The various shocks of reading Tolstoy

This occurred to me while reading Tolstoy's "Sevastopol in May". Reading any Tolstoy work now, I'm almost shocked at how contemporary his sensibility is. He's always inquisitive with his characters, describes their desires and conflicting feelings realistically in a way I understand, and doesn't sentimentalize his people. And it must have been shocking for Russians of his day to read him. His Russian soldiers act out of fear and self-preservation as well as loyalty and bravery.

"He [Kalugin] had been ordered by the general to find out how the works were progressing. But when he met Mikhaylov he thought that instead of going there himself under such terrible fire -- which he was not ordered to do -- he might as well find out all about it from an officer who had been there. And having heard from Mikhaylov full details of the work and walked a little way with him, Kalugin turned off into a trench leading to the bomb-proof shelter."

So, Kalugin could go himself to examine the works by the bastions, where the bombs were falling. But he thinks to himself, conveniently, and understandably, that he was not ordered specifically to go there under "such terrible fire", and he takes the quicker, and safer route of questioning an officer who was returning from the bastion. Who can blame him? Kalugin had seen a number of dead and wounded men that night.

There are many similar passages. I wondered what Russians of that time thought when they read about the czar's soldiers in this light. Were they shocked, thinking that Tolstoy depicted the soldiers in an unacceptable light? That he had defamed them? (I'm thinking of the way Americans reacted to reading and seeing accounts from the fighting in Vietnam -- we didn't like it, many thought the journalists behaved as traitors.) Were they shocked that he presented their soldiers as actual men?

Wonderful "Musical Offering" recital: Joyeux Noel

We went to hear a program of French Baroque Christmas music -- titled Joyeux Noel -- this past Sunday at the Church of our Savior, in Brookline, performed by the ensemble called Musical Offering. The excellent instrumentalists and singers had a great time, and so did we. Very well assembled program of instrumental pieces and songs. A number of Charpentier pieces, and I heard the melody lines of his Midnight Christmas Mass in the "Nativitatem D.N.J.C Canticum", which I learned a few years ago in a chorus. The singers, especially the soprano Claire Raphaelson and mezzo Julia Cavallaro, were poised and sounded great, especially together. It was fun hearing Un flambeau, Janette, Isabelle, performed live by such a wonderful group. Musical Offering is directed by Matthew Hall, who is also the organist. We liked the program, and the overall feel of the group.

"Being thrust into a narrow, deep black sack:: The Death of Ivan Illych

Not far from the end of Tolstoy's great and terrifying short novel, "The Death of Ivan Illych", Ivan realizes his case is hopeless, that he is going to die of his illness. He and his consciousness will simply end. He suffers unbearable pain. He doubts God's existence, is agonized by the meaninglessness of his life, is baffled by why this is all happening to him. We read these lines:

"It seemed to him that he and his pain were being thrust into a narrow, deep black sack, and though they were being pushed further and further in they could not be pushed to the bottom...He was frightened, yet wanted to fall through the sack; he struggled yet cooperated."

As someone who suffers from claustrophobia, I read these lines and stopped and put the book down for a minute. This connection between approaching death and narrow confinement certainly seems right to me. In one sense, we all steadily fall, like Ivan, inevitably, into this narrow confinement.

Despite it all, see Lincoln, the movie

Lincoln, the movie, directed by Steven Spielberg. Lincoln is played by Daniel Day Lewis.

Despite the constantly reverent treatment of Abraham Lincoln himself, and the sentimental music that swells whenever we should be instructed that something meaningful is happening, we enjoyed seeing this movie. The movie centers on Lincoln's efforts, in the weeks just before the Civil War ended, to get Congress to add the 13th amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery for good. It's not a high-minded process. It's amazing that a dramatic and at times funny 2+ hour movie was made about the workings of the democratic political process! Of course, we know how the movie ends, but that doesn't detract from the film's impact. I'm still thinking of Daniel Day Lewis mulling over his strategy in his sepia-toned office, with William Seward (played by David Strathairn) barking at him about how many more Congressional arms they have to twist, or buy, for the amendment to pass.