Why couldn’t/didn’t he appreciate and acknowledge the genius, the greatness, and the sublimity of Shakespeare?
>>25620799I don't know why he thought Shakespeare was amoral, when King Lear and Macbeth are the best morality tales ever. This is a sign of Tolstoy himself lacking greatness.
>>25620799His English was very poor. When he quotes Emerson or Jefferson in his wisdom quotes book he gets them all mangled.
I haven't read any of his non-fiction yet but a lot of good souls get filtered by THE BARD. As Harold Bloom put it, Shakespeare had a bigger impact on history than history did on Shakespeare. A lot of people feel a sense of vertigo or malaise even attempting to consider this.
>>25620799shakespeare is anglo slop. only eols care about him.
>>25620799How long do you intend to keep this seething about Tolstoy going, OP?
>>25620799Professional jealousy.
>>25620799Tolstoy was born in nobility. He was put off by Shakespeare, because he wrote for the entertainment of the English canaille.
>>25620799He explained it plenty of times, but basically it was because Tolstoy was a moralist and Shakespeare was nihilistic. Personally, I love both though.
>>25620799I think some of his critiques are valid but ultimately it comes from Tolstoy's strict Christian outlook and morality. This kind of fundamentalism is the enemy of great art and it's one of the reasons why Tolstoy's later work is of lesser quality than when he was in his prime
Political reasons. Shakespeare represented the Anglo west whose influence in Russian literature / high culture he sought to overthrow in favor of domestic authors
>>25621613He failed. Miserably.
>>25620799He was a plotfag
>>25620799I suggest reading his treatise What Is Art instead of just the Wikipedia article. He lays his reasons out pretty clearly, although you do sound retarded, so you might not understand.
>>25620799Shakespeare[‘s company of writers and performers] is extremely overrated. The French dramatist are so much better
>>25620799Nobody is perfect, but Tolstoy is pretty damn close.
>>25622091By French dramatists, does that include comedians like Moliere?
