My Confession
"My Confession" is a brief autobiographical story of Leo Tolstoy's struggle with a mid-life existential crisis of melancholia. It describes his search for answers to the profound questions "What will come of my life?" and "What is the meaning of life?", without answers to which life, for him, had become "impossible." Tolstoy reflects on the arc of his philosophical life until then: his childhood abandonment of his Russian orthodox faith; his mastery of strength, will, power, and reason; and how, after he had achieved tremendous financial success and social status, life to him seemed meaningless. After despairing of his attempts to find answers in science, philosophy, eastern wisdom, and his fellow men of letters, he describes his turn to the wisdom of the common people and his attempts to reconcile their instinctive faith with the dictates of his reason. The main body of the text ends with the author reaching a compromise: faith, he realizes, is a necessity, but it must be constrained by reason. However, an epilogue that describes a dream he had some time after completing the body of the text suggests that he has undergone a radical personal and spiritual transformation. (Summary from Wikipedia)
Genre(s): Philosophy, Memoirs
Language: English
Keyword(s): philosophy (940), Russian Literature (47), Leo Tolstoy (6), spiritual quest (2)
Section | Chapter | Reader | Time |
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Play 01 | Chapter 01 | Expatriate |
00:09:28 |
Play 02 | Chapter 02 | Expatriate |
00:09:49 |
Play 03 | Chapter 03 | Expatriate |
00:10:35 |
Play 04 | Chapter 04 | Expatriate |
00:11:12 |
Play 05 | Chapter 05 | Expatriate |
00:13:45 |
Play 06 | Chapter 06 | Expatriate |
00:16:57 |
Play 07 | Chapter 07 | Expatriate |
00:12:13 |
Play 08 | Chapter 08 | Expatriate |
00:06:34 |
Play 09 | Chapter 09 | Expatriate |
00:11:39 |
Play 10 | Chapter 10 | Expatriate |
00:08:39 |
Play 11 | Chapter 11 | Expatriate |
00:06:42 |
Play 12 | Chapter 12 | Expatriate |
00:10:43 |
Play 13 | Chapter 13 | Expatriate |
00:08:28 |
Play 14 | Chapter 14 | Expatriate |
00:06:30 |
Play 15 | Chapter 15 | Expatriate |
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Play 16 | Chapter 16 | Expatriate |
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