2015 Vol. 6 №2-3

This article is dedicated to the works of a professor from the University of Königsberg, Liudvikas Rėza (1776—1840), a prominent figure in the history of Lithuanian culture acclaimed for his work in collecting, studying, and publishing Lithuanian folklore. Rėza was the first to publish Donelaitis’s poem The Seasons in Lithuanian with a German translation, which happened in Königsberg in 1818. Despite his renown, Rėza remains a true mystery for researchers, being a serious scholar, a poet, and a theologian. This mystery is identified as an ideological opposition of one of the most macabre mysteries in Christianity — the ‘mystery of lawlessness’, as it was formulated by Paul the Apostle.

This article considers the cultural background to the perception of F. Nietzsche’s philosophy in Russia and the philosopher’s influence on the consciousness of Russian emigration. The author stresses the value of periodicals as a source for historical and philosophical studies and addresses the heuristic aspects of publications in periodicals. A general methodological framework for using such sources is proposed. The author describes the features of Nietzsche’s image stressed by Russian émigré audience.

Karsavin’s book Giordano Bruno is considered in the context of its author’s biography. The article explores the hypothesis about the deep ideational and spiritual connection between Karsavin and Giordano Bruno forged by undoing the fetters of rationality through a mystical epiphany. It is shown that, in the book, Karsavin foresaw his own academic fate.