The Religious-Philosophical Seminar, meeting in Leningrad between 1974-1980, was an underground study group where young intellectuals staged debates, read poetry and circulated their own typewritten journal, called 37 . The group and its journal offered a platform to poets who subsequently entered the canon of Russian verse, such as Viktor Krivulin (1944-2001) and Elena Shvarts (1948-2010).

Josephine von Zitzewitz s new study focuses on the Seminar s identification of culture and spirituality, which allowed Leningrad s unofficial culture to tap into the spirit of...