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Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » The Fruits of Culture: A Comedy in Four Acts

The Fruits of Culture: A Comedy in Four Acts

1 rating: 5.0

A book by Leo Tolstoy

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we … see full wiki

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Author: Leo Tolstoy

Publisher: Nabu Press

1 review about The Fruits of Culture: A Comedy in Four...

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A good humorous tale

Apr 13, 2010

by IsraelDrazin
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

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This Tolstoy comedy in four acts is about a family of a well-to-do man that is in disarray. There are all kinds of ridiculous humorous discussions, about microbes, hypnotism, and marriage, among others. People make jokes repeatedly and the peasants speak in funny ways. There is even a hilarious discussion about the dangers of smoking and the need to wash hands to remove germs. The word "culture" in the play's title is obviously used ironically. But the key plots focus on the husband who believes in the existence of spirits and makes decisions based on séances and on one of his female servants who wants to marry a male servant.
Three peasants come to the husband's house and beseech the husband to sell them land. He consults the spirits and, based upon what he understands is their reply, refuses. The peasants beg him saying that they need the land to sustain their life, but their plea does not help. One of the peasants is the father of the male servant. The female servant wants his permission for the marriage and says that she will try to persuade the master to sell the land. She devises a trick. She tells her master that her fiancée is a spiritualist, and the master believes her and decides to use the servant's supposed abilities to contact dead spirits. When he does so, the female servant intends to have her fiancée tell him to sell the land.
Will the plan work? Who sees her manipulations? Does one observer help her? Does another observer try to ruin her efforts because she refuses his sexual advances? If the latter man reveals her manipulations, will the master believe him?

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