The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-05
THE LIFE OF ToLsTo17
BOTH GENIUS AND PECULIAHITIES DESCRIBED. IN INTEREST
ING CONTRIBUTION TO BIOGRAPHY,

Among the most interesting contri-
buttons to recent biography is The
Life of I.yof \. Tolstoi, by Nathan
Haskell Dole. Mr.. Dole has been a
close student of Tolstoi for many years
and was the first to translate into
English from the Russian. Anna
%karenina,' a previous translation
having been made only from the
French. Since that time MIR. Dole has
rendered into English more thar a
dozen of the great novelist's works
and has been in correspondence, and
in personal touch with his family,
though he has never visited Russia.
In gathering material for this work,
MIR. Dole has drawn upon Tolstoi's
WI writings. including a collection of
five hundred letters, and upon Biryu-
kof's three volume biographical work.
complied under Tolstoi's new direc-
volume life. Behr's 'Hecollections," as
We'll as many essays and brief articles
calculated to throw light upon this
~ponderous and gigantic figure. One
cannot comprehend anything of Toll
stoi's character without beginning to
appreciate how difficult must be the
task of his biographer, for he was not
merely n man, he was the composite
of mmberless men; an account of his
life reads like the story of the lives
of II dozen different men, all welded
into one, and yet all battling for SUI
premacy.
In regard to the work of selection
from Tolstoi's own photographed
fragments. Mr.. Dole asserts thai it is
hard to differentiate between what ac-
tnally happened and what were the
Pigments OF the mans poetic imagina-
ton. Yet even tho latter picture the
evolution of Tolstoi's soul, in which
the great Russian was far more in
terested than in the concerns Of his
body.
From the start Tolstoi was a writer.
a poet. and an idealist. but he was al
so a mar of action, and throughout his
career the ideaiSt Was always shift.
ing his ideals and the man of action
was constantly changing one mode of
action for another.
Tolstoi loved his fellow men, adored
his family and had a keen natural APP
probation of the normal pleasure of
life. vet these three attributes worked
havoc with his wv scheme of living.
In his desire to remedy the injustice
which he saw the peasants suffer, he
inflicted injustice upon his own house
hold and deprived himself Of the small
comforts to which he was accustom-
ed. His great tumultuous soul fought
continuous battles With his body. his
convictions. his art, his surroundings;
in his striving for the enlightenment
of the poorer classes and the ameli-
Grafton of their conditions he ignored
the claims Of his natural genius for
literature. and the rightful demands of
his OWE family and intimate friends.
In bordering upon such a career
one cannot but question if sweet con-
tent and the secret Of harmonious liv-
ing. are not generally the possession Of
those small and peaceful souls. who
so quietly upon their way, each one
minding his w business and doing
his petty duty in cheerful disregard
or happy ignorance of the condition
Of the majority of his fellow mortals.
We read of Tolstoi as a young land
ed proprietor. sowing his wild oats
among the gilded youth of his ac-
quaintance: of Tolstoi as a Cossack
volunteer indulging in that act of war
which he later denounced so iercely.
He longs for action and excitement,