"She... always considered herself completely in the right before me, and I, in my own eyes, was always a saint before her."
- Pozdnyshev ('The Kruetzer Sonata' xvii)
Tolstoy Final Day Count: 365
Tolstoy Final Day Count: 365
Tolstoy Final Page Count: 2279
I got a chance last week to spend some time with two of my literary friends - two men I used to teach with, one an English teacher, the other, my literary mentor David - and, as things often do in our discussions, the topic turned to books.
"Well," I told them, more than a little chagrin in my voice, "I think I fell off the Tolstoy wagon."
"What do you mean?" my friend David asked.
"Well, I had wanted to get through The Death of Ivan Ilyich [and Other Stories] before the end of the year, and it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to make it," I said, taking a sip of my drink. "Looks like I kinda failed, huh?"
David looked at me in unbelief. "Stephen," he said, "you cannot think of yourself as a failure. You read War & Peace and Anna Karenina this year - how many other people can say they've done that? So you didn't finish as many short stories as you wanted. You've still read two of the greatest novels ever written this year. I don't care who you are - that's a success story!"
While the conversation may not have gone exactly that way (I've slept since then), it was along those lines. And, true, I've only managed to read 200 pages in the last 3 months, but when I look at the wealth of information, knowledge, and experience I've gathered over the course of the last year I've spent with Tolstoy, it's difficult to think of this year as a bust.
One year ago, I set out to read Leo Tolstoy's War & Peace in its entirety before this date (12/31/2011) and not only was I successful, but I managed to read Tolstoy's amazing follow-up, Anna Karenina, in its entirety as well. Below are some lessons I've learned from my year with Leo:
1. The Importance of Being Realistic
"How do you eat an elephant?" my father often asks me when I am faced with a task that seems more than a little insurmountable. "One bite at a time," I reply, either with a wry grin or a shrug of surrender (or, on occasion, both).
When I set out last year, I had one thing in mind: finish War & Peace. I know myself pretty well. I tend to get busy and/or distracted relatively easily. Sitting down to read a book is, with my schedule and attention span, a luxury I am often not afforded. So, by setting myself the realistic goal of read a 1200+ page book in the span of a year, I was setting a goal that I knew would ultimately be attainable. I was completely unprepared for how engrossing and engaging a story about an ancient war would (of even could) be.
By setting for myself a realistic goal, not only was I able to finish, but able to take on an even more ambitious one - reading through the whole body of Tolstoy's work. This goal, as it turned out, was unrealistic. As I got busier and busier with a new job, plays, etc. and as the year began to steadily vanish into the realm of the past, I began to realize that this goal was unattainable. Had I stuck to eating the elephant that is Tolstoy's oeuvre one bite at a time, the disappointment that haunted me at that table with my friends would likely not have been so great. By setting attainable goals, I allow myself to finish them. Easily.
2. Big Books Aren't Scary. At All.
There are times, especially as a teacher, when I weep for the younger generation (as I'm sure my teachers wept for me and mine once upon a time). Reading, it seems, is a rarity anymore in our culture and, from my observations, the average American teenager seems incapable of reading anything more involved than a text message or a Tweet (butchered spelling and syntax and all) or, on a good day, a tabloid magazine. "Reading is boring," they say. "I don't like it." It is at this point that I systematically grab my chest and, with a look of forlorn and chagrin, say to them, "That hurts my heart."
And it does. People often ask me how I know certain things or how I got to be "so smart." (Their words, as I tend not to think of myself as anything more than slightly above average in the intelligence arena - mainly because I have several brilliant friends.) The answer, in short, is reading! The idea of culture and knowledge comes directly out of art and literature. If one does not immerse oneself in art, it becomes difficult to engage ones culture at a meaningful level.
That being said, one of the reasons I think people - particularly of the younger generation - are daunted or bored by reading is the length of a particular book and the amount of time it takes to complete it. It is at this point that refer them back to the elephant-eating scenario above and the importance of the realistic goal. By taking ones time to digest the book and to enjoy it for what it is (rather than, as is our habit, speeding through it and onto the next thing), one is better able to appreciate the artistry inherent within the text itself. By breaking Tolstoy down into manageable, bite-sized chunks over the course of the year, I was better able to appreciate and understand not only his individual occupations per book/story, but his larger meta-narrative.
3. Paying Forward Inspiration
I have made absolutely no secret of the fact that my Year of Tolstoy journey was prompted by the passion and reading of my literary mentor, David (whom I've mentioned a number of times in this blog and in this very post). His inspired reading of War & Peace in the fall of 2010 is what inspired me to read through the works of Tolstoy this year. Since the beginning of this year, I have made very public my progress and reading - tweeting individual quotes and impressions, talking about it in the course of general conversation, and blogging here (when I had time to do so).
One of the blessings and pleasures from having made the decision to read publicly and using social media as a platform for discussion is that I've found I've inspired the literary journeys of some others along the way.
The first thing I heard when I told my grandmother that I wanted to read War & Peace was "I want to read it when you're done!" My grandmother, who reads often, but typically popular mysteries and religious fiction, was not the type I thought I might inspire when I started out. However, not only did she voraciously devour the book (she finished in about two months!), but we managed to have some great discussions about it in the meantime. I remember calling her after she was done and talking with her on the phone for about forty-five minutes gathering her impressions and thoughts on the text as a whole. It was fantastic to get to connect with her that way!
Another one I found myself inspiring fairly early on was my friend Kyle, who resolved to read through the entirety of James Joyce's Ulysses and blog his research at Unraveling Ulysses. While the constraints of job, family, and extracurriculars eventually put a stop to the project somewhere around March, he still managed to put forward some great insights in those first few months of his project. My hope is that he will one day pick it up again and run with it 'til it's through. :)
My friend Sherri came up to me after a play a few months ago and announced, quite matter-of-factly, "You've inspired me!"
I was taken aback. "I've... what now?"
"I've decided that next year, I want to read through the works of Shakespeare!" I was mildly shocked and extremely proud of my friend and the conversation immediately started on which plays she would read and in what order. (The Year of Shakespeare is a plan I want to attempt sometime in the next few years as well!)
Somewhat more heartwarming for me is the joy in watching my students undertake their own literary pursuits. Although often at the behest of their teachers, it has been a joy recommending books to students and watching the glee in their eyes as they realize that they are reading something that I haven't and are having an enjoyable, enriching experience in it. This, for me, has been one of the greatest things about this year.
4. The Spirituality of Secular Art
As I've mentioned earlier in this blog, I lost my job earlier this year, but was blessed enough to find a new one. One of the many things that makes applying for a job at a Christian or church-run organization interesting is the volume of questions like Briefly describe your devotional life or List three books you've read recently that have helped you grow spiritually. In fact, both of those questions appeared on my last job application and, initially, it felt really weird listing War & Peace as a book that helped me grow spiritually. After all, it's a book that deals with a battle among the Russians and the French in the early 1800s. What's so spiritual about that?!
However, if you've read this blog faithfully over the course of this year (which, I realize, puts you in a very exclusive club!), you know that Tolstoy deals with topics that every human being focuses on - loss, love, loneliness, joy, betrayal, pain, and fulfillment. His dealing with these issues almost always involves faith on some level. Be it the pious Marya in War & Peace, the searching Levin in Anna Karenina, the dying Ivan Ilyich, or even the repentant Pozdnyshev in 'The Kreutzer Sonata,' faith and religion lie at the heart of each of Tolstoy's characters.
Indeed, 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich' reminded me of nothing so much as the Book of Job. Both Andrei (W&P) and Levin's (AK) respective searches for meaning ended only when the two men accepted that there was something larger than themselves and submitted themselves to it. The wretched Pozdnyshev rides the train, telling his story to anyone who will listen in the vain hope that someone will grant him absolution for his heinous crime.
Secular art that deals with human emotions - like those found in Tolstoy - can be every bit as inspirational and soul-feeding as "Christian" art, even more so in my experience. When we eliminate those "secular" works from our view in favor of something that speaks to us overtly and often of our Creator, we limit the ways in which our Creator may wish to speak to us. For my part, I have grown not only as a scholar, but as a human and a Christian from my reading of Tolstoy. May it be for you.
* * * * *
There are many other things I could write and other experience I could share, but I will spare you the additional reading. Suffice it to say, however short I may have fallen from my final goal of reading ALL of Tolstoy, this year can be considered nothing if it cannot be considered a success.
Thanks are owed to many who have influenced me over the course of this year. To David, thanks for starting me on this journey. To my family, thanks for humoring me and allowing me to be late to a few important family gatherings because I was engrossed in Tolstoy. To the various friends, students, and loved ones who have allowed me to attempt to put my love of Tolstoy and literature into words for them over the course of this year, the word 'thanks' hardly seems adequate to express what those myriad conversations have meant to me. To David & Kyle W, thanks for joining me in my reading of Anna K - discussing it with you helped me process it more than you can know.
So... what's next?
As I mentioned last time, 2012 will be the Year of Hugo. I will begin by reading Les Miserables, a book I've wanted to read for some time, and, if I have the time and energy to do so, I will also read Notre-Dame-de-Paris (more commonly known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Starting tomorrow, the name of this blog (and the corresponding Twitter feed) will be renamed accordingly. But, should you decide to continue to follow my efforts, I will continue to post my thoughts and findings whenever I am able. Thank YOU, dear reader, for accompanying me on this first leg of my journey and for sticking around for what comes next!
I remain your literary companion, your comrade-in-books,
~ Stephen E. Foxworthy
