I think Dostoevsky's pain is very male, very much about the impossibility of achievement in a morally or socially perfect way. Tolstoy's pain, the too slow, too fast passing of time, the inevitable falling apart of familial and social structures, is female.https://twitter.com/questionaware/status/1209106012055252992 …
-
Show this thread
-
Replying to @TheAnnaGat
Oh lol, all my pain is the Dostoyevsky kind. I’d have characterized it as: Dostoyevsky is about the kinds of people who become writers, Tolstoy is about the kinds of people who don’t. (Writing the kinds of thoughts that never get put in words is impressive!)
2 replies 0 retweets 10 likes -
Replying to @s_r_constantin
Ah! My nongendered take tends to be that Dostoevsky is a hopeless caricaturist, while Tolstoy is capable of charitable interpretations. I think in general I prefer writers who like people since I am a person.
3 replies 0 retweets 9 likes -
Replying to @TheAnnaGat
Ah. I agree, but I basically find any writer who isn’t a polemicist depressing. Pure observation of the human condition is fatalist, and even when I respect the skill it makes me disapprove of the author.
2 replies 0 retweets 5 likes -
Replying to @s_r_constantin @TheAnnaGat
Is as in does it have to be? Or empirically it tends to be? Prima facie it doesn't seem to have to be fatalist to me.
1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes -
Replying to @ArtirKel @TheAnnaGat
It doesn’t analytically always have to be but I think Tolstoy is fatalist. The train is the villain in Anna Karenina!
3 replies 0 retweets 1 like -
In principle you could be like “I want to understand the world in preparation for achieving my goals” and that’s my ideal. In practice you see more pure observation done by people who aren’t motivated do act, and more bold action by people who don’t observe well.
2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes -
One observation on this: Tolstoy's life (activism, founding schools, spreading his ideas) was way more active/helpful than Dostoevsky's (gambling addiction, financial issues etc.) -- not sure how this squares with your take!pic.twitter.com/o0gkQi5G2a
2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes -
T was a mensch. But also: I'm wondering if the fact that Levin and Andrei have such sex appeal - if that clouds our judgement a little bit.
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
they have what now.
-
-
LOL Le goût des autres.....
0 replies 0 retweets 1 likeThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.