Fiction's Overcoat

Edith Clowe's fine book is an impassioned argument for the distinctiveness and legitimacy of Russian philosophy in relation to its western counterpart.... The immense virtue of Clowe's book is to emphasize the formal richness and radically of Russian philosophy as an innovatively impure discourse unto itself, thereby preparing the necessary basis to pose this very contemporary question of authority anew and, thus, to assess whether Russian philosophy truly deals with the problems the German tradition sought to resolve. This further project of questioning, an extremely important and relevant one, belongs to studies that can build on what Clowe's book has first made visible—here new territory has been ventured upon in the most productive way.

-- Jeff Love, Clemson University * Slavic and East European Journal *

In Fiction's Overcoat Edith Clowes offers a stimulating survey of the development of philosophical thought in Russia from the early nineteenth century to the first decade of the Soviet regime.... Edith Clowes has done a fine job in guiding the reader through the complex maze of Russian speculative thought.... Edith Clowe's book makes an original and valuable contribution to the study of the Russian philosophical tradition. It should engage the attention of those interested in Russian intellectual history, Russian literature, and, of course, the rich tradition of Russian speculative philosophy.

-- Julian W. Connolly, University of Virginia, Charlottesville * Partial Answers *

The book title refers to Dostoevsky's observation that Russian writers of his generation emerged out of Gogol's famous short story The Overcoat. The author expands on this idea and argues that while Russia did not have a strong academic philosophical tradition during the nineteenth century, a vibrant philosophical culture did emerge then from the 'overcoat' of a well-established Russian literary tradition, rather than from the Western philosophical tradition. Russian philosophy developed in the context of an ongoing conversation with literature, radical social writing, and theology. The result was a... tradition that passionately debated a wide range of issues, including metaphysical, aesthetic, and ethical questions.

* Choice *

Those interested in the historical dynamics of the dialogue between literature and philosophy in modern Russia have often tended to view literature as a successful substitute for an absent tradition of (western) philosophizing. In her book, Fiction's Overcoat, Edith Clowes has chosen a different, methodologically more sophisticated approach. She steers away from the notion of literature as a mere replacement or reflection of philosophy; instead, she endeavors to show that Russian philosophy grew from the tissue of literature and preserved these birth marks all along, thus assuming an identity of its own, different from mainstream western philosophy but no less valuable for that.... Clowes has written a thoughtful book that will be of great interest to scholars and graduate students in Russian literature and intellectual history. Her exposition, sensitive to detail and at the same time secure in outlining the wider picture, adds to our perception of the interaction between literature and philosophy in Russia over the last two centuries.

-- Galin Tihanov, Lancaster University * Slavic Revi