Yiyun Li at Harper’s Magazine:
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, I led a virtual discussion of War and Peace, with the thought that someone else might enjoy reading the novel with me. Three thousand people ended up following along, which seemed to me a good way to connect people in isolation. But there were disagreements. Someone complained to a friend of mine that she didn’t see why I bothered to read Tolstoy, who was a “patriarchal figure.” An acquaintance told me that I did not need to read Tolstoy to feel like a writer. Feel, I marveled: What did she mean? It was baffling that people would feel strongly about what I did with my reading time; it was as though someone took personal offense that I often eat broccoli.
Later, at a writers’ festival, I gave a talk on what I’d learned from reading War and Peace. Afterward, someone who had been in the audience asked me if I knew anything about Tolstoy’s life. I did, as I had read his biography and visited Yasnaya Polyana, his estate outside Moscow. “He was an aristocrat!” the woman said. “He had servants. His wife served him. He was a horrible man!”
more here.
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