New-York tribune., 1912-02-03


regarding the flaws in Anna Karenina
which he very sensibly calls Anna
Karenin" caused by the introduction o.
purpose" and an autobiographlc trag-
ment into that otherwise purely oo-
jective work of literary art.
The biographical thread on when NJ
Rolland's study Is strung leads nm 10
occasional references to the part plaEeu
nv Countess TolstOy in her husband $
life. although to the impartial onlooker
# might well seem juster to invert the
sentence. and to speak Of the part piaSeu
by Tolstoy in the life Of heroic wise
and devoted woman. Most men Oh
genius were unhappily married says
MIR. Dooley; 80 were their wives o''e
cannot help rejecting, also, upon WHAT
Countess Tolstoy must have suffered III
dIgnifed silence at the hands ot the en-
tbusiasts who made Yasnaya Polyana
:, nlace of pilgrimage, and departed
thence to write impertinent remarks
about the unsympathetic environment III
which, their prophet lived.
MIR Bolton Halls book may be best de-
scribed as an attempt to reduce III
stov's teachings into system he' '"o'
is not hampered by Inconsistencies anu
contradictions. In fact, he has ready
exnlanation for them. which serves just
as far as it goes. but no further his
work is entirely made mp OF eAtracts
from Tolstoy's own writings, the hctioH
being excluded. An examination OF 'ness
pages shows that he has rendered real
seryice 10 those who have not the time
or the inclination 10 read through the
confusion OF the originals. Mr.. Han
frankly confesses that
All Tolstoy's religious books, unlike MS
novels. are. | regret to say. quite unread
ahle The stylr il involved, the matter IL
lacking i'm order. filled with tedious repeu.
tion. and written for those Only VINO want
TO understand.
Turgency. who. according 10 Mr.. DOLE
was a sufferer from Tolstoy's friendship
long before the break between them
came. is reported to have said tnat ne
considered the adequate translation oil
Russian literature into foreign IAN
guages an absolute impossibility. How
ever that may he, much has been said
OF the treatment which his works as
well as Tolstoy's. have received at the
hands Of their translators into the
tongues of Western Europe. Those con-
tained in tic handy. inexpensive Pocket
Edition" OF Tolstoy's works are bN three
of the best known workers in the Rus
sian feld-Mr. Dole, Miss Hapgood ana
Aline Delano. The fourteen volumes
contain practically all Tolstoy's WORKS
published before his death, from war
and Peace" TO Resurrection: his short
stories his treatise on art his rellslonS
essays and his papers on social ana
economic conditions Each volume mas
q pbotogravure frontispicce and title
rage in two colors.
MIR. Dole. by the way. has adopted the
spelling "Tolstoi.' advocated by the so
cicty 81 Librarians, although Iolst"y
himself used the ~" when writing Eng
Ish or French. 1t is an unimportant
matter. More to the point Is question
as TO the wisdom Of Mr.. Dole's prefer
erce for the Russian feminine form OF
family names. Why Countess Toll
stava"? why Trubetskaya and Bolkon-
skaya? Why, for that matter. Anna
Karenina"? Russian women, when
abroad. never use the feminine ending
or their visiting cards or in signing their
corrcspondcnCc Why, then. burden them
with these. to ms, rather unwieIdy
rames when taking them abroad In
TRANSACTIONS Of the books in which they
appear. or in biographies of their famous
countrymen?