Tolstoi spoke very disapprovingly of Belinsky’s famous letter to Gogol.
Doctor Butkevich asked Tolstoi if he had read Maeterlinck’s new play, Monna Vanna.
Tolstoi replied:
“Why should I? Have I committed a crime?”
Some one observed that common people are very seldom interested by Power of Darkness.
Tolstoi said:
“To interest the people one must write more simply and much more shortly, as Sophie Andreevna paints; everything in profile and everything on the plane, and yet no other pictures are enjoyed so much by children. In the same way, form must be simple and primitive if it is to be enjoyed by the people.”
Tolstoi went on to say:
“I have been thinking a great deal about it lately. There are two kinds of art, and both are equally needed—one simply gives pleasure and comfort to people, the other teaches them.”