"Masterpieces are dumb." wrote Flaubert.
Theyhave a tranquil aspect like the very
products of nature, like large animals
and mountains. He might have been thinking of
(5) War and Peace, that vast, silent work, un-
fathomable and simple, provoking endless
questions through the majesty of its being.
Tolstoi's simplicity is "overpowering, says the
critic Bayley. "disconcerting" because it comes
(10)from "his casual assumption that the world
is as he sees it" Like other nineteenth-century
Russian writers he is "impressive" because he
"means what he says." but he stands apart from
all others and from most Western writers in his
(15)identity with life, which is so complete as to
make us forget he is an artist. He is the center of
his work, but his egocentricity is of a special
kind, Goethe, for example, says Bayley, "cared for
nothing but himself. Tolstoi was nothing but
(20) himself."
For all his varied modes of writing and
the multiplicity of characters in his fiction,
Tolstoi and his work are of a piece. The famous
"conversion" of his middle years, movingly
(25)recounted in his Confession, was a culmination
of his early spiritual life, not a departure
from it. The apparently fundamental changes
that led from epic narrative to dogmatic parable,
from a joyous, buoyant attitude toward life to pessi-
(30)mism and cynicism, from War and Peace to The
Kreuler Sonata, came from the same restless,
impressionable depths of an independent spirit
yearning to get at the truth of its experience.
"Truth is my hero," wrote Tolstoi in his youth,
(35)reporting the fighting in Sebastopol. Truth
remained his hero-his own, not others' truth.
Others were awed by Napoleon, believed that a
single man could change the destinies of nations,
adhered to meaningless rituals, formed their
(40)tastes on established cannons of art. Tolstoi
reversed all preconceptions; and in every rever-
sal he overthrew the "system," the "machine,"
the externally ordained belief, the conventional
behavior in favor of unsystematic, impulsive life,
(45)of inward motivation and the solutions of
independent thought.
In his work the artificial and the genuine
are always exhibited in dramatic opposition
the supposedly great Napoleon and the truly great,
(50)unregarded little Captain Tushin, or Nicholas
Rostov's actual experience in battle and his later
account of it. The simple is always pitted against
the elaborate, knowledge gained from observa-
tion against assertions of borrowed faiths.
(55)Tolstoi's magical simplicity is a product
of these tensions' his work is a record of the
questions he put to himself and of the answers
he found in his search. The greatest characters
of his fiction exemplify this search, and their happi-
(60)ness depends on the measure of their answers.
Tolstoi wanted happiness, but only hard-won happiness,
that emotional fulfillment and intellectual clarity
which could come only as the prize of all-consuming
effort. He scorned lesser satisfactions.
21. Which of the following best characterizes the author's attitude toward Tolstoi?
(A) She deprecates the cynicism of his later works.
(B) She finds his theatricality artificial.
(C) She admires his wholehearted sincerity.
(D) She thinks his inconsistency disturbing.
(E) She respects his devotion to orthodoxy.
22. Which of the following best paraphrases Flaubert's statement quoted in lines 1-4?
(A) Masterpieces seem ordinary and unremark- able from the perspective of a later age.
(B) Great works of art do not explain them- selves to us any more than natural objects do.
(C) Important works of art take their place in the pageant of history because of their uniqueness
(D) The most important aspects of good art are the orderliness and tranquility it reflects.
(E) Masterpieces which are of enduring value represent the forces of nature.
23. The author quotes from Bayley (lines 8-20) to show that
(A) although Tolstoi observes and interprets life, he maintains no self-conscious distance from his experience
(B) the realism of Tolstoi's work gives the illusion that his novels are reports of actual events
(C) unfortunately, Tolstoi is unaware of his own limitations, though he is sincere in his attempt to describe experience
(D) although Tolstoi works casually and makes unwarranted assumptions, his work has an inexplicable appearance of truth
(E) Folstoi's personal perspective makes his work almost unintelligible to the majority of his readers
24. The author states that Tolstoi's conversion represented
(A) a radical renunciation of the world
(B) the rejection of avant-garde ideas
(C) the natural outcome of his earlier beliefs
(D) the acceptance of a religion he had earlier rejected
(E) a fundamental change in his writing style
25. According to the passage, Tolsto's response to the accepted intellectual and artistic values of his time was to
(A) select the most valid from among them
(B) combine opposing viewpoints into a new doctrine
(C) reject the claims of religion in order to serve his art
(D) subvert them in order to defend a new political viewpoint
(E) upset them in order to be faithful to his experience
26. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is true of War and Peace?
(A) It belongs to an early period of Tolstoi's work.
(B) It incorporates a polemin against the disorderliness of Russian life.
(C) It has a simple structural outline.
(D) It is a work that reflects on ironic view of life.
(E) It conforms to the standard of aesthetic refinement favored by Tolstoi's contemporaries.
27. According to the passage, the explanation of Tolstoi's "magical simplicity" (line 55) lies partially in his
(A) remarkable power of observation and his facility in exact description
(B) persistent disregard for conventional restraints together with his great energy
(C) unusual ability to reduce the description of complex situations to a few words
(D) abiding hatred of religious doctrine and preference for the new scientism
(E) continuing attempt to represent the natural in opposition to the pretentious
28. DETERIORATION:
(A) imitation
(B) impression
(C) improvement
(D) impropriety
(E) imbalance
29. RETARD:
(A) redirect
(B) release
(C) smooth over
(D) speed up
(E) speak for
30. PRISTINE:
(A) corrupted by civilization
(B) acquired by stealt
(C) destroyed by adversity
(D) established by tradition
(E) proved by experimentation
31. ENIGMATIC:
(A) stirred by emotion
(B) free of ambiguity
(C) fraught with danger
(D) held in esteem
(E) laden with guilt
32. FERVID:
(A) restrained
(B) unexpected
(C) discouraged
(D) undistinguished
(E) stubborn
33. ASCETICISM:
(A) condemnation
(B) craving
(C) indulgence
(D) assessment
(E) sympathy
34. MELLIFLUOUS:
(A) diaphanous
(B) munificent
(C) cacophonous
(D) stentorian
(E) impervious
35. CALUMNIATE:
(A) follow
(B) familiarize
(C) rejuvenate
(D) vindicate
(E) supplant
36. CONFORM:
(A) challenge
(B) ignore
(C) be strong
(D) not hew to
(E) not vie with
37. SLOTH:
(A) intelligence
(B) secrecy
(C) neatness
(D) elegance
(E) industry
38. OSSIFY:
(A) create consensus
(B) placate critics
(C) reassemble fragments
(D) transcend conventions
(E) overlook problems |
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