Tolstoy on Art

Excerpt from Tolstoy on Art The title of this book calls for some explanation. What is of value in it all belongs to, or derives from, Tolstoy. Why then is it not issued simply as a translation of Tolstoy's essays on art? The case is this: When Tolstoy's What is Art? (his chief work on the subject) appeared in 1898, it gave rise to extensive controversy. Several critics maintained that his propositions were incomprehensible or ridiculous. It happened that I had translated the book into English in personal consultation with Tolstoy, besides exchanging a score of letters with him discussing every point in the book that was not perfectly plain to me. When my translation was completed and he had read it carefully, he wrote a preface for it, in which he appealed to "all who are interested in my views on art only to judge of them by the work in its present shape." He also said, "This book of mine, What is Art? appears now for the first time in its true form. More than one edition has already been issued in Russia, but in each case it has been mutilated by the censor." I wrote a thirty-page Introduction to the book, in which I set out, as clearly as I could, what I understood to be Tolstoy's essential meaning, and in reply to an attack on Tolstoy in the Quarterly Review, I wrote another article - which appeared in the Contemporary Review - recapitulating my understanding of the matter. Both these essays received Tolstoy's emphatic approval. Of the first he wrote, "I have read your Introduction with great pleasure. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.