Tolstoy Essays on Art

Professor Kozlowski reads a wide variety of Tolstoy's essays on art, including his "Schoolboys and Art," "Introduction to Semyonov's Peasant Stories," "Introduction to the Works of Guy de Maupassant," "On Art (NOT the same as What is Art?)," and "Afterword to Chekov's 'Darling'".  Through these writings, we'll track the development of Tolstoy's thoughts on art, including his normative definition of art, the three criteria Tolstoy employs to discuss art, and how he applies these aesthetic principles to the work of Maupassant and Chekov.

Suggested supplementary readings include:

Anna Karenina - we'll be returning to this one often

Tolstoy's "Master and Man"

Semyonov's "The Servant"

Three stories by Guy de Maupassant: "Boule de suif", "A Piece of String," and "Solitude"

Chekov's "Darling"

Dickens' Oliver Twist - for baseline knowledge of Dickens' preoccupations

Numbers 23-24 (The story of Balaam and Balak is Tolstoy's favorite metaphor for misguided artists)

To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/

And please consider contributing to Professor Kozlowski's Patreon at:   https://www.patreon.com/ProfessorKozlowski - where you'll also be able to vote for and suggest new topics for future lectures.