I think one of the things like John, I don't want to be oppositional in this, is that he's wonderful about animals. The feeling that was experienced by all the Chechens, big and small, was stronger than hatred. It was not hatred, but a refusal to recognize these Russian dogs as human beings. And such loathing, disgust and bewilderment before the absurd cruelty of these beings, that the wish to exterminate them was as natural as a sense of self-preservation. Like Jikin's talk story was very interested in geography and specifics of place and indeed in nature. There is a great fog passage, ain't there, in War and Peace.
This is the second instalment of a three-part episode. Dickens. Tolstoy. Their names and reputations shake the ground – and so do their books, if you drop one. But whose legacy is more enduring? Whose vision truer and more relevant today? Should you embark on War and Peace or Our Mutual Friend? To battle it out, in 2018 Intelligence Squared brought two celebrated writers, John Mullan for Dickens and Simon Schama for Tolstoy, to our stage. They called on a cast of star actors, including Tom Hiddleston, to bring their arguments to life with readings from the authors’ finest works. The debate was chaired by author, playwright and broadcaster Bonnie Greer.
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