L.N. Tolstoy and His French-Speaking Correspondents on Art. Reception of the Treatise “What is Art?” in France

The article concentrates on the study of French-speaking correspondents’ letters to Tolstoy, the texts of which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The work aims to identify the French literary context reflected in Tolstoy’s treatise “What Is Art?” The article analyzes the reception of the writer’s views on art in France. The object of the investigation is the multilingualism of the treatise: Tolstoy often gives literary movements, foreign authors, and the names of their works in the original language, since he addresses an educated reader. The treatise’s author follows the classification of contemporary French literature, offered by J. Huret, author of the book “Enquête sur l'évolution littéraire” (Paris, 1891). It was available in Tolstoy’s library in Yasnaya Polyana but has not yet become the object of research in connection with his treatise. The article considers the reception of the treatise “What Is Art?,” published in France in 1898 in two translations at once — by Theodore de Wyzewa and E. Halperin-Kaminsky — and aroused keen interest among French readers. An important part of the research is devoted to the problem of understanding and perception of art, expressed in Tolstoy’s correspondence with French writers and journalists — M. Prevost, P. Sabatier, and R. Doumic. The article examines the works of Russian researchers P.S. Popov and B.V. Gornung, V.V. Polonsky who attempted to identify the range of foreign sources of the treatise “What Is Art?” and determine its place in the field of aesthetics and in the works of Tolstoy.

Acknowledgements: The work was carried out at IWL RAS with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 23-18-00375 “Russian Literature: The Problem of Multilingualism and Reverse Translation” (https://rscf.ru/project/23-18-00375/).