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PARTTSAN REVIEW
of Romanticism while in Tolstoy Rousseau survives through his ration–
alism no less than through his sensibility. In point of fact, the Rous–
seauist cult of nature is operative in Tolstoy in a manner that leads
toward realism, as is seen in
his
Caucasian tales, for instance.
If
these
tales now seem romantic to us, that is largely because of the picturesque
material of which they are composed. A narrative like
The Cossacks
is actually t)lrned in a tendencious way against the tradition of "Cau–
casian romanticism" in Russian literature-the tradition of Pushkin,
Lermontov, and Marlinsky. Olenin, the protagonist of
The Cossacks,
is so little of a Romantic hero that he is incapable of dominating even
his own story; the impression of his personality is dissipated as the at–
tention shifts to the Cossack lad Lukashka, to Daddy Eroshka, and to
the girl Marianka. Think what Chateaubriand would have made of
a heroine like Marianka. In Tolstoy, however, she is portrayed in an
authentically natural style, with all the calm strength, unawareness of
subjective values, and indifference of a primitive human being. Though
she is a "child of nature" and therefore an object of poetical associa–
tions, she is seen much too soberly to arouse those high-flown senti–
ments which "nature" inspires in Romantic poets like Novalis or even
the Goethe of
Werther.
Where the Romantics convert nature into a
solace for the trials of civilization, into a theater of lyrical idleness and
noble pleasures, Tolstoy identifies nature with work, independence,
self-possession.
Compared with Pierre, Prince Andrey, or Levin, Olenin is a
weak hero, but he is important in that in his reflections he sums up
everything which went into the making of the early Tolstoy and
which was in later years given a religious twist and offered as a doc–
trine of world-salvation. The primacy which the issue of happiness
assumes in Olenin's thoughts is the key to his Tolstoyan nature. "Hap–
piness is this," he said to himself, "happiness lies in living for others.
That is evident. The desire for happiness is innate in every man;
therefore it is legitimate. When trying to satisfy it selfishly-that is,
by seeking for oneself riches, fame, comforts, or love-it may happen
that circumstances arise which make it impossible to satisfy these
desires. It follows that it is these desires which are illegitimate, but
not the need for happiness. But what desires can always be satisfied
despite extemal circumstances? What are they? Love, self-sacrifice."
In these few sentences we get the quintessence of the1 Tolstoyan men–
tality: the belief that ultimate truth can be arrived at through com–
mon-sense reasoning, the utilitarian justification of the values of love
and self-sacrifice and their release from
all
otherworldly sanctions, the
striving for the simplification of existence which takes the form of a
