The Great Tolstoy

Always believe that you can make huge changes in your life if you truly want to. A marvelous example of one who did just that was Leo Tolstoy, the great Russian author.

Tolstoy was born of a wealthy family, but he was a difficult child. His teachers described him as "both unable and unwilling to learn,” and though he started going to a university, he quit and began running up heavy gambling debts.

He also joined the Russian army and traveled extensively. While he was in Paris he witnessed a public execution which had a profound influence upon him. As he put it,  "The truth is that the State is a conspiracy designed not only to exploit, but above all to corrupt its citizens.... Henceforth, I shall never serve any government anywhere."

This experience certainly didn’t make him bitter, however. Instead, he became a much more serious person and eventually wrote a number of world-famous classics.

Also, by the time he was in his early 30s, he became a serious Christian who eventually had a strong influence on many leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

At that same time he generously founded 13 schools for serf’s children and wrote a famous book about his faith called “The Kingdom of God Is Within You.”

He married Sonya, a high-class Russian woman, and they had 13 children. Though she must have been very busy, she nevertheless helped him by proof-reading and managing the finances of his two greatest books, “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina.”

Eventually, however, he left his wife because she was so critical of his very strong commitment to Christianity which eventually led him to give away his money and his material possessions.

He also became a vegetarian, claiming that “A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral.”

When Tolstoy died of pneumonia in 1910, at the age of 82, he was extremely respected, and thousands of peasants lined the streets when his body was being taken to the cemetery.

In fact, his fellow writer, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, thought him the greatest of all living novelists. And Anton Chekhov, who was a personal friend of his, expressed a profound compliment: “When literature possesses a Tolstoy, it is easy and pleasant to be a writer; even when you know you have achieved nothing yourself and are still achieving nothing, this is not as terrible as it might otherwise be, because Tolstoy achieves for everyone.

What he does serves to justify all the hopes and aspirations invested in literature."

Later, other writers also had very positive comments. Virginia Woolf declared him the greatest of all novelists, and James Joyce noted that, "He is never dull, never stupid, never tired, never pedantic, never theatrical!"

I’ve been a lover of Tolstoy’s novels for many years and if you haven’t read any of his works, I would certainly recommend that you give him a try. His most approachable and touching novel for me is “Anna Karenina,” a tragic but fascinating story about a married woman’s affair. It also includes Tolstoy’s own views on religion, morality, and social rights, especially for women.

Finally, Tolstoy certainly didn’t brag about his brilliant mind. I love his remark in “War and Peace”: “We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”

Biographical Novels

How would you feel if someone wrote not a true biography but rather a partly fictitious novel about you? It seems to me you or your family might not be happy trying to explain to your readers what is supposed to be true about you and what is simply made up.

I must say I enjoyed reading a novel by Nancy Horan called “Loving Frank” about Frank Lloyd Wright and his mistress, Mamah (pronounced May-mah) Cheney. But the more I thought about it, the more strongly I felt that it really isn’t fair to mix private facts with fiction, especially about people who are no longer living and therefore can neither contribute to such a book--nor object to it if it doesn’t seem fair to them.

I realize, of course, that I’m not famous, and nobody is ever going to write either a biography or a novel about me, but it it still does concern me that writers seem to feel justified in creating such works.

The story in “Loving Frank” tells in great detail the way Cheney left her husband and two children back in 1909 for Wright, who was also married and had six children. She and Wright lived together in Europe for more than a year and seemed to love each other dearly. They probably would have married, but Catherine, Wright’s wife, would not allow a divorce.

True enough, while in Europe they both suffered from missing their children and friends at home. They also realized, however, that they would be condemned when they returned home because of rejecting their spouses and children.

Horan did a lot of research for the book, but she admits that there were “great gaps” in the story. She says, for example, that she made up all but one of the many letters but in the book.

Another somewhat similar book about Wright and marriage, was called “The Women: a Novel” and was written by T.C. Boyle in 2009, just two years after Horan wrote “Loving Frank.”  Boyle described Wright’s first wife, Catherine, and his lover, Mamah Cheney, who died just four years after they met. He then went on to tell about how Wright also married two other women after that.

His third wife was Maude Miriam Noel, whom he married in 1923, soon after his first wife finally gave him a divorce. Though Wright and Noel had traveled extensively together for some years before they married, he finally realized how much she loved morphine, and that caused their marriage to end within one year.

Finally, in 1928 he married his fourth wife, a Serbian dancer, Olgivanna Lloyd Wright, who remained his wife for 31 years, until his death.

It’s interesting that this combination of research and fiction in both books seems to be an increasingly popular approach these days. I realize that true biographies cannot possibly have complete, perfect information about human lives. And autobiographers may tend either to boastfulness or to excessive modesty, but I feel that they generally come closer to truth than biographical novels.

I would simply end by saying that if I’m interested enough in someone to read a biography and perhaps even write a column about that person, I would want to learn the truth as best I can about his or her life. If the book I read is a biographical novel, however, I don’t feel I can distinguish well between facts and fiction.

Healing Opressed Women

Have you ever heard of a hospital called HEAL Africa? I hadn’t until I read an inspiring book called “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn.This hospital is located in Goma, the biggest city in eastern DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo.)

Sad to say, it’s in the midst of an area where five million people have died over the past 18 years in what has been appropriately called “Africa’s World War.” And there’s been some Ebola cases there, as well.

Though both sexes are cared for in this hospital, most of their patients are female victims who have been sexually abused. While there, they are fortunate to receive not only physical care but also emotional healing.

In August 2009 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the HEAL Africa hospital and said, “In Goma, I met doctors and advocates who work every day to repair broken bodies and spirits.” She said particularly of Lyn Lusi who founded the hospital, “She represents humanity at its best.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon went there in 2013 and was also extremely impressed, saying, “I was deeply moved by the stories and suffering that we heard. Many women and girls at this hospital suffer from fistula after enduring brutal rapes. In pain, they are disabled and often shunned by society. . . . I am humbled at their courage to overcome their wounds. I thank the dedicated doctors and nurses helping here and elsewhere.”

In 2002, a volcano erupted and the hospital burst into flames. Fortunately, with support from various donors, largely from America, it was rebuilt.

Also, though as of 2010 it had just 150 beds, there were sometimes as many as 250 patients there. There were 14 doctors but only two of them were gynecologists. Even electricity, water and bandages were hard to maintain, and there is still a lot of corruption in general in that area.

Harper McConnell, an American woman who went to work at the hospital also started a school there for children with orthopedic problems. Most of those children come from rural areas without decent schools at home.

In addition, she started what she calls a “skills-training program” for women who are there sometimes for months, teaching them such skills as sewing, reading, weaving baskets, making soap and baking bread. When those women can finally leave the hospital, they are given the raw materials they need to make an income for themselves and their families with their new abilities.

would like to “lift Harper up and make her their queen.”

And finally, McConnell set up a study-abroad program for Americans to study at a university in Goma. According to the authors of this book and also according to McConnell, there is no match for experience in another part of the world. As she puts it so well, “Time in HEAL Africa has turned people’s worldview upside down.”

The section of “Half the Sky” about HEAL Africa is only one of many reports of caring people all over the world who are working hard to improve the lives of women.

As Khaled Hosseini, author of “The Kite Runner” describes “Half the Sky,”  “This stirring book is at once a savage indictment of gender inequality in the developing world and an inspiring testament to these women’s courage, and their struggle for hope and recovery.”

“Half the Sky” is truly an inspiring book about many worthwhile causes, and I strongly recommend it to all.

When I no longer need my body

Woody Allen, who is almost 80, remarks about the end of life: “I don’t mind death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

Though he was joking, death really is something many would rather not think about. But it comes to all of us, and I think it’s sensible to consider what we want to have done with our remains.

A very old procedure was used by the Egyptians who used both cedarwood and sandalwood as embalming materials over 6,000 years ago.

Another way of disposing of a body, which is apparently still used today, is to dismember the body and feed it to vultures. This is what at least some Tibetans and Zoroastrians do, for they believe the body should have a useful purpose after death.

Then, of course, there is cremation. Surprisingly, even if one decides to be cremated, that person’s skeleton is still recognizable. The usual procedure then is that after a metal detector scoops up any metal parts such as fillings and hip and knee replacements, the remains are pulverized. Only after that procedure is the body given to the family.

Burial at sea is yet another possibility. This is too complicated a subject, however, for the present column, but you may want to read an informative article about it on Wikipedia.

A friend of mine told me she would like a “green burial” because it is the most natural way of being buried. As they say online, you can have a “biodegradable casket or shroud instead of a metal casket, natural cooling methods instead of embalming, avoiding the use of a concrete vault, and natural grounds-keeping methods like planting wildflowers instead of mowing.”

Not all cemeteries allow this more natural burial system these days, but if more people decide to be buried that way, perhaps it will become more available.

Here’s where a green burial seems to be the least complicated system, for the body is simply “recycled.” This means that it is quickly returned to the soil to give life to new organisms.

As my friend who advocated this method told me, “For some of us, it may be the closest we can come to reincarnation. The burial site would be natural. Trees or plants may be planted, or the land is left for Nature to take its course. Weeds to some may be bird food for others.”

The green burial is appealing in many ways, and I would choose this system except that I have already decided to give my body to the University of Michigan for medical students’ education. I’ve even said in my formal statement of permission that they don’t need to return any of my body after they have finished using it.

I do often remember that our family has space for eight more family members in the impressive Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, but if my body can help medical advances, that’s what I’d rather do with it.

And I don’t want a funeral with my body on display; I’d rather have a memorial service. Besides, I’ve never considered myself especially good looking, and I would hope that people would remember what I looked like without having to see my fancied-up dead body.

So, dear friends, check me out now, while you can! And if you also plan not to have your body displayed at your service, let me check you out now as well.

Beethoven - the Man and his Music

Ludwig van Beethoven was certainly a true genius, but he had a extremely complex and difficult personality. Amazingly, he also lost his hearing fairly early in his career. Both of these unfortunate factors made his life extremely difficult.

An excellent biography of Beethoven by Jeremy Siepmann describes him as having “a titanic personality, both vulnerable and belligerent, comic and tragic, and above all heroic.”

Beethoven loved several women but he never married, probably because of his various problems. He was a guy who apparently didn’t care a bit about his appearance, his residence or even his manners with most people.
He was especially hard on his nephew, Karl, for whom he was responsible after Beethoven’s brother died. In fact, at age 19 Karl made an unsuccessful attempt to kill himself. He actually shot himself in the head, saying he did it “Because my uncle tormented me too much, and I was weary of imprisonment.” Yet Beethoven had the highest possible goals, saying that he tried to model himself on both Socrates and Jesus Christ.

Beethoven had a truly serious outlook on life in general. For example, though he did compose one really fine opera, “Fidelio,” when asked if he would like to do more operas, he said “It must be something I can take up with sincerity and love. I could never compose operas like ‘Don Giovanni’ and ‘Figaro.’ They are too frivolous for me.”

Despite his criticizing the stories behind Mozart’s operas, Beethoven very much admired Mozart’s music in general and was certainly influenced by him. He may even have taken a couple of lessons from Mozart just before that poor fellow’s early death.

Sad to say, many of the works of Bach, Mozart and Schubert became known and loved only after their deaths. Beethoven’s many works, however, including nine symphonies, many piano solos, string quartets, piano quartets, songs and so forth, were well known and appreciated during his own lifetime.

It’s not surprising that many of the 19th century composers, including Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Wagner, Berlioz, Brahms and Liszt, truly admired Beethoven’s amazing ambition and talent. As Liszt put it, “For us musicians, Beethoven’s work is like the pillar of cloud and fire which guided the Israelites through the desert. ... His darkness and his light trace for us equally the path we have to follow.”

Richard Wagner was equally impressed: “The effect on me was indescribable. . . . I soon conceived an image of him in my mind as a sublime and unique supernatural being.”

Berlioz called Beethoven’s String Quartet, Opus 131 “a heavenly inspiration that took material shape.”

Brahms admired Beethoven’s symphonies so deeply that he felt extremely humbled by him. As a result he felt that his own attempt at composing his first symphony was not worth further work, and in fact he didn't complete it until he was in his 40s.

That first symphony reminded people of Beethoven’s Fifth, and the main theme of the final movement also resembled Beethoven’s Ninth enough that people laughed and hailed it as “Beethoven’s Tenth.”

Even two much later composers, Sir Michael Tippett (1905-1998) and Robert Simpson (1921-1997) claimed that Beethoven was “the principal shaping force on their own development.”

Finally, according to Beethoven’s biographer Siepmann, despite his difficult personality, Beethoven’s faith apparently stayed extremely strong throughout his whole life. Even as he was dying at age 56, he suddenly opened his eyes, looked upward and said, “I defy you all, powers of evil! Away! God is with me.”