The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-08-07

OF Denef on the part OF the upper olasaaa OF
Europe he's left them with an art fed on the
poorest subject matter. Again the impoverish-
ment ofthe subject matter Of upper-olass art
was further increased by the fact that, ceasIna
TO DO religious. it ceased. also. to be popular.
and this, again. diminished the range OF feel
inRs which IL transmitted. For the range Of
feelings experienced by the powerful and the
rich. who have no experience OF labor for the
support Of life. Ia far poorer. more limited and
more Insignificant than the range OF feel
ings natural TO working people. This AflrmA-
tion will seem 10 many persons q paradox.
but Tolstol thus defends It; II remember how
Gontcharef, the author. q very clever and
educated man. but a thorough townsman and
Esthetician, said to mo that. after TourGenieff's
Memoirs OF q Sportsman there was nothing
left to write about In peasant life. It was all
used up. The life Of working people seemed to
him 30 simple that Tourgenief's peasant
stories had used up all there was TO describe.
The life Of our wealthy people with their love
Affairs and their dissatisfaction with them
selves seemed 10 him full Of in~exhaustiblo
subject matter. One hero kissed his lady on
her palm, another on her elbow and a third
somewhere else. One mar Is diseontented
through idleness. and another because peo-
pie don't love him.. And Gontchareff thought
that. In this sphere. there 10 no end OF va
nety."
TolstoI. for his part. goes on to maintain
that nothing 10 more mistaken than the no.
ton that the life of working people is poor
In subject matter. The life Of q laborinR
man. with Its endless varied forms OF labor.
and the dangers connected with this labor on
sec and underground; his miGrations. the in
tercoursS with his employers. overseers and
companions, and with men Of other religions
and other nationalities: his struggles with
nature and with wild beasts. the association
with domestic animals, the work In the forests,
on the steppe. the field. the garden. the orchard
his Intercourse with wife and children. not
only as with people near and dear to him, but
as with co-workers and helpers in labor. re-
placing him in time OF need; his concern in all
economic questions. not as matters Of display
or discussion. but as problems OF life for him
self and his family; his pride in self-sup-
preston and service to others, his pleasures
OF refreshment; and with all these in
forests permeated by a religious attitude to-
ward these occurrences-all this to us. who
have not these interests and possess no reli-
gious perception, seems monotonous in COM
pnrlson with the small enjoyments and insig-
nihcant cares Of our own life. a life not Of labor
nor OF production. but of consumption and de-
struction Of that which others have produced
for u.s." Our author holds that. in reality. al
most all the emotions OF people Of tho upper
classes amount to but three very insignificant
and simple feelings. the feeling Of pride. the
feeling Of sexual desire and the feeling OF
WEAKNESS Of life. These three feelings, with
their outgrowths, form almost the only subject
matter Of the art Of the rich classes.
At frat. at the very beginning OF tho separa-
ton Of the exclusive art Of the upper classes
from universal art. its chief subject matter was
the feeling of pride. This was the case at the
time OF the Renaissance and after It, when tho
chief subject OF works OF art was the laudation
OF the strong. Popes. Kings. and Dukes, mon
and women of great political and social i'm
portance; odes and madrigals were written in
their honor. and they were extolled In ~cantatas
and hymns; thcir portraits were painted and
their statues carved in various adulatory ways,
Next. tho element OF sexual desire began more
and moro to enter into art. and. with very fow
exceptions Indeed. SO far as novels and dramas
are concerned. almost without any exceptionsl.
it has now become an essential feature OF every
art product destined for the affluent classes.
The third feeling transmitted by the art Of tho
rich. that Of discomfort with life. appeared
latest in modern art. This feeling which, at the
commencement Of the present century. was ex-
pressed only by exceptional men. by Byron, by
Leopard and by Heine. has. ~latterly, become
fashionable, and fs expressed by most ordinary
and empty people. Concerning the works Of
the so-called new writer's. Tolstol adopts the
summing up OF the French critic Doumic.
What we SEQ in them. says Doumic. Is 1.-THE
WEAKNESS Of life, contempt for the present
epoch. regret for another age seen through the
illusion OF nrt. a taste for paradox. a desire to be
singular. a sentimental aspiration after sim
plicity, an infantine alteration OF the marvel
lous. a sickly tendency toward reverie, a shat
tered condition OF nerves. and. above all, the
exasperated demands OF sensuality."