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This dissertation examines Tolstoy’s reevaluation of his creative approaches to writing through the medium of his experimental pedagogical work with the peasant children on his estate. It is argued that Tolstoy’s pedagogical interlude forms an important bridge to the writer’s fiction and should not be viewed as a digression from his development as a writer, but as an integral part of it. This project explores how the educational essays Tolstoy wrote during this period facilitate his transition from championing the aesthetic theory of “pure art” in his formative years as a writer for The Contemporary to a more mature author of War and Peace, the major masterwork that is imbued with conclusions reached during his pedagogical interlude. Tolstoy’s evolution as a writer is examined in the context of his relationship to the aesthetic ideas of the 1850’s that became a springboard for Tolstoy’s later aesthetic concepts. A comprehensive textual analysis of Tolstoy’s lesser known early works such as Notes from Lucerne and “Albert” is undertaken in order to highlight some of their important stylistic peculiarities that provide a valuable insight into the authorial presence and the nature of Tolstoy’s aesthetic rhetoric. Further, it is demonstrated how the school at Yasnaya Polyana becomes the writer’s experimental workshop, a testing ground for Tolstoy’s pedagogical theories and his creative ideas, which he checks against his students’ perception. Finally, the study is concluded by examining Tolstoy’s most encompassing work, his epic novel War and Peace through the medium of his educational writings and ideas. By locating some of the main concepts of his pedagogical philosophy in the context of this monumental masterwork, we illuminate their meaning more clearly as filtered through the prism of Tolstoy’s creative thought in order to demonstrate to what extent Tolstoy’s educational ideas informed his creative writings. It is established that all the central principles of Tolstoy’s educational thought such as his pedagogy of freedom, his ideas of aesthetic education through reading, art and music, his religious and moral education found their reflections on the pages of War and Peace and commend a great deal to a modern educator. / text

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A partir da obra Cossacos, romance de Lev Tolstói cuja narrativa tem como protagonista os cossacos de Grében, a tese faz um extenso estudo acerca do homem natural e de seu principal veículo de expressão, a música, fruto da relação desse personagem com seu meio. A análise se fundamenta nos escritos do filósofo Jean-Jacques Rousseau (maior mestre do autor russo) a respeito do estado de natureza e da origem da linguagem musical primeira forma de comunicação que o selvagem, incitado pelas necessidades morais (e não físicas), ter-se-ia utilizado para travar contato com seu semelhante. O capítulo inicial se atém no Cáucaso, localidade montanhosa ao sul da Rússia, onde a história se desenrola e que é palco de obrasprimas da literatura russa que precederam Cossacos. Os capítulos seguintes, então, dedicamse a elucidar por que motivo Tolstói teria representado seu personagem, herdeiro do bom selvagem de Rousseau, como um homem ávido pela música - um Homem-Música. Para isso, o trabalho se propõe a trilhar o caminho empreendido pelo próprio Tolstói, procurando dimensionar a relação do autor com a música e com esse homem tradicional que, no decurso de sua trajetória, retratou sob inúmeras roupagens. / Taking its cue from the novel \"Cossacks\" Lev Tolstoy\'s work that featuring the Grebenski Cossacks as protagonists the thesis develops an extensive study of the \"natural man\" and music, his most remarkable means of expression and a product of his relationship with his surroundings. This study bases itself on the writings of philosophe Jean-Jacques Rousseau the Russian author\'s premier influence regarding the State of Nature and the origins of musical language and, allegedly, the earliest means of communication borne out of his moral (and not physical) need to establish contact with his equal. The first chapter deals with the Caucasus, a mountainous region in southern Russia where the story takes place as do numerous masterpieces that preceded Tolstoy\'s novel. Subsequent chapters attempt to explain the reasons why the author presented his character, a successor to Rousseau\'s \"noble savage\", as a man craving for music a \"Music-Man\", so to speak. As such, this study intends to trail Tolstoy\'s own path and map out his relationship with music and with this traditional man so often portrayed, under numerous guises, in his oeuvre.

According to Philippe Lejeune’s “autobiographical pact,” a text can only be considered an autobiography when the author, narrator, and character all share the same proper name. Any exceptions are thusly designated as works of fiction, regardless of whatever biographical resemblance may be detected between the author and character. This thesis aims not to challenge this useful generic distinction, but to develop an authoritative system for approaching the oft-neglected side of the equation: works of autobiographical fiction, and autobiographical dramas in particular. I propose to develop a reception-based methodology (the Biographical Grid) for assessing author-character resemblance with as much empiricism as possible. This is done by extracting the author’s biographical material in relation to the chosen fictional character (often the play’s protagonist) via their characterization within the text, and organizing this material within a specially-designed table. Each of these units is then assigned a numerical score based upon its correspondence with the author’s publicly-known biographical data. The result is not only a qualitative value assigned to the degree of resemblance between the character and its author, but moreover indicates precisely which character traits enforce the autobiographical kinship, and which represent conscious deviations from the biographical record as part of the process of fictionalization. This information can then be applied to well-informed analyses of the text’s use of its autobiographically-inspired content. Using Tolstoy’s play, The Light Shines in Darkness, as a case study, I demonstrate the process of building, testing, and applying the grid to assess a work of autobiographical drama. My systematic approach to autobiographical dramas of this kind supports the development of further research into methods of biographical criticism while strengthening analytical readings of individual plays.

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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-51).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-51). Also available in print.