Master and Man

How do we define genius? When do setting, season, motives become more or less irrelevant in a (very short) novel? Tolstoy packs in as much about life, death, marriage, caste and all the ramifications in one story than most writers do at 10 times the length. The subtle, brutal insights about human nature are astonishing; no wonder he was revered as a near-god. I’m not sure that any writer today can write with this degree of insight, subtlety and wit, too concerned about being politically correct, about being trendy, about being startling.

Wrote British poet Matthew Arnold (Dover Beach), "A… show more.