This vintage book contains a collection of essays written by the influential Russian philosopher, Lev Isaakovich Shestov. One of the most delicate and individual of modern Russian critics, Shestov was a radical empiricist and proto-existentialist thinker who integrated literary theory and philosophical thought in a masterful way that inspired such minds as Camus, Dostoyevsky, Deleuze, D. H. Lawrence, and Bataille. Included in this collection are the essays: ¿Anton Chekhov¿, ¿The Gift of Prophecy¿, ¿Penultimate Words¿, and ¿The Theory of Knowledge¿. The essays of this collection are fascinating and insightful, and constitute a must-reads for all students of philosophy. This antiquarian book was originally published in 1916, and is being republished now in an affordable, modern edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.