So, continuing along on this topic of what I’ve been calling “more highly organized systems,” here’s another exercise to try.
When Tolstoy was young, he was a passenger in a sled that got lost in a snowstorm. Not long after, he wrote about this experience, in a story called “The Snowstorm.”
Forty (!) years later, he came back to this material in his great story “Master and Man” (about which I wrote in A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, now available in paperback, I cunningly interject).
So, the exercise is simple. First, read “The Snowstorm,” which is here.:.
Or, here is the pdf:
…then read “Master and Man,” which is here, in the translation I used in the book, by Louise and Aylmer Maude…
…and let the two stories resonate against one another there in your mind.
What’s the difference?
I’ll keep this post short and simple, so you can get to the reading. I look forward to your comments, and will have more to say about this idea of “organization” next time.
I've just added the pdf to the post on the website. And will now send it out as a new post...
I'm certain I've written some "Snowstorms" in my life--bogged down by description, no real stakes, a narrator whose fate leaves me . . . cold (sorry). It was next to unreadable, and I kept reminding myself, "This is Tolstoy!"
The good news is I'm coming away from today's exercise thinking that if I'm lucky enough to live another 40 years, I might finally have the skill, wisdom, and maturity to write my very own "Master and Man." Just 40 more!