Russian Mason on the Paths of his Native Culture. The Case Study of Nicolas Novikov

Małgorzata Abassy s book is a useful and clever analysis in which an intellectual story of a Russian thinker becomes a materiał for a case study that strengthens a broader reflection about the transformation of seemingly unchangeable patterns of Russian culture. A fragment of a revieu> written by dr hab. Joachim Diec, prof. UJ Małgorzata Abassy displays profound knowledge of her research subject; she refers to numerous primary sources and she analyses extensively the tangle of the old and new patterns of culture in Nicolas Novikov s writings. The Author is consistent in her description of the differences in the understanding of a citizen s freedom between the court and the intelłigentsia; the contrast between the two world views: the imperiał one and that of the Enlightenment. A fragment of a review written by prof. dr hab. Jerzy Kapuśdk