Kovelman, A. (2019). The visitors to the Pardes. Paradoxes of the Jewish, Christian, and secular cultures. Moscow: Knizhniki. (In Russ.)

Abstract

The review is concerned with the language of the humanities, in particular, the one on the border between rationalism and mythologising. With the help of V. Shklovsky’s concept of defamiliarisation (ostranenie), the author explores the logic whereby some schools of thought and their related sets of values convert into others. The study paints a kaleidoscopic picture of conversion undergone by elements of humanity’s intellectual history. The main distinguishing feature of such a view of history is a moving picture, whose parts can become elements of completely different holistic entities, whilst remaining perfectly self-identifiable. The book focuses on the key metaphors that determined the way of thinking in a particular period. A metaphor, too, is used to organise the author’s reasoning and argumentation. The review shows how A. Kovelman’s book brings the language of theory back into the fold of literal meanings and their historical transformation.