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PART V: 1889 to 1891
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PART V 1889 to 1891 [3.237.178.126] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 13:00 GMT) 559 1889 V.1 1889 — Mummery and visitors On the evening of the 1st of January, my whole family was at home, when we were suddenly informed that mummers had arrived and wanted to come in. The young people got all excited with delight, while Lev Nikolaevich and I found it altogether boring. I never did like mummers. It’s never really fun. They come in, bow, people look at them, and that’s it. Nobody knows what these mummers are supposed to do or what we are supposed to do with them. That’s the way it was this time, too, although the mummers were amazingly well costumed and made up. These were the Filosofovs along with the dear and fun-loving artist Prjanishnikov.1 Lev Nikolaevich went out to the parlour for a moment and despondently shook hands with everybody before quickly retreating to his study, complaining that the mummers had only added to his tedium. His mood couldn’t help but reflect on all of us. On 2 January, for example, Lev Nikolaevich wrote in his diary: “The year’s off to a pretty dismal start. Masha and Posha (Birjukov — S. A. T.) are distraught. Things have become quite difficult, and there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. Death seems attractive , more often than not. Father! help me, guide me and take me as I am.” Butjustwhatwas‘difficult’?Toputitsimply,alllifewasdifficultforLevNikolaevich.Hisinner vision beheld only evil and misery everywhere. At the time he was reading an article by Kennan2 describing the Peter and Paul Fortress,3 which provoked a sense of horror and displeasure in him.Hewantedtowriteanarticlehimself,butcitingcitylifeandallthebustleandthevisitors[as an excuse], Lev Nikolaevich slipped into sulking and being bored with inaction. V.2 Philosophers and scientists Various scientists and philosophers came to see us at that time. A particularly frequent visitor was a professor of philosophy, still quite young, lively, short of stature, with glistening dark eyes and crowned by a mop of black hair — Nikolaj Jakovlevich Grot. He talked quickly and at length, setting forth his theories one after another. His movements, too, were quick, and he always had a cheerful and merry disposition. He was very fond of Lev Nikolaevich, and was more interested than anyone else in his works. But Lev Nikolaevich commented on him: “Amazing! Grot talks about everything in life and thinks like an anti-philosopher, but his theories are like houses of cards.” Indeed, Grot was no philosopher at all. The father of a large family, talented and capable of talking freely on any subject, always active — it hardly seems likely he would have the time to delve very deeply into philosophical thought. Another of our visitors was also a philosopher — Lev Mikhajlovich Lopatin.4 He was gaunt with a shrill voice and, like [Grot], did not have any aura of a thinker about him. His uniqueness 1 Illarion Mikhajlovich Prjanishnikov — see Part iii, Note 552. On mummery, see Part i, Note 90. 2 George Kennan (1845–1924) — American journalist and explorer with a keen interest in Russian life; great uncle to the prominent American cold-war diplomat and historian George F. Kennan (1904–2005). He travelled extensively throughout Russia (particularly the Kamchatka and the Caucasus regions). Kennan’s visit with Tolstoy in June 1886 is recordedinhismemoir “AvisitwithCountTolstoy”,publishedinTheCentury(NewYork),vol.12(1887):252–65.Reprinted as Chapter 1 in Peter Sekirin 2006. 3 Peter and Paul Fortress [Petropavlovskaja krepost’] — a Petersburg fortress used to incarcerate mainly political prisoners ; many of the Decembrists had been detained there following the 1825 uprising (see Part iii, Note 111). 4 Lev Mikhajlovich Lopatin — see Part iv, Note 392. my life 560 560 layinthefactthathelikedtogatheryoungpeoplearoundhim—childrenandyoungladies,then would sit down on the sofa where it was darker and improvise the wildest tales, especially horror stories. The girls really liked this and were always keeping after Lev Mikhajlovich to tell them such stories. His audience comprised the Obolenskij girls, the Tolstoy girls (Sergej Nikolaevich’s daughters),ourchildrenandothers.LevNikolaevichcalledhisconversationswithsuchphilosophers philosophical twaddle. One day they brought a certain Professor Zverev5 to see Lev Nikolaevich. This Zverev, the son of a wealthy peasant elder, gave the appearance of being really beastly6 and abnormal in his complete absence of any religion or moral principles, his denial of God and description of people’s lives as being rudderless, simply dependent on the flow of things. I recall both Lev Nikolaevich and myself not...