Tolstoy

Takahiro UedaDiary of a Monk

Welcome to our website. For those of you who are visiting our blog for the first time. First of all, please click here.

Nice to meet you. My name is Takahiro Ueda, the administrator of this blog. This blog started as my attempt to look at various things in my daily life and write words with the motto of asking myself questions, as you can see in the title of the blog.

This article will give you a general guide within our blog. If you are new to our blog or wondering what to read, please read this article first.
Dostoevsky's JourneyDostoevsky and His Wife's Fateful Journey: Travels in Western Europe of Madness and Love

Takahiro Ueda, "Dostoevsky and His Wife's Fateful Journey: A Western European Journey of Madness and Love" List of Articles - Please use this list as a table of contents.

This article is a collection of 30 articles from my European travelogue, "Dostoevsky, Fateful Journey with His Wife: Travels in Western Europe of Madness and Love".

I like Dostoevsky. But above all, I love "Dostoevsky with Mrs. Anna. I would be very happy if the journey of these two men could be seen by as many people as possible.
spider silkYukio Mishima and Japanese Literature

Ryunosuke Akutagawa's "The Spider's Thread" Synopsis and Impressions - A famous short story, famous as a Buddhist fairy tale! A thread of salvation hung in hell!

The Spider's Thread" is the first children's literature written by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and is a famous short story that is also famous as a Buddhist tale. As a Buddhist monk, I have seen and heard the story of "The Spider's Thread" in many Dharma talks and Buddhist books, and I believe that this story has been familiar to the Japanese people as a whole, beyond the framework of temple-related works.

In the commentary at the end of the book, there is a detailed explanation of the production of "The Spider's Thread," which was quite a surprise to me. To summarize the main points briefly, (1) it is not known whether "The Spider's Thread" is originally of Buddhist origin or not, and (2) this work is also related to Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. This article will look at this in more detail.
A Changing VillageBuddhism in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Southeast Asia

M. Wickramasinghe's "The Changing Village" Synopsis and Impressions - A masterful feature film from Sri Lanka! Also related to Dostoevsky and Chekhov!

It is a wonderful novel that is not well known in Japan, but is highly acclaimed around the world. I have actually read it and enjoyed its excellence.

It is an immersive novel, as if life in Sri Lanka appears before your eyes. This work is especially fitting for those who like Dostoevsky and Chekhov.

I will be reading the entire trilogy from now on, but this was one of those books that I felt had overwhelming quality from the start.
Stalin's LibraryHistory of the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin

Jeffrey Roberts, "Stalin's Library" - A novel biography of Stalin from the perspective of reading. How did he view Dostoevsky?

Hating him doesn't explain why and how he went to such lengths."

This is a very important point made by the author. If we put Stalin away as just a big bad man, that is where our thinking ends.

This is a very stimulating book that looks at Stalin from the perspective of "reading" to find out why he was able to become a dictator and what was behind his success. The author's courage to attack from a minor angle, "reading," which in a sense is not easily associated with dictatorships, is nothing short of amazing. It is very innovative.
Portrait of TolstoyTolstoy, the Russian Giant

Episode of the production of Kramskoy's "Portrait of Tolstoy" - This is how Tolstoy's piercing gaze was depicted!

The sharpness of Tolstoy's gaze in this portrait is astonishing.

Tolstoy is often associated with the white beard of his later years, but 1873, the year this portrait was painted, was Tolstoy's 45th year. 4 years earlier, he had completed the serialization of "War and Peace" and it was a huge hit. And in the same year, he wrote "Anna Karenina. In other words, it was a period when he was in full force as a writer. The sharp look in his eyes at that time is depicted in this portrait.

And interestingly, Tolstoy's encounter with Kramskoy also influenced the writing of Anna Karenina.
DostoevskyDostoevsky's works

Four recommended works of Dostoevsky! A selection of gems and masterpieces of interesting Russian literature!

Dostoevsky is a Russian literary master along with Tolstoy.

Dostoevsky is an overwhelming giant who left behind such literary masterpieces as "Crime and Punishment" and "The Brothers Karamazov. Dostoevsky plumbed the depths of the human psyche, opening up to us a profound and chaotic world. His stories, woven with his unique narrative style and strong personalities, have an indescribable black magic charm. I was one of those who were fascinated by his black magic.

In this article, we will introduce some of Dostoevsky's recommended works and reference books. We will also discuss useful information such as which translations are recommended and where to start reading.
Pavlov.The Industrial Revolution and British and European Society

Oxford Portrait of Science: Pavlov" A recommended biography of the great Russian scientist, famous for his "conditioned reflex" and Pavlov's dog!

The "conditioned reflex" and "Pavlov's dog" are directly related to modern brain science and neurological research. Therefore, I had assumed that they were more recent or had been studied in the UK or Germany.

I had no idea that was Russia in the 19th century!

At the very time that Dostoevsky and Tolstoy were drawing on psychological and religious writings that had little science in them, Pavlov was working on scientific research...

This was something I could not imagine if I only thought about Russian literature. In this sense, this biography is a valuable work that allowed me to look at Russia at that time from a different angle than usual, that of science.
Reading PragueOther Recommended Books

24 novels recommended by book-loving monks - a quick look at recommended works at each level from introductory to advanced!

In this article, we will introduce novels that we highly recommend for each level of readers, from beginners to advanced readers.

Basically, the books introduced here are all great books that I recommend with confidence. All of them are extremely interesting works, so please take a look at the linked pages for the books that interest you, regardless of whether they are categorized as introductory or advanced.
Dostoevsky and His Wife's Fateful Journey: Travels in Western Europe of Madness and Love

(1) A brief introduction to Dostoevsky (1821-1866 "from birth to around the time of "Crime and Punishment") before meeting his wife, Lady Anna.

This article will briefly review the first half of Dostoevsky's life before he met his wife, Lady Anna. It is quite difficult to summarize his tumultuous life in short, but we have tried to make it as compact and to the point as possible.

Knowing how difficult Dostoevsky's life had been, it becomes clear how fortunate he was to have met Madame Anna.