Reflections

The book of Innocent Fyodorovich Anensky (1855-1909), an educator, connoisseur of Antiquity, poet, translator, playwright, literary critic, includes his key works: «The Book of Reflections» (1906), «The Second Book of Reflections» (1909), articles «What is Poetry?» (written in 1903, published in 1911) and «On Contemporary Lyricism» (1909). Selected essays — an unparalleled pinnacle of Russian aesthetic criticism. Anensky belonged to those authors of the Silver Age who sought to make literary analysis a form of verbal art. He developed a unique narrative style about the creative processes of writers, whom he considered important for understanding the Russian soul in its quest for beauty as a justification for life, which he tirelessly sought. Anensky's manner influenced the later works of N.S. Gumilev, Y.I. Tynyanov, V.B. Shklovsky, O.E. Mandelstam, L.S. Vygotsky. Anensky reconstructs and analyzes what occurs in the minds of writers during their creative processes. The main conclusions bring the author of the essays closer to Russian existentialists N.A. Berdyaev and L.I. Shestov. The book «Reflections» is intended for those who wish to immerse themselves in the Silver Age, to understand its essence and its connection with previous and subsequent milestones in the literary process in Russia. First of all, this, of course, includes students of the humanities and teachers of secondary and higher education. The comments illuminating the broadest spectrum of realities of the mid-19th to early 20th centuries are designed to help the reader navigate the complex linguistic, cultural, and historical processes of the era.