Ethan Alexander-Davey and Glenn Cronin discuss the penetrating insights of the 19th century Russian Orthodox writer Konstantin Leontiev, an aristocratic voice who has become an important figure in Russian intellectual and political life since 1991, but remains unknown in the West. The conversation focuses on Dr. Cronin’s recent book, Disenchanted Wanderer: The Apocalyptic Vision of Konstantin Leontiev. Leontiev’s political philosophy combines a Nietzschean aestheticism with Orthodox Christian culture, which he called “Byzantinism.”

Works by Glenn Cronin
Disenchanted Wanderer: The Apocalyptic Vision of Konstantin Leontiev
https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501760181/disenchanted-wanderer/
 
The Enduring Enigma of Lev Tikhomirov
https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501783456/the-enduring-enigma-of-lev-tikhomirov/#bookTabs=1
 
Works by Ethan Alexander-Davey
Aristocratic Souls in Democratic Times
https://www.amazon.com/Aristocratic-Souls-Democratic-Political-Theory/dp/1498553265/
 
Aristocracy and the Καλλίπολις: Konstantin Leontiev and the Politics of ‘Flourishing Complexity'
https://www.academia.edu/44382561/Aristocracy_and_the_%CE%9A%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%AF%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%82_Konstantin_Leontiev_and_the_Politics_of_Flourishing_Complexity
 
Konstantin Leontiev in English
Byzantinism and Slavdom
https://www.amazon.com/Byzantinism-Slavdom-Konstantin-Leontiev/dp/B08LNLCLCL/
 
Lev Tikhomirov in English
Why I Ceased to be a Revolutionary
https://www.amazon.com/Why-Ceased-Revolutionary-Beginnings-Ends/dp/B08LNJKZ96/


The 2026 Ciceronian Society Conference will be held March 12-14 at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. Panel and paper proposals are due September 1, 2025.
To lea...
Chapters
(00:00:00) - Introduction(00:02:09) - Who is Konstantin Leontiev?(00:06:48) - Why Read Leontiev?(00:11:26) - Two Stories About Leontiev(00:17:57) - Aestheticism(00:24:48) - Orthodoxy(00:31:01) - Theory of Civilizational Development(00:36:49) - Nationalism but not Ethnic Nationalism(00:41:25) - Criticism of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy(00:48:45) - Influence of Augustine(00:54:04) - Preview of Next Book

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