Leo Tolstoy by G.H. Perris (1903)
Leo Tolstoy, by G.H. Perris, is a biography of the great Russian novelist and philosopher, Leo Tolstoy. It covers his life from his birth in 1828 to his death in 1910. It examines his life and works, including his novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, his religious and philosophical writings, and his influence on Russian culture and literature. It also looks at his personal life, including his marriage to Sofia Behrs, his children, and his relationships with other writers and thinkers. The book provides an in-depth look at Tolstoy's life and works, and is an essential resource for anyone interested in the life and works of this great writer.
By G.H. Perris · First published 1903 · Genre: Biography, Historical Fiction, Literary Criticism · 3 chapters · 5,541 words
First lines
If any one wishes to form the fullest estimate of the real character and influence of the great man whose name is prefixed to these remarks, he will not find it in his novels, splendid as they are, or in his ethical views, clearly and finely as they are conceived and expanded. He will find it best expressed in the news that has recently come from Canada, that a sect of Russian Christian anarchists has turned all its animals loose, on the ground that it is immoral to possess them or control them. About such an incident as this there is a quality altogether independent of the rightness or wrongness, the sanity or insanity, of the view. It is first and foremost a reminder that the world is still young. There are still theories of life as insanely reasonable as those which were disputed under the clear blue skies of Athens. There are still examples of a faith as fierce and practical as that of the Mahometans, who swept across Africa and Europe, shouting a single word. To the languid contemporary politician and philosopher it seems doubtless like something out of a dream, that in this iron-bound, homogeneous, and clockwork age, a company of European men in boots and waistcoats should begin to insist on taking the horse out of the shafts of the omnibus, and lift the pig out of his pig-sty, and the dog out of his kennel, because of a moral scruple or theory. It is like a page from some fairy farce to imagine the Doukhabor solemnly escorting a hen to the door of the yard and bidding it a benevolent farewell as it sets out on its travels. All this, as I say, seems mere muddle-headed absurdity to the typical leader of human society in this decade, to a man like Mr. Balfour, or Mr. Wyndham. But there is nevertheless a further thing to be said, and that is that, if Mr. Balfour could be converted to a religion which taught him that he was morally bound to walk into the House of Commons on his hands, and he did walk on his hands, if Mr. Wyndham could accept a creed which taught that he ought to dye his hair blue, and he did dye his hair blue, they would both of them be, almost beyond description, better and happier men than they are. For there is only one happiness possible or conceivable under the sun, and that is enthusiasm--that strange and splendid word that has passed through so many vicissitudes, which meant, in the eighteenth century the condition of a lunatic, and in ancient Greece the presence of a god.
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Leo Tolstoy is listed on Textopian as an essay by G.H. Perris, dated 1903 CE.
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- Work type: Essay
- Author: G.H. Perris
- Date: 1903 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Biography, Historical Fiction, Literary Criticism, Philosophy
- Length: 5,541 words
- Structure: 3 chapters, 18 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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Genres
- Biography — The book is a biography of Leo Tolstoy, written by G.H. Perris.
- Historical Fiction — The book is based on the life of Leo Tolstoy, a historical figure, and is written in a fictionalized style.
- Literary Criticism — The book is a critical analysis of Leo Tolstoy's life and works.
- Philosophy — The book examines Leo Tolstoy's philosophical views and their influence on his life and works.
Tags
biography · literature · Russian literature · 19th century · philosophy · novel · Tolstoy · war · peace · social issues · moral dilemmas · historical context
Contents
- Chapter 1: Tolstoy (gk Chesterton)
- Chapter 2: Leo Tolstoy as Writer (g H Perris)
- Chapter 3: Tolstoy's Place in European Literature (edward Garnett)