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

III.
We pass to TolstoI's attempt to answer the
question. What is this rt to which is offered
up the labor OF millions. tho very lives of men.
and even morality itself? TolstoY submit that
the inaccuracy OF all the foregoing definitions
arises from the fact that. in them all. the OBJ
ject considered Is the pleasure art may give.
and not the purpose 1t may serve in the life of
mankind. He holds that. In order to define art
correctly. 1t Is needful. first of all. to cease to
regard it as a means to pleasure. and to con-
slider 1t as one Of the conditions OF human life.
Viewing 1t In this way. we cannot fail. he
thinks. to observe that art is one Of the means
Of intercourse between man and man. Every
work Of art causes the receiver to enter into q
certain kind Of relationship both with him
who produced or is producing the art and with
all those who simultaneously. previously. or
subsequently receive the same artistic i'm
preston. 1t is needless to point out that
speech. transmitting as It doea the thoughts
and experiences OF men. serves as a means
Of union among them. Art acts in q
similar manner. The popularity Of this
latter means OF intercourse. distinguished
from intercourse by means OF words. con-
sists In this: that, whereas by words a man
transmits his thoughts to another. by means OF
art he transmits his feelinRS. The activity of
0IJ 10 puSGu Ou bIO InCJ GlAI y mdH RECEIVING
through his sense Of hearing or sight another
mans expression of feeling is capable Of ex-
periencing the emotion which moved the man
who expressed It. To take the simplest OK
ample: Ono mar laughs. and another who hears
becomes merry or Q man weeps. and another
who hears feels sorry. A man Is excited or
irritable. and another man. seeing him. comes
to y similar state OF mind. BY his
or by the sounds Of his voice q man expresses
courage and determination or sadness and
resignation. and this state Of mind passes on to
others. 1t is on this capacity Of man to receive
another mans expression OF feeling and ex-
perienoe those feelings himself that the activity
Of art 10 based. Art. however. must be volun-
tary and deliberate. II q man infects another
Immediately and unconsciously by his very
appearance. or by the ounds he instinctiyely
gives vent to at the moment he experiences q
feeling; II. for instance. he causes another man
to yawn when he himself cannot help yawninR.
or to laugh or cry whom he himself Is Obliged
to laugh or cry. or to suffer when he himself Is
really s~uffering-that does not amount to art.
Art begins when one person. with the deliber-
ate purpose Of joining another to himself in
one and the same feeling. expresses that feel
ing by certain external indications. To take
the simplest example: A boy having expert
enced. let us say. fear on encountcring a wolf,
subsequently, relates that encounter, and In
order to evoke In others the feeling he had ex-
perienced describes himself. his condition be-
fore the encounter. the surroundings. the wood.
his own liKhthearteGnesa an. then the Wolfa
appearance, ito movements. the distance be-
tween bimsei: and the animal. &o. All this,
II only the boy. when telling the story
experiences the feelings he had lived
through and intects the hearers and
oompels Thorn to feel what the nara
tor had felt. 10 art. II Ovon the boy
had not Deen q wolf. but had frequently been
afraid OF ono. and II. wishing TO evoke in others
the fear he had felt he invented an encounter
with q wolf and recountsd 1. 30 as TO make his
hearers share the feeling no experienced when
he feared the animal. that, also. would bo art.
Just, in the same way. 1t 10 art II . man having
experienced in reality or in Imagination the fear
Of suffering or the attraction of enjoyment, eH-
80 that others are infected by them. 1t 10 also
art II q man feels or imREines to himself feel
ings OF delight. HlEdness, sorrow. despair. oour-
age. or dependency. and the transition from
one to another Of these feelings. and expresses
these emotions by sounds 80 that the hear
ers are infected by them and experience
them as they were experienced by the
composer. The feelings. In truth. with
which the artist. whether poet. painter,
sculptor. or composer. infects others may
be most various. very strong or very weak, very
important or very insignificant. very bad or
very good; feelings OF love for ones native
land. Of Self-dSVOtion and OF submission to fate
or to God expressed in drama; raDtureS Of