3/03/2009

Ubikequitous 6, Tolstoy

It was also during his sixties that Tolstoy learned how to ride a bicycle. He took his first lesson exactly one month after the death of his and Sonya’s beloved youngest son. Both the bicycle and an introductory lesson were a gift from the Moscow Society of Velocipede-Lovers. One can only guess how Sonya felt, in her mourning, to see her husband pedaling along the garden paths. “Tolstoy has learned to ride a bicycle,” Chertkov noted at that time. “Is this not inconsis-tent with Christian ideals?”
Elif Batuman, The murder of Leo Tolstoy:
A forensic investigation
Harper's Feb. 2009.

Ridiculous and very enjoyable tale of attending an international Tolstoy conference in Russia.


Possibly similar posts:
Neils Bohr on a bicycle

previous ubikequiti

No comments: