possible to stop and explain, and gradually to prepare an incident or develop a character, whereas in a play the situations and clash of characters and wills have to be presented ripe and ready. Novel-writing he compared to painting, in which many shades may be employed; plays he compared to sculpture, where all must be clear-cut, definite, and compact.
He often remarked that subjects suitable for novels are not suitable for plays, and vice versâ; and he expressed satisfaction that he had never been obliged to witness the dramatized versions of "Resurrection" or of "Anna Karénina" which have been staged. He had nothing at all to do with those productions, and quite disapproved of them.
Of his plays in general Tolstoy once remarked to me, "When writing them I never anticipated the importance that has been attributed to them." While he fully recognized, and perhaps at times overrated, the value of his didactic and propagandist writings, he was often inclined to underrate the value of the artistic work, which during his later years he sometimes undertook more or less as a recreation, and on that account was the more ready to treat lightly.
