Read Tolstoy

I know no author who explores and develops the complexity of personality like Tolstoy. What I value in his novels is how he lets a character grow, go off, come back and emerge (or not) into the self he sees in the person from the beginning. This helps me accept and honor the complexity in real people – and in myself – and carry an expectation of good for each, and carry this for years. Tolstoy's character development also helps me interpret biblical characters. Biblical writers do not delve into as much depth with a character as does Tolstoy (this is not their purpose), but from the insights I see in a Tolstoy novel I am able to fill out a biblical character and relate to him or her more fully. When I imagine Peter the Apostle in a Tolstoy novel I see him less outsized and predictable and more a real man, a man like me – and so, I am a man like Peter. Reading Tolstoy makes reading the Bible more interesting.

I just finished War and Peace again, and kept copying out quotes, even whole chapters (copied off a website, not typed out). There are segments that describe me better than I can do so myself, and reading them I know myself more deeply.

As a sample, here is Tolstoy's description of Princess Maria upon seeing Nikolai, Rostov the man she loves, enter the room.

From the moment she set eyes on that dear, loved face, some new vital force took possession of her and compelled her to speak and act irrespective of her own volition. From the time Rostov entered the room her face was transformed. Just as when a light is lit inside a carved and painted lantern, suddenly revealing in unexpected, breath-taking beauty of detail the fine, intricate tracery of its panels, which till then had seemed coarse, dark and meaningless, so was Princess Maria’s face suddenly transfigured. For the first time all the pure, spiritual, inward travail in which she had lived till then came out into the open. All her inner searchings of spirit, her sufferings, her striving after goodness, her resignation, her love and self-sacrifice – all this now shone forth in those radiant eyes, in her sweet smile, in every feature of her tender face.

Confession. I have not read (or seen) Anna Karenina. I have not yet wanted to look into the aspects of human personality that he exposes there. This certainly says something about how I protect myself, but that is part of the complexity of me.

REFLECTIONS ON READING

This is the first blog post in my series, Reflections on Reading. This does not mean that the book reviewed tops all others in my recommendations; it just means that this is where I am starting. Your reflections posted in response to this and future posts are welcome.

Every Book Its Reader. The Power of the Printed Word to Stir the World, by Nicholas A. Basbanes,

Who besides a bibliophile would pick up such a title I cannot imagine, but since I am one, I did. I have stubbornly believed in the power of books, of reading actually, to impact life and the world, and this book gives me evidence for this belief, and hope for the continued impact.

Basbanes shows the influence of books on famous people and ordinary folks. The chapter that motivated this blog is his review of the reading habits of American Presidents. It is impressive! I was particularly moved by a quote from one of John Adams' letters to his family: “I must study politics and war that my sons might have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study paintings, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.”

While I would not try to get everyone to read the whole book, I would urge every American to read chapter 6. (Try your local library.)

A link in the epilogue made this book personal to me. Basbanes closes his paean to books with a reference to an exhibition in the British Library (my favorite site to visit in London) of the Lindisfarne Gospels. I chanced to see this exhibition and on a later visit to England was able to visit Lindisfarne. Ah, a book is a beautiful thing!

I won't stick to the expectation that it be a printed book that one must read, but I do encourage all to be readers.