Tolstoy's Reading Notes

Author: Tolstoy
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-12-01
Features: The greatest characteristic of Tolstoy's reading is to take advantage of the occasion. In The Reading Circle, he advised readers: "If someone is willing to translate this book into another language, then I suggest they do not use their own language to check the original texts of Coleridge from Britain, Kant from Germany, and Rousseau from France, that is to say, if they want to translate, then they should translate from my book."
Essentials of Tolstoy's essays, the most famous of which is the essay On Shakespeare and Drama. This is a long essay written by Tolstoy at the age of 75. It is well-known that Tolstoy had a strong aversion to Shakespeare throughout his life. In this essay, he described reading Shakespeare as "feeling intense disgust and boredom," and he believed that Shakespeare "distorted readers and audiences to seek non-existent merits." In a subsequent letter, he also called Hamlet "a work that is how vulgar, lacking moral sense, mediocre, and boring." It is also a rare pleasure to read a master challenge another master.
The letters section contains exchanges of thoughts with contemporary writers such as, Herzen, and Fet. In one letter, he listed the books that left a deep impression on him before the age of 63, which is quite instructive. In addition, there are numerous book excerpts from Tolstoy and his lifelong advocacy of nonviolent morality. It is amazing to see the breadth of Tolstoy's thoughts and the scope of his inquiries.