As someone who reads quit a bit, and fancies himself a thinker, as laughable as that may be when I stop and gawk at the enormity of other writers past, there is almost no one who intimidates me more than Lyev (Leo) Tolstoy. The sheer volume of his writing is gigantic and on its own, daunting, but marry this to the fact that wrote some of the greatest masterpieces of literature in the history of the world and well, nearly everyone falls into his shadow.
What is surprising is that unless you're a writer, and a writer who actually cares about literature, it's history, etc. at that, the "problem" of Tolstoy hardly enters into reading lists of most people I've met; nor does he enter their consciousness, which I find appalling to the point of ridiculousness.
There are many reasons for this, two of which I already mentioned, but consider this: his one book, which is not even the one that comes to mind when someone mentions Tolstoy, that belongs to War & Peace, The Kingdom of God is Within You, was passed along to a young Indian living in Africa by the name of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Martin Luther King Jr. took Tolstoy's teaching of non-violent resistance and, well . . . I don't need to go any further.
The title of author Mark Kurlansky's 2006 book, "Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea" may speak volumes in comparison to anything I might have to say about the effect Tolstoy has had on the world in addition to literature period. To call non violence "a dangerous idea" can seem highly self- contradictory, but delving into that is perhaps better saved for another time.
I have not read any Tolstoy fiction or philosophy, that didn't leave a profound imprint on me. Read Tolstoy and be stupefied by his stark honesty, his immeasurable writing skills, his keen mind. Don't read Tolstoy and remain stupid.
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