Otium post negotium?

This detailed review of the book by N.A. Khrenov “The Playful Human in Russian Culture” focuses on the most interesting moments of the book. The author equals play with leisure, reviewing the latter from two points of view: spiritual (cultural) and material (civilizational). He considers leisure a specific cultural phenomenon that has its own history and certain socio-cultural functions. The aim of leisure activity is to develop human personality, whereas leisure provides conditions for freedom. The author analyzes cultural functions of leisure using Russian nobility of 18–19th centuries as an example. He also analyzes present-day leisure and shows that modern culture turns back to archaic forms of play that are typical of culture before the Modern period N.A. Khrenov describes the processes of institutionalizing leisure values. The authors of the review not only set forth N.A. Khrenov's position, but also dispute with him.