SEELANGS Digest - 2 Nov 2004 to 3 Nov 2004 (#2004-201)Tolstoy question

[Andrew Kaufman]

Date:    Wed, 3 Nov 2004 13:05:47 -0800
From:    Anne Hruska <ahruska at STANFORD.EDU>
Subject: Tolstoy question

Dear SEELANGers,

In Tolstoy's "Khoziain i rabotnik," towards the end, Vasilii
Andreevich, having thrown himself on the freezing Nikita, tells him
"Tak-to, brat, propal bylo ia.  I ty by zamerz, i ia by..."  And then
he stops talking and thinks, ":Nu, nichego.  Ia sam pro sebia znaiu,
chto znaiu."

The translation my class is using has this as "I know what I know
about myself."  I'm wondering if that's the only way to read this
line?  Does "pro sebia" here have to mean "about myself"?  Or could
it mean something along the lines of "inwardly"?

Curiously,

Anne
--
Anne Hruska, Ph.D.
Teaching Fellow in the Humanities
Stanford University

Building 250
Introduction to the Humanities Program
Stanford, CA 94305-2020
(650) 724-9221
fax (650) 723-7099

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Dear Anne
I think you're onto something with the "inwardly" interpretation. Remember,
Brekhunov is a metaphorical talker (his very name comes from the word,
Brekhun--chatterbox). For Tolstoy, I think he represents the empty chatter
of deal-making, worldly pursuits, and the pursuit of personal agenda. The
fact that, just before his death, he is finally able to know the higher
"truth" of life, as Tolstoy understood it, without having to express that
truth in words, is a major spiritual step forward for him. Only a few lines
above the ones you quote here, Brekhunov still wants to share with Nikita
his newly discovered feelings of rebirth, but he then decides that he does
not necessarily need to express those feelings verbally. Instead, they
become part of his inward makeup. I believe that for Tolstoy Brekhunov's
ultimate silence and nonverbal acceptance of his human duty towards Nikita
is a sign of his ultimate spiritual transformation from worldly "master" to
god's "worker."

yours, andy kaufman

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