Chapter 21 Tolstoy's posthumous treatise

January 1911 After Tolstoy died, he left behind many unpublished works.Most of them have been printed successively after his death, and they are combined into three volumes in Bianstock's French translation (Nelson's bookstore series edition).Another more complete version is the joint translation of Georges Theostoia and Gustave Masson published in 1925.Bookshop Bossard, Paris.These works belong to the various eras of his life.Some are works from 1883 (such as "Diary of a Madman").Some were written in his last years.Their genres are short stories, novels, screenplays, monologues.Many are unfinished works.I dare to divide them into two categories: those written by Tolstoy according to his moral will, and those written by his artistic instinct.There is also a small part where these two trends are perfectly integrated.

It is a pity that his indifference to the honor of literature--or his ascetic thoughts--kept him from continuing what should be the most beautiful part of the work.For example, "The Posthumous Works of the Old Man Fyodor Kuzmich - Diary".This is the famous legend of the Russian Emperor Alexander I, who was determined to abandon everything, run away under a false name, and die in Siberia.We feel Tolstoy's enthusiasm for the subject, his intellectual unity with his hero.But only the first few chapters of this book remain; that is, in this incomplete part, the compactness and freshness of the narrative can be seen, which is comparable to the best part of the book.How many unforgettable portraits (such as the old Empress Catherine II) are here, especially the depiction of this mysterious and violent Russian emperor, whose haughty character is still in the heart of the calm old man from time to time. Wake up the excitement.

"Old Sergei" (1891-1904) is also one of the magnificent Tolstoy works; but the narrative of the story is cut too short.An old man pursued God in loneliness and asceticism, and finally he found God when he lived for the crowd.There are several wild sentiments that are shocking.The description of the scene where the protagonist in the book discovers the ugliness of his beloved (his fiancée, a woman whom he worships like a saint, turns out to be the mistress of his beloved Russian Emperor) is really simple and tragic.Even the scene where the monk lays his own finger on the night of insanity in order to regain peace is also a touching description.Contrary to these wild and terrifying interludes, there is the sad conversation with the poor childhood girlfriend described at the end of the book, and the indifferent, clear and sharply deteriorating text of the last few pages.

It is also a moving work.A loving and rational mother, who for forty years had devoted herself to the service of her family, was at last alone, inactive, and meaningless, and though a free thinker, lived in seclusion in a convent to write about her diary.But only the first part of the book remains. Another group of short stories, artistically a more complete work. "Aleksey the Fool" can be classified in the category of beautiful popular stories about a simple and unadorned man who is forever sacrificed and sweetly contented forever to the point of death. ——"After the Ball" (August 20, 1903) is: an old man tells how he once loved a young girl, how he suddenly didn't love her, because he saw the girl's father, a colonel An officer, for flogging his soldiers.This is a complete work, first a beautiful and moving memory of my boyhood, and then a very emotional and realistic description. ——"What I Seen in a Dream" (November 13, 1906) is: a prince is tempted to escape from the family for his beloved daughter, but cannot forgive her.But as soon as he saw her, he immediately went to ask for her forgiveness. However (this shows that Tolstoy's warmth and idealism have never been exhausted), he could not restrain himself from seeing his daughter's illegitimate son. born of disgust. ——"Khodenka" is a very short short story. It narrates that in 1893, a young Russian princess wanted to join a civilian festival in Moscow, but was suddenly overwhelmed by the crowd and trampled underfoot. , people thought she was dead, a worker, who was also overcrowded, rescued her.In an instant, the sentiment of friendship united the two.Afterwards they separated and never saw each other again.

The situation is so great that it begins as an epic novel, such as "Haji Murat" (December 1902), which narrates the incidents of the Caucasus War in 1851.Tolstoy wrote, "Part of it was my own experience".At the time of writing this book, Tolstoy was at the stage when he was most able to grasp his artistic abilities.Vision (of the eye and of the mind) is very full.But it's strange that people are not really interested in stories.Because readers feel that Tolstoy is not really interested in this story.Each character who appears in the story receives just his proper sympathy; and the author gives a full portrait of each character, even if it is revealed to us for a moment without any long movement.But in order to love all, he finally has no preference.It seems that he wrote this work for no inner need, but only for physical needs.He needs to use the faculties of his intellect just as another needs to stretch his muscles.He needs to create, and he creates.

Other works with personal temperament often reach the state of pathos.This is the case for autobiographical works such as Diary of a Madman (October 20, 1883), which traces the horrors of the first nights of Tolstoy's turmoil in 1869. .See the discussion in the previous article.Or "The Devil" (November 19, 1889), the last and longest short story, which has all the best features in several parts, and unfortunately ends in a very boring end.A country landowner had a relationship with one of his peasant's daughters, but married another, and left with the country girl. (Because he is honest, and he loves his young wife.) But this country girl "remains in his blood", and when he sees her, he cannot help thinking of possessing her.She goes after him.At last she is reunited with him; he feels that he can no longer leave her: he commits suicide.The portraits of the characters in the book—such as the man is kind, cowardly, strong, short-sighted, intelligent, sincere, hardworking, and boring—his young wife is legendary and passionate The ones--beautiful and healthy country girls, the ones who are passionate and ignorant of chastity--are masterpieces.It is a pity that Tolstoy puts a moral thought that is not in the actual facts at the end of his novel: because the author has indeed had a similar love history.

The five-act play "Light in the Darkness" does show artistic weakness.But when we know the tragedy of Tolstoy's old age, how touching will be this work, which hides Tolstoy and his family under other names!Nikolai Ivanovich Salintzev and What Should We Do? " to the point where he had the same confidence, and he tried to put it into practice.But this is absolutely impossible for him.His wife's cries (sincere or feigned?) prevent him from leaving his clan.He stayed at home and lived like a poor man, working as a carpenter.His wife and children continued to enjoy extravagant meals and luxurious banquets.Although he definitely did not participate, he was accused of hypocrisy.Yet, by the influence of his spirit, by the splendor of his personality, he made believers—and unfortunates—around him.A church priest, convinced of his doctrine, renounced his office.A son of a family refused to serve in the military because of humanism, so he was punished and sent to the discipline correction team.And this poor Tolstoy incarnation, Salintzev, suffers from doubts.Did he make a mistake?Is he needlessly trapping others in pain or death?In the end, his only solution to his misery was the death of the mother of the young man whom he had inadvertently brought to a dead end.

In another short story, "Sinners Don't Matter" (September 1910), we also find the last years of Tolstoy's life, also the confessions of a man who suffered from circumstances beyond his control .Before the idle rich, there is the oppressed poor: but neither of them perceives the horror and irrationality of this state of society. Two plays are of real value: one is a small country play, attacking the evils of alcohol: Where All Virtue Is Originated (probably 1910).The personalities of the characters are strong: their typical physiques, the absurdity of their speech, are all depicted realistically.The countryman who forgives his thief at the end is both noble and comical in his unconscious grandeur and innocent self-esteem. ——The second part is of another importance. It is a script of twelve sceneries, named: "Living Corpse".It reveals the kind and cowardly people who are oppressed by the absurd phenomena of society.Fei Jia, the protagonist in the play, sacrificed his whole life for his kindness and moral sentiments, which were hidden under his unrestrained life: he suffered unbearably for the humbleness of human beings and his contempt for himself; but he Powerless to resist.He has a wife who loves him, who is good-natured, well-behaved, perfectly reasonable, but "missing this little grape that froths the apple juice," missing this "jump in life" that forgets everything.And he needed to forget. ?

"We are all in our circumstances," he said, "and we have three paths before us, and only three. To be a civil servant, and earn money to add to the meanness of your life. It disgusts me; perhaps I cannot do it... ...The second way, is to struggle with this abjection: this must be a hero, and I am not. The third way remains: forget yourself, drink, play, sing; this is the way I chose, you see this way How far has it led me..." Act 5 of "The Living Dead" is often in another passage: "How did I get so desperate? The first is wine. Not that I enjoy drinking. But I always cherish This sentiment: everything around me is wrong, I am ashamed of it... As for being the leader of the nobility, or the president of a bank, it is so shameful, so shameful!

What I set aside are those works in which the moral and religious role predominates, and where the free life of the work is stifled, though this does not impair Tolstoy's mental sobriety: " Counterfeit Notes: A long narrative, almost a novel, which shows the chain of all actions in the world, whether they are good or evil.Two high-school students commit a crime of forgery, from which many crimes are discovered, which become more and more terrible--until the holy concession of a poor murdered woman has an effect on the murderer, and the murderer is furthermore One step back to the original criminal who caused the crime.The subject matter is incomparably magnificent, almost epic, and the work can reach the destined greatness of ancient tragedies.But the narrative of this book is too long, too trivial, and without grandeur; and though each character has a peculiarity, they are all alike.

"Children's Wisdom" is a set of quotations among children, (there are 21 dialogues in total), with a wide range of subjects, involving religion, art, science, education, the country and so on.The rhetoric is very rich; but the method is tiresome, and how many times has the same opinion been repeated! "The Young Russian Tsar", fantasizing about the pain he involuntarily inflicts on others, is the weakest work in the collection. In the end, I will only list some fragments: "Two Pilgrims"; "Priest Vasily"; "Who is the Murderer?" ";etc. In these works in general, we feel that Tolstoy retained his intellectual energy until his death.This mental health is attested by the accounts of his friend Chertkov and the doctor at the time of his last illness.Almost until the end, he continued to write or read from his journal every day.When he stated his social thoughts, he appeared to be in vain; but whenever his humanitarian illusions disappeared before an act, a living person, there was only a pair of eagle-eyed eyes. The eyes can penetrate your heart at once.He never lost this clarity.I think his only weakness in art is that of enthusiasm.Except for very brief moments, we have the impression that art ceased to be an element of Tolstoy's life; it was a necessary diversion, or an instrument of action.But his real aim was action, not art.He seemed ashamed when he allowed this passionate fantasy to excite him; he ended it decisively, or, as with The Diary of the Old Man Fyodor Kuzmich, he abandoned the work altogether, because it was quite interesting. The danger of reuniting him with art... It cannot be regarded as a unique example of an artist who, in the midst of his creativity, suffered for it and finally sacrificed it to God.