Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Impressions of Russian Literature - VII
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
speak of his visit without emotion. Concerning the
reports of a decay in Tolstoï’s intellectual power he said:
“Tolstoï has a clear, penetrating mind, especially
tolerant of such as think otherwise, and of an angelic
goodness. He reads everything, is interested in everything,
and in his conversation does not attempt any propaganda.
Poorly clad, half in rags, he lives in his family,
which does not share in his convictions, but which
honors and idolizes him. His wife is an intelligent
woman, an excellent mistress of her house, a house
which is kept up in grand style. The sons, practical
men, take care of the estate. The daughter is beautiful,
worldly; in her very elegant costume she goes out to
walk with her half-dressed father, and worships him.”
The people who surround him at the present time
consist of three classes: the half-mad, who see in him
what they want to see, and who get out of his words
what they wish. In the second place, the good-for-nothings,
who come to profit by his benevolent disposition,
and who are often discontented, since he cannot
satisfy all their demands. Finally, the correspondents
of the different newspapers, who write about him
entirely according to the tendency of the paper to which
they contribute.
Tolstoï teaches, above everything else, that people
ought to be happy just as they ought to be pure. To
be happy we must have as few necessities as possible.
Hence the return to the primitive condition, which he
finds in the life of the peasant, which is so simple.
The moralizing propensity has been strong in Tolstoï
from the beginning. It is always to be found in his
writings, except, perhaps, in some of his very earliest
little stories, like “Lucerne.” It is unmistakable in
“War and Peace;” it is very strongly stamped on
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
