New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-03-18

had watched life and his feelings had been
stirred Resurrection" is likewise the fruit Of
observation and emotion. But in the seventies
when Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina." ne was
consciously or uncOnsciOusIy. an artist He gave
d picture OF human life in the story. He
gave us als1 literature. and however much he
may have desired to illustrate the moral order
Of the world, specializing upon its drift and
seeking for some solution Of it's mysteries, his
pen went on. as though forced by that power
which We call inspiration. to give the reader
pleasure well food for thought Since the
pleasure was of the right sort spiritual intel
lectual- it carried the lesson of the book along
with it In Anna Karenina' we had. in short.
piece OF fiction Of the higher class. In 'Resur-
rection' the author has put all that behind him.
He uses the form OF a novel, but he breaches
sermon He makes the art Of fiction subservienJ
20 his desire to inculcate the sublime thoughts
of the Sermon the Mount The result is
hybrid which might still be great if the tire Of
genius were in it, and it IS this hook
mands the respect which all honest efforts
toward the publication Of mankind deserve But
whether from the nature of his task or from
the failing Of his powers Count Tostoy has
produced in this book not a work of genius but
simply a Iaborious and wearsome tract.
The plot is of the slenderest description.
Prince Dmftri Ivauovitch Nekhludof fcrsaking
in his young manhood the pure life of his youth
and taking willingly to the disspated life Of his
high social stratum. abandons the young
woman whose trust in him has been based or
the rectitude Of their relations as boy and girl
Some years after the unfortunate KaterinG
MikhaeOVna Maslova fallen 10 the last depths
is tried for a crime of which she is innocent
before Il Jury of which NekhIudoff is a member
Appalled, by the ruin TO which his act had led
the woman. he begins to feel bitter searchings
Of heart. These increase in force as the trial
eliminates. through error in Masova's con
demnation. and from the past that had seemed
to be dead there is resurrected the spirit OF his
unsuIed boyhood. He interests himself IN the
repeal Of Masova's sentence TO Siberia. asks
her TO forgive and marry him, follows her into
exile and when. at last. the order committing
her sentence is received he is thrown back upon
himself Mdslova has concluded TO marry
fellow convict. She will not say So. but 1t is
Indicated that she still loves the Prince and
sacrifices herself in order that he may go on
7 living his new life without the ncumbrance that
she believes she would be to him. AT the mo-
ment Of the collapse of his plans he turns to
( the Sermon on the Mount and finds in it the
. inspiration which Will cleanse his soul and help
him help others
If this plot had been handled in a dsinterested
manner. if its dramatic possibilities had been
developed. if the claims Of literature and Of
philanthropy had been balanced, Resurrection
might have been made a great novel. But it
/ is not improbable that this view Of the matter
having presented Itself Tolstoy, rejected
bv him with scorn. one can imagine him say
ing TO himself: Why should I think of art
when my brother is falling by the wayslde ,
Why should I anuse the reader when he needs
to De Scorched with q sense Of the inJustlc. (hel