Reminiscences of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy | ||
XVI
I read my story, "The Bull," to him. He laughed much, and praised my knowledge of "the tricks of the language."
"But your treatment of words is not skilful; all your peasants speak cleverly. In actual life what they say is silly and incoherent, and at first you can not make out what a peasant wants to say. That is done deliberately; under the silliness of their words is always concealed a desire to allow the other person to show what is in his mind. A good peasant will never show at once what is in his own mind: it is not profitable. He knows that people approach a stupid man frankly and directly, and that's the very thing he wants. You stand revealed before him, and he at once sees all your weak points. He is suspicious; he is afraid to tell his inmost thoughts even to his wife. But with
"What about sayings and proverbs?"
"That's a different thing. They are not of to-day's manufacture."
"But you yourself often speak in aphorisms."
"Never. There again you touch everything up, people as well as nature — especially people. So did Lieskov, an affected, finicky writer whom nobody reads now. Don't let any one influence you, fear no one, and then you'll be all right."
Reminiscences of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy | ||