Page:The Novels and Other Works of Lyof N. Tolstoï-v17.djvu/11



’s religious teachings are not allowed by the censorship to be published complete in Russia, but they are issued in a cheap pamphlet form printed in Geneva, Switzerland. This so-called Elpidin edition has been used in preparing the present translation of “My Confession,” and “My Religion,”—or as it is called in the original, F Chom Moya Viera, “In What my Faith?” If it varies in any material respect from the English translation made some years ago through the medium of the French, it is in the line of greater simplicity. Count Tolstoï can hardly be called a stylist; he writes earnestly, convincingly, often eloquently, but never hesitates to repeat, so that the word or set of words will be found recurring again and again even in the same sentence. The French are stylists, and they modify, condense, and amplify till the semblance of form is sometimes lost, and the thought is transferred in a paraphrase. The plain figure is embroidered and covered with filigree.

Nevertheless, the main thing in these essays is the thought. It is that which Count Tolstoï so earnestly wishes to make known. As he says, he was in the same condition as the thief on the cross, and was saved by