Friday, August 6, 2010

Tolstoy on the Great Passage

LEO TOLSTOY 1828 – 1910

‘We all reveal ... our manifestations ... This manifestation is over ... That's all’


Tolstoy left his estate, aged 82, to begin a new life as a peasant. Reaching the small town of Astapovo he contracted pneumonia, and died a few days later in the stationmaster’s house. According to the stationmaster, his last words were: ‘But the peasants … how do the peasants die?’

His friend Vladimir Chertkov preferred to remember something from the night before. 'He was lying on his back, breathing heavily … all of a sudden - as if arguing with himself - broke out in a loud voice:

"We all reveal ... our manifestations ... This manifestation is over ... That's all".'

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