Page:The Complete Works of Lyof N. Tolstoi - 11 (Crowell, 1899).djvu/511

Rh the sufferings of the characters in these novels affect us but little. The mother of Pierre and Jean, who was able throughout her life to deceive her husband, calls forth little sympathy when she is obliged to confess her sin to her son; and still less, when she justifies herself by saying that she could not but make use of the opportunity of happiness which presented itself. Yet less can we sympathize with the man in "Fort comme la Mort," when, after all his life deceiving his friend and debauching his friend's wife, he is distressed by not being able, in consequence of his old age, to debauch his mistress's daughter also.

The last novel, "Notre Cœur," has no inner purpose but the description of various kinds of sexual love. We find described a satiated, idle libertine, who knows not what he wants, and who at one time lives with a woman as depraved as, and even more depraved than, himself (she not even having the excuse of sensuality, being a mentally depraved woman); and at another time forsakes her and lives with a servant; and then returns to the former, and, as it appears, lives with both. In "Pierre et Jean" and "Fort comme la Mort," there are still some touching scenes; but this last novel, "Notre Cœur," excites only disgust.

The problem in Maupassant's first novel, "Une Vie," stands thus:—"Here is a human being, good, intelligent, lovable, inclined toward all that is good; and this being, for some reason or other, is sacrificed, first, to a coarse, fastidious, stupid, bestial husband, and, after that, to a similar son. And she perishes aimlessly, having given nothing to the world. Why is this?" The author thus puts the question, and, as it were, gives no answer. But the whole of his novel, all his feeling of sympathy with his heroine and condemnation of that which caused her ruin, is a sufficient answer to his question. If there be one man who has understood her suffering and expressed it, then it is already redeemed; as Job put it to his friends, when they complain that no one will know of his sufferings. If the suffering is discovered, understood, then it is redeemed. So here, the author has