Abstract

The focus of this article is the influence of Lev Shestov’s ideas on European intellectuals, especially French philosophers and poets. The author shows that the Russian thinker had a significant impact on shaping the intellectual atmosphere in France at the first half of the twentieth century, contributing to the rise of existentialist philosophy. Among Shestov’s direct philosophical followers are literary critic, writer, and musicologist Boris de Schloezer; essayist and philosopher Georges Bataille; and poet Benjamin Fondane.