TOLSTOY'S PLAYS.
Plays. By Leo Tolstoy. Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude. (Constable and Co. 55. net.)—Three of the six plays contained in this volume are now freshly translated by Mr. and Mrs. Mande. Of their work we need only quote Tolstoy's own verdict that "better translators could not be invented." Among the new playa special interest attaches to The Light Shines in Darkness, in which the dramatist depicts himself as the central figure. It is a spiritual autobiography cast in dramatic form, in which Tolstoy's artistic sincerity is shown by the fact that he has not " minimised the failure of his efforts to carry convictions to those about him, or to achieve any other success than that of obtaining an inward assurance that he was fulfilling the will of God." In the unwritten last act the hero was to be shot by the mother of a young officer to whom his teaching had brought social ruin. No one can thoroughly understand Tolstoy's complex personality without a careful study of this intensely touching document.
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