Comments on: Why Would Anyone Look for the Key to the Conservative Temperament in Tolstoy?

By: Withywindle

Withywindle — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 15:25:22 +0000

You could also argue that even in his radical mode, Tolstoy's thought connects to (Orthodox Christian) faith, which counts as conservative in these latter days.

HR & MSH: Why do you dislike Millman?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:12:57 +0000

Chin up. You're one of the most fascinating bloggers on the web, and I apologize if I strayed from correction to unkindness. Please don't stop writing. Ever.

And you're correct about the important point: Millman is a prat.

MSH

By: Helen Rittelmeyer

Helen Rittelmeyer — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 03:44:22 +0000

You're absolutely right. I don't know what got into me. Well, that's not true: It was my dislike of Millman, his writing style and his point of view. But that's no excuse for parading my ignorance. This should serve as a valuable reminder to me that although I may not like to think of myself as one of those bloggers who write just for the sake of hearing the sound of their own voices, that's basically what I am. Sorry, everyone.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:08:14 +0000

Two thoughts make me hesitant to pronounce this an uncharacteristically clumsy critique. First is the blogger's penchant for using her reading as a springboard to share amusing anecdotes. And surely Tolstoy provides a great trove of these. Second is her delight in serving as horsefly to the alternative, "soft" conservative commentariat. Front Porch Republicans, beware!

Aside from those motivations, however, this piece misses the mark so badly it seems almost intentional. First, Millman focuses on the conservatism not of Tolstoy himself, not of the body of his work, not even of the entirety of WAP. Rather, Millman explores the conservatism of a motif and of a character. First, Tolstoy spends a great deal of time (too much ... "The story, Count, the damn story!") expounding his views of history as a force beyond the control of men, even great men. To explain why this idea is conservative would be a waste of carpal strength. Next, Millman examines the Russian general Kutuzov, who utters the most conservative line ever imagined: "The strongest of all warriors are these two: Time and Patience." Again, not to be lazy, but is any argument necessary?

Of course, one could write books about the conservative motifs in WAP alone. Perhaps the best example is Tolstoy's lampooning of Pierre's hackneyed efforts to enact reforms on his estate, which result only in greater hardship and misery for his serfs. Looking further, Tolstoy's body of work is a bounty of conservative thought. Consider the story of Levin and Kitty held up against that of Anna and Vronsky in AK. Consider the savage critique of the bourgeois values of pleasure and comfort in The Death of Ivan Ilych. The master's redemption in sacrificing himself for his serf in the sentimental Master and Man.

I've never read a biography of Tolstoy, and so I cannot speak intelligently about his radicalism. Moreover, Shakespeare is instructive that perhaps it's a fool's errand to spend too much time plumbing an author's "temperament" through his work. Still, I will end with the broad, and admittedly dull, point that "radical conservative" is not an oxymoron.

MSH

By: Mild Colonial Boy, Esq.

Mild Colonial Boy, Esq. — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 12:53:41 +0000

From Elif Bautman's 'The Possessed: Adventures With Russian Books and the People Who Read Them':

Tolstoy had also been in his sixties when he learned how to ride a bicycle. He took his first lesson exactly one month after the death of his and Sonya’s beloved youngest son. Both the bicycle and an introductory lesson were a gift from the Moscow Society of Velocipede-Lovers. One can only guess how Sonya felt, in her mourning, to see her husband teetering along the garden paths. “Tolstoy has learned to ride a bicycle,” Chertkov noted at that time. “Is this not inconsistent with Christian ideals?”