Classic Novels Library

What Is Art?

What Is Art?

by Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910

BookID: 64908

Language:English

Translator:Maude, Aylmer, 1858-1938

Reading Level:Reading ease score: 51.7 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read.

Copyright Status:Public domain in the USA.

Arts -- PhilosophyArts and morals

Description

"What Is Art?" by graf Leo Tolstoy is a philosophical work completed in 1897. Tolstoy questions the very nature of art, rejecting beauty-based definitions to propose that art is anything communicating emotion—from jokes to church services. Yet his Christian moralism leads him to dismiss celebrated masters like Beethoven, Wagner, and Shakespeare, along with most of his own writings. He condemns the obscurity and artificiality of contemporary art, insisting that true art must be accessible to all and serve humanity's moral evolution by evoking brotherhood and love. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Class:BH: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Aesthetics

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