Creating and Recovering Experience: Repetition in Tolstoy

The thesis of this book is that repetition is central to Tolstoy s art. The author argues that Tolstoy uses this device or rather, complex of devices to represent and examine the processes by which people structure and give meaning to their experience. Repetition is shown to be essential to his style, to his understanding of characters psychology, to the structure of his work, and to his interaction with readers. In short, it defines much of what is Tolstoyan about Tolstoy. Following a discussion of the epistemological and psychological beliefs that shape Tolstoy s use of repetition, the author explores the effects and implications of repeated verbal elements as they function in the discourse of characters and narrators. She develops a concept of novels of length, which are distinguished from ordinary long novels in that length is essential to their themes and purposes. A complex dynamic of memory, forgetting, and reminders (repetition) structures both the characters evolving identities and the readers changing apprehension of the text.