The relationship between Chekhov and Tolstoy as seen in "Duel" - What is Chekhov's true meaning when he tells us that "ideals do not save people"?
Previously.Duel.We looked at the characteristics of Chekhov's thought from the
And in this article I would like to look at the relationship between Chekhov and Tolstoy from this work.
Tolstoy...War and Peace.", ,Anna Karenina."He was a great writer who produced some of the most famous works of world literature, including Naturally, he was respected beyond compare in Russia. Chekhov was one of those who respected Tolstoy.
Chekhov remained in close contact with Tolstoy from the time he was firmly established as a writer until his later years.
However, although he respected Tolstoy as an artist and Tolstoy as a human being until his death, he began to distance himself from Tolstoy as a writer and thinker. There was a break with Tolstoy's thought in him.
It was in this work, "Duel," that it finally took shape and emerged.
In 1889, when Chekhov was preparing for his trip to Sakhalin, Tolstoy'sThe Kreutzer SonataThe work was published in a book called
This work and the trip to Sakhalin led to a change in the relationship between Chekhov and Tolstoy.
The following is an overview of the situation by Seiro Sato.The World of Chekhov's Art.Ask the
While Chekhov was preparing for his trip, Lev Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata came out and caused a great deal of trouble among the Russian intelligentsia. It was variously praised and criticized. Chekhov himself had the following to say about this intense and thoroughly sexist novel It is an important letter, so I will quote it here, although it is a bit long.
I'm not saying it's a work of genius, an eternal work - I'm not a judge, for that matter. I don't say that it is a work of genius, an eternal work - I am not a judge on that point. But in my opinion, among the many works being written today, both in Japan and abroad, you will never find one that can match it in terms of seriousness of intention and beauty of workmanship. I am grateful to the middle section for one thing: it stimulated my thinking to the extreme, not to mention its impressive artistic merit in places. As I read it, I couldn't help but think, "This is true! I couldn't help but exclaim, "This is true! I couldn't help but exclaim, "This is true! Well, it does have some very grievous flaws. Besides the ones you have pointed out, there is still one more thing that I do not want to forgive the author for. That is, Tolstoy's audacity in discussing things he does not know and does not even try to understand because of his stubbornness.
As is well known, Tolstoy's "Kreutzer Sonata" is about a wife who has been fornicating with her music teacher while her husband is away, and when he returns, he seizes the scene and stabs her to death. This structure influenced Chekhov's middle trilogy, "The Man in the Box," "Suguri," and "On Love.
I think that Chekhov's comments quoted here are an extremely accurate critique of this work, a mixture of defense and criticism. Two months after this letter, Chekhov left for Sakhalin. A hard, self-whipping journey.
Chikuma Shobo, Seiro Sato, The World of Chekhov's Art, p. 171
Chekhov had been praising Tolstoy's "Kreutzer Sonata" right up until he left on his trip to Sakhalin. However, upon his return from the trip, his appearance seems to be very different.
Ten months later, upon his return from his trip, he would say
Before the trip, the Kreutzer Sonata was an event for me, but now it seems ridiculous and meaningless. I don't know if it's because I've grown up or because I'm crazy..." (December 17, to Suvorin)
This change is the impetus for writing "Duel," but what does it mean?
In a sense, it is a defense of "man" against the extreme idealism of Tolstoyanism. It means that he has come to believe that human society should be judged on the scale of "man" and not on the scale of "God. He has come to believe that this is where fairness lies.
As his younger siblings attest, Chekhov often mentioned this word fairness (spravedlivosti) upon his return from Sakhalin.
The "Duel" was Chekhov's repulsion against the extreme idealism of the prisoners' island of Sakhalin, as recorded in the afterword to the "Kreutzer Sonata".
Chekhov's argument against the Tolstoyan ideal is that if people are to be judged by such an ideal, there is no need for indoctrination or education, and people will become slaves to the "ideal," or cannon fodder for the idea of the ideal.
It is a counterattack of human empiricism against extreme purism, so to speak, if, as Samoylenko says in the work, we are to cut off the corrupt and the no-good and condemn them out of our minds, then such a civilization must "go to hell".
Chikuma Shobo, Seiro Sato, The World of Chekhov's Art, p. 171-172
Chekhov witnessed the reality of Sakhalin, a place of exile for prisoners and an "island of hell," as it was called.
He saw a world where the ideals he had conceptualized in his head did not work at all.
This is similar to Dostoevsky's Siberian exile. Dostoevsky also underwent a major change in thought as a result of his Siberian exile. Things do not work according to the logic of the mind. No matter how much you talk about ideals, reality does not work that way. He felt this in the hellish environment.
He will not follow Tolstoyism with the word "absolute". Absolute asceticism, absolute non-resistance to evil, absolute vegetarianism, etc.
Clearly, we come to speak from a relative view of life. Believe that this is the way to live a humane life.
The Duel is a confrontation of "free humanism" against the Tolstoyan "despotic idealism" of the Kreutzer Sonata. It is an emphasis on tolerance and tolerance of trial and error.
Chikuma Shobo, Seiro Sato, The World of Chekhov's Art, p. 172
Tolstoy preached absolute Christian faith. And based on this, he came to speak of "absolute asceticism, absolute non-resistance to evil, absolute vegetarianism, etc., etc."
Many people were so fascinated by Tolstoy that they were called Tolstians.
Chekhov was initially moved by the ideas of such an idealist, Tolstoy, but after his trip to Sakhalin, he came to value relative thinking rather than absolute ideals.
He could not approve of a mindset that dismissed those who could not live up to their ideals as "unsaved people" or "no-good people. Chekhov came to believe that it is not fair to judge human beings on such grounds.
Tolstoy will be read by me after this. I may be able to relive what Chekhov actually felt at that time by reading Tolstoy. I look forward to reading Tolstoy.
The conflict of ideas in "Kreutzer Sonata" and "Duel" is very important for both Tolstoy and Chekhov. And this leads us to consider the ideas of Dostoevsky and even Shinran. In fact, Shinran, like Chekhov, was a religious man who questioned idealism. There are moments when reading Chekhov, one feels as if one is reading a book on Jodo Shinshu.
In this sense, "Duel" was a work full of highlights.
In the following article, we will look specifically at how Chekhov expressed his ideas in this work.
The above is "The Relationship between Chekhov and Tolstoy from "Duel" - What is Chekhov's true meaning when he tells us that "ideals do not save people"?
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