A Famous Enigma: On Alexandre Kojève: An Intellectual Biography and “The Life and Thought of Alexandre Kojève”
Summary
This Cleveland Review of Books piece reviews two English-language biographies of Alexandre Kojève by Marco Filoni and Boris Groys. It argues Kojève was more than a reader of Hegel and situates him as a significant, ambivalent figure shaping concepts like the end of history and modern bureaucracy. The essay contrasts Filoni’s scholarly rigor with Groys’ popular-friendly approach and explores how each book reinterprets Kojève’s life and influence on 20th-century thought.