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Page:Rolland Life of Tolstoy.djvu/199

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"RESURRECTION"
195

Tolstoy’s being in spite of all his affirmations the fusion between his two diverse natures was by no means complete: between the truth of the artist and the truth of the believer.

Although Resurrection has not the harmonious fullness of the work of his youth, and although I, for my part, prefer War and Peace, it is none the less one of the most beautiful poems of human compassion; perhaps the most truthful ever written. More than in any other book I see through the pages of this those bright eyes of Tolstoy’s, the pale-grey, piercing eyes, “the look that goes straight to the heart,”[1] and in each heart sees its God.

  1. Letter of Countess Tolstoy’s, 1884.