The Kreutzer Sonata

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The Kreutzer Sonata is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1889 and promptly censored by the Russian authorities. The work is an argument for the ideal of sexual abstinence and an in-depth first-person description of jealous rage. The main character Pozdnyshev relates the events leading up to his killing his wife; in his analysis, the root cause for the deed were the "animal excesses" and "swinish connection" governing the relation between the sexes.

1 Plot
2 Censorship
3 Epilogue
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

During a train ride the main figure, Pozdnyshev, overhears a conversation concerning marriage, divorce and love. The narrator (who is essentially the main character relating the story) is on the train prior to his speaking, listening to other passengers discussing these subjects. When a woman argues with an old merchant with traditional values that marriage should be based on true love after he states it should be arranged, Pozdyshev cuts into the conversation when the merchant leaves, asking "what is love?" and points out that, if understood as an exclusive preference for one person, it often passes quickly. Convention dictates that two married people stay together, and initial love can quickly turn into hatred. He then relates how he used to visit prostitutes when he was young, and complains that women's dresses are designed to arouse men's desires and continues, stating that society has created this horrifying cycle, even criticizing the “honeymoon” as an event that only leads to ruin. He further states that women will never enjoy equal rights to men as long as men view them as objects of desire but yet describes their situation as a form of power over men, mentioning how much of society is geared towards their pleasure and well-being and how much sway they have over men’s actions. After meeting and marrying his wife, periods of passionate love and vicious fights alternate. She bears several children, and then her doctor advises her to avoid having them due to her fragile health and suggests she try birth control. His wife eventually takes a liking to a violinist since she is also a musician, practicing with him from time to time, and the two perform Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata (Sonata No. 9 in A Major for piano and violin, Op. 47) together at a party at Pozdnyshev’s home. Pozdnyshev complains that some music is powerful enough to change one's internal state to a foreign one, finding partial fault in his eventual actions from the faces of the violinist and his wife while they play. He hides his paranoid jealousy and goes on a trip, returns early in a state of agitation while consumed with various thoughts, finds the two together and kills his wife with a dagger. The violinist escapes and Pozdnyshev comments: "I wanted to run after him, but remembered that it is ridiculous to run after one's wife's lover in one's socks; and I did not wish to be ridiculous but terrible." Pozdnyshev justifies the murder to himself while he acts in a state of uncontrollable rage (which is questionable when one considers the previous quote), and even though there is no indication anything indeed was occurring he continues with his task. Vague facial expressions cause him to act. As his wife dies amongst the horrified members of the household, the reader almost suspects she is going to state something about the supposed affair, possibly stating it did or did not happen, but instead she merely comments that he (Poznyshev) got his way in the end and says nothing about the violinist. Due to the numerous letters Tolstoy received regarding his story, he eventually added an epilogue to explain his ideas (see below).

[edit] Censorship

After the work had been forbidden in Russia by the censors, a mimeographed version was widely circulated. In 1890, the United States Post Office Department prohibited the mailing of newspapers containing serialized installments of The Kreutzer Sonata. This was confirmed by the U.S. Attorney General in the same year. Theodore Roosevelt called Tolstoy a "sexual moral pervert".

[edit] Epilogue

In the Epilogue To The Kreutzer Sonata, published in 1890, Tolstoy clarifies the intended message of the novella, writing "we must cease thinking that carnal love is something peculiarly exalted; we must come to understand that the aim which is worthy of man is to serve humanity, his country, science, or art (let alone serving God)." Countering the argument that widespread abstinence would lead to a cessation of the human race, he describes chastity as an ideal that provides guidance and direction, not as a firm rule. Writing from a position of deep religiosity (that he had explained in his Confession in 1882), he points out that not Christ, but the Church (which he despises) instituted marriage. "The Christian's ideal is love of God and his neighbour, self-renunciation in order to serve God and his neighbour; carnal love, marriage, means serving oneself, and therefore is, in any case, a hindrance in the service of God and men".

During the international celebration of Tolstoy's 80th birthday in 1908, G. K. Chesterton would criticize this aspect of his thought in an article in the September 19th issue of Illustrated London News, writing:

The emotion to which Tolstoy has again and again given a really fine expression is an emotion of pity for the plain affairs of men. He pities the masses of men for the things that they really endure--the tedium and the trivial cruelty. But it is just here, unfortunately, that his great mistake comes in; the mistake which renders practically useless the philosophy of Tolstoy and the whole of his humanitarian school. Tolstoy is not content with pitying humanity for its pains: such as poverty and prisons. He also pities humanity for its pleasures, such as music and patriotism. He weeps at the thought of hatred; but in “The Kreutzer Sonata” he weeps almost as much at the thought of love. He and all the humanitarians pity the joys of men.

Chesterton went on to address Tolstoy directly: "What you dislike is being a man. You are at least next door to hating humanity, for you pity humanity because it is human."