Tolstoy's Quest for God

Tolstoy's Quest for God PDF Author: Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351471759
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
The religious dimension of Tolstoy's life is usually associated with his later years following his renunciation of art. In this volume, Daniel Rancour-Laferriere demonstrates instead that Tolstoy was preoccupied with a quest for God throughout all of his adult life. Although renowned as the author of War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Death of Ivan Ilych, and other literary works, and for his activism on behalf of the poor and the downtrodden of Russia, Tolstoy himself was concerned primarily with achieving personal union with God.Tolstoy suffered from periodic bouts of depression which brought his creative life to a standstill, and which intensified his need to find comfort in the embrace of a personal God. At times he was in such psychic pain he wanted to die. Yet Tolstoy felt that he deserved to suffer, and he learned to welcome suffering in masochistic fashion. Rancour-Laferriere locates the psychological underpinnings of Tolstoy's suffering in a bipolar illness that led him actively to seek suffering and self-humiliation in the Russian tradition of holy foolishness. With voluntary suffering, and Jesus Christ as his model, Tolstoy advocated nonresistance to evil, and in his daily life he strove never to return evil actions or words with physical or verbal resistance. On the other hand, being bipolar, Tolstoy in some situations would drift in a manic direction, indulging in delusions of grandeur. Indeed, the aging Tolstoy occasionally went so far as to equate himself with God, as can be seen from his diaries and personal correspondence.The pantheistic world view which Tolstoy achieved at the end of his life meant that God was within himself and within all people and all things in the entire universe. By this time Tolstoy was also utilizing images of a mother to represent his God. With this essentially maternal God so conveniently available, there was nowhere Tolstoy could be without Her. For, in the end, Tolstoy's quest for God was a

Tolstoy's Quest for God

Tolstoy's Quest for God PDF Author: Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351471759
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Get Book Here

Book Description
The religious dimension of Tolstoy's life is usually associated with his later years following his renunciation of art. In this volume, Daniel Rancour-Laferriere demonstrates instead that Tolstoy was preoccupied with a quest for God throughout all of his adult life. Although renowned as the author of War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Death of Ivan Ilych, and other literary works, and for his activism on behalf of the poor and the downtrodden of Russia, Tolstoy himself was concerned primarily with achieving personal union with God.Tolstoy suffered from periodic bouts of depression which brought his creative life to a standstill, and which intensified his need to find comfort in the embrace of a personal God. At times he was in such psychic pain he wanted to die. Yet Tolstoy felt that he deserved to suffer, and he learned to welcome suffering in masochistic fashion. Rancour-Laferriere locates the psychological underpinnings of Tolstoy's suffering in a bipolar illness that led him actively to seek suffering and self-humiliation in the Russian tradition of holy foolishness. With voluntary suffering, and Jesus Christ as his model, Tolstoy advocated nonresistance to evil, and in his daily life he strove never to return evil actions or words with physical or verbal resistance. On the other hand, being bipolar, Tolstoy in some situations would drift in a manic direction, indulging in delusions of grandeur. Indeed, the aging Tolstoy occasionally went so far as to equate himself with God, as can be seen from his diaries and personal correspondence.The pantheistic world view which Tolstoy achieved at the end of his life meant that God was within himself and within all people and all things in the entire universe. By this time Tolstoy was also utilizing images of a mother to represent his God. With this essentially maternal God so conveniently available, there was nowhere Tolstoy could be without Her. For, in the end, Tolstoy's quest for God was a

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy PDF Author: graf Leo Tolstoy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
"Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was the author of such classics as War and Peace and Anna Karenina. In mid-life, however, he underwent a deep moral and spiritual crisis that led him back to the gospels in an effort to conform his life to the spirit of Christ. This volume focuses on his "spiritual writings" - autobiographical reflections on his journey of faith, commentaries on the gospels, and essays, on the essence of Christianity."--BOOK JACKET.

God, Man, and Tolstoy

God, Man, and Tolstoy PDF Author: Predrag Cicovacki
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030893448
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
​This book examines Leo Tolstoy’s struggle to understand the relationship of God and man, in connection with his attempt to answer questions regarding the meaning of life. Tolstoy addressed such issues in a systematic way and with great concerns for the future of humanity. Predrag Cicovacki approaches Tolstoy both as a thinker and as an artist, and examines various sides of his intellectual and artistic engagement: his social criticism, his ambiguous relationship to nature, his understanding of art, and his attempted reconstruction of the true religion. By combining philosophical, religious, and literary analysis, Cicovacki undertakes an interdisciplinary study, showing much can be learned from Tolstoy's insights, as well as from his mistakes.

A Confession

A Confession PDF Author: Leo Tolstoy
Publisher: Phoemixx Classics Ebooks
ISBN: 3986778187
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 90

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Book Description
A Confession Leo Tolstoy - This short work was originally titled An Introduction to a Criticism of Dogmatic Theology. It is a brief autobiographical story of the author's struggle with a mid-life existential crisis, and describes his search for the answer to the ultimate philosophical question: If God does not exist, since death is inevitable, what is the meaning of life?

Tolstoy

Tolstoy PDF Author: Rosamund Bartlett
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547545878
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 581

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Book Description
This biography of the brilliant author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina “should become the first resort for everyone drawn to its titanic subject” (Booklist, starred review). In November 1910, Count Lev Tolstoy died at a remote Russian railway station. At the time of his death, he was the most famous man in Russia, more revered than the tsar, with a growing international following. Born into an aristocratic family, Tolstoy spent his existence rebelling against not only conventional ideas about literature and art but also traditional education, family life, organized religion, and the state. In “an epic biography that does justice to an epic figure,” Rosamund Bartlett draws extensively on key Russian sources, including fascinating material that has only become available since the collapse of the Soviet Union (Library Journal, starred review). She sheds light on Tolstoy’s remarkable journey from callow youth to writer to prophet; discusses his troubled relationship with his wife, Sonya; and vividly evokes the Russian landscapes Tolstoy so loved and the turbulent times in which he lived.

The Quest for Merlin

The Quest for Merlin PDF Author: Nikolai Tolstoy
Publisher: Little Brown
ISBN: 9780316850667
Category : Arthurian romances
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
A new and exciting work of detection and analysis. Did Merlin really exist or is he a figure of legend? Where does myth end and history begin?

"Who, What Am I?"

Author: Irina Paperno
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801454956
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
"God only knows how many diverse, captivating impressions and thoughts evoked by these impressions... pass in a single day. If it were only possible to render them in such a way that I could easily read myself and that others could read me as I do..." Such was the desire of the young Tolstoy. Although he knew that this narrative utopia—turning the totality of his life into a book—would remain unfulfilled, Tolstoy would spend the rest of his life attempting to achieve it. "Who, What Am I?" is an account of Tolstoy's lifelong attempt to find adequate ways to represent the self, to probe its limits and, ultimately, to arrive at an identity not based on the bodily self and its accumulated life experience.This book guides readers through the voluminous, highly personal nonfiction writings that Tolstoy produced from the 1850s until his death in 1910. The variety of these texts is enormous, including diaries, religious tracts, personal confessions, letters, autobiographical fragments, and the meticulous accounts of dreams. For Tolstoy, inherent in the structure of the narrative form was a conception of life that accorded linear temporal order a predominant role, and this implied finitude. He refused to accept that human life stopped with death and that the self was limited to what could be remembered and told. In short, his was a philosophical and religious quest, and he followed in the footsteps of many, from Plato and Augustine to Rousseau and Schopenhauer. In reconstructing Tolstoy's struggles, this book reflects on the problems of self and narrative as well as provides an intellectual and psychological biography of the writer.

Give War and Peace a Chance

Give War and Peace a Chance PDF Author: Andrew D. Kaufman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451644728
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
“This lively appreciation of one of the most intimidating and massive novels ever written should persuade many hesitant readers to try scaling the heights of War and Peace sooner rather than later” (Publishers Weekly). Considered by many critics the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is also one of the most feared. And at 1,500 pages, it’s no wonder why. Still, in July 2009 Newsweek put War and Peace at the top of its list of 100 great novels and a 2007 edition of the AARP Bulletin included the novel in their list of the top four books everybody should read by the age of fifty. A New York Times survey from 2009 identified War and Peace as the world classic you’re most likely to find people reading on their subway commute to work. What might all those Newsweek devotees, senior citizens, and harried commuters see in a book about the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s? War and Peace is many things. It is a love story, a family saga, a war novel. But at its core it’s a novel about human beings attempting to create a meaningful life for themselves in a country torn apart by war, social change, political intrigue, and spiritual confusion. It is a mirror of our times. Give War and Peace a Chance takes readers on a journey through War and Peace that reframes their very understanding of what it means to live through troubled times and survive them. Touching on a broad range of topics, from courage to romance, parenting to death, Kaufman demonstrates how Tolstoy’s wisdom can help us live fuller, more meaningful lives. The ideal companion to War and Peace, this book “makes Tolstoy’s characters lively and palpable…and may well persuade readers to finally dive into one of the world’s most acclaimed—and daunting—novels” (Kirkus Reviews).

Resurrection

Resurrection PDF Author: Leo Tolstoy
Publisher: Xist Publishing
ISBN: 1623959136
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 547

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Book Description
Tolstoy's Final Novel “It was clear that everything considered important and good was insignificant and repulsive, and that all this glamour and luxury hid the old well-known crimes, which not only remained unpunished but were adorned with all the splendor men can devise.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection A nobleman seeks to right a past sin and discovers he's been living in a golden world of privilege. When he visits the prison where his former maid has been sentenced, he is awakened to a world of oppression, injustice and barbarity. Resurrection is not Tolstoy's most famous novel, but it was his best-selling book. This Xist Classics edition has been professionally formatted for e-readers with a linked table of contents. This eBook also contains a bonus book club leadership guide and discussion questions. We hope you’ll share this book with your friends, neighbors and colleagues and can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it. Xist Publishing is a digital-first publisher. Xist Publishing creates books for the touchscreen generation and is dedicated to helping everyone develop a lifetime love of reading, no matter what form it takes

The Gospel in Brief

The Gospel in Brief PDF Author: Leo Tolstoy
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062064169
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
The greatest novelist of all time retells the greatest story ever told, the life of Jesus Christ, in The Gospel in Brief—Leo Tolstoy’s riveting, novelistic integration of the four Gospels into a single, twelve-chapter narrative. Virtually unknown to English readers until now, Dustin Condren’s groundbreaking translation from the Russian opens a precious new world of Tolstoy’s masterful literary talent to fans of War and Peace and Anna Karenina.