SOURCE: “Vasilii V. Rozanov: Sex, Marriage and Christianity,” in Canadian Slavic Studies, Vol. 5, No. 3, Fall, 1971, pp. 301-26.

In the following essay, Putnam examines the liberalizing effects of Rozanov's thought on Russian society.

Introduction

Some of the major cultural issues of Russia and the West in the twentieth century received striking, thought-provoking formulation in the writings of Vasilii Rozanov (1856-1919). Certain central components of modern civilization, such as rationalism, institutionalized Christianity, repressive sex attitudes and the nuclear family, often questioned by isolated individuals and “Bohemians”, have come under increasingly wide and forceful attack. These were precisely Rozanov's subjects, which he approached from a deeply humanistic point of view and with a lyrical and arresting style, uniquely tuned to the content of his writings. He is a single-minded and seductive irrationalist, who, by that very quality, makes us aware of the dangers in his position and the great value of...