What Is Art? · Character

Leo Tolstoy

A count who renounced his own masterpieces to judge them, Tolstoy prosecutes the art world he once conquered in the name of ordinary human feeling.

major

Also known as Tolstoy

First appearance: The Author’s Preface

As a major figure in What Is Art?, Leo Tolstoy is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Author of the book, recounts his experience with censorship and compromise.

In the storyThe Author’s PrefaceOpen this moment free

See Leo Tolstoy in The Author’s Preface Book page

Free preview opens at this moment — character cards, Character Web, and themes sit beside the text as you read.

Tolstoy writes as both insider and prosecutor: a novelist of genius who now insists that most celebrated art is counterfeit, and that only sincere feeling, accessible to the uneducated, counts. His argument draws on his own crisis of faith, his readings of Plato and Aristotle, and his contempt for the leisured classes who consume art they did not earn. The treatise's early chapters dismantle beauty-based theories, setting up the moral test he will apply to Wagner, the decadents, and his own past work.

Continue beside the text

The fuller portrait of Leo Tolstoy sits in Reading Lens — open the free preview to keep reading with notes on the page.

See Leo Tolstoy in The Author’s Preface

Character Web

18 connections

A slice of how Leo Tolstoy sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Other

Character groups

Protagonist
Referenced thinkers and artists
Moral and national artists

+13 more in the full Character Web

Open in reader

Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point

The emotional and psychological peak occurs when the text abruptly shifts from abstract philosophical discussi…

Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.

Follow the arc while reading

In the story

Leo Tolstoy appears across 21 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

The Author’s Preface
Author of the book, recounts his experience with censorship and compromise.
What Is Art?
Author and primary voice of the chapter, presenting his critique of aesthetic definitions.
I
Author and narrator, reflecting on the state of art and recounting a personal experience at an opera rehearsal.
Chapter II
Author and narrator; critically examines the definition of art and beauty.
Chapter III: Aesthetic Theories of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Author presenting and critiquing historical aesthetic theories.
IV
Author and primary voice critiquing aesthetic definitions of art.
Chapter V: The Infection Theory of Art
Author presenting his definition of art as infection and critiquing other definitions.
VII
Author and critic of aesthetic theory; argues that the upper classes substituted beauty for religious faith as the standard of art.
Chapter VIII
Author and primary voice; critiques the exclusivity and falseness of upper-class art.
Chapter X
Author and primary voice arguing for universal comprehensibility of true art.
The Substitution of Counterfeits for Art
Author and critic, analyzing the decline of upper-class art and the rise of counterfeit methods.
XII
Author and critic of the conditions producing counterfeit art.
Chapter XIII: Wagner and the Counterfeit of Art
Author and critic; attends Wagner performance in Moscow and analyzes the counterfeit nature of Wagner's art.
XIV
Author and narrator, describes his personal experience of being infected by peasant singing and his critical reception of Beethoven's sonata.
XV
Author and theorist presenting the infection theory of art and the criteria for distinguishing true art from counterfeit.
Chapter XVI
Author and primary voice, presenting the definitive criterion for judging art.
XVII
Author and narrator, presenting his critique of the perversion of art in society.
XVIII
Author and narrator; presents his critique of contemporary art and his vision for a universal, brotherly art guided by religious perception.
XIX
Author and visionary of future art.
XX: The Conclusion
Author and narrator, reflecting on his fifteen-year labor and the central thesis of the work.
Endnotes
Referenced as the author whose work is being annotated, with notes on his views on Church religion, luxury, and land ownership.

Chapter companion notes

Spoil-light check-ins for Leo Tolstoy unlock in the free preview.

See Leo Tolstoy in The Author’s Preface