A Confession Paperback – Jan 5 2005

Tolstoy got all religious and anarcho pacificist in his later life, and this is why

A nice short read on a very important topic, nice to trace the thought process of such a great thinker on the way to faith in God.

In a recent bok the Russian Cossmists which I looked at, pp 236-37 the witer states "american/western european intellectuals towards Russian traditions,valies,policies..whether in tsarist or soviet times..governing for royals and driven political leaders..in a very rich national culture." A good dollop of money is spent here, toward an abstract ideal of the nation, showcasing attractive girls and youger athletic men, muscles bursting with virility and women in attractive getups poses and clothes which is a change from soviet times..and lets go back. The ancient 19th century european courts, when everyone like to live like king louis and maria antoinette, "let them eat cake":\..and "the sun god." Everyone wa so estranged from the upper class..a split..here and if we watch those ancient czar films..from old Russia..he managed to create and foster in part at least a bond with people, the bulder of the nation and creed/culture, monks at the court, learning and balanced that with the upper crust, the nobility..who were focused on the upper classes outside of europe. Almost a mirror..and they bypassed the lower classes the upper classes, who were like Marie and Louis..a priveleged life at court..and if you entered the eateries and wherever..foreign phrases, and everything natives exorcised as at a nearby monastery. Tolstoy the military adventurer and nationalist tells us there was a almost a hatred of this foreign upper class..which didnt have much to do with money, that was an associated problem..they had a different culture..even quite different than what the Tsar espoused..who knows if all this led to the eventual revolution. The tsar ran the nation with key families throughout the nation, largely agrarian, and balanced that with the people and their and his culture, and he really over a period of time developed the nation and the families and poems and young girls and boys..a tiny few of the upper crust was religious, but Tolstoy tells us almost none..and there was almost a competing evisceration in this sense,,even between the more western Petersberg and the city of Moscow(a place many outsiders never really understood, even the neighbouring parts of the country)..many see communism as the ascent of a Moscow culture, the militarist against the age old imperialisms..and became anti tsar..eliminating the past..who knows? If we can also imagine in latrer years in Moscow, in a room, a party meeting, trying to find good managers at factorys, like american managers, interestin gwomen inclothes and jewellery, nylons and shoes.instead of smuggling from hee nd there across the border..a national identity diffused..im gettingon and too long..here we have Tolstoys book A confession, against the backdrop of circumstances which soon led to the russo japanese war? around 1905/6..and asian problems another problem for the tsar..and people to find this war for nation.."i killed men in wars and challenged men to duels"..here we have some ancient fight to bed some attractive young woman..an dhe had so many over the years he grew bored of this habit..the novel Anna Karenina tells us he often fell in love ands he knows women so well perhaps the ascent to spirituality..through his very pores..by the loves of women in his youth..leading him on..the passions..and retributions against him..and warring..p9 "driven to reflection"..he liked to read "newspapers"..within him was that spark"striving after perfection"..and he sought the same for the girls he knew..the loves..so he worked his way around the families of ancient Russia during the czars time..the nicely dressed,peffumed, educated and intelligent and it led to crime with all his military acumen..the life of Tolstoy..he admits so little and im reading between the lines..but he came to detest this upper class..found it foreign,,we see thast in the early pages..the nobility in the restaurants among the waiting staff..in communist times this type of culture and eateries were certainly gone..i dont want to go on and on..perhaps i have things wrong a different culture..he talks of progress..and its interesting that at this tim ein intellectual circles no one would ever think progress would come to a halt, regress, and yet he finds that the world given its moral nature..and problems which he finds "insoluble"..this was way before the first war..he finds progress an illusion way before the war this is a great insight..and the book talks of his faith, his turn to the lower class families, and his great wealth built on being one of the famous europeans of his time..and led to problems with important families and churches(which he tells us he never really understood)..but he gave all this nouveau riche lifestyle up and spent his time among poorer families..this allows us a glance at modern Russia with its oligarchs and churches and different foreign ideas and associations,,and i hardly think the current resident of the presidents chair(and we do have mayors)is really responsible for the virtues or the psychological development, divorce, or crime..much as the problem of the great decline of the middle claases a crisis in many western capitals and loss of industry is hurting the west..and east..thats a good way to understand this short book..after the october revolution the critic g.k.chestertonin apiece noted "i a book reading bourgeois..happy middle class circle in which i live..such artisans think too highly of the culture imposed on them..and too little of the culture from which they came"(the religion of bolshevism july 24/20)..which describes so much of the crisis these days between east and west and these cultural changes and the changes in middle class life..where exactly are we going and i dount whether the leader of Russia or America..is really to blame or to be heralded for much goin gon in their nation..but at least in some places we now have the office of mayor

I'm a student who takes a philosophy class every semester, despite the fact that it does absolutely nothing for my graduation requirements. I always do well in the philosophy classes, but there is one part I hate: the reading. I was convinced that there was no point in philosophy that one could not talk through with another person; the words and semantics in philosophy, meant to clarify arguments when spoken, simply seemed a muddle to me when read. So it was with trepidation that I picked up my latest assignment--Tolstoy's Confession. I read it, and was shocked to find myself completely engrossed. Here, finally, was what I'd been looking for...the On the Road of philosophy, the self-effacing Jack Kerouac of the field. Everyone who's had worries about the fleeting nature of life and everyone who's worried that it all means nothing, this is your book.

Although Tolstoy himself does admit that his autobiographical rumination on the meaning of life (and lack thereof) would probably be printed some day "if it be worth it and if anyone wants it" (p 70), he probably expected it to be at least read before it was published.
Such is not the case with this printout of what reads like the unedited result of automatic translation from the original Russian.
How else to explain the incredible number of typos? To give but one example, what species of editor would let this one pass at the end of a paragraph: "...I remembered about the shore, the oars and the direction, and began to pull back upwards against the stream and towards the whore." (sic., p 57)
What meaning are we to give to his metaphor when he explains in the first line of the next paragraph "That shore was God..."?
Well, I have spoiled the book for you anyway, as there lies the only message in this confession. Tolstoy was suicidal until he found the meaning of life in the God of the Russian people (vs that of his church) and accepted that simply looking for Him gave him peace.
As for the illustrations by Repin, they are limited to one minute sketch and the book cover.
THIS BOOK IS NOT RECOMMENDED IF YOU ARE ALREADY DEPRESSED

When reading A Confession I felt as if I were listening to a wise, animated friend. This book spoke to me. Tolstoy convincingly details the reasons not to live only to conclude that the best thing to do is to continue living. Since it is not a particularly well-known Tolstoy work, I thought it deserved some promotion here. It really is wonderful.

Tolstoy's personal account of the existential crisis he faced after having published War & Peace and Anna Karenina. If you've ever laid awake late at night wondering, "What will come from what I am doing now, and may do tomorrow? What will come of my whole life?" then Tolstoy's Confession is a book for you.

never read tolstoy?
an excellent beginning.... trust me u ll be forced to find out
more abt the guy!
already read his fictional works? (war and peace, anna karenina)?
u ll be amazed when u read this..
a highly engrossing work....abt his spiritual crises ...writtien during a very turbulent time in his life..this time u ll find out abt the man behind the great books...makes u THINK...abt urself and abt life itself!
"what is life anyway? why do I live? what is life for?"