Andreyev, Introduction – Tolstoy, ‘Master and Man’
Posted here as a PDF is Nikolay Andreyev’s introduction to Leo Tolstoy, Master and Man and Other Parables and Tales (Dent, Everyman’s Library, 1957).
I purchased this book in the 1970s — the title story made a strong impression on me.
Andreyev’s concise introduction to Tolstoy is very illuminating — about the man and his works in general, not just Tolstoy’s short stories.
— Roger W. Smith
December 2022
Roger W. Smith, ‘A Few Words About Prof. P. A. Sorokin’ – The New Review, No. 308
Roger W. Smith, ‘A Few Words About Prof. P. A. Sorokin’ IN RUSSIAN
Posted here (Word document above) is my article “A Few Words About Prof. P. A. Sorokin,” which I submitted to the Russian language journal (published in New York ) The New Review.
I have also posted a PDF file of the actual article, in Russian.
It was published in the current issue, in a Russian translation by the journal’s editor, Marina Adamovich.
The following are the details of the publication,. of both this article and correspondence between Sorokin and Tolstoy’s author Alexandra Tolstoy, which was also published with credit to me.
Roger Smith, Neskol’ko Slov o Prof. P. A. Sorokin (A Few Words about Prof. P. A. Sorokin), translated from the English by Marina Adamovich, The New Review No. 308 (September 2022), pp. 189-191
Perepiska Aleksandry Tolstoy i Pitirima Sorkina (Correspondence between Alexandra Tolstoy and Pitirim Sorkin), published by Roger W. Smith, The New Review No. 308 (September 2022), pp. 192-196
— Roger W. Smith
September 2022
Roger’s biographical sketch of Tolstoy
‘my Tolstoy essay – typed version
my Tolstoy essay – TRANSLATION
I am posting it again.
I am very proud of it. It was written in the 1970s.
I told my therapist, Dr. Colp, that I was taking an advanced Russian evening course at NYU. l said that based on my previous study, I belonged in the intermediate course, but I wanted to be challenged. Made sense to him.
The paper was based on oral presentation in class. Dr, Colp wasn’t given to fulsome praise. But when I told him I gave a talk in Russian, he was impressed — “in Russian?” he said.
I learned Russian script in the introductory course I took, but I have forgotten it mostly and could not do as I did then: produce a handwritten paper.
— posted by Roger W. Smith
November 2021
biographical sketch of Leo Tolstoy
Posted here (PDF file above) is a handwritten student paper by me, written in Russian, about Leo Tolstoy.
It was written by me for a Russian course at New York University.
The way this came about was as follows.
I was taking a noncredit course in Russian at NYU — I believe it was in 1977. I had enrolled for advanced Russian. I was underqualified to take the course, having so far completed only first year Russian. But, I wanted to be challenged. I had done some extra studying of the language on my own.
I seemed to be the weakest student in the class. Our instructor, a Russian woman who was an adjunct professor, commented after a few classes that I didn’t belong in the class.
I was a Slavophile and a big fan of Tolstoy, among other Russian writers. One evening, our instructor was discussing Tolstoy briefly. She made the suggestion, off the top of her head, that perhaps someone in the class would like to write an essay on Tolstoy.
No one volunteered, so I raised my hand. It was clear that she did not think I should or could do it, but she begrudgingly agreed, by default, to let me.
In the next class session, I read my essay, which was twelve pages long, handwritten on loose leaf paper. (See PDF file, above.)
At the end of my presentation, the instructor said — maintained adamantly — that I must have copied the essay from somewhere.
No, I insisted, I had written it myself. I said to her in Russian,”Я сам написал” (Ya sam napisal), meaning “I wrote it myself.” This was slightly incorrect. The correct Russian is Я написал это сам: Ya [I] napisal [wrote] eto [it] sam [myself]. (Note the Russian word sam, meaning myself. It is a root of the Russian word samizdat, which means self publishing.)
She still didn’t believe me. She said that in the next class I should present the essay again, this time without reading from my written text. I’m sure she thought she had me.
The day of the next class arrived. It was in the evening. I got to NYU about a half an hour early and took a stroll in Washington Square Park. I had not prepared, had not memorized the essay!
I walked in circles around the park for a half an hour or so with the handwritten essay in my hand. I was reading and reciting it to myself. I found that it was not hard to memorize. I think this was because of the fact that I had put such effort into writing it, had slaved over it with an English-Russian dictionary close at hand. I remembered stuff from having drafted it.
After a while, I said to myself: I’ve got it. I can do it.
I went to the class and recited the essay word for word off the top of my head, without reading from my paper.
I think the professor was flabbergasted; certainly, she was surprised.
To be honest, I myself was surprised that I could do it.
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I have posted a revised version of my essay, typewritten in Cyrillic characters, on this blog:
Roger W. Smith, “биографический очерк Льва Николаевича Толстого” (Biographical Sketch of Leo Tolstoy)
It can be accessed at
or through the category “Tolstoy”: on this blog.
— Roger W. Smith
May 2016
Hudson River Park, Manhattan, April 6, 2020
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.
— William Shakespeare (from As You Like It)
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Как ни старались люди, собравшись в одно небольшое место несколько сот тысяч, изуродовать ту землю, на которой они жались, как ни забивали камнями землю, чтобы ничего не росло на ней, как ни счищали всякую пробивающуюся травку, как ни дымили каменным углем и нефтью, как ни обрезывали деревья и ни выгоняли всех животных и птиц, — весна была весною даже и в городе. Солнце грело, трава, оживая, росла и зеленела везде, где только не соскребли ее, не только на газонах бульваров, но и между плитами камней, и березы, тополи, черемуха распускали свои клейкие и пахучие листья, липы надували лопавшиеся почки; галки, воробьи и голуби по-весеннему радостно готовили уже гнезда, и мухи жужжали у стен, пригретые солнцем. Веселы были и растения, и птицы, и насекомые, и дети. Но люди — большие, взрослые люди — не переставали обманывать и мучать себя и друг друга. Люди считали, что священно и важно не это весеннее утро, не эта красота мира божия, данная для блага всех существ, — красота, располагающая к миру, согласию и любви, а священно и важно то, что они сами выдумали, чтобы властвовать друг над другом.
ЛЕВ НИКОЛАЕВИЧ ТОЛСТОЙ, воскрешение (1899), Часть первая, глава первая
Though hundreds of thousands had done their very best to disfigure the small piece of land on which they were crowded together, by paving the ground with stones, scraping away every vestige of vegetation, cutting down the trees, turning away birds and beasts, and filling the air with the smoke of naphtha and coal, still spring was spring, even in the town. The sun shone warm, the air was balmy; everywhere, where it did not get scraped away, the grass revived and sprang up between the paving-stones as well as on the narrow strips of lawn on the boulevards. The birches, the poplars, and the wild cherry unfolded their gummy and fragrant leaves, the limes were expanding their opening buds; crows, sparrows, and pigeons, filled with the joy of spring, were getting their nests ready; the flies were buzzing along the walls, warmed by the sunshine. All were glad, the plants, the birds, the insects, and the children. But men, grown-up men and women, did not leave off cheating and tormenting themselves and each other. It was not this spring morning men thought sacred and worthy of consideration not the beauty of God’s world, given for a joy to all creatures, this beauty which inclines the heart to peace, to harmony, and to love, but only their own devices for enslaving one another.
— Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection (1899), Part One, Chapter One; translated by Louise Maude (italics added)
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See photographs of New York City in the spring, below. Also posted here is Thomas Morley’s song (set to Shakespeare) “It was a lover and his lass.”
posted by Roger W. Smith
April 2016
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photographs taken in Queens and Manhattan, NYC, April 2016, by Roger W. Smith
Woodside, Queens, NY, May 2016
Juniper Valley Park, Middle Village, Queens, NYC
Maspeth, Queens, NYC
Bryant Park, New York City
Juniper Valley Park, Middle Village, Queens, NY