What is the author's style in Russian Thinkers by Isaiah Berlin?

Even though Isaiah Berlin's essays originally appeared in academic journals, they were addressed not to academics but to a general audiences. Many were originally delivered as public lectures. Thus, they are not specialist pieces. Nevertheless, they do assume a degree of general knowledge far beyond what today's writers for general audiences expect. Berlin's style often runs to long sentences with many clauses, as he pursues a theme or idea. He often paraphrases the content of forgotten Russian novels, pamphlets or essays, offering only occasional or oblique comments.

Berlin's main purpose is, first, to draw the audience into the milieu of the Russian nineteenth century, with which he is fascinated. Second, he wants to convince readers of the importance of neglected themes or ideas in the work of one or another writer or thinker, to broaden the audience's understanding of the variety and complexity of Russian culture beyond the audience's casual reading or knowledge of Tolstoy or Dostoevsky.

Although Berlin rarely makes direct reference to the reality of the Soviet Union, its existence is the background for every one of the essays in this collection. Although Berlin is an unapologetic literary and political scholar, convinced of the value of delving into past figures, even forgotten or less-important ones, the content of all his investigations is the triumph of Communism in Russia and what it means for the continued existence of liberalism, in which Berlin wants to continue to believe, but without any illusions of utopianism, even the residual illusions of that great skeptic Herzen. Furthermore, many of the cultural conflicts Berlin describes have re-emerged in post-Soviet Russia, especially the perpetual conflict between the "Westernizers" and "Slavophils."