G.V. Alekseeva
The State Memorial and Natural Preserve “Museum Estate of Leo Tolstoy “Yasnaya Polyana”, Yasnaya Polyana, 301214 Russia
E-mail: gala@tgk.tolstoy.ru
Received May 17, 2019
DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2019.5-6.138-149
For citation: Alekseeva G.V. Charles Dickens in Leo Tolstoy's work and life. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2019, vol. 161, no. 5–6, pp. 138–149. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2019.5-6.138-149. (In Russian)
Abstract
All his life L.N. Tolstoy greatly appreciated Ch. Dickens for the humanism of his works. His attitude to Ch. Dickens never changed, though we know that his reading preferences were far from being static – he evaluated and re-evaluated so many writers during his life. For L.N. Tolstoy, the works of Ch. Dickens, as well as the works of V. Hugo, F.M. Dostoevsky, and some other writers, emphasize the feeling of unity and brotherhood of people. He spoke about this English writer to his family and friends. “David Copperfield” was L.N. Tolstoy's favorite novel throughout his long life. In the spring of 1861, he spent 16 days in London and attended a lecture by Ch. Dickens at St. James's Hall. L.N. Tolstoy was familiar with Ch. Dickens's work, both in English and Russian, and had many editions of Ch. Dickens's novels in his personal library at Yasnaya Polyana. In the last decades of his life, L.N. Tolstoy experienced great disappointment in contemporary literature, and his treatise “What Is Art?” (1897) testifies to that. According to L.N. Tolstoy, Ch. Dickens's works reflect the best human feelings. Ch. Dickens's novels with their simple emotions experienced and known by everyone unite people all over the world. In his treatise on art, L.N. Tolstoy described himself as a definite admirer of Ch. Dickens, whose works are full of true Christian spirit as patterns of 'the highest religious art'.
Keywords: humanism, compassion, artistic creative skill, influence, unity, brotherhood, personal library, diaries, notes, treatise
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