Tolstoy thread

[Anonymous No.23325365]

In this thread you will post about the life and works of Count Lev Tolstoy

[Anonymous No.23325374]

>>23325365
overrated rich kid

[Anonymous No.23325438]

I adore Tolstoy but the more I read of him, the more I cant help see these streaks of bitterness and condescension in his work that just completely disrupt the otherwise transcendent beauty he can often revoke

[Anonymous No.23325442]

>>23325438
Its a package deal. And when he’s “bitter” he’s always interesting

[Anonymous No.23325453]

>>23325438
He's often disagreeable but these traits are what draw me to him. His audacity, his desire to always speak something of importance. His writing never feels like he's trying to get a paycheck or earn praise even though those were motivations of his. His writing just feels like pure expression. This is a man who wanted to say things and he said it in the most candid and eloquent way in literary history. And that's very refreshing to me. No other author has as much of a relation to the words they wrote than Tolstoy.

[Anonymous No.23325597]

>>23325453
A good example of this is Hadji Murad which begins with Tolstoy himself telling people how he came up with the story, and he uses the scenario as a metaphor for the whole novel and uses it as a bookend. I haven't seen many artists ever do something like this. He bridges reality and fiction so remarkably

[Anonymous No.23325693]

>>23325365
Who do you think he put the most of himself into in war & peace? For me it's Nikolai.

[Anonymous No.23325707]

Ana Karennina is amazing. it really made me value the traditional way of life as a beautiful thing in it self.But the chapters about administration and the ones of him complaining about doctors checking his wife are boring and dumb. I love some of his short stories, like Alyosha the pot, Hadji Murad and The dance are great. But there is one of him bitching about not been able to stop fucking other women are pathetic.

[Anonymous No.23325725]

>>23325707
Have you ever served in a managerial role(over physical labor), or dealt with a loved one suffering through a terminal sickness, being responsible for them, and all that entails? I honestly found the distrust of doctors and medicine as one of the most relatable aspects of his novels. Having family who spent their whole lives working on people you understand they're just mercenary mechanics. 95% of doctors recommended unfiltered camels for a sore throat you know?

[Anonymous No.23325748]

>>23325707
>not been able to stop fucking other women
Which one is that? The Devil?

[Anonymous No.23325772]

Hadji Murad is amazing and demonstrates he understood Islamic spirituality

[Anonymous No.23325786]

>>23325725
His constant seething about doctors is based and redpilled especially if you witnessed the COVID fiasco. Also made Chekhov pissed because of this

[Anonymous No.23325797]

>>23325597
fun fact: It's not a fictional metaphor. He actually saw that.

[Anonymous No.23325810]

>>23325797
That's what I mean, he himself is the narrator of the book and puts himself as a character in it. It's Tolstoy literally talking about a real-life situation and then turns this situation into a metaphor for the work of fiction he creates. Have not seen another author do this aside from him.

[Anonymous No.23325836]

>>23325786
The more things change the more they stay the same. Too many people ignore his military service during his formative years and and focus on his life as an aristocrat, the parallels to the lives of upper middle class northeasterners who hit OIF and/or OEF is unmistakable. The mindset as a young man fighting in a "minor" war(crimea) is "formative"; the romance and ardor of war dying before your very eyes. The "doctors" who literally kill your friends in front of you. Always claiming the doctors of the past were wrong, but we've got it now! I do admire those men for at least making the attempt, and I think Tolstoy did too, but in some places you learn fast that "science" as it's called today ain't all its cracked up.
>"you, friend, are leading a bad, irregular life; live better"-
-Is the same real, best, unmedical advice I give my friends. "Eat healthy, exercise regularly, don't drink or smoke too much."

[Anonymous No.23325840]

>>23325786
the Kreutzer sonata is so good. I don't agree fully with the ideas but honestly I think its as good as Death of Ivan Illych,

[Anonymous No.23325858]

>>23325810
Pretty common actually, write what you know they say for a reason. Ishmael never got on a whaler in real life, but Melville sure did.

[Anonymous No.23325896]

>>23325858
Melville didn't insert himself into the book by saying "Hey, I'm Melville, here's what happened to me and why I wrote Moby Dick"

[Anonymous No.23325942]

>>23325810
Does he really say "Hello I am Tolstoy" in Hadji Murat? I just assumed it was the narrator.

[Anonymous No.23325946]

>>23325942
He explicitly doesn't say it's him, but it is. In his diaries he talks about the same thing happening to him (finding a thistle in razed dirt) and how it made him think of Hadji Murat, and then decided to write a book about him

[Anonymous No.23326517]

>>23325365
>Lev Tolstoy
I read his confessions and he came across as a pretentious pseud desu

[Anonymous No.23326525]

Reading Ana Karenina was the biggest wasting of time I have ever done. Why is the book so long if there's no meaning or purpose to it?

[Anonymous No.23326532]

>>23326517
what does pseud even mean to you people? Id hate to go through life like this, always on the lookout for pseuds. Takes one to know one, I suppose. You guys should try to have positive, constructive thoughts and to quiet the critical apparatus always humming in the background of your mind. Your like a teenager absolutely terrified of appearing cringe

[Anonymous No.23326543]

>>23326532
That part where he thought Solomon was the author of the ecclesiastics. The part where he said epicureans were pure hedonists. The part where he considered himself on the same rank as Schopenhauer. Stuff like that.
Just saying he probably thought he was smarter than he was
>see pic

also insane projection from u, like chill dawg im cool so be cool 2 plz

[Anonymous No.23326558]

>>23325453
NTA and I like Tolstoy overall, but
>he said it in the most candid and eloquent way in literary history
When he's being unapologetically condescending that does seriously ruin the beauty of his work, like >>23325438 said.

It's kinda hard to find beauty in the words a bitter old man going "well you are al retards and now know how it is so shut the fuck up and listen", and if it's possible it's rather from pitying him rather than listening to him.

[Anonymous No.23326560]

>>23326543
>he part where he considered himself on the same rank as Schopenhauer
That's a remarkably self-depreciating statement for Tolstoy, as he's obviously way above Shoppy.

[Anonymous No.23326562]

>>23326560
Sure but he considered Schopenhauer a genius, thus more evidence to his lack of critical skills

[Anonymous No.23327164]

>>23326543
He was an aristocratic rationalist and spent his life battling with his ego. The fact that he’s pretentious is the whole appeal, it’s why he wrote 2 massive novels that are the greatest. He wanted to be the greatest. I don’t know how his words in Confession could offend you

[Anonymous No.23327276]

The only text I have read from him is My Confession and it has put me off reading anything else from him.

Separate the art from the artist, but this individual is particularly demonic and has never shown an inkling of personal growth with his advanced age.

He was alive during the first Russian revolution after his supposed religious enlightenment and his contribution to Russian society was advocating for Christian pacifism in the 1905 revolution, which spectacularly backfired -- not that it ever concerned him from the safety of his folding lawn chair and cup holder. The Russian imperial guard sliced up tens of thousands of peasants, and this made sure the next person to try a revolution ensured that the next iteration of social change won't be thematically passive, Christian and ineffective.

Tolstoy is one of those people who's wickedness leaks into the many fictions that he writes and the autobiographical nature of his texts is shrouded by a label of fiction that won't fool anyone but the most veritable of idiots.

[Anonymous No.23327349]

>>23327276
all those words and you have yet to explain why such a person is "demonic"

[Anonymous No.23327638]

>>23325374
Jump under a train.
>>23325438
I think that's what makes him interesting, more than the other Russians. He clearly wants to make a point about something, and pours himself into it, whether about how one can be happy, or the meaninglessness of war.

[Anonymous No.23327669]

>>23327276
I fully agree, pacifism and weakness at the time of the 1905 revolution was idiotic. The Tsar's government must have hanged every single revolutionary, socialist, and communist, instead of pandering to them. Only then could the horrors of 1917 have been avoided.

[Anonymous No.23327896]

>>23327669
He failed miserably in Russia but ironically enough succeeded in India to some extent with Gandhi

[Anonymous No.23328251]

>>23327164
>how his words in Confession could offend you
who said anything about being offended? It aroused pity if anything

[Anonymous No.23328616]

>>23325365
trust fund author

[Anonymous No.23328641]

>>23325365
Has /lit/ read his calendar of wisdom (I dont remember the name but there were three editions with 3 different titles, and afaik one english translation made very late)
He read it every day for 6 years and he loved it. Its a compilation of thpughts from other authors including thoughts of his own, on various themes, to be read everyday of the year, each day a theme
I started yesterday

[Anonymous No.23328907]

>>23328641
Lot of good quotes in that book but he’s very biased to certain writers

[Anonymous No.23328932]

>>23328641
feels like a children's book
very pedantic

[Anonymous No.23328942]

He made churchites seethe so he’s ok in my book some russian ‘saint’ even publicly called for his death lmao

[Anonymous No.23329092]

>>23325365
I enjoy his writing. Comfy.

[Anonymous No.23329938]

>>23328641
it has bullshit like this in it
>A person can understand himself as a material or a spiritual being. When you understand yourself as a spiritual being, then you are free.
yeah but why gramps

[Anonymous No.23329969]

Anna Karenina was very good. I read it after Master & Margarita, Dead Souls and The Brothers Karamazov. For being a thousand page book I found it quite simple to read through quickly.

[Anonymous No.23330089]

>>23329969
I still haven't read Dead Souls. Would you say it's on the same level as Tolstoy's stuff? Thanks.

[Anonymous No.23330108]

>>23330089
Very different. Not a hard read either though. Insanely funny and satirical. Quite short.

[Anonymous No.23330857]

>>23325365
He is a very good writer, it's a shame that he will always be in the shadow of Dostoyevsky.

[Anonymous No.23330898]

>>23326562
So you say Schopenhauer wasn’t a genius? Why not?