Penguin Great Ideas: A Confession (Paperback)

from TakeItOrLeaveIt

'The Reflective Project of the Self' Reading Tolstoy's A Confession was a rite-of-passage as much as Leo's ultimate retrospective was for him, for me. Well, not quite because I'm still in my self-indulgent phase not ready to become an aesthetic and a believer in purpose and meaning found through ...

from jsoos

A Confession is Tolstoy's autobiographical essay questioning the meaning of life. His evolution from warrior to writer to working with the peasants led him to question logic and reason - billions of people do not react logically to the "life is meaningless" position. Why? - because they have fait...

from IronMike

"A Confession" was first published in 1882 and there have been many publishings since then. My comments refer to the new publication from Hesperus Classics. The Hesperus version, although a paperback, is a unique addition to the fold. The book itself, (the contents of the book aside for the momen...

from antiquary

As a fairly conventional mainstream Christian, it is probably natural that I very much liked the first part of Confession, which brilliantly dissects the still highly recognizable failings of the secular educated elite --it is often hard to remember this was describing events in the 1830s or so ....

from Brasidas

Fascinating! Tolstoy here reflects on the emptiness of his early life--military service, writing ambition, strength frenzy, etc.--and his simultaneous loss of God. He does not see how he can go on in midlife without both the materialistic and spiritual philosophies denied him. What follows is a c...