"Kreutzer Sonata" by Leo Tolstoy. Summary, analysis and reviews of the story

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The Kreutzer Sonata is Leo Tolstoy's outstanding work, published in 1891. Because of its provocative content, it was immediately subjected to severe censorship. The story raises questions of marriage, family, attitude towards a woman. On all these burning topics, the author has his own original opinion, which shocked astonished readers. The content and issues of this work will be discussed in this article.

History of Creation

The story "The Kreutzer Sonata" was written by Tolstoy at the time of a cruel mental and creative crisis. The author claimed that in his life there was a restructuring of "activities that are called artistic." Everything in the work - the poetic system, style, structure of literary characters - has undergone a significant change compared to the earlier works of Lev Nikolayevich. The main idea of the "Kreutzer Sonata"Tolstoy in his "Afterword" referred to the letter of a certain woman who was called Slavyanka and expressed in her message her own opinion about the oppression of women by the requirements of a sexual nature. Researchers of the classic's work date the rough writing of the story to October 1887. The work has been rewritten several times by the author. The final version was first read by Tolstoy in November 1989 to a select audience at the Kuzminsky House.

Censorship

In 1889, Tolstoy sent the story "The Kreutzer Sonata" to the St. Petersburg publishing house "Posrednik", where they immediately doubted that the work would be passed by the censors. Employees of the publishing house took the trouble to rewrite the work with their own hands and distribute copies of it throughout St. Petersburg. It produced the effect of an exploding bomb. However, the official publication was still very far away. The opinion of the employees of the Main Directorate for Press Affairs was unequivocal: the story would never be published in Russia, and the book would be subject to immediate destruction. The thirteenth volume of the collected works of L. Tolstoy was refused to be published for the same reasons - the Kreutzer Sonata was included in it. And only the personal permission of Alexander III, which was achieved by Tolstoy's wife, Sofya Andreevna, allowed the scandalous book to be published in 1891. Why was censorship so merciless to the work? The answer to this question can be found in the description of the story.

Summary

"Kreutzer Sonata" tells about the fate of the main character, Vasily Pozdnyshev, who, having lived a stormy,full of fun adventures youth, at the age of thirty he decided to settle down and started a family. He married for love, wanted to adhere to "monogamy" and was terribly proud of his good intentions. However, the relationship between the spouses was shaken already on the honeymoon. Pozdnyshev felt the hostility of the young wife and compared it with the "satisfaction of sensuality", which allegedly "exhausted" the sublime love. Over time, the hero realized that his marriage would not bring him any pleasant sensations. Everything was "disgusting, shameful and boring." The birth and upbringing of children served as another reason for disputes and abuse. For eight years, the couple had five children, after which the wife refused to give birth, put herself in order and began to look around in search of new experiences. She became interested in a handsome violinist during a joint performance of the Kreutzer Sonata with him. Pozdnyshev suffered from jealousy and one day, catching his wife with a rival, he killed her with a Damascus blade.

Attitude towards women

The plot of the work is tragic, but quite acceptable. Why did Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata so outrage and shock society? First of all, the judgments expressed by the main character. His own dissolute behavior in his youth makes him disgusted. But he blames it primarily on women. It is they who put on seductive dresses, they strive to be "objects of passion." He accuses mothers who want to profitably marry their daughters and for this dressing them in seductive outfits. He says that women are beautifulthey are aware of their power over men and actively use it, knowing that carnal desires prevail over all other most elevated intentions of the stronger sex. And all these judgments apply not only to fallen persons, whose services, without hiding, are used by representatives of the rich estates. In fact, he calls the behavior of ladies of high society prostitution and claims that women will always be in a humiliated position until they learn to be modest and chaste.

Attitude towards marriage

The story "Kreutzer Sonata", the analysis of which is presented in this article, actively promotes sexual abstinence. And not just outside of marriage. Tolstoy refers to the saying from the Gospel of Matthew: “everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” and applies these lines not only to any outside lady, but even to his own wife. He considers carnal pleasures unnatural and disgusting. He thinks that his relationship with his wife has deteriorated due to the animal instincts that he often showed inappropriately towards her. He believes that the human nature of an unspoiled girl opposes all manifestations of bodily love. If a person fulfills lofty aspirations in the name of love for God, then low, carnal ones - out of love for himself, and this brings the sinner closer to the devil. And the unclean provokes even greater crimes, in the case of Pozdnyshev, murder.

Attitude towards children

Many ambiguous judgments contains"Kreutzer Sonata". Tolstoy (a brief summary of the story is given in this article) did not leave a stone unturned from the generally accepted opinion about selfless love for one's own children. The appearance of five offspring in the Pozdnyshev family not only did not improve relations in the family of the protagonist, but completely ruined them. The gullible and child-loving wife was constantly worried about the children, which finally poisoned Pozdnyshev's life. When one of the children fell ill, existence for Vasily turned into a complete hell. In addition, the couple learned to "fight" with each other … children. Everyone had their favorite. Over time, the guys grew up and learned to take the side of one of the parents, which only once again added fuel to the fire. However, Tolstoy, through the lips of his hero, claims that childbearing saved him from the pangs of constant jealousy, since his wife was engaged only in family affairs and had no desire to flirt. The worst thing happened when doctors taught her how to prevent pregnancy.

Attitude towards art

It is no coincidence that the most scandalous story of Lev Nikolayevich is called "The Kreutzer Sonata". Tolstoy, a summary of whose work we are now retelling, had his own original opinion about art. He considered him another evil that awakens the basest vices in people. Pozdnyshev's wife stopped giving birth, got prettier and again became interested in playing the piano. This was the beginning of the end. First, according to the protagonist, most adultery is committed ina noble society under the pretext of studying the arts, especially music. Secondly, music makes an “irritating impression” on the listeners, it makes you feel what the author of the work felt at the time of writing, merge with experiences that are not characteristic of a person, make him believe in new opportunities, expand, so to speak, the horizons of his own perception. What for? What did Pozdnyshev's wife feel at the moment of the performance of the Kreutzer Sonata, what new desires crept into her receptive soul? The protagonist is inclined to blame the final fall of his wife on the corrupting power of music, which should correspond to the place and time of performance, and not awaken animal instincts in people.

Opinion of contemporaries

Tolstoy's "Kreutzer Sonata" became the subject of furious discussion not only in Russia, but also abroad. Chekhov admired the importance of the idea and the beauty of the execution of the story, but later it began to seem ridiculous and stupid to him. Moreover, he argued that many judgments in the work expose its author as a person "ignorant, not bothering … to read two or three books written by specialists." The church categorically condemned the ideological content of the story. Many secular critics agreed with her. They vied with each other to praise the artistic features of the story and also fiercely criticized its meaning. A. Razumovsky, I. Romanov stated that Lev Nikolayevich "in a frenzy" distorted the intimate details of family relations and "talked nonsense." They were echoed by foreign literary critics. American Isabel Halgood,translator of Tolstoy, considered that the content of the story is obscene even by the standards of freedom of speech in Russia and Europe. Leo Tolstoy was forced to publish an "Afterword", in which he set out the main ideas of his work in a simple and understandable language.

Answer story

Leo Tolstoy heard a lot of negative reviews about his story. The Kreutzer Sonata forced readers to reconsider generally accepted norms, made the issue of gender relations unusually relevant and discussed. The opinion of the author's wife, Sophia Andreevna, is interesting. Comparisons and parallels with the family life of Lev Nikolaevich after the publication of the story were inevitable. Although Tolstoy's wife carefully rewrote The Kreutzer Sonata and actively sought its publication, she harbored a grudge against her famous husband. Being an outstanding and talented woman, she wrote a response work “Whose fault”, in which she entered into a debate with Lev Nikolaevich. The story was not published until 1994, but received negative reviews from critics. However, in it Sofya Andreevna expressed her point of view, which exposed the behavior of men and their true attitude towards women. The Kreutzer Sonata, reviews of which appeared even after the death of the author, left a deep mark on Tolstoy's family life, forever upsetting his relationship with his wife.

In conclusion

In the collected works of Leo Tolstoy "Kreutzer Sonata" takes pride of place. The public of that time did not know a more frank book. Banofficial censorship made it even more popular. According to contemporaries, after the appearance of this work, instead of the on-duty question “how are you?” everyone asked each other about the Kreutzer Sonata. Many of the thoughts expressed in the work still seem controversial, and sometimes funny. However, the psychologically accurate description of family relationships, which over time acquire a negative connotation, remains relevant today and requires careful study.