The Kreutzer Sonata Page #5

"The Kreutzer Sonata" is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1889. The story revolves around a man named Pozdnyshev, who recounts his tumultuous marriage and the deep-seated jealousy that led him to commit a tragic act of violence against his wife. Catalyzed by his obsession with her perceived infidelity, Pozdnyshev’s narrative explores themes of love, passion, and the complexities of human relationships, while also critiquing societal norms surrounding marriage and sexuality. The title refers to Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, which serves as a poignant backdrop to the emotional and psychological turmoil experienced by the protagonist. The novella challenges conventional views on love and the institution of marriage, making it a thought-provoking work that resonates with contemporary issues.

								

of this frightful thing that has happened to me, as it happens to
nine-tenths, if not more, not only of the men of our society, but of
all societies, even peasants,—this frightful thing that I had fallen,
and not because I was subjected to the natural seduction of a certain
woman. No, no woman seduced me. I fell because the surroundings in
which I found myself saw in this degrading thing only a legitimate
function, useful to the health; because others saw in it simply a
natural amusement, not only excusable, but even innocent in a young
man. I did not understand that it was a fall, and I began to give
myself to those pleasures (partly from desire and partly from
necessity) which I was led to believe were characteristic of my age,
just as I had begun to drink and smoke.

“And yet there was in this first fall something peculiar and touching.
I remember that straightway I was filled with such a profound sadness
that I had a desire to weep, to weep over the loss forever of my
relations with woman. Yes, my relations with woman were lost forever.
Pure relations with women, from that time forward, I could no longer
have. I had become what is called a voluptuary; and to be a voluptuary
is a physical condition like the condition of a victim of the morphine
habit, of a drunkard, and of a smoker.

“Just as the victim of the morphine habit, the drunkard, the smoker, is
no longer a normal man, so the man who has known several women for his
pleasure is no longer normal? He is abnormal forever. He is a
voluptuary. Just as the drunkard and the victim of the morphine habit
may be recognized by their face and manner, so we may recognize a
voluptuary. He may repress himself and struggle, but nevermore will he
enjoy simple, pure, and fraternal relations toward woman. By his way of
glancing at a young woman one may at once recognize a voluptuary; and I
became a voluptuary, and I have remained one.”

CHAPTER VI.

“Yes, so it is; and that went farther and farther with all sorts of
variations. My God! when I remember all my cowardly acts and bad deeds,
I am frightened. And I remember that ‘me’ who, during that period, was
still the butt of his comrades’ ridicule on account of his innocence.

“And when I hear people talk of the gilded youth, of the officers, of
the Parisians, and all these gentlemen, and myself, living wild lives
at the age of thirty, and who have on our consciences hundreds of
crimes toward women, terrible and varied, when we enter a parlor or a
ball-room, washed, shaven, and perfumed, with very white linen, in
dress coats or in uniform, as emblems of purity, oh, the disgust! There
will surely come a time, an epoch, when all these lives and all this
cowardice will be unveiled!

“So, nevertheless, I lived, until the age of thirty, without abandoning
for a minute my intention of marrying, and building an elevated
conjugal life; and with this in view I watched all young girls who
might suit me. I was buried in rottenness, and at the same time I
looked for virgins, whose purity was worthy of me! Many of them were
rejected: they did not seem to me pure enough!

“Finally I found one that I considered on a level with myself. She was
one of two daughters of a landed proprietor of Penza, formerly very
rich and since ruined. To tell the truth, without false modesty, they
pursued me and finally captured me. The mother (the father was away)
laid all sorts of traps, and one of these, a trip in a boat, decided my
future.

“I made up my mind at the end of the aforesaid trip one night, by
moonlight, on our way home, while I was sitting beside her. I admired
her slender body, whose charming shape was moulded by a jersey, and her
curling hair, and I suddenly concluded that this was she. It seemed
to me on that beautiful evening that she understood all that I thought
and felt, and I thought and felt the most elevating things.

“Really, it was only the jersey that was so becoming to her, and her
curly hair, and also the fact that I had spent the day beside her, and
that I desired a more intimate relation.

“I returned home enthusiastic, and I persuaded myself that she realized
the highest perfection, and that for that reason she was worthy to be
my wife, and the next day I made to her a proposal of marriage.

“No, say what you will, we live in such an abyss of falsehood, that,
unless some event strikes us a blow on the head, as in my case, we
cannot awaken. What confusion! Out of the thousands of men who marry,
not only among us, but also among the people, scarcely will you find a
single one who has not previously married at least ten times. (It is
true that there now exist, at least so I have heard, pure young people
who feel and know that this is not a joke, but a serious matter. May
God come to their aid! But in my time there was not to be found one
such in a thousand.)

“And all know it, and pretend not to know it. In all the novels are
described down to the smallest details the feelings of the characters,
the lakes and brambles around which they walk; but, when it comes to
describing their great love, not a word is breathed of what He, the
interesting character, has previously done, not a word about his
frequenting of disreputable houses, or his association with
nursery-maids, cooks, and the wives of others.

“And if anything is said of these things, such improper novels are
not allowed in the hands of young girls. All men have the air of
believing, in presence of maidens, that these corrupt pleasures, in
which everybody takes part, do not exist, or exist only to a very
small extent. They pretend it so carefully that they succeed in
convincing themselves of it. As for the poor young girls, they believe
it quite seriously, just as my poor wife believed it.

“I remember that, being already engaged, I showed her my ‘memoirs,’
from which she could learn more or less of my past, and especially my
last liaison which she might perhaps have discovered through the
gossip of some third party. It was for this last reason, for that
matter, that I felt the necessity of communicating these memoirs to
her. I can still see her fright, her despair, her bewilderment, when
she had learned and understood it. She was on the point of breaking the
engagement. What a lucky thing it would have been for both of us!”

Posdnicheff was silent for a moment, and then resumed:—

“After all, no! It is better that things happened as they did, better!”
he cried. “It was a good thing for me. Besides, it makes no difference.
I was saying that in these cases it is the poor young girls who are
deceived. As for the mothers, the mothers especially, informed by their
husbands, they know all, and, while pretending to believe in the purity
of the young man, they act as if they did not believe in it.

“They know what bait must be held out to people for themselves and
their daughters. We men sin through ignorance, and a determination not
to learn. As for the women, they know very well that the noblest and
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