prominent writers and philosophers including Georges Bataille, Andre Gide, Andre Malraux, Albert Camus and Emmanuel Levinas. Precurseur influent de l'Existentialisme, le philosophe d'origine russe, Leon Chestov a elabore une critique radicale de la connaissance rationnelle et de l'ethique du point de vue de l'existence individuelle. Connu en particulier pour l'originalite de ses etudes comparatives sur Tolstoi et Nietzsche, et sur Dostoievski et Nietzsche, Chestov a defini sa conception comme une 'philosophie de la tragedie'. L'hermeneutique philosophique de l'oeuvre litteraire chez Chestov a ete ulterieurement developpee et disseminee a travers les ecrits de son disciple d'origine roumaine, Benjamin Fondane, philosophe, mais aussi poete, cineaste et homme de theatre. Les deux auteurs ont elabore une des premieres et des plus coherentes critiques de la phenomenologie d'Husserl en France. La " philosophie de la tragedie " et les notions qui y sont associees, en particulier celle de " revolte " et de verite existentielle, ont exerce une influence durable sur nombre d'ecrivains et des philosophes reputes, dont Georges Bataille, Andre Gide, Andre Malraux, Albert Camus et Emmanuel Levinas.

Author Biography

The Editor: Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Glasgow, Ramona Fotiade is the Director of the Lev Shestov Studies Society and the editor of the Shestov Journal, which brought out the previously unpublished correspondence between Martin Buber and Shestov (issue nr. 4-5/ 2005). Her book, Conceptions of the Absurd (From Surrealism to the Existential Thought of Shestov and Fondane), was published in 2001. La responsable de la publication: Ramona Fotiade est maitre de conferences a l'Universite de Glasgow (Ecosse). Directrice de la Societe d'Etudes Leon Chestov, elle edite les Cahiers Leon Chestov qui ont recemment publie la correspondance inedite du philosophe avec Martin Buber. (N Degrees4-5, 2005) Son livre, Conceptions de l'absurde. Du surrealisme a la pensee existentielle de Chestov et de Fondane (Conceptions of the Absurd. From Surrealism to the Existential Thought of Shestov and Fondane) a ete publie a Oxford en 2001.