LITERATURA FRANCUSKA A LEW TOŁSTOJ (1880-1914)
FRENCH LITERATURE AND TOLSTOY (1880-1914)

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the present article is to outline the most important lines of development of reception of Tolstoy in France in 1880 - 1914. The selection of chronological limits is easy to justify. This is a period of a very great crisis of French culture and the basic foundations of social and individual life. Looking for new doctrines and new religious models, social and cultural models in the widest sense of the word begins. The source of inspiration of those who are looking for new ways both in the field of form as well as content may be both tradition and new movement, called the vanguard movements. One of the proposed means which were to renew and make more thorough the life of literature was to borrow from foreign models and the interest in the literary output of other countries resulted from this. The reasons of interest in the work and the person of Leo Tolstoy were numerous. For the French people troubled with scepticism and pessimism Tolstoy becomes the apostle of faith. His life being a chellenge to all forms of conformism interested all those who felt tired of triteness and commonplaceness, hypocrisy and routine of the life style of bourgeoisie. The ideals of the Russian writer were shared by many French people, the more so that it was possible to refer to the tradition of the native great writers and thinkers such as V. Hugo, Lamenais, F. Ozanam and others. Pacifism, the ideal of disarmament and brotherhood of peoples were common both to Tolstoy and many outstanding writers, e.g. Romain Rolland, Duhamel, Martin du Gard, Verhaeren to mention only the most important ones. One should add here the attractiveness of exoticism emanating from the figure of the author of monumental works like War and Peace and political relations of The Third Republic with Russia in order to understand the other reasons for the interest in Tolstoy. E. M. de Vogué had a great share in the field of popularization of Russian novels in France and on particular the works of Tostoy and Dostoyevsky. There were many other writers who were also interested in Tolstoy — E. Faguet, A. France, Romain Rolland, G. Dumas, A. Suaręs, Martin du Gard whose The Thibaidt Family received a name of the Tolstoyan novel. André Antoine and his “Théâtre libre” contributed to a considerable degree to the popularization of theatrical plays of Tolstoy. Surely, there were in France the writers whose attitude toward Tolstoy was negative — these were Charles Maurras, Theodore de Wyzewa and Paul Bourget.

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