Masterpieces are dumb, wrote Flaubert, They have a tranquil aspect

Question

3-3 Section A 21-27

“Masterpieces are dumb,” wrote Flaubert, “They have a tranquil aspect like the very products of nature, like large animals and mountains.” He might have been thinking of War and Peace, that vast, silent work, unfathomable and simple, provoking endless questions through the majesty of its being. Tolstoi’s simplicity is “overpowering,” says the critic Bayley, “disconcerting,” because it comes from “his casual assumption that the world is as he sees it.” Like other nineteenth-century Russian writers he is “impressive” because he “means what he says,” but he stands apart from all others and from most Western writers in his identity with life, which is so complete as to make us forget he is an artist. He is the center of his work, but his egocentricity is of a special kind. Goethe, for example, says Bayley, “cared for nothing but himself. Tolstoi was nothing but himself.”

For all his varied modes of writing and the multiplicity of characters in his fiction, Tolstoi and his work are of a piece. The famous “conversion” of his middle years, movingly recounted in his Confession, was a culmination of his early spiritual life, not a departure from it. The apparently fundamental changes that led from epic narrative to dogmatic parable, from a joyous, buoyant attitude toward life to pessimism and cynicism, from War and Peace to The Kreutzer Sonata, came from the same restless, impressionable depths of an independent spirit yearning to get at the truth of its experience. “Truth is my hero,” wrote Tolstoi in his youth, reporting the fighting in Sebastopol. Truth remained his hero—his own, not others’, truth. Others were awed by Napoleon, believed that a single man could change the destinies of nations, adhered to meaningless rituals, formed their tastes on established canons of art. Tolstoi reversed all preconceptions; and in every reversal he overthrew the “system,” the “machine,” the externally ordained belief, the conventional behavior in favor of unsystematic, impulsive life, of inward motivation and the solutions of independent thought.

In his work the artificial and the genuine are always exhibited in dramatic opposition: the supposedly great Napoleon and the truly great, unregarded little Captain Tushin, or Nicholas Rostov’s actual experience in battle and his later account of it. The simple is always pitted against the elaborate, knowledge gained from observation against assertions of borrowed faiths. Tolstoi’s magical simplicity is a product of these tensions; his work is a record of the questions he put to himself and of the answers he found in his search. The greatest characters of his fiction exemplify this search, and their happiness depends on the measure of their answers. Tolstoi wanted happiness, but only hard-won happiness, that emotional fulfillment and intellectual clarity which could come only as the prize of all-consuming effort. He scorned lesser satisfactions..   1 
 1. Which of the following best characterizes the author’s attitude toward Tolstoi?

(A) She deprecates the cynicism of his later works.
(B) She finds his theatricality artificial.
(C) She admires his wholehearted sincerity.
(D) She thinks his inconsistency disturbing.
(E) She respects his devotion to orthodoxy.

2 
 2. Which of the following best paraphrases Flaubert’s statement quoted in lines 1-4?

(A) Masterpiece seem ordinary and unremarkable from the perspective of a later age.
(B) Great works of art do not explain themselves to us any more than natural objects do.
(C) Important works of art take their place in the pageant of history because of their uniqueness.
(D) The most important aspects of good art are the orderliness and tranquility it reflects.
(E) Masterpieces which are of enduring value represent the forces of nature.

3 
 3. The author quotes from Bayley (line 8-20) to show that

(A) although Tolstoi observes and interprets life, he maintains no self-conscious distance from his experience
(B) the realism of Tolstoi’s work gives the illusion that his novels are reports of actual events
(C) unfortunately, Tolstoi is unaware of his own limitation, though he is sincere in his attempt to describe experience
(D) although Tolstoi works casually and makes unwarranted assumption, his work has an inexplicable appearance of truth
(E) Tolstoi’s personal perspective makes his work almost unintelligible to the majority of his readers

4 
 4. The author states that Tolstoi’s conversion represented

(A) a radical renunciation of the world
(B) the rejection of avant-garde ideas
(C) the natural outcome of his earlier beliefs
(D) the acceptance of religion he had earlier rejected
(E) a fundamental change in his writing style

5 
 5. According to the passage, Tolstoi’s response to the accepted intellectual and artistic values of his times was to

(A) select the most valid from among them
(B) combine opposing viewpoints into a new doctrine
(C) reject the claims of religion in order to serve his art
(D) subvert them in order to defend a new political viewpoint
(E) upset them in order to be faithful to his experience

6 
 6. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is true of War and Peace?

(A) It belongs to an early period of Tolstoi’s work.
(B) It incorporates a polemic against the disorderliness of Russian life.
(C) It has a simple structural outline.
(D) It is a work that reflects an ironic view of life.
(E) It conforms to the standard of aesthetic refinement favored by Tolstoi’s contemporaries.

7 
 7. According to the passage, the explanation of Tolstoi’s “magical simplicity” (line 55) lies partly in his

(A) remarkable power of observation and his facility in exact description
(B) persistent disregard for conventional restraints together with his great energy
(C) unusual ability to reduce the description of complex situations to a few words
(D) abiding hatred of religious doctrine and preference for new scientism
(E) continuing attempt to represent the natural in opposition to the pretentious

AdityaHongunti · Accepted Answer

I think literature passages need to be read slowly and carefully, so here is one cmpletely expanded,disected passage summary !!

Para 2:

para 3:
 
Passage summary : Beginning with counter points towards a writesr's work , author makes presents his positive points of view towards that work by exapnading on his claim by elaborating the remark " identity with life"

Passage structure :
COunter point
counter point
AUthor's point (positive towards T)
expansion/sipport towards author's point !!

AdityaHongunti · Answer

This passage felt like 3 years of study of literature !!! I mean what just happened !! ..there are 2 questions which are wayyyyyyy beyond the comprehensive ability , i mean is GMAT assuming we are Elliots???

1. Which of the following best characterizes the author’s attitude toward Tolstoi?

author's overall atiitude twoards T is positive so delete all the nagtives !! 
(A) She  deprecates  the cynicism of his later works.- negative

(B) She finds his theatricality artificial.- NO direct reference to "theatrically arificial" ; author instead says that T adheres to his own truth !! but is that artificial??

(C) She admires his wholehearted sincerity.- POE remaining + "Admires" is positive !!
 
(D) She thinks his  inconsistency disturbing.  - negative + B's point of view towads T

(E) She respects his devotion to orthodoxy.- opposite !! author says that T wants to be more UNCONVENTIONAL !! (para 2 last line)

celo700 · Answer

5. According to the passage, Tolstoi’s response to the accepted intellectual and artistic values of his times was to

I understand the part that says Tolstoi stays faithful to his experience but what I don't understand is where is it mentioned that being faithful 'upsets' them?

6. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is true of War and Peace?

I marked answer as 'c' because of the above line.

Where is it mentioned that it belongs to an early period?

Can anybody please clarify my doubts.

gmat8998 · Answer

jennpt

Can you please explain y ans is not a in this. How can we know it is the outcome of earlier belief. In the end author keeps describing how he was so unorthodox. Where does she tells you about his earlier belief n how it was the outcome of the belief.

The author states that Tolstoi’s conversion represented
(A) a radical renunciation of the world
(B) the rejection of avant-garde ideas
(C) the natural outcome of his earlier beliefs
(D) the acceptance of religion he had earlier rejected
(E) a fundamental change in his writing style

BrightOutlookJenn · Answer

gmat8998

I think you're not looking at the right evidence in the passage for this question. This is not about the author's overall views on Tolstoi; this is about how she describes the  conversion  he experienced. Where does the author talk about his conversion, specifically?

It's in the second paragraph. Specifically, in the second sentence:

This is the evidence we need for this question. If this conversion was a culmination of his early spiritual life, not a departure from it, this means it was a natural progression from his previous spiritual beliefs, not some dramatically different thing. C is our best answer to match up with this.

Does this help? Let me know.

rish2708 · Answer

For the last question here, I saw on one of the sites that OA is E.
Reference: https://www.urch.com/forums/gre-reading ... quire.html

I also feel a bit that OA should be E, because of this excerpt from the passage:
In his work the artificial and the genuine are always exhibited in dramatic opposition: the supposedly great Napoleon and the truly great, unregarded little Captain Tushin, or Nicholas Rostov’s actual experience in battle and his later account of it. The simple is always pitted against the elaborate, knowledge gained from observation against assertions of borrowed faiths. Tolstoi’s magical simplicity is a product of these tensions

Option E says - continuing attempt to represent the natural in opposition to the pretentious
Here pretentious is something that is artificial and natural is something that is generous. Does not it fit to the Tensions that author describes?

However option A talks about his observation and exact description. But Author clearly mentions that the Truths were his own not of others
So EXACT DESCRIPTION becomes ambiguous right?
That is why I also have a slight believe that OA should be E.

Please help me understand if I am wrong with my reasoning?

Regards,
Rishav

mSKR · Answer

pathy   AdityaHongunti  
 Sajjad1994 ,  bm2201   GMATNinja ,  GMATNinjaTwo

Struggling with :
1. Q3 ( Why not D)
2. Q7( Why not E)
3. not able to understand the purpose of this line in the passage:   Others  were awed by Napoleon, believed that a single man could change the destinies of nations, adhered to meaningless rituals, formed their tastes on established canons of art. . What author wants to refer here? What "Others" signifies here?

Any help is appreciated.
 Sajjad1994 ,  bm2201   GMATNinja ,  GMATNinjaTwo

Thanks!

bM22 · Answer

Hi  mSKR ,

1. Q3 ( Why not D)

Lines mentioned in the passage: " Tolstoi’s simplicity is “overpowering,” says the critic Bayley, “disconcerting,” because it comes from “his casual assumption that the world is as he sees it.”  Like other nineteenth-century Russian writers he is “impressive” because he “means what he says,” but he stands apart from all others and from most Western writers in his identity with life, which is so complete as to make us forget he is an artist. He is the center of his work, but his egocentricity is of a special kind.  Goethe, for example, says Bayley, “cared for nothing but himself. Tolstoi was nothing but himself. ”"

We cannot infer D from the highlighted part. True that he did make casual assumptions, but we cannot say infer that he works casually or the assumptions are unwarranted.

2. Q7( Why not E)

I checked some reliable sources and looks like the OA should be E, I have updated the same, but I will still add the debatable tag for Question 7, unless we have an the correct OE for this Question.

3. not able to understand the purpose of this line in the passage:   Others  were awed by Napoleon, believed that a single man could change the destinies of nations, adhered to meaningless rituals, formed their tastes on established canons of art. . What author wants to refer here? What "Others" signifies here?

Others   here is means that Tolstoi believed in his own version of truth, not how different people, authors/other sources perceived it. Like how other writers believed Napoleon to be a great leader and were awed by him, Tolstoy reversed all preconceptions and wrote his own version of truth that he believed in.

Hope This Helps.
Thanks.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Masterpieces are dumb, wrote Flaubert, They have a tranquil aspect

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Masterpieces are dumb, wrote Flaubert, They have a tranquil aspect

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