kraftiekortie wrote:
Certain types of people tend to think that I am an "idiot" socially.
I am also "guileless," according to many--an adjective also frequently applied to Myshkin.
It's quite possible that I am not as "pure" and "virtuous" as Myshkin, though. Or as insightful.
I certainly don't give off an "aristocratic" impression. I'm very much the "common man."
It's Tolstoy who, actually, got into a rather extreme form of "mysticism" later in life.
I love his work, too. Especially Anna Karenina. Especially when they were discussing the "salt of the earth" type Russian farmer. And, especially, the ending when Anna met her fate.
I never liked Anna Karenina (I mean the character rather than the novel, although I thought little of the novel, too). I regard her in the same way as Flaubert's Mme. Bovary - a detestable, idiotic woman who betrayed her family and child for the sake of a worthless, frivolous passion. I much preferred her husband, though I can't remember his name.
War and Peace, as well as the rest of Tolstoy's more religious and philosophical works mean a lot more to me, though I still prefer Dostoevsky.