Do you have The Fear?
That you will wake one morning not to recognize the person in bed beside you?
That people will pity you for your unfulfilled dreams?
That you discarded something you should not have?
That you should discard something that you haven't?
That you have neglected to thank those who should be thanked?
That your efforts will never amount to anything more than what they already are?
Did Tolstoy have The Fear?
That you will wake one morning not to recognize the person in bed beside you?
That people will pity you for your unfulfilled dreams?
That you discarded something you should not have?
That you should discard something that you haven't?
That you have neglected to thank those who should be thanked?
That your efforts will never amount to anything more than what they already are?
Did Tolstoy have The Fear?
“It was also during his sixties that Tolstoy learned how to ride a bicycle. He took his first lesson exactly one month after the death of his and Sonya’s beloved youngest son. Both the bicycle and an introductory lesson were a gift from the Moscow Society of Velocipede-Lovers. One can only guess how Sonya felt, in her mourning, to see her husband pedaling along the garden paths. ‘Tolstoy has learned to ride a bicycle,’ Chertkov notes at the time. ‘Is this not inconsistent with Christian ideals?’”
Elif Batuman
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