New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-07
The Supreme Russian
By Havelock Ellis
From a revie1o Of "The Diaries Of

From revieO Of "The Diaries Of
Tolstoy" in "Ths New Stationary
profound seer n supreme artist, domi'
mating and representative personality, II can
not be said that Tostoy was great thinker
For all his cold analysis, he was TOO viyscious,
TOO impetuous He was the true child Of
land which has produced few abstract think
ers. in this respect singularly unlike China
10 the east and Germany 70 the west IN.
two great countries which in some respects
Russia bridges His intelligence was keen,
the intelligence OF his vision, and he was
immensely receptive. He long retained
child-like capacity for lesrningi he vas over
forty when he learned Greek in few months,
and learned II so well that little later ne
was able to correct q professor OF Greek IN
the translation of tragic poet Yet, while
he possessed all the Russian versatility and
impress;onabiity, his intellect was always
narrow and his receptivity unaccompanied hy
originality. In youth he studied Rousseau
with ardent admiration. So had Kant Bur
Kant speedily developed m Intellectual s''-
tenn of his own ard left Rousseau behind
Tolstov never lett Rousseau behind, even
though he ceased 20 speak Of him, and never
developed any system OF his own. His new
mental developments were always the o1t-
come Of new enthusiasms-for Thoreau,
Bakunin, Proudhon, Henry George, Kropot-
kin, Edward Carpenter, whomever II might
be. Even his religious conversion was cor
nected with the influence OF the peasant
mystic, Sutaiey.
Too impatient for Fine Thinking
Tolstoy was ever too impatient, too eager
20 drive a. immediate practical ends, 20 be-
come fine thinker For even that sense
OF impotence which so often overcomes the
Russian is a part Of his eagerness 20 pass
swiftly from theory to practice. This eager
ness marked Tolstoy ss IL has ever marked
Russians They forget az Plekhsnoy re-
marked lately, that not those Crusader
reached the Holy Land who At sight Of every
Jew town cried "Jerusaleml Jerusaleml" but
those who knew geography.
II - Il childlike trait Not only IN IN.
everlasting freshness Of his mind, even 70
the end, but in his whole makeup rc'stoy
wa. a child. AS an old man OF seventy"
he wrote in early life, 81 shall dream IN Just
as childishly impractical a way as l DO now
And when az length he reached that age II
was Just so that his friends spoke Of him
as "a sef-willed. refractory and helpless
child" It was because he was such caiid
that he was so interested 10 children ana
possessed the key TO their hearts. 10 was
natural to lin 20 play as a child, to exert
all the spontaneous vitality OF the child.
Behrs tells how he once went 20 see Tolstoy
in old age and found him sad unlike himself.
As Bchrs was walking across the drawing
room, Tostoy suddenly jumped on 20 bis back
10 the general delight, and Behrs a. once
recognized the Tolstoy be knew.
The image Of Tols-oy as the colossal and
eternal child, the symbol Of Russia herself
may well be the final image he leaves on our
minds. II we seek any further image II can
only be something stiu more frail end
pathetic "Hc is Titan" Merejkowsky re-
marks, "ard yet, as he himself has said, =
hedgling fallen from the nest and lying on
its back in the high grass. This Titan, win
all mis- vigor is lying on his back and waillrg
in the high grass like you and me- and al
the rest Of US" There is no more 20 say.