友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!阅读过程发现任何错误请告诉我们,谢谢!! 报告错误
九色书籍 返回本书目录 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 进入书吧 加入书签

part05+-第19章

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!






own hands; and I cited Goldwin Smith's profound remark that 〃some



American lynchings are proofs not so much of lawlessness as of a



respect for law。〃







He asked me where; besides this; the shoe pinched in the United



States。 I told him that it pinched in various places; but that



perhaps the worst pinch arises from the premature admission to



full political rights of men who have been so benumbed and



stunted intellectually and morally in other countries that their



exercise of political rights in America is frequently an injury;



not only to others; but to themselves。 In proof of this I cited



the case of the crowds whom I had seen some years before huddled



together in New York tenement…houses; preyed upon by their



liquor…selling landlords; their families perishing of typhoid and



smallpox on account of the negligence and maladministration of



the local politicians; but who; as a rule; were almost if not



quite ready to mob and murder those of us who brought in a new



health board and a better order of things; showing him that for



years the very class of people who suffered most from the old;



vile state of things did their best by their votes to keep in



power the men who maintained it。







We then passed to the subject of the trans…Siberian Railway。 In



this he seemed interested; but in a vague way which added nothing



to my knowledge。







Asking me regarding my former visit to Moscow; and learning that



it was during the Crimean War; he said; 〃At that time I was in



Sebastopol; and continued there as a soldier during the siege。〃







As to his relations with the imperial government at present; he



said that he had been recently elected to a learned society in



Moscow; but that the St。 Petersburg government had interfered to



stop the election; and he added that every morning; when he



awoke; he wondered that he was not on his way to Siberia。







On my leaving him; both he and the countess invited me to meet



them next day at the Tretiakof Museum of Russian Pictures; and



accordingly; on the following afternoon; I met them at that



greatest of all galleries devoted purely to Russian art。 They



were accompanied by several friends; among them a little knot of



disciplesyoung men clad in simple peasant costume like that



worn by the master。 It was evident that he was an acknowledged



lion at the old Russian capital; for as he led me about to see



the pictures which he liked best; he was followed and stared at



by many。







Pointing out to me some modern religious pictures in Byzantine



style painted for the Cathedral of Kieff; he said; 〃They



represent an effort as futile as trying to persuade chickens to



reenter the egg…shells from which they have escaped。〃 He next



showed me two religious pictures; the first representing the



meeting of Jesus and Pilate; when the latter asked; 〃What is



truth?〃 Pilate was depicted as a rotund; jocose; cynical man of



the world; Jesus; as a street preacher in sordid garments; with



unkempt hair flowing over his haggard face;a peasant fanatic



brought in by the police。 Tolstoi showed an especial interest in



this picture; it seemed to reveal to him the real secret of that



famous question and its answer; the question coming from the



mighty of the earth; and the answer from the poor and oppressed。







The other picture represented the Crucifixion。 It was painted in



the most realistic manner possible; nothing was idealized; it was



even more vividly realistic than Gebhardt's picture of the Lord's



Supper; at Berlin; so that it at first repelled me; though it



afterward exercised a certain fascination。 That Tolstoi was



deeply interested was clear。 He stood for a time in silence; as



if musing upon all that the sacrifice on Calvary had brought to



the world。 Other representations of similar scenes; in the



conventional style of the older masters; he had passed without a



glance; but this spectacle of the young Galilean peasant; with



unattractive features; sordid garb; poverty…stricken companions;



and repulsive surroundings; tortured to death for preaching the



〃kingdom of God〃 to the poor and down…trodden; seemed to hold him



fast; and as he pointed out various features in the picture it



became even more clear to me that sympathy with the peasant



class; and a yearning to enter into their cares and sorrows; form



the real groundwork of his life。







He then took me to a small picture of Jesus and his disciples



leaving the upper room at Jerusalem after the Last Supper。 This;



too; was painted in the most realistic manner。 The disciples;



simple…minded fishermen; rude in features and dress; were



plodding homeward; while Christ himself gazed at the stars and



drew the attention of his nearest companions to some of the



brightest。 Tolstoi expressed especial admiration for this



picture; saying that at times it affected him like beautiful



music;like music which draws tears; one can hardly tell why。 It



was more and more evident; as he lingered before this and other



pictures embodying similar ideas; that sympathy for those



struggling through poverty and want toward a better life is his



master passion。







Among the pictures; not to be classed as religious; before which



he thus lingered were those representing the arrest of a nihilist



and the return of an exile from Siberia。 Both were well painted;



and both revealed the same characteristicsympathy with the



poor; even with criminals。







Some of the more famous historical pictures in the collection he



thought exaggerated; especially those representing the fury of



the Grand Duchess Sophia in her monastery prison; and the remorse



of Ivan the Terrible after murdering his son。







To my surprise; he agreed with me; and even went beyond me; in



rating landscape infinitely below religious and historical



painting; saying that he cared for landscape…painting only as



accessory to pictures revealing human life。







Among genre pictures; we halted before one representing a peasant



family grouped about the mother; who; with a sacred picture laid



upon her breast; after the Russian manner; was dying of famine。



This also seemed deeply to impress him。







We stopped next before a picture of a lady of high birth brought



before the authorities in order to be sent; evidently against her



will; to a convent。 I cited the similar story from Manzoni's



〃Promessi Sposi〃; but; to my surprise; he seemed to know little



of that most fascinating of historical romances。 This led to a



discussion in which he said he had once liked Walter Scott; but



had not read anything of his for many years; and he seemed



interested in my statement that although always an especial



admirer of Scott; I had found it almost impossible to induce the



younger generation to read him。







Stopping before a picture of Peter the Great's fatal conference



with his son Alexis; in reply to my remark upon the marvel that a



prince of such genius as Peter should have appeared at Moscow in



the seventeenth century; he said that he did not admire Peter;



that he was too cruel;administering torture and death at times



with his own hands。







We next halted before a picture representing the horrible



execution of the Strelitzes。 I said that 〃such pictures prove



that the world does; after all; progress slowly; in spite of what



pessimists say; and that in order to refute pessimists one has



only to refer to the improvements in criminal law。〃 To this he



agreed cordially; and declared the abolition of torture in



procedure and penalty to be one great gain; at any rate。







We spoke of the present condition of things in Europe; and I told



him that at St。 Petersburg the opinion very general among the



more thoughtful members of the diplomatic corps was that war was



not imminent; that the Czar; having himself seen the cruelties of



war during the late struggle in the Balkans; had acquired an



invincible repugnance to it。 He acquiesced in this; but said that



it seemed monstrous to him that the peace of the empire and of



Europe should depend upon so slender a thread as the will of any



one man。







Our next walk was taken across the river Moskwa; on the ice; to



and through the Kremlin; and as we walked the conversation fell



upon literature。 As to French literature; he thought Maupassant



the man of greatest talent; by far; in recent days; but that he



was depraved and centered all his fiction in women。
返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0
未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!