Tolstoy on Shakespeare
Tolstoy does not like Shakespeare. Not at all. In this classic rant, Tolstoy takes Shakespeare to task for having ridiculous plots, characters without distinct personalities, endless speechifying, language no mortal would utter, no morals, a disdain for the common person, and zero sympathy for the audience. by Leo Tolstoy. Translated by V. G. Tchertkoff and I. F. M. Followed by Shakespeare's attitude to the working classes, by Ernest Crosby, and a letter from George Bernard Shaw.
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- Huge aside but... if you like Tolstoy and Shakespeare reading Tolstoy's take down of Shakespeare is super interesting: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Tolstoy_on_Shakespeare
He specifically goes to town on King Lear and gets into some interesting discussions on how he thinks the earlier Lear Shakespeare referenced is structurally better.
Also reveals Tolstoy's own perspective on writing as a moral endeavor which he feels Shakespeare failed at, as if Shakespeare had a morality it was "people should be good, but not too good"
- > Huge aside but... if you like Tolstoy and Shakespeare reading Tolstoy's take down of Shakespeare is super interesting: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Tolstoy_on_Shakespeare
Holy shit.
"... nevertheless I will endeavor, as well as I can, to show why I believe that Shakespeare can not be recognized either as a great genius, or even as an average author."
Shakespeare isn't even an average author? Who knew Tolstoy was a grade A hater. Tolstoy is like a hater trying to convince you that Brady is an overrated below average system quarterback who lucked out in NE.
I think Tolstoy missed where much of Shakespeare's greatness lay - his use and command of the english language. Not just coining words, but how he said so much with so little. Brevity is the soul of wit. Tolstoy seemed oddly focused on the morals and realism of shakespeare's works.
My guess is that it was a language barrier. No matter how "fluent" Tolstoy was in english, it's hard to appreciate word play if english isn't your native language.
But man, tolstoy would have loved social media. He would have fit right in. Haters for life.
- George Orwell was a great fan of Shakespeare, and he wrote an essay[1] in response to Tolstoy's strong dislike of Shakespeare[2]. These quotes are from Orwell, the fan:
- "Tolstoy is right in saying that Lear is not a very good play, as a play. It is too drawn-out and has too many characters and sub-plots."
- "Shakespeare has a habit of thrusting uncalled-for general reflections into the mouths of his characters. This is a serious fault in a dramatist"
- "Of course, it is not because of the quality of his thought that Shakespeare has survived, and he might not even be remembered as a dramatist if he had not also been a poet."
Tolstoy:
- "I remember the astonishment I felt when I first read Shakespeare. I expected to receive a powerful esthetic pleasure, but having read, one after the other, works regarded as his best: "King Lear," "Romeo and Juliet," "Hamlet" and "Macbeth," not only did I feel no delight, but I felt an irresistible repulsion and tedium"
[1] http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/lear/english/e_ltf ("Lear, Tolstoy, and the Fool, by George Orwell)
[2] http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27726/27726-h/27726-h.htm ("Tolstoy on Shakespeare", by Leo Tolstoy)
