Lev Tolstoy and Nikolai Ge

Oh Jong-Woo

doi:10.31310/HUM.070.05

Leo Tolstoy in the history of world literature is a special phenomenon. He sought to uncover the truth through literature. Therefore we can understand him as a philosopher and teacher of truth, and not just as a famous writer. Of course, L. Tolstoy is an outstanding author. His works have formed an original world, which has a rich artistic quality. The fine artistry of his works comes from his quest for truth. Nevertheless, L. Tolstoy was always dissatisfied with the fact that his works did not adequately express the truth directly and immediately. How does art express truth directly and immediately? Is this possible? It’s not that the writer announces the truth through literature. Art as a propaganda of the truth is somewhat different. Nikolai Ge, a peredvizhniki, also thought about the relationship between art and truth. At that time he met with L. Tolstoy and made sure that art is close to the truth. The picture he created, What is truth? expresses the truth directly and immediately. N. Ge corrected the question, which Tolstoy himself could not solve. We know that N. Ge painted a picture of What is truth?, being influenced by L. Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina. Let’s look at the picture What is truth. At first glance, it seems that Pilate is not very evil. Of course, he knows that Christ does not have any guilt. But he is a bureaucratic person. Pilate asks Christ about what is true. Christ remains silent, realizing that it is pointless to answer Pilate: there is a spiritual boundary between them. Pilate will kill the innocent Christ in order to maintain his position. That is, he changes his truth in order to benefit instantly. But in the picture we see that the light separates Pilate from Christ. So, from the picture, we immediately understand that there is the truth.

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* 2021년 이후 발행 논문의 참고문헌은 현재 구축 중입니다.

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