시대와의 불화: 톨스토이의 잊혀진 셰익스피어 비평

Abstract

Undoubtedly one of the most provocative, relentless frontal attacks on Shakespeare, Tolstoy’s criticism on Shakespeare has been forgotten among many scholars for a long time. The only serious exception was George Orwell, who belatedly paid due attention to it and refuted Tolstoy’s “spiteful” denigration of Shakespeare in his own way. These conflicting views are emblematic of the enduring presence of the age-old controversies on Shakespeare’s greatness. Despite Tolstoy’s apparently dogmatic loyalty to the realism-oriented aesthetics, the religious origin of play, and the ethical vision he attached to literature, the critical legacy Tolstoy left behind is not totally lost. The ethical problems of Shakespearean dramas have recently been picked up by many new-historicists and post-colonialists in their attempts to show that even the Bard’s political and moral consciousness can be put into questions. This recent critical attitude does not necessarily mean a tainted aura of Shakespeare. The moral problems of his dramas do not seem to reduce the worth of Shakespeare; rather, they are taken as newly-discovered treasure that contributes to the ongoing enrichment of Shakespearean criticism. Yet there is a strong sense in which Tolstoy’s ambitious critical enterprise is still worthwhile to be in currency. Any scholarly mind devoid of suspicion of a given text, no matter how great it may be, is inherently vulnerable to climbing on the tempting bandwagon of dominant critical practices.