Leo Tolstoy in Conversation with Four Peasant Sectarian Writers: The Complete Correspondence
()
About this ebook
The theme of the peasantry is central throughout most of Tolstoy’s long career. His obsession with this class is seen not just as a matter of social or humanitarian concern, but as a response to the questions of “how to live a good life” and “what is the meaning of life that an inevitable death will not destroy?” These questions plagued him his entire life.
The letters he exchanged with the four major peasant sectarian writers (Bondarev, Zheltov, Verigin, and Novikov) reveal that Tolstoy was matched as a profound thinker by his correspondents, as they converse on religious-moral questions, the meaning of life and how one should strive to find it, and on a wide array of burning social and personal problems. Reading through the analysis and the extensively annotated letters as a unified whole, elucidates the progressive development of the ideas they shared (and where these diverged) and which guided Tolstoy’s and his correspondents’ lives.
Juxtaposing Tolstoy’s letters with those of his four sectarian correspondents makes them even more significant as it shows them in their original context – a dialogue, or conversation. Also, with the aim to present the conversation in an even broader context, Andrew Donskov briefly discusses Tolstoy’s relationship with peasants in general as well as with each of the four individual writers in particular. In addition, he provides a background sketch of two major religious groups, namely the Doukhobors and the Molokans, both of which still claim sizeable populations of followers in North America today.
Originally published in 2008 by the Slavic Research Group at the University of Ottawa under the title Leo Tolstoy and Russian peasant sectarian writers: Selected correspondence, the expanded University of Ottawa Press edition includes 44 letters never published in English, out of the total 155 letters. Correspondence translated by John Woodsworth.
This book is published in English.
-
La paysannerie traverse la longue carrière de Tolstoï. Son obsession avec cette classe sociale doit être comprise non seulement comme une préoccupation sociale ou humanitaire, mais aussi comme une réponse aux questions « Comment mener une belle vie? » et « Quel est le sens de la vie que la mort inévitable ne saurait détruire? » qui l’ont hanté sa vie durant.
La correspondance qu’ont échangée Tolstoï et quatre écrivains sectaires et liés à la paysannerie (Bondarev, Zheltov, Verigin et Novikov) révèle de grands penseurs. Au fil des échanges, les questions de religion et de moralité, du sens de la vie et comment faire pour le découvrir, et d’une gamme de questions sociales et personnelles du jour sont abordées. La lecture et l’analyse de cet ensemble d’échanges épistolaires enrichis de notes détaillées témoigne du développement progressif des idées qu’ils partageaient (ainsi que leurs divergences), et qui ont guidé la vie de chacun d’entre eux.
La juxtaposition des lettres de Tolstoï et de ses quatre correspondants sectaires, qui sont présentées dans leur contexte original de dialogue – ou de conversation – permet d’en pleinement apprécier l’importance. Dans le but de situer cette conversation dans un contexte plus grand, Andrew Donskov aborde la question de la relation qu’entretient Tolstoï avec les paysans en général, d’une part, de même qu’avec chacun de ces quatre écrivains, d’autre part. Il offre par ailleurs un texte de présentation sur les Doukhobors et les Molokans, deux groupes confessionnaux qui comptent encore aujourd’hui un nombre appréciable d’adeptes en Amérique du Nord.
Ce livre est publié en anglais.
Read more from Andrew Donskov
Sofia Tolstaya, the Author: Her Literary Works in English Translation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeo Tolstoy and the Canadian Doukhobors: A Study in Historic Relationships. Expanded and Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Leo Tolstoy in Conversation with Four Peasant Sectarian Writers
Related ebooks
Between Religion and Rationality: Essays in Russian Literature and Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEight Inuit myths / Inuit unipkaaqtuat pingasuniarvinilit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTibetans in Exile Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Old Faith and the Russian Land: A Historical Ethnography of Ethics in the Urals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Christian Discovery of Tibet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Children in Child Health: Negotiating Young Lives and Health in New Zealand Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Pathophysiology of Psyche: La Maladie De Psychisme Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Disenchanted Wanderer: The Apocalyptic Vision of Konstantin Leontiev Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoviet Self-Hatred: The Secret Identities of Postsocialism in Contemporary Russia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWe Were Adivasis: Aspiration in an Indian Scheduled Tribe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Life of a Simple Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDust on the Throne: The Search for Buddhism in Modern India Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnlightenment and the Gasping City: Mongolian Buddhism at a Time of Environmental Disarray Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Years in Tibet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSinging My Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChoosing Buddhism: The Life Stories of Eight Canadians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsExemplary Violence: Rewriting History in Colonial Colombia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMyths about Russia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Anti-Social Contract: Injurious Talk and Dangerous Exchanges in Northern Mongolia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpreading Buddha's Word in East Asia: The Formation and Transformation of the Chinese Buddhist Canon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Note-Books of Samuel Butler Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTibetan Buddhists in the Making of Modern China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBuddhism: In Its Connexion with Brāhmanism, and Hindūism, and In Its Contrast with Christianity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Gondar Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIndoChina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhere the Wildgeese Roam: A Coyne Family History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSiberia and the Soviet Far East: Unmasking the Myths Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTaming Cannibals: Race and the Victorians Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistorical View of the Languages and Literature of the Slavic Nations: With a Sketch of Their Popular Poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Asian History For You
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Red Hotel: Moscow 1941, the Metropol Hotel, and the Untold Story of Stalin's Propaganda War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago: The Authorized Abridgement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Love and Be Loved: A Personal Portrait of Mother Teresa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Voices from Chernobyl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 2]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Yakuza: life and death in the Japanese underworld Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCapitalism: A Ghost Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: The Forgotten Asian Auschwitz Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams, and the Making of Modern China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History Of Secret Societies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 3]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'brainwashing' in China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Leo Tolstoy in Conversation with Four Peasant Sectarian Writers
0 ratings0 reviews