SOURCE: “V. V. Rosanov and V. F. Ehrn,” in Russian Thinkers and Europe, translated by Galia S. Bodde, American Council of Learned Societies, 1953, pp. 136-53.

In the following essay, Zenkovskii examines the work of Rozanov and V. F. Ehrn in the development of modern Russian culture.

The problem of European culture has maintained its vital significance during the entire period following the Crimean War, from 1855 to 1925. This has not only been due to the realization of the cultural and political interdependence of Russia and Europe, which has more than once assumed an extremely critical form; nor has it only been caused by the profound faith of an entire social movement (Populism) in the possibility of Russia following a road different from Europe, whereby the former would give to the world a new social order thus avoiding all the difficulties besetting contemporary Europe. In addition to these factors, a...