The Autumn of the Middle Ages. Homo ludens. Essay

The collection includes the most significant works of the outstanding Dutch historian and cultural scholar Johan Huizinga (1872–1945). The Autumn of the Middle Ages is a poetic description of the sociocultural phenomenon of the late Middle Ages, a vivid, rich encyclopedia of life, art, and culture of Burgundy in the 14th–15th centuries. Homo ludens is a fundamental study of the playful character of culture, proclaiming the universality of the game phenomenon. In the essays Shadows of Tomorrow, The Darkened World, Man and Culture, the causes and consequences of the spiritual impoverishment of European civilization on the eve of World War II are deeply explored, and a forecast about the revival of culture in the postwar period is given. Three articles are devoted to philosophical and methodological questions of history and cultural studies, theoretical and moral approaches to culture. The artistic talents of the author are demonstrated by an ironic series of drawings dedicated to "domestic history." The edition is equipped with an extensive scientific reference apparatus.