"A Dialogue Among Clever People" (AKA: "A Talk Among Leisured People") is a short story by Leo Tolstoy published in 1892. Aylmer Maude was one of the first translators.
According to literary critic Robert Ellsberg, in this story, an aristocrat articulates about happiness and concludes that happiness can best be found in the ideal of the simplicity, faith, and work of peasant life.[1] Ernest Joseph Simmons and Лев Толстой (граф), writing for Modern Library suggested that this was when Tolstoy started making more complex and greater efforts to focus his literature on social issues.[2] Elsewhere, Simmons, in a book devoted entirely to understanding Tolstoy, wrote that this story was ultimately about Tolstoy's own social class discussing their own futility of existence, with the two camps emerging, one in favor of simplicity and labor and the other opposed.[3] According to self-help authors Dan Miller and Dave Ramsey, the most important quote by Tolstoy from the work is: "work, and not idleness, is the indispensable condition of happiness for every human being."[4]
See also
References
- ^ Robert Ellsberg (2005). The Saints' Guide to Happiness: Practical Lessons in the Life of the Spirit. Doubleday. p. 40. ISBN 9780385515665.
- ^ Лев Толстой (граф), Ernest Joseph Simmons (1965). Short novels; stories of love, seduction, and peasant life. Vol. 2. Modern Library. p. xv. ISBN 9780394604824.
- ^ Ernest J. Simmons (1968). "9.Later Short Novels". Introduction To Tolstoy's Writings.
- ^ Dan Miller, Dave Ramsey (2010). 48 Days to the Work You Love. B&H Publishing Group. p. 9. ISBN 9781433669330.
External links
- Original Text
- A Dialogue Among Clever People, from RevoltLib.com
- A Dialogue Among Clever People, from Marxists.org
- A Dialogue Among Clever People, from TheAnarchistLibrary.org
- A Talk Among Leisured People, from Archive.org
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This page was last edited on 7 February 2024, at 19:53