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    What Is Art? (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)
    Unavailable
    What Is Art? (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)
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    What Is Art? (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)
    Ebook276 pages4 hours

    What Is Art? (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

    By Leo Tolstoy and Marc Lucht

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading.   What Is Art? is the result of fifteen years of reflection about the nature and purpose of art. The book is noteworthy not only for its famous iconoclasm and compelling attacks on the aestheticist notion of "art for art's sake," but even more for its wit, its lucid and beautiful prose, and its sincere expression of the deepest social conscience.

    Tolstoy's challenging claims that all good art is related to the authentic life of the broader community and that the aesthetic value of a work of art is not independent of its moral content deserve the most serious attention by contemporary artists and aestheticians. Most of all, a sustained consideration of the cultural import of art by someone who himself was an artist of the highest stature--Tolstoy is an author critics typically rank alongside Shakespeare and Homer--will always remain relevant and fascinating to anyone interested in the place of art and literature in society.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBarnes & Noble
    Release dateMar 13, 2012
    ISBN9781411467491
    Unavailable
    What Is Art? (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)
    Author

    Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy grew up in Russia, raised by a elderly aunt and educated by French tutors while studying at Kazen University before giving up on his education and volunteering for military duty. When writing his greatest works, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Tolstoy drew upon his diaries for material. At eighty-two, while away from home, he suffered from declining health and died in Astapovo, Riazan in 1910.

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    Reviews for What Is Art? (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

    4/5

    48 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      A book that could have been written today. His observations on the corruption of art and the creative process are as current as they were in 1899.
    • 3/5
      An interesting conception of the basis of art by the famed Tolstoy. The prose is stiff, but the ideas are original and considerable. A pleasant read, and one that gives rise to careful logical, and moral, consideration of the idea of art itself.3 stars.
    • 4/5
      Much better and more convincing than I was expecting. Even Tolstoy's literature review is entertaining. And yes, it gets a bit repetitive, and it's not perfectly thought through, but as a work of social and cultural criticism, this deserves (even) more praise than it receives.