A Spy for an Unknown Country Essays and Lectures by Merab Mamardashvili

Soviet-era philosopher Merab Mamardashvili developed an original and subtle philosophical system distinct from both his orthodox and dissident colleagues. This volume provides English-speaking audiences with a range of his lectures and writings on ancient philosophy, civil society, the European project, and literature. After many decades hiding in plain sight, he emerges as a Soviet thinker who writes in the double-voiced manner of an ideologically surveilled academic and a potent literary and theoretical innovator independent of his context.

Alisa Slaughter is a writer and translator from Southern California. She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College. Slaughter is the author of Bad Habitats (Gold Line Press 2013), co-translator and co-editor of A Spy for an Unknown Country: Essays and Lectures by Merab Mamardashvili (ibidem-Verlag 2020), and co-editor of Both Sides Face East: Durable Words (Academic Studies Press 2025).

Julia Sushytska is Associate Professor of Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture at Occidental College. She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Stony Brook University. Sushytska is co-translator and co-editor of A Spy for an Unknown Country: Essays and Lectures by Merab Mamardashvili (ibidem-Verlag 2020), and co-editor of Both Sides Face East: Durable Words (Academic Studies Press 2025).