Just read this for the first time out of morbid curiosity and because of all the Tolstoy praise that's been going on around /lit/ lately. My god, this shit just...broke something in me internally that I might not be able to fix. The part with Ilyich "being" in a black sack might be the most perfect paragraph ever written: >For three whole days, during which time did not exist for him, he struggled in that black sack into which he was being thrust by an invisible, resistless force. He struggled as a man condemned to death struggles in the hands of the executioner, knowing that he cannot save himself. And every moment he felt that despite all his efforts he was drawing nearer and nearer to what terrified him. He felt that his agony was due to his being thrust into that black hole and still more to his not being able to get right into it. He was hindered from getting into it by his conviction that his life had been a good one. That very justification of his life held him fast and prevented his moving forward, and it caused him the most torment of all.That man has an utterly powerful soul that I don't think any author can come close too. If this is what Tolstoy can write, give me more recommendations now.
tolstoy is truy an ugly soul.
>>25556792Worth a re-read every couple of years.
>>25556792>because of all the Tolstoy praise that's been going on around /lit/ latelyThis made me chuckle. Real hidden gem that Leo Tolstoy!>give me more recommendations nowWell, he wrote three major novels, so I'd start with those, in order. I also recommend reading his non-fiction Confession before Resurrection, just to not get run over by what he was trying to get at in his final novel.
>The First Distiller>or How the Imp Earned a Crust A poor peasant went out to the field to plow. He had not yet eaten breakfast and took a piece of bread with him from home. He turned the plow around, unfastened the crossbar, and laid it under a bush. There he also placed the crust of bread and covered it with his coat. The horse grew tired and the peasant grew hungry. So he stopped, unharnessed the horse, and let it out to pasture, while he himself went to the bush to take his midday rest. The peasant lifted the coat – the piece of bread was gone.He searched and searched, turned and shook the coat, but the crust of bread remained missing. The peasant was astonished. "A strange thing," he thought, "I haven't seen anyone, and yet someone has taken the bread." But it had been a little devil who, while the peasant was plowing, had stolen the bread. Now he sat behind the bush to hear how the peasant would swear and call upon him, the devil. The peasant was sad. But then he said: "Oh well! I will not starve. Probably whoever took it needed it more than I did. May it do him good!" And he went to the well, drank his fill, rested, caught his horse again, harnessed it to the plow, and went back to work. The little devil was angry that he could not tempt the peasant into sin, and he went to complain to the Chief Devil. He appeared before the Chief Devil and told him how he had stolen the bread from the peasant and how the peasant, instead of swearing, had only said: "May it do him good." The Chief Devil flew into a rage. "If the peasant," he said, "got the upper hand in this case, it is your own fault. You did your job poorly. If the peasants and their wives adopt such habits, then our good life is over; things cannot stay this way. Go back to the peasant and earn that crust of bread; if you do not succeed in defeating the peasant within three years, I will bathe you in holy water." [...]
>>25556831[...]The little devil was frightened, ran quickly back to earth, and pondered how he could make up for his mistake. He thought and thought, and finally he found something. The little devil transformed himself into a good man and hired himself out as a laborer to the poor peasant. In a dry summer, he taught the peasant to sow grain in a swampy area. The peasant obeyed his laborer and sowed in the swamp. For the other peasants, the sun had burned everything, but for the poor peasant, the grain stood thick and high and full of ears. The peasant had enough until the next harvest, and he still had plenty of grain left over. The next summer, the laborer taught the peasant to sow the grain on the hill. A rainy summer came. For others, the grain lay on the ground and rotted, and the ears remained empty. But the peasant's grain on the hill thrived excellently. He now had such a large surplus that he did not know what to do with it. And the laborer taught the peasant to distill spirits from the grain. The peasant obeyed, began to drink himself, and to entertain others with the spirits. Then the little devil went back to the Chief Devil and bragged that he had now earned the crust of bread. [...]
>>25556839[...]The Chief Devil went with him to see for himself. He came to the peasant's house and saw that the peasant had invited his wealthy neighbors and was entertaining them with spirits. The housewife was serving the brandy to the guests. As she walked around the table, she caught herself on a corner and spilled a glass. The peasant grew furious and scolded her: "Ah," he said, "you devil's fool, is that dishwater, you clumsy thing, that you spill such precious goods?" Then the little devil nudged the Chief Devil with his elbow. "Do you notice," he said, "that he speaks differently now than he did back then?" The peasant scolded his wife and then began to pass the spirits around himself. Then a poor peasant came from work, who had not been invited, greeted them, sat down, and watched the people drinking spirits. He was tired and would have liked a sip too. He sat and sat, his mouth watering, but the host offered him nothing, only muttering to himself: "Am I supposed to provide all of you with brandy?" The Chief Devil liked this too. But the little devil bragged: "Just wait, it gets even better." [...]
>>25556856[...]The wealthy peasants drank, and the host drank with them. Then they began to flatter each other, to praise one another, and to make sweet, hypocritical speeches. The Chief Devil listened intently and praised the little one for this as well. "If they," he said, "become so false through this drink and deceive one another, then we have them completely in our hands." "Just wait," said the little devil, "it gets even better. Just let them drink another glass. Right now they are like foxes, wagging their tails at each other, each wanting to outwit the other; but you shall see, in a moment they will turn into angry wolves." The peasants drank another glass, and their talk became louder and rougher. Instead of words of flattery, insults came. One grew angry at the other, a fight broke out, and they beat each other's noses bloody. The host also joined in and was beaten up as well. The Chief Devil watched and liked this too. "This is good," he said, "very good." But the little devil answered: "Just wait, it gets even better. Just let them drink a third glass. Before they were angry like wolves, just wait a while and they will turn into pigs." The peasants drank the third glass. Now they became faint and limp; they muttered, shouted, not knowing what themselves, and no one listened to the other. They drifted apart, one alone, others by twos, still others by threes; finally, they were all wallowing in the street. The host wanted to see his guests out, fell face-first into a puddle, lay there completely covered in mud, and grunted like a wild boar. The Chief Devil liked this best of all. "Well," he said, "you have invented a good drink and have earned your crust of bread. But tell me, how did you make this drink? It is as if you first took fox blood – that made the peasants cunning like foxes. Then you surely took wolf blood, and that made them as furious as wolves, and finally, it seems to me, you mixed in pig blood, which turned them into such pigs." [...]
>>25556858[...]>No Said the little devil, >That is not how I did it. >I did nothing other than let him grow more grain than he needed. >The animal blood always lives in man, but it does not show itself as long as he only has what he needs. >Back then, he was not even sorry about the last crust of bread.>But when he had an abundance of grain, he began to think about how he could amuse himself, and so I taught him to distill spirits. >But as soon as he began to turn God's gift into spirits for his own amusement, the fox, the wolf, and the pig blood stirred within him. >Now he only needs to drink spirits, and he immediately becomes a beast.The Chief Devil praised the little one, forgave him the business with the crust of bread, and gave him a position as an overseer in his court.
>>25556792Its a good one huh.You can be like Tolstoy now and have a spiritual awakening.Check out The Kingdom of God Is Within You.He writes put his ethical system he follows
>>25556933Is his confessions worth a read?
>>25556792He sounds like a fag.
>>25556796Nice projection.
>>25556863I want more lore on the chief devils court. They seem like fun lads.
