[1]Journal, dated October 28, 1879. Here is the entire passage:"There are in this world heavy folk, without wings. They struggle down below. There are strong men among them: as Napoleon. He leaves terrible traces among humanity. He sows discord.—There are men who let their wings grow, slowly launch themselves, and hover: the monks. There are light fliers, who easily mount and fall: the worthy idealists. There are men with powerful wings.... There are the celestial ones, who out of their love of men descend to earth and fold their wings, and teach others how to fly. Then, when they are no longer needed, they re-ascend: as did Christ."
[1]Journal, dated October 28, 1879. Here is the entire passage:
"There are in this world heavy folk, without wings. They struggle down below. There are strong men among them: as Napoleon. He leaves terrible traces among humanity. He sows discord.—There are men who let their wings grow, slowly launch themselves, and hover: the monks. There are light fliers, who easily mount and fall: the worthy idealists. There are men with powerful wings.... There are the celestial ones, who out of their love of men descend to earth and fold their wings, and teach others how to fly. Then, when they are no longer needed, they re-ascend: as did Christ."
[2]"One can live only while one is drunken with life." (Confessions, 1879). "I am mad with living.... It is summer, the delicious summer. This year. I have struggled for a long time; but the beauty of nature has conquered me. I rejoice in life." (Letter to Fet, July, 1880.) These lines were written at the height of the religious crisis.
[2]"One can live only while one is drunken with life." (Confessions, 1879). "I am mad with living.... It is summer, the delicious summer. This year. I have struggled for a long time; but the beauty of nature has conquered me. I rejoice in life." (Letter to Fet, July, 1880.) These lines were written at the height of the religious crisis.
[3]In hisJournal,dated May 1, 1863: "The thought of death." ... "I desire and love immortality."
[3]In hisJournal,dated May 1, 1863: "The thought of death." ... "I desire and love immortality."
[4]"I was intoxicated with that boiling anger and indignation which I love to feel, which I excite even when I feel it naturally, because it acts upon me in such a way as to calm me, and gives me, at least for a few moments, an extraordinary elasticity, and the full fire and energy of all the physical and moral capacities." (Diary of Prince D. Nekhludov,Lucerne, 1857.)
[4]"I was intoxicated with that boiling anger and indignation which I love to feel, which I excite even when I feel it naturally, because it acts upon me in such a way as to calm me, and gives me, at least for a few moments, an extraordinary elasticity, and the full fire and energy of all the physical and moral capacities." (Diary of Prince D. Nekhludov,Lucerne, 1857.)
[5]His article onWar,written on the occasion of the Universal Peace Congress in London in 1891, is a rude satire on the peacemakers who believe in international arbitration:"This is the story of the bird which is caught after a pinch of salt has been put on his tail. It is quite as easy to catch him without it. They laugh at us who speak of arbitration and disarmament by consent of the Powers. Mere verbiage, this! Naturally the Governments approve: worthy apostles! They know very well that their approval will never prevent their doing as they will." (Cruel Pleasures.)
[5]His article onWar,written on the occasion of the Universal Peace Congress in London in 1891, is a rude satire on the peacemakers who believe in international arbitration:
"This is the story of the bird which is caught after a pinch of salt has been put on his tail. It is quite as easy to catch him without it. They laugh at us who speak of arbitration and disarmament by consent of the Powers. Mere verbiage, this! Naturally the Governments approve: worthy apostles! They know very well that their approval will never prevent their doing as they will." (Cruel Pleasures.)
[6]Nature was always "the best friend" of Tolstoy, as he loved to say: "A friend is good; but he will die, or he will go abroad, and one cannot follow him; while Nature, to which one may be united by an act of purchase or by inheritance, is better. Nature to me is cold and exacting, repulses me and hinders me; yet Nature is a friend whom we keep until death, and into whom we shall enter when we die." (Letter to Fet, May 19, 1861.Further Letters.) He shared in the life of nature; he was born again in the spring. "March and April are my best months for work." Towards the end of autumn he became more torpid. "To me it is the most dead of all the seasons; I do not think; I do not write; I feel agreeably stupid." (To Fet, October, 1869.) But the Nature that spoke so intimately to his heart was that of his own home, Yasnaya Polyana. Although he wrote some very charming notes upon the Lake of Geneva when travelling in Switzerland, and especially on the Clarens district, whither the memory of Rousseau attracted him, he felt himself a stranger amid the Swiss landscape; and the ties of his native land appeared more closely drawn and sweeter: "I love Nature when she surrounds me on every side, when on every hand the warm air envelopes me which extends through the infinite distance; when the very same lush grasses that I have crushed in throwing myself on the ground make the verdure of the infinite meadows; when the same leaves which, shaken by the wind, throw the shadow on my face, make the sombre blue of the distant forest; when the very air I breathe makes the light-blue background of the infinite sky; when not I alone am delighting in nature; when around me whirl and hum millions of insects and the birds are singing. The greatest delight in nature is when I feel myself making a part of all. Here (in Switzerland) the infinite distance is beautiful, but I have nothing in common with it." (May, 1851.)
[6]Nature was always "the best friend" of Tolstoy, as he loved to say: "A friend is good; but he will die, or he will go abroad, and one cannot follow him; while Nature, to which one may be united by an act of purchase or by inheritance, is better. Nature to me is cold and exacting, repulses me and hinders me; yet Nature is a friend whom we keep until death, and into whom we shall enter when we die." (Letter to Fet, May 19, 1861.Further Letters.) He shared in the life of nature; he was born again in the spring. "March and April are my best months for work." Towards the end of autumn he became more torpid. "To me it is the most dead of all the seasons; I do not think; I do not write; I feel agreeably stupid." (To Fet, October, 1869.) But the Nature that spoke so intimately to his heart was that of his own home, Yasnaya Polyana. Although he wrote some very charming notes upon the Lake of Geneva when travelling in Switzerland, and especially on the Clarens district, whither the memory of Rousseau attracted him, he felt himself a stranger amid the Swiss landscape; and the ties of his native land appeared more closely drawn and sweeter: "I love Nature when she surrounds me on every side, when on every hand the warm air envelopes me which extends through the infinite distance; when the very same lush grasses that I have crushed in throwing myself on the ground make the verdure of the infinite meadows; when the same leaves which, shaken by the wind, throw the shadow on my face, make the sombre blue of the distant forest; when the very air I breathe makes the light-blue background of the infinite sky; when not I alone am delighting in nature; when around me whirl and hum millions of insects and the birds are singing. The greatest delight in nature is when I feel myself making a part of all. Here (in Switzerland) the infinite distance is beautiful, but I have nothing in common with it." (May, 1851.)
[7]Conversations with M. Paul Boyer(Le Temps,August 28, 1901).The similarity is really very striking at times, and might well deceive one. Take the profession of faith of the dying Julie:"I could not say that I believed what it was impossible for me to believe, and I have always believed what I said I believed. This was as much as rested with me."Compare Tolstoy's letter to the Holy Synod:"It may be that my beliefs are embarrassing or displeasing. It is not within my power to change them, just as it is not in my power to change my body. I cannot believe anything but what I believe, at this hour when I am preparing to return to that God from whom I came."Or this passage from theRéponse à Christophe de Beaumont,which seems pure Tolstoy:"I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. My Master has told me that he who loves his brother accomplishes the law."Or again:"The whole of the Lord's Prayer is expressed in these words: 'Thy Will be done!'" (Troisième lettre de la Montague.)Compare with:"I am replacing all my prayers with thePater Nosier.All the requests I can make of God are expressed with greater moral elevation by these words: 'Thy Will be done!'" (Tolstoy'sJournal,in the Caucasus, 1852-3.)The similarity of thought is no less striking in the province of art:"The first rule of the art of writing," said Rousseau, "is to speak plainly and to express one's thought exactly."And Tolstoy:"Think what you will, but in such a manner that every word may be understood by all. One cannot write anything bad in perfectly plain language."I have demonstrated elsewhere that the satirical descriptions of the Paris Opera in theNouvelle Héloisehave much in common with Tolstoy's criticisms inWhat is Art?
[7]Conversations with M. Paul Boyer(Le Temps,August 28, 1901).
The similarity is really very striking at times, and might well deceive one. Take the profession of faith of the dying Julie:
"I could not say that I believed what it was impossible for me to believe, and I have always believed what I said I believed. This was as much as rested with me."
Compare Tolstoy's letter to the Holy Synod:
"It may be that my beliefs are embarrassing or displeasing. It is not within my power to change them, just as it is not in my power to change my body. I cannot believe anything but what I believe, at this hour when I am preparing to return to that God from whom I came."
Or this passage from theRéponse à Christophe de Beaumont,which seems pure Tolstoy:
"I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. My Master has told me that he who loves his brother accomplishes the law."
Or again:
"The whole of the Lord's Prayer is expressed in these words: 'Thy Will be done!'" (Troisième lettre de la Montague.)
Compare with:
"I am replacing all my prayers with thePater Nosier.All the requests I can make of God are expressed with greater moral elevation by these words: 'Thy Will be done!'" (Tolstoy'sJournal,in the Caucasus, 1852-3.)
The similarity of thought is no less striking in the province of art:
"The first rule of the art of writing," said Rousseau, "is to speak plainly and to express one's thought exactly."
And Tolstoy:
"Think what you will, but in such a manner that every word may be understood by all. One cannot write anything bad in perfectly plain language."
I have demonstrated elsewhere that the satirical descriptions of the Paris Opera in theNouvelle Héloisehave much in common with Tolstoy's criticisms inWhat is Art?
[8]Journal, January 6, 1903.
[8]Journal, January 6, 1903.
[9]Quatrième Promenade.
[9]Quatrième Promenade.
[10]Letter to Birukov.
[10]Letter to Birukov.
[11]Sebastopol in May, 1853.
[11]Sebastopol in May, 1853.
[12]"The truth.... the only thing that has been left me of my moral conceptions, the sole thing that I shall still fulfil." (October 17, 1860.)
[12]"The truth.... the only thing that has been left me of my moral conceptions, the sole thing that I shall still fulfil." (October 17, 1860.)
[13]Ibid.
[13]Ibid.
[14]"The love of men is the natural state of the soul, and we do not observe it." (Journal,while he was a student at Kazan.)
[14]"The love of men is the natural state of the soul, and we do not observe it." (Journal,while he was a student at Kazan.)
[15]"The truth will make way for love." (Confessions.)
[15]"The truth will make way for love." (Confessions.)
[16]"'You are always talking of energy? But the basis of energy is love,' said Anna, 'and love does not come at will.'" (Anna Karenin.)
[16]"'You are always talking of energy? But the basis of energy is love,' said Anna, 'and love does not come at will.'" (Anna Karenin.)
[17]"Beauty and love, those two sole reasons for human existence." (War and Peace.)
[17]"Beauty and love, those two sole reasons for human existence." (War and Peace.)
[18]"I believe in God, who for me is Love." (To the Holy Synod,1901.)"'Yes, love!... Not selfish love, but love as I knew it, for the first time in my life, when I saw my enemy dying at my side, and loved him.... It is the very essence of the soul. To love his neighbour, to love his enemies, to love all and each, is to love God in all His manifestations!... To love a creature who is dear to us is human love: to love an enemy is almost divine love!'" (Prince Andrei inWar and Peace.)
[18]"I believe in God, who for me is Love." (To the Holy Synod,1901.)
"'Yes, love!... Not selfish love, but love as I knew it, for the first time in my life, when I saw my enemy dying at my side, and loved him.... It is the very essence of the soul. To love his neighbour, to love his enemies, to love all and each, is to love God in all His manifestations!... To love a creature who is dear to us is human love: to love an enemy is almost divine love!'" (Prince Andrei inWar and Peace.)
[19]"The passionate love of the artist for his subject is the soul of art. Without love no work of art is possible." (Letter of September, 1889.)
[19]"The passionate love of the artist for his subject is the soul of art. Without love no work of art is possible." (Letter of September, 1889.)
[20]"I write books, which is why I know all the evil they do." ... (Letter to P. V. Veriguin, leader of the Doukhobors, 1898.Further Letters.)
[20]"I write books, which is why I know all the evil they do." ... (Letter to P. V. Veriguin, leader of the Doukhobors, 1898.Further Letters.)
[21]See theRussian Proprietor,or see inConfessions,the strongly idealised view of these men, simple, good, content with their lot, living serenely and having the sense of life: or, at the end of the second part ofResurrection,that vision "of a new humanity, a new world," which appeared to Nekhludov when he met the workers returning from their toil.
[21]See theRussian Proprietor,or see inConfessions,the strongly idealised view of these men, simple, good, content with their lot, living serenely and having the sense of life: or, at the end of the second part ofResurrection,that vision "of a new humanity, a new world," which appeared to Nekhludov when he met the workers returning from their toil.
[22]"A Christian should not think whether he is morally superior or inferior to others; but he is the better Christian as he travels more rapidly along the road to perfection, whatever may be his position upon it at any particular moment. Thus the stationary virtue of the Pharisee is less Christian than that of the thief, whose soul is moving rapidly towards the ideal, and who repents upon his cross." (Cruel Pleasures.)
[22]"A Christian should not think whether he is morally superior or inferior to others; but he is the better Christian as he travels more rapidly along the road to perfection, whatever may be his position upon it at any particular moment. Thus the stationary virtue of the Pharisee is less Christian than that of the thief, whose soul is moving rapidly towards the ideal, and who repents upon his cross." (Cruel Pleasures.)
INDEX(The names of characters and titles of books are in italics.)ALEXANDRA, Tolstoy's aunt,18Ancestry, Tolstoy's,14,15Analysis, self-,29Andrei Bolkonsky, Prince,88-90,94,100Anna Karenin(novel),76,84,99,102,203Anna Karenin(character),103,104Arabian Nights,19,169Art—Attacks on modern,145,146Tolstoy's conception of,147-150His ignorance of,151His religious ideal of art,156Christian art extinct,157The art of the future,159Endowment of,159Mission of,160Austerlitz,89,90BACH,153Bachkirs, the,102Bagration,88Beethoven,151,155,181,183Bers family, the,75Bers, S. A.,179Bers, Sophie,seeCountess TolstoyBesoukhov, Pierre,88,91-94,100Bloody Sunday,212Böcklin,151Boyer, Paul,167Boyhood,42Brahms,151Breton, Jules,151Brothers, Tolstoy's,17Brush with the Enemy, A,44Bylines,19,168CAUCASUS, Tolstoy joins Army of the,33Census, the, Tolstoy assists in taking,127Chavannes, P. de,151Childhood, Tolstoy's,17-19Childhood, Boyhood, Youth,15,16,19,23Begun in the Caucasus,35;39Tolstoy's later opinion of,40;84SeeBoyhoodandYouthChina, Tolstoy's admiration for,Christ, Tolstoy's conception of,119Concordance and Translation of the Four Gospels,118Confessions,106,120,238Cossacks, The,44Countess Tolstoy—Character and abilities,83As model,84;100,135-138,226-227Letter to,229-231Creed, Tolstoy's,123-124Crimea, transference to the,49Criticism of Dogmatic Theology,118Criticism of art, destructive,Cycle of Readings,200DEATH OF IVAN ILYITCH, THE,6,68,165,174-175Decembrists, The(a projected novel),91Diary of a Sportsman,68,75Diary of Prince D. Nekhludov,65Dmitri Tolstoy,17Death of,106-107Don Quixote,158Dostoyevsky,158,193Dreyfus Affair, the,154Droujinine,61EDUCATION, Tolstoy's ideas concerning,23-25,66End of a World, The,201England, Tolstoy contemplates retiring to,103Erochta,the old Cossack,45Execution, effect of a public64FAITH, Tolstoy's, brings no happiness,128Family, Tolstoy's,16Family dissensions,228Family Happiness,75-77,84Father, Tolstoy's,16Feminism, Tolstoy's attitude towards,138Flaubert's opinion of Tolstoy's work,99,245GAPON, FATHER,212George, Henry,225Georgians, the,213Goethe,156Gontcharov,61Great Crime, The,201,210Greek, Tolstoy studies,101Gricha,the idiot,18Grigorovitch,61HADJI MOURAD,199Hebrew, Tolstoy studies,137Home, Tolstoy's,seeYasnaya PolyanaHugo, Victor,158Hunting, renounced,132IBSEN,151Introspection, Tolstoy's faculty of,29Invasion, The,35,42Irtenieff, Nikolas,15JOSEPH, the History of,19,159Journal, Tolstoy's,14,27,34KARENIN,106Karatayev,91Kazan,23Khlopoff, Captain,43Kitty Levine,84,103Klinger, Max;151Kozeltoff,brothers, inSebastopol in August, 1855,56-57Kreutzer Sonata, The,165,174,176-177,181Kutuzov,88,90-91LEVINE,103,106-108, in Lhermitte,151Liberal Party, Tolstoy's disdain of the,66,202-203Life,120Literary Society of St. Petersburg,Tolstoy's dislike of,61-67Logic, heroic,129-130Love—Definition of,122Tolstoy's attitude towards sexual,177Law of,211Lucerne, incident of the singer,65MANET,151Marriage, Tolstoy's views concerning,100,177Marie, Princess,88-89Marie Tolstoy,16,94Maslova,191Master and Servant,165Michelangelo,151Millet,151Molière,158Moscow, effect of visit to,127,130,147Music—Love of,28-29Ignorance of modern music,151-152;153In theKreutzer Sonata,178Dread of,179Suggested State control over,182-183NATASHA,90,93-94,179-180Nekhludov,26-28,33,68,181,191Nekhludov, Diary of Prince D.,65Nikolas Tolstoy,17,33Dies of phthisis,69Non-Resistance,211,225OLD BELIEVERS, the,212Olenin,45Orthodox Church, Tolstoy's relations with the,117Ostrovsky,61PAKHOM THE PEASANT,169-170Parents, Tolstoy's,15-16Pascal,120Pedagogy,135Polikushka,70,78Popular Tales,42,165,168Popular idiom,167-168Portraits of Tolstoy—Of 1848, 26 (note)Of 1851,35Of 1856,61Of 1885,129;140Posdnicheff,177,182Power of Darkness, The,165,170-173Prashhoukhin,death of,54REASON(letter upon),121Reason, Tolstoy's distrust of,108;120-121Religion—Tolstoy's vague agnosticism as a youth,24Revival of, in the Caucasus,33-39;100,123-124,135,209,215-216Rembrandt,151Resurrection,166,187-195,224,247Revolution, Tolstoy prophesies,209-210Roumania, Tolstoy joins Army of,49Rousseau, J. J., worship of,27;240-243Rules of Life,25Russian Proprietor, A,27Written in the Caucasus,35;42Russo-Japanese War,201ST. PETERSBURG, Tolstoy's dislike of literary society of,61,67Samara,192Schopenhauer,101(note)Science, Tolstoy attacks,145Sebastopol in December, 1854,52Sebastopol in May, 1855,52-56Sebastopol in August, 1855,52,54-57Sebastopol, the siege of,49-57Sexual morality,177Shakespeare,166Shakespeare, no artist,152-153,155-156Siegfried, hasty judgment on,152"Smartness," Tolstoy's worship of,27Socialism, Tolstoy's hatred of,205-208Society, pictures of Russian,103Sophia Bers,seeCountess TolstoySovremennik,the (Russian review),40Spelling-book, Tolstoy's,135State, the, a murderous entity,130Stepan Arcadievitch,105Sterne, influence of,41Story-teller, a blind,19Strauss,151Stuck,151Suarès,6,61Suicidal tendencies,107,111,113TATIANA, Tolstoy's aunt,17Tchaikowsky,151Terror, attack of nervous,100Three Deaths,68Three Old Men,168Tolstoy, Countess,75,83,84,100,135-138,226-227,229-231Tolstoy, Dmitri,17Death of,106-107Tolstoy, Leo—Reception of his work in France,6Influence of Rousseau and Stendhal,7Organic unity of his life,13Ancestry and inheritances,Childhood,17-19Student days,23-25Personal appearance(seePortraits),25-26Joins Army of Caucasus,33Religious experiences,33-34First literary work,35Effects of illness,39Early work,41-45Love of life,46Transferred to Crimea,49Narratives of Sebastopol,52Enters St. Petersburg literary society,61Quarrels with Tourgenev,63Travels in Europe,64Studies pedagogy,66Effect of his brother's death70Courtship,75Marriage,76-83War and Peace,83-95Anna Karenina,99Effect of Dmitri's death,107Suicidal tendencies,111His "conversion,"115-16Joins the Orthodox Church,117Leaves it,117Visits Moscow,127Commences to write on religioussubjects,136Differences with Countess Tolstoy,136-137Spiritual loneliness,140Attacks upon modern art and science,145His ignorance of art,151Ignorance of modern music,152Attack upon Shakespeare,153-157Religious and æsthetic ideals,156-161His fear of music,178-180Political ideals,214Religious ideals,215-216Old age,219Political hopes,220Loneliness,228Intends leaving his family,229Death,234Tolstoy, Nikolas,17,33,69Töppfer, influence of,41Tourgenev,17,61-63Criticism of Tolstoy,95,140,202Turkey, war declared upon,49Two Hussars, The,68VOLODYA,seeKozeltoffVogüé, Melchior de,140Vronsky,103-104WAGNER, Tolstoy's hasty judgment of,152,155War and Peace,15,43,84,95,99-101,103-105What I Believe,141What is Art t149-150,166What shall we do?129,138Woman, Tolstoy's ideal of,138-139Woodcutters, The,44YASNAYA POLYANA,16,33Tolstoy returns to,65Experiments at,66-67;224,228Youth—Written during the siege of Sebastopol,50Lyrical beauty of,51