A Confession · Chapter
Endnotes explained
This chapter provides editorial annotations and clarifications on Tolstoy's text, including corrections of his age, cultural distinctions, and references to his views on scripture, social movements, and capital punishment in Russia.
What happens
This chapter provides editorial annotations and clarifications on Tolstoy's text, including corrections of his age, cultural distinctions, and references to his views on scripture, social movements, and capital punishment in Russia.
Themes in this chapter
Moral Corruption of Society
The note on the 'Back-to-the-People' movement highlights Tolstoy's perception that upper layers of society are parasitic and prey on the people.
Characters to notice
- Leo Tolstoy
Referenced in editorial notes correcting his age and citing his letter to Fet about the Authorized English version of Ecclesiastes.
Key passages
“Nothing so forms a young man as an intimacy with a woman of good breeding.”
Intimacy with a well-bred woman is highly formative for a young man.
Editorial note corrects Tolstoy's age to twenty-seven.
“The Authorized English version [of Ecclesiastes] is bad.”
Tolstoy considered the Authorized English translation of Ecclesiastes to be poor.
Cited from a letter to Fet, referenced in the editor's note.