The Book “What Is Art?” by L.N. Tolstoy Essay

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It is possible to suggest that most teenagers and adults have either heard of or even read a famous Russian novel War and Peace, written in 1869. Its author, Leo Tolstoy, was not only a significant and talented writer but also a great philosopher with unique ideas and perceptions of different concepts and processes of life. In his 1897 book titled What Art is, Tolstoy expresses his interesting thoughts regarding beauty and aesthetics and provides three criteria according to which art should be judged.

To begin with, the writer mentions his disagreement with the accepted ideas of beauty and states that they are just a special privileged class’s attempt to canonize those artworks that they find pleasant and engaging. However, identifying the real beauty with the taste of a select group of people is wrong, as well as turning aesthetics into the study of this concept simply because there is no definition of beauty (Tolstoy, 1960). Only the specific effect on people can define art as precisely this is its primary purpose. As for the three criteria that allow evaluating works of art, they are the specificity, clarity, and sincerity of the feeling or emotion it conveys to people.

As for me, I could not agree with Tolstoy’s ideas. Indeed, it is not right to judge the beauty of something based on other people’s opinions. It does not matter if they are privileged or not, I personally want to have my own idea about beauty and freely judge art or any other phenomenon. In the modern world, this can be compared to the fashion and influence of famous fashion designers on most people who blindly obey and wear clothes that are considered “beautiful and stylish” by a certain group of people. It is probably not correct to compare art and fashion, but this is the best way I can express my agreement with Tolstoy. Both works of art and clothes should have a unique and strong effect on people. In case there is no impact, even though some people talk about beauty, these conversations are empty and meaningless.

Reference

Tolstoy, L. N. (1960). What is art? (A. Maude, Tran.). MacMillan Publishing Company. (Original work published 1897).

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