Top 5 books by Rodion Shafikov: literary and philosophical pearls that will change your perception of the world

If we start, we should start from the very beginning! In the "Epic" I value not so much the myth as the literature - really, real literature, which is found in a text written many centuries before our era, far from the world of classical antiquity. And there are all the same problems and difficult choices that have not left our lives today!

Before this book I had read many other books on philosophy and generally came to Wittgenstein late. And for the first time I encountered the fact that a philosophical text can cause real delight and captivate you completely. Each great philosopher seems to hold your hand and lead you along a path, the beauty and complexity of which you could not have imagined before.

As an example of my favorite Poe story - out of many, many others that I value very much. They are all incredible in their atmosphere. Here, pan-European romanticism merges with the energy of young American literature - and thus an absolutely amazing and poetic world arises. And thanks to Poe for the foundations of the horror genre!

In fact, not only about Kierkegaard, but also about Pascal, Luther, Nietzsche, the biblical Job – Shestov masterfully weaves the voices of thinkers of the past into his own speech. All to tear us away from the charm – and humble captivity – of abstract “eternal” truths for the sake of genuine life in the freedom of possession of the finite

As an example of Wilde's favorite fairy tale - and they are all excellent! I have found out through experience that when I read "The Happy Prince" out loud, I always cry at the end. The author's taste for image and word is simply incomparable, which is where such power comes from. And the fairy tale genre as a whole opens up spaces that seem to be still underestimated by authors and readers.