# Leo Tolstoy — What Is Art? character guide > Leo Tolstoy in What Is Art? by Leo Tolstoy. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Tolstoy **First appearance:** 0001-the-author-s-preface ## Snapshot 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. ## Who they are 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. ## In the story ### [The Author’s Preface](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/the-author-s-preface) Author of the book, recounts his experience with censorship and compromise. ### [What Is Art?](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/what-is-art) Author and primary voice of the chapter, presenting his critique of aesthetic definitions. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/i) Author and narrator, reflecting on the state of art and recounting a personal experience at an opera rehearsal. ### [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/ii) Author and narrator; critically examines the definition of art and beauty. ### [Chapter III: Aesthetic Theories of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/iii) Author presenting and critiquing historical aesthetic theories. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/iv) Author and primary voice critiquing aesthetic definitions of art. ### [Chapter V: The Infection Theory of Art](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/v) Author presenting his definition of art as infection and critiquing other definitions. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/vii) Author and critic of aesthetic theory; argues that the upper classes substituted beauty for religious faith as the standard of art. ### [Chapter VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/viii) Author and primary voice; critiques the exclusivity and falseness of upper-class art. ### [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/x) Author and primary voice arguing for universal comprehensibility of true art. ### [The Substitution of Counterfeits for Art](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xi) Author and critic, analyzing the decline of upper-class art and the rise of counterfeit methods. ### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xii) Author and critic of the conditions producing counterfeit art. ### [Chapter XIII: Wagner and the Counterfeit of Art](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xiii) Author and critic; attends Wagner performance in Moscow and analyzes the counterfeit nature of Wagner's art. ### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xiv) Author and narrator, describes his personal experience of being infected by peasant singing and his critical reception of Beethoven's sonata. ### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xv) Author and theorist presenting the infection theory of art and the criteria for distinguishing true art from counterfeit. ### [Chapter XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xvi) Author and primary voice, presenting the definitive criterion for judging art. ### [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xvii) Author and narrator, presenting his critique of the perversion of art in society. ### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xviii) Author and narrator; presents his critique of contemporary art and his vision for a universal, brotherly art guided by religious perception. ### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xix) Author and visionary of future art. ### [XX: The Conclusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/xx-the-conclusion) Author and narrator, reflecting on his fifteen-year labor and the central thesis of the work. ### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/chapters/endnotes) Referenced as the author whose work is being annotated, with notes on his views on Church religion, luxury, and land ownership. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/characters/tolstoy - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/what_is_art_se/characters