May

4 weekly readings

–22. Education

Vospitanie

Part I: Giuseppe Mazzini; Part II: Leo Tolstoy

A two-part meditation on education. Mazzini presents education as duty rather than the pursuit of happiness. Tolstoy's letter then distinguishes between conscious instruction and unconscious moral exa

Death in the Hospital

Smert' v gospitale

Fyodor Dostoevsky (from *Notes from the House of the Dead*)

This excerpt from Dostoevsky's fictionalized memoir of his years in a Siberian prison camp (1850-1854) describes the death of a consumptive prisoner named Mikhailov. The scene captures both the degrad

The Law of Violence and the Law of Love

Zakon nasiliya i zakon lyubvi

Buka (pseudonym)

This philosophical essay expounds Tolstoy's doctrine of non-resistance to evil by force, contrasting the "law of Christ" (love, forgiveness, self-sacrifice) with the "law of the beast" (violence, reta

The Trial of Socrates and His Defense

Sud nad Sokratom i ego zashchita

Based on Plato's *Apology*

This retelling of Socrates' trial and his final speech to the judges draws on Plato's *Apology*. Tolstoy saw in Socrates a kindred spirit—a teacher who challenged conventional beliefs and was martyred