Can it really be -- something
new from Tolstoy? Perhaps a forgotten,
1,200-page canvass of history found propping up
a broken bedstead at the great man's dacha? Is
the mystic count of Russian literature about to
have a go -- à la Louisa May Alcott -- at the
late-20th century bestseller lists, thanks to a
misplaced manuscript? Not quite. Tolstoy's
"new" book, A Calendar of Wisdom, has gone
though the printing presses in Cyrillic several
times, but has just now been translated into
English by Peter Sekirin.
Sad to say, Tolstoy will not be going
head-to-head in bookstores this fall with
Underworld and Mason & Dixon. In fact,
he'll be far from the fiction section; he'll keep
company instead with the Life's Little Treasure
Books near the cash register. A Calendar of
Wisdom is a sort of commonplace book with
added commentary, a collection of quotations
culled from world literature and grouped
thematically for each day of the year. It is, in
Tolstoy's words, "an accumulation of the cultural
heritage of our ancestors, the best thinkers in the
world." Jack Handy, take a hike; these are really
deep thoughts. Call it "Cabbage Soup for the
Soul."
This book is, by design, popular reading from a
great master; it was made, in his words, "to
present for a wide reading audience an easily
accessible, everyday circle of reading which will
arouse their best thoughts and feelings." It is
touching to think of this great fiction maker so
consumed by the search for the simple,
communicable truth that he's thrown away all of
his trusty tools: out with character, away with
plot. This book is all theme, all the time. And, as
a book of daily inspiration, it is probably the best
of the lot. Certainly it presents a tougher, flintier
view of the human condition than the current
"Chicken Soup" bestsellers, a series that has had
its schmaltz inadequately skimmed. And whose
life wouldn't be bettered by a daily nibble of
Shakespeare, Lao Tsu, Ruskin, the Talmud, the
Dhammapada, Socrates, Jefferson and a host of
small and tall 18th and 19th century thinkers?
Tolstoy's sentiments are truly affecting, simple
but not easy prescriptions for daily living. If you
must have an owner's manual for life, by all
means try this one first. But keep in mind that it
was not enough for the count himself, who died
-- barely two years after the publication of the
last edition of the calendar -- at a lonely train
station as he attempted to flee the bonds of his
gentrified life. Life serves up far more measures
of grief than comfort food, in Tolstoy's vision.
Think of this calendar as Tolstoy's spiritual
Rolodex; whether such a thing puts you in touch
with the kind of truth you can live with is yours
to decide. -- Salon
Tolstoy's last major work reflects his desire to proselytize the moral faith and ideals he struggled to put into practice in his later years. Tolstoy believed that reading daily from the world's great literature was imperative for both his own spiritual edification and that of his readers, so he set himself the task of gathering a wide range of wisdom for every day of the year. He translated, abbreviated, and in many cases expressed entirely in his own words these "quotations" from diverse sources such as the New Testament, the Koran, Greek philosophy, Lao-Tzu, Buddhist thought, and the poetry, novels, and essays of both ancient writers and contemporary thinkers. An important book now released in English for the first time.
