New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-05-18
TOLSTOTS KREUTZER SONATA"
4 MORBID. COARSE And GROSS VIEW or
LIFE.


TIE KRrrT1En SONATA. ~ Count leo Tol,to..
'rrau-latcd hy lcni amin H. Tucker. l'M'. up
i,3 Boston benjamin f. IH'hcr
Tie strange psychological experiences thr'u-h
which Count Leo Tolstpi las been passing ever
since lie gave up the pursuit Of sane and siinp"
literature aud plunged into mysticism with Inc
aroor and enthusiasm not merely OF NO.
rhvie but II a discOycrcr. have lc" him 10 cN-
prcssions Of an equally phenomenal character II
was hi, fortune 10 read tie New Testament when
past middle age and. as hc TOOK up "a" STUDY "i
II without other preparation than famil'i'f
with he varuc and crude ideas Of tie Nihihs'N a.
+, hardly surprising that lie created ~ himself
some peculiar readings and applications H. ail
lie has written from this new point If view. how
ever. the mos, characteristic feature has been
ioporauc. Of everything essential 10 religious and
social criticism. For anything manifest TO the
contrary in his later books. Count Tolstoi might
have dropped upon on, little earth from some
distant pl,uct Human development. hIst'ri, cN-
,.rcncc nrc alike unknown 20 lin. oI hc treats
thcu As though they had no significance 81 ll-
.iructiyc uses lie would pass a sponge over ;hr
,ybolr Christian era, and begin again az the Dee.
aiming Certainly Count Tostoi thus exposes
himself 10 the charge OF oVcrwccninG assurance,
tlouqh perhaps j. may really be an excess Of
,uodcsty which tToublcs him, for shy people ollrn
u,,l T. extremes ~ conceal their t"mpcfamcntnl
dinldcncc In his diGactc books he has arraencd
civilization, and at least convinced himself that
ricbc, are wrong. that progress IL "a snare that
~ dc muscular labor Is the ideal stat" OF E", that
literature is q dcluson, that non-comhatIam Is Ia"
,rue rule Of conduct, and that government II any
kind is ANTI hrisian. one might think these
srccping propositions quite enough 10 occupy the
attention of the most ambitious reiorncr, but
Cnunt Tostni is not content with the scope Of
Ijs urogran,mc, and in The kreutzcr Sonata lac
has made another long stcp-wc can hardly say
tor,,ord but at all events In advance Of his
former demands.
Tho oddlty o. this book is that il appears 10
ain, ., a union between two utterly Incompatible
/ ,I.i,,,.- namely. Christianity and the Pcssimisn
| If Scbopcnhaucr. If We Judge by the writer =
| ,rsi.,encc upon the German philosophers main
doc.rinc VIC shall bc warranted in concluding that
Count Tolstoi has worked his way out Of Chris
,ionitv as rapidly as he worked his way into II.
I'm, though his argument taken whole i'm
,,IicitI, travcrscs the Christian creed, nowhere
doe. Lc in terms express the least change Of view
reo.rding the older faith. On the contrary, he
onncors 70 have reached the conclusion that Scho.
pcnhaner is really Christian reformcr The whole
/ argument is indeed, presented IN bizarre way.
/ The scene opens in railway carriage where u
conversation is going on about marriage, It's con
! ditions and obligations. This rs broken into by
/ an .vcited stranger, who speaks bitterly OF the
! institution. and who presently reveals himself
80 q mnn bnt recently on trial for the murder of
lie ,rifc This acquitted uxorcidc falls into talk
with the narrator and, the carriage being by this
time eulpty. save for these two, unbosoms him
.elf of his awful experiences, and in the course
! of his relation develops the theories which the
onthor unQuestionably intends to put forward as
his
Whoever has read Schopcnhaucrs essay or
Tho Netaphysics of the Love of the Sexes will
recognize in The kreutzer Sonata many familiar
acouainthnces though he may think them not i'm
/ proved by the costume with which the Russian
/ odoptcr hns enducd them. In fact, the basi,
80 the argument here advanced is a coarsey ex
! nrcssed contention that sensualism undcrlics mar
| rioqe. and the corollary OF Count Tolsto is that
in order 10 bring about the pure and perfect unior
| of souls what Schopenhaucr calls 81 the dcnia
NJ the will 10 live" must be cultivated until if
| controls human action. OF course the sequenc,
Of this is the extinction Of the race; and AT thi,
noint Count Tostoi joins hands heartily witt
| Schopenhauer, though IL is quite apparent thai
he has not reached the goal by the same path
| Despair of modern civilization and Of human DO