From philosophy to prose. Early Pasternak

In his youth, Pasternak showed a deep interest in philosophy, and, in particular, in neo -Kantianism. Elena Glazova’s book is the first comprehensive study on the influence of these classes on the writer"s early prose. The author boldly revises the idea of ​​R. Jacobson about Pasternak"s predominant metonymicity and shows how, reflecting the writer"s philosophical knowledge, the metaphors form the semantic network of his prose - this is manifested in the thorough construction of the images of time and space, light and darkness, marginal and infinite. Philosophical ideas are melted into ways of perceiving the world, into sophisticated impressionistic self -reflection, which distinguishes Pasternak among his contemporaries - symbolists, acmeists and futurists. Combining the detail of philological analysis and the systematic nature of philosophical generalization, this study is addressed to all readers interested in an integrative approach to Pasternak"s work and intellectual and artistic searches of his era. Elena Glazova - professor of Russian literature at the University of Emory (Atlanta, USA)