New-York tribune., 1910-11-27
THE ART OF TOLSTOY
Mr.. Howells Finds Its Keynote in
Religion.

Review.
first saw his book. My Religion" i'm
the house of two valued friends who spoke
Of 1t bewilderedly. as something very
strange. which they could not quite make
out. They were far too good 10 deny its
strong appeal, but they were too spirit
ually humble with all their reason for in
teilectual pride, to- be quite sure OF them
selves in it's seemingly new and bold pOstQ-
lateS. which we're, after all, really so old
and meek. They showed me at the same
time the closely printed volumes OF the
French version OF War and Peace" for it
was long before its translation into Eng
fed, for novel so vast IN scale and so
simple and sincere in the handling OF its
thronging events and characters was some
thing almost as alien 70 modern experiences
as the absolute truthfulness OF My Re-
Iigion." The incident was quite forgotten
and seven or eight years passed. in which
7 had for four or five years The Cos
sacks of Tolstoy on my shelves. unread
and almost unlocked at One day | took
it down. wholly obliviOus of the Russian
author who had bewi1dered and bafFied nv
friends, and dipped into it. To dip into is
was to pass through its mystical depths,
but / do not know that l yet received a
definite impression OF the greatness Of q
novelist who wrote so unlike other novel,
lists, even other Russian novelsts. BY thar
time I had long known nearly all Of Four
guenief and something OF his master, Push
kin, but Tolstoy a new name 10 me-
and presently again 1t was a forgotten
name 1t was recalled to me by Yet an.
other friend, who lent me Anna karenfna
with the remark: 1T is the old Seventh
Commandment business. but it is not treat
ed as the French treat IL. You will be IN
terested-" The word was poor and pals
for the effect of the book with me. The
effect was as if 1 had never read work
of the imagination before Now for tbs
first time / was acquainted with the work
OF an imagination which had cOnsecrated
itself; as by fasting and prayer. to IT'S
creative office and vowed itself TO mons
other service than the service of the truth.
Here was nothing blinked or shirked OF
CLOSED. nothing hidden or fiattered, in rhs
deepest tragedy OF civilized life II was
indeed the old Seventh Commandment bus!-
ness, not only not treated as the Frencn
treat IT. but rightly placed as to the prime
enceS OF a SHINING and agon1Zing SOUL
Nothing was disprop0rtionately insisted
upon: the story moved forward as with tina
steady pace of time. and the capital events
in It's progress were no more distlnsulShe9
from the minor events by the autnOr tilaLL
the hours are distinguished from one an
other by the mechanism OF a clock "
would be hard to say wnat was lilOs~
searching in II; one scene, one l~nCIueL,, ~
was as penetrating as another. IL mans
the moment when Anna dehantly, reck-
lessly declares her love for Nronsky 70 her
husband: or the moment wnen she ssSai5 =
into his house after she had aoandOheu II
to wreak her mother soul in hopeless Ten.
derness upon their child; or the moment OF
sleep when she escapes the agony oL nee
guilt in the dream that she mas Two nus
bands and Is Crazily happy IN II; or tne
moment in which she begins 70 be Jea!ous
of Vronsky and TO suffer not only the sss- ls
norniny of her social rejection but the Ie44E.-
that ne will leave her and Yet cannot ~.
tormenting him out OF sunerance; OF tIas
final moment when she lays heFSe4L So"s JI
before the heavy train. and when us Wheels :
crush over her breast would nave SSS
herself from the death she sought.
name these moments II Is 3ec@ISTS S.aI!ss C.aI!
cur 70 me az random and not oecauSe
esteem them the effect OF greater arr tlai'
some others. l am not sure that lne go
Dreme effect OF art III the book IS not tha|
| yK-Ea he
min perceives that he cannot forgive 49,
dignity and yet fOrgives. Such a Gtali,.. an.
within the soul where the actor Is Tue Vh4s
spectator is something IN lts poWeItuit
beyond any overt action or experleilce-
But I wish, in paving my eager hoiaafS
10 Tolstoy an artist. not 70 appear S"fs
10 treat of his art as technique IL =. p
so far as I know IT, and l think raw
left none OF his fiction unread. aN1-1ses alT1s
hsautv. or adjoining itself with style -
TO be almost bare and plain- ftiS a.
from his conscience. and you feel ms go 80,
science in II at every moment. ThiSsNss'
perhaps only implicit in his earlier WerN;;
but in his later work IL becomes more 81. 80
more explicit He is never false 70
reader because he is never fdIse 20 thsr
self. it would be foolish 20 SapPVSr -;,.
he could not n1isrepTeseut or vrcnElY 49, -,
a given motive or action IN his talr. 80
YOU NAV trust your soul 70 hUn III
assurance that he viii not -
II one we're called upon 10 say N q w. 49,
what Tolstoy and what his art Wsts' .ssv
could not do better than 10 So go .EsH
were religious. the man. ana tne ~ .,,y
was the man The art was more tne e-..,s s.,-
than the man knew. out o. tne t.tt,' IN
volumes which represent MS SCusLiiy ~
the edition before Sle. nine are NO!N Eve
fiction: tEat Is. WORKS OF ART snu ~ ~ ths
remaining three the artistic nature @ rs1,-
man is reCurrently. tftnOt c0nst9n'S' s-if
in~ Ns rsUgfous uttsrauCes Of his SplIu..
To enforce this point or that, ne suygvh. yIbTISh.-
a case SO gividly that II lives az ms ''IN, ;Sc,-
he inveuts a parable; he recalls on sn,.oi,,r-
dent. an experience. which ne ~ ~ show
teriIy clothes in drama, but so az y 80 20
its human reality the more a-u TaIts
hide or to disqualify IL men IA ~ holds
wiIf,lllv in this natural tendency anu anu Sovr
stubbornly TO the business Of ia[a'f .' fS,msel:
tha law or the gospel fss repeats and In
again and again. both IN theme A.'t.lI. Alu
phrase: he addresses hiinstT 70 rea5e1.
ing rather than persuading ms ret~ tbe nat.
II is then that. ceaslnS 70 taAe I1 and
uraI the spiritual view OF tnS ",sr1pera-
its way wartiness he takes the - his
mental view, and in the sIoorm sIoliarsien 20
mood gropes for a hopeless IeNS,nclatton
tnoos.sote through Individual renEhe,ssft 10
Of society instead OF pressing i9I@ tbe very
The social redemption whiSh '"'
scs,asv OF error must help eiioS'