- rejects bad or counterfeit art as harmful to society inasmuch as it damages the people's ability to separate good from bad art
- detaches art from non-art or counterfeit art - art must crate a specific emotional link between artist and audience
- thus real art requires the capacity to unite people via communication; clearness and genuineness are crucial values
- the concept art embraces any human activity in which one emitter, by means of external signs, transmits previously experienced feelings. He exemplifies this through the example of a boy who has experienced fear after an encounter with a wolf and later relates that experience, infecting the viewers and compelling them to feel what he had experienced
- according to him, the stronger the infection, the better is the art
- good art fosters feelings that fit with the particular religion of the time while bad art inhibits such feelings
- problem is that the upper class has entirely lost its religion and thus clings to art that was good according to another religion
- ancient Greek art extolled virtues of strength, masculinity and heroism according to its mythology's values, but since Christianity emphasizes the meek and humble, Tolstoy believes it is unfitting for people in his society to continue to embrace the Greek tradition of art
- he specifically condemns Wagner and Beethoven as being overly cerebral artists lacking real emotion
War and Peace
- tells the story of the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys and the Rostovs against a background of Russian social life during the war against Napoleon
Anna Karenina
- Anna Karenina is the jewel of St. Petersburg society until she leaves her husband for the handsome and charming military officer Count Vronsky
- however, when Vrosnky's love cools, Anna cannot bring herself to return to her husband even though he will not permit her to see their son until she does
- she eventually kills herself
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