The silver star., 1899-05-12
COUNT ToLsToI.

imposes, from o'clock in the morn
until in the afternoon. and dur
3 these hours he will not permit
mself to be disturbed under any pre-
xt. He uses the first pen and sheet
paper that comes to hand. no mat
what the quality may be. and he
rites very rapidly, about twenty
Ages of manuscript being an average
ly's work. These twenty pages are
len copied by some friend. or by the
cunts wife and daughters. after
Fhich they are placed on his study ta-
lie. There the Count finds them on
he following day. and he then thor
bughly revises them. adding a SEN
ence here, excising a phrase there.
Ind otherwise shaping the work to
lis satisfaction.
n This done fresh COPY is made. Ac-
<tording to Sergheenko, Tolstoi is SO
areful over his manuscript, not be-
ause he desires to make 1t as perfect
Is possible in regard to form and Ian
uage. but because he finds that new
IDEAS come to him after MS first rough
raft has been made. and he feels
bound to embody them in his COM
pleted manuscript. In other words.
with Tolstoi the idea is everything
Ind style or form nothing. or next to
hothing. Indeed, he complains that
the manual task OF writing Is detri-
mental to sincerity Of thought and ex-
preston. and that this is the reason
why his first drafts are, as rule, SO
unsatisfactory.
His days work done. he loves to
read aloud to circle of friends. After
he had written "The Power OF Dark
ness" he read 1t to some OF his neigh
bors. and derived much profit from
their criticisms and comments. His Sc
verest critics is his wife. She expresses
her opinion freely. and. as she is q
woman Of unusual intelligence. To.stoi
values It highly.
The authors famous romance, war
and Peace" says sergheenko. was at
first intended to be an Introduction to
another work OF fiction. which was to
be called "The Decembrists." Ultimate
ly. however. Tolstoi decided not to
write this latter work. as the topic
did not seem to him to be OF sufiic!ent
human interest. On the other hand.
the events Of 1905 and the campaign
Of 1912 seemed to him of absorbing in
terest, and he spent hve years In writ
ing the romance which is based on
them. BY the way. the manuscript OF
"War and Peace" lay for long time
neglected In drawer. until finally
Count Tolstoi found 1t and deposited Il
In the Moscow Museum.
A romance with Peter tho Great a.
the hero was also planned by To!stoi.
but after thorough study OF his life
and epoch he found that the subject
was not congenial. Peter the Great
seemed to him an admirable character
in many ways. but he could not wholly
sympnthize with him or his plans. and
his hne literary Judgment told him
that he could not htt!ngly p7rtray the
character with whom he was not Who'll.
iy In sympathy.
The idea Of writing "Anna kare-
nina" came to Tolstoi during certain
evening In 1873 as he was listening to
. story In Pushkin. which was being
read aloud by his son. The story was
simple one. and Tolstoi especially
admired the opening sentences for
their simplicity and naturalness.
THAT Is tho way one ought to write"
he remarked. you must attract the
readers attention at once II sou wish
to retain IT," to which somc memters
OF his family replied that Il would be
we'll for him 70 set the example him
self by writing = simple modern ro-
nance himself. That evening, In the
ssciusion Of his study, Tolatoi wrots
the hrst chartsr Of Anna Karenina,"