Page:Russian Literature - A Study Outline.djvu/30

 26 STUDY OUTLINE ON VIII LEO NIKOLAEVICH TOLSTOY, 1828-1910 TOLSTOY THE MAN To-day the works of Tolstoi are translated into forty-five languages. William Lyon Phelps. A stranger, who would understand Russia of the nineteenth century, must read Tolstoi; and whoever would undertake to write a history of that country would utterly fail in his task if he neglected to consult this exhaustless repository of na- tional life. E. M. de Vogue. Tolstoi. . . displays for our wonder the processional qual- ity of the epic. His vast simplicity, his monumental intuition of life's essence, his large touch, his stern disregard of useless traits and superfluous character, rank him with the early masters of the world. But if he practice the art of Homer, he has illuminated that art with brilliant flashes of insight and comprehension. Human emotion has no secrets from him r and if in his supremacy he be called an epic, in his sympathy he is a modern of our latest age. He creates live men and women as easily as we cast a shadow before us. But his men and women are not shadows; they are not even portraits; they are fashioned of blood and bone, and once they are created, they seem to move and speak of their own volition. If we saw them in the street we should recognize them; if we heard them speak, their voices would be^ familiar; we know them, body, mind and soul. Charles Whibley. 1. Tolstoy's life. a Early life and education. b Career as a soldier and its results. c Marriage and family life. d Countess Tolstoy. e Life at Yasnaya Poliana. / Later life. g Why he left his home. 2. Tolstoy the educator, reformer and philosopher. a Tolstoy as an educator. b As an agriculturist. c His relations with the peasantry.