Description

Book Synopsis
During his decades of world fame as a novelist, Tolstoy also wrote prolifically in a series of essays and polemics on issues of morality, social justice and religion. These works culminated in What is Art?, published in 1898. Impassioned and iconoclastic, this powerfully influential work both criticizes the elitist nature of art in nineteenth-century Western society, and rejects the idea that its sole purpose should be the creation of beauty. The works of Dante, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Baudelaire and Wagner are all vigorously condemned, as Tolstoy explores what he believes to be the spiritual role of the artist - arguing that true art must work with religion and science as a force for the advancement of mankind.

Table of Contents
What Is Art? - Leo Tolstoy Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky with a Preface by Richard Pevear

Preface
Bibliographical Note
A Note on the Text

WHAT IS ART?Appendix I
Appendix II
Notes

What is Art

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    A Paperback / softback by Leo Tolstoy, Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky

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      Book details

      Publisher Penguin Random House Group
      Imprint Penguin Classics
      Published 31 August 1995
      ISBN-13 9780140446425
      978-0140446425
      ISBN-10 0140446427
      Also in:
      Art & Photography Theory of art Biography Essays Books by Leo Tolstoy

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      During his decades of world fame as a novelist, Tolstoy also wrote prolifically in a series of essays and polemics on issues of morality, social justice and religion. These works culminated in What is Art?, published in 1898. Impassioned and iconoclastic, this powerfully influential work both criticizes the elitist nature of art in nineteenth-century Western society, and rejects the idea that its sole purpose should be the creation of beauty. The works of Dante, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Beethoven, Baudelaire and Wagner are all vigorously condemned, as Tolstoy explores what he believes to be the spiritual role of the artist - arguing that true art must work with religion and science as a force for the advancement of mankind.

      Table of Contents
      What Is Art? - Leo Tolstoy Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky with a Preface by Richard Pevear

      Preface
      Bibliographical Note
      A Note on the Text

      WHAT IS ART?Appendix I
      Appendix II
      Notes

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