Angels and demons of literature

The book is a collection of essays and articles about the spiritual meanings of literature. The author is not a writer, but an economist, that is, not a “literary professional”. But all the more unexpected and interesting opinions and assessments, which are sometimes diametrically opposed to the current stereotypes contained in literature textbooks for secondary and higher schools. The author departs from the traditional idea that fiction, being part of the culture, has positively affects a person and society (with extremely rare exceptions) The book expresses the opposite thesis: fiction, even classics, more often corrupts a person and destroys society. Most of the evidence is built on examples of Russian literature of the XIX - early XX centuries, which was strongly influenced by Western European literature (I.V. Goethe, J. G. Bairon, O. Wilde and others) The fatal role of this Russian-speaking literature in the preparation of the conditions of the revolution of 1905-1907 and the February and October Revolutions of 1917 is shown. In Russian culture of pre -revolutionary time, there were “positive exceptions”. The author refers, first of all, the works of A. S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, F. M. Dostoevsky