Tolstoy or Dostoevsky

AN EIGHTH Day Book(s) Review of Tolstoy or Dostoevsky by George Steiner: The lack of a question mark in the title reveals much about Steiner’s mind concerning his two subjects. In one sense, the title is more of a statement than a question. For Steiner, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky represent the most sublime literature of the modern age. Steiner’s phrases contain Homer, Shakespeare, Dante… Tolstoy, Dostoevsky. Their work is “massive,” “titanic,” “epic.” They are placed together, and the title implies, “These are the two greatest novelists of all, they have no rival.” But there is another sense in which the title implies a question. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky represent the two most fundamental and divergent outlooks possible on the world, on human nature and God. The burden of this study is to reveal the radically irreconcilable nature of their visions, by analyzing their novels and stories and by taking us inside them; Steiner’s readings of their texts are simply brilliant. When we finish this book, the questioning aspect of the title becomes stark: Which outlook do we share? Whose vision will we choose? Tolstoy’s or Dostoevsky’s?

384 pp. paper $37.00