In order to experience joy, must there be suffering? Sorry for the off-the-wall question, but I'm doing a bit of non-scientific research on this topic. I very much liked your review of The Secret History. What is your favorite Tolstoy long novel and short story? Thank you.

Ken Craft Hi, Richard, and sorry I missed your first question. I'm of two minds. I buy into the concept of yin and yang and how the cosmos is nurtured by the balance of opposites, right down to the most spectacular human examples of good and evil. On the other hand, many children experience joy without ever having experienced suffering (though that will come).

As for Tolstoy, I'm a big fan of the character Levin in ANNA KARENINA. Second would be WAR & PEACE (I particularly like Nikolai and his sister Natasha, as well as Prince Andrei's epiphany lying on the battlefield and looking up at the sky above Austerlitz).

Short story-wise, I enjoyed "The Cossacks" and all of The Sevastapol Tales. I also liked the early story "The Snowstorm." Of the later work, I'm partial to "Master and Man," but in truth, it's been a while since I've read LNT, so these memories are as hazy as they are fond.

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