Season's Savings | ₹5/mo for 3 months

₹199/month after first 3 months. Renews automatically. Terms apply.
What is Art? cover art

What is Art?

 Preview
Get this deal Free with 30-day trial
Offer ends on 28 December, 2026.
Prime logo
Only ₹5/month for first 3 months.
Get 1 credit per month to use on any title of your choice.
Listen to anything from the Plus Catalogue—thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals.
₹199/month after first 3 months. Cancel anytime. Renews automatically. Offer ends 28 December, 2026.
1 credit a month to use on any title to download and keep
Listen to anything from the Plus Catalogue—thousands of Audible Originals, podcasts and audiobooks
Download titles to your library and listen offline
₹199.00 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.

What is Art?

Written by: Leo Tolstoy, W. Gareth Jones - editor
Narrated by: Russ Bain
Free with 30-day trial Free with 30-day trial

₹199.00 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.

₹199.00 per month after 30-day trial. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for ₹546.23

Buy Now for ₹546.23

About this listen
 Leo Tolstoy is one of the most celebrated novelists of all time. As well as writing literary classics such as Anna Karenina and War and Peace he was also the author of some hugely influential critical and philosophical works. First published in 1898 his book length essay What is Art? has lost none of its power to challenge our perception of art and its function in society today. In this provocative work Tolstoy famously dismisses works by Shakespeare, Dante, Wagner and even many of his own works as 'bad art' based on various criteria including sincerity, ethics, morality and accessibility. Tolstoy took art seriously at a time when western civilization toyed with it as a mere pastime during the height of the Aestheticism movement. For him, art was natural and necessary to the advancement of humankind.

In his introduction to this translation, W. Gareth Jones shows how vitally Tolstoy's personality and experiences in life were engaged in creating What is Art?. Jones shows how integral the essay was to his art and teaching, and why it continues to demand a response from us.©1994 Oxford University Press (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Art European History & Criticism World Literature
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet