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Unit 5: The Spark Neglected Burns the House by Leo Tolstoy

these achievements, notably his many “stories for the people” and his two popular dramas, we Notes
now turn our attention.
In February, 1886, already hard at work on his own stories for the popular audience, Tolstoy
wrote a letter to FF Tishchenko, a would-be author for the people, in which he outlined his
requirements for such writing. It should be altruistic rather than produced for profit; it should
communicate feelings; and it should be written expressly for the popular audience, making no
concession to the literary expectations of the educated upper classes. Tolstoy demanded a
simplification of language and style, specifically in comparison with the literary tradition of
the recent past. He advised the avoidance of both lexical and syntactic elements foreign to
Russian as spoken by common people. The exposition should be logical, straightforward, and
economical with an eye to creating the strongest possible impression within the smallest
possible compass. Finally, he believed that the most suitable subject matter of works for the
common people was that based upon the ethical teachings of Christ.
Tolstoy’s score of stories and two plays for the popular audience amply illustrate these principles.
Taken together they represent a combination, unique as far as I know, of the use and adaptation
of familiar popular forms as a stylistic foundation, the overtly didactic presentation of ethically
significant thematic material, and the artistic skill and power of a great literary master. In his
effort to present his version of the Christian teaching in works for the common people Tolstoy
re-invented the mediaeval ecclesiastical genre of the exemplum, a story told, usually as part of
a homily or sermon, to illustrate a particular point of doctrine. Many of the works which he
so created are exemplary also in the sense of illustrating what gems may be produced by the
close study, adaptation, and application of popular and collective forms to an individual
author’s specific artistic purposes.

5.1 The Stories for the People

Written to exemplify certain ethical truths, the stories for the people resemble the other late
works of Tolstoy, which are also, for the most part, overtly didactic. To the extent that he
consciously, from an early date, sought to portray the “truth,” as he understood it, in his
fiction, even his early works reflect his didactic proclivities. Thus, it is not the themes or the
motives of Tolstoy which ultimately set the stories for the people apart from the rest of his
work, but their style, which was developed specifically and consciously as an apt and accessible
medium for conveying moral concepts to the popular audience.

Critics still argue over exactly which works should be classified as stories for the people, but
certainly a number of sories written in the 1880s belong to the genre. Four of the more complete
editions of Tolstoy’s collected works contain a volume or clearly marked section of a volume
designated Stories for the People (Narodnye rasskazy). A total of some two dozen stories appeared
in one or more of these editions, but only sixteen of them were included in every one. Of these
the most celebrated are “What Men Live By”, “Two Old Men”, “Where Love Is, There Is God
Also”, “How Much Land Does a Man Need”, “The Tale of Ivan the Fool”, and “The Three
Hermits”. In 1887 Tolstoy consented to the publication by The Intermediary of a volume to be
titled Stories for the People. Forbidden by the censorship, the book never appeared, but its
proposed contents included fifteen of the sixteen stories. To this number may doubtless be
added stories written earlier, such as “God Sees the Truth, But Waits”, and later, such as
“Alesha Gorshok,” which share the same stylistic and thematic profile.
All of the stories are told by a third person narrator. Most commonly the narrator’s voice
closely resembles that of the popular characters, and his outlook is sympathetic to them. The
degree of his sympathy may vary, however. Often, as in “What Men Live By,” “Two Old
Men,” and “The Tale of Ivan the Fool,” the narrator identifies closely with the characters.

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