The Relationship of Tolstoy's Philosophy and His Fiction

FAIN: FA-11332-76

Richard F. Gustafson
Columbia University (New York, NY 10027-6909)

To continue work on a book about Tolstoy so that it might be ready for publication in 1978, the 150th anniversary of Tolstoy's birth. Tentative title of book is Tolstoy's Discovery of Self: On the Relationship of Fiction and Philosophy .The main thesis of the book is that there are two central stances of the Tolstoyan Self: the Self in utter alienation from all Other and the Self in total atonement with all Other. The central Tolstoyan question is what is the proper relationship of Self to Other, a question which religion, according to Tolstoy, serves to answer.