Maude's excellent translation of Tolstoy's treatise on the emotionalist theory of art was the first unexpurgated version of the work to appear in any languages. More than ninety years later this work remains, as Vincent Tomas observed, one of the most rigorous attacks on formalism and on the doctrine of art for art's sake ever written. Tomas's Introduction makes this the edition of choice for students of aesthetics and anyone with philosophical interests.

Translated by: Aylmer Maude