Tolstoy himself did not know. On the 4th of February, 1858, when he read his essay of admittance before the _Muscovite Society of Amateurs of Russian Literature_, he chose for his subject the defence of art for art's sake.[16] It was the president of the Society, Khomiakov, who, after saluting in Tolstoy "the representative of purely artistic literature," took up the defence of social and moral art.[17] A year later the death of his dearly-loved brother, Nikolas, who succumbed to phthisis[18] at Hyères, on the 19th of September, 1860, completely overcame Tolstoy; shook him to the point of "crushing his faith in goodness, in everything," and made him deny even his art: "Truth is horrible.... Doubless, so long as the desire to know and to speak the truth exists men will try to know and to speak it. This is the only remnant left me of my moral concepts. It is the only thing I shall do; but not in the form of art, your art. Art is a lie, and I can no longer love a beautiful lie."[19] Less than six months later, however, he returned to the "beautiful lie" with _Polikushka_,[20] which of all his works is perhaps most devoid of moral intention, if we except the latent malediction upon money and its powers for evil; a work written purely for art's sake; a masterpiece, moreover, whose only flaws are a possibly excessive wealth of observation, an abundance of material which would have sufficed for a great novel, and the contrast, which is too severe, a little too cruel, between the humorous opening and the atrocious climax.[21] [1] Suarès: _Tolstoï_, edition of the _Union pour l'Action morale,_ 1899 (reprinted, in the _Cahiers de la Quinzaine,_ under the title _Tolstoï vivant_). [2] Tourgenev complained, in a conversation, of "this stupid nobleman's pride, his bragging Junkerdom." [3] "A trait of my character, it may be good or ill, but it is one which was always peculiar to me, is that in spite of myself I always used to resist external epidemic influences.... I had a hatred of the general tendency." (Letter to P. Birukov.) [4] Tourgenev. [5] Grigorovitch. [6] Eugène Gardine: _Souvenirs sur Tourgeniev,_ 1883. See _Vie et Oeuvre de Tolstoï,_ by Birukov. [7] _Confessions._ [8] "There was no difference between us and an asylum full of lunatics. Even at the time I vaguely suspected as much; but as all madmen do, I regarded them as all mad excepting myself."--_Confessions_. [9] _Confessions._ [10] _Diary of Prince D. Nekhludov._ [11] At Dresden, during his travels he made the acquaintance of Auerbach, who had been the first to inspire him with the idea of educating the people; at Kissingen he met Froebel, in London Herzen, and in Brussels Proudhon, who seems to have made a great impression upon him. [12] Especially in 1861-62. [13] _Education and Culture._ See _Vie et Oeuvre,_ by Birukov, vol. ii. [14] Tolstoy explained these principles in the review _Yasnaya Polyana,_ 1862.