La figure du paysan, antidote à l’angoisse dans l’oeuvre de Léon Tolstoï

The Peasant Figure : The Antidote to Anguish in the Works of Leo Tolstoy. the peasant occupies a particular place in Tolstoy’s oeuvre and often plays an essential part in it. In this article, we choose to focus on three muzhik characters. their specificity lies in the fact that they provide solace, comfort and hope for three heroes racked by suffering, revolt, and despair, wondering about the meaning of existence. these heroes are Pierre Bezukhov, Konstantin Levin and Ivan Ilych. each one receives a luminous revelation that saves him from anguish thanks to contact with, respectively, Platon Karataev in War and Peace, Fedor in Anna Karenina and Gerasim in the Death of Ivan Ilych. We first examine what constitutes the peasant identity of these auxiliary, almost allegorical figures. Work and activity, as well as a collective dimension, which is even marked in language, seem to be essential features, characteristic of that identity. by these very characteristics, the muzhik appears as the person who most clearly understands the meaning of life. this is a life of labour, and of communion with others, a life, furthermore, which is ultimately inseparable from death.Delaunay Claire. La figure du paysan, antidote à l’angoisse dans l’oeuvre de Léon Tolstoï. In: Revue Russe n°42, 2014. IIes Doctoriales de l’Association française des russisants. Caen, 18 décembre 2013. pp. 9-19