ABSTRACT
‘Asceticism’ is a term that indicates the attempt to achieve a higher goal through a particular practice which involves the denial of certain pleasures and desires. The aspect of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy’s asceticism which has probably caused most uproar is his stance on marriage and sex. A useful starting point to illustrate Tolstoy’s views on women, sex, and marriage is his exegesis of what he sees as the second of Jesus’ instructions in the Sermon on the Mount. Tolstoy’s readers both in Russia and abroad were disturbed, and the novella stirred much passionate debate about sex. However, lurking behind Tolstoy’s views on sex and marriage is at worst a latent misogyny, at best a romantic glamorisation of the traditional division of labour in the family, and certainly a lingering sexism. Some of Tolstoy’s critics have argued that what Tolstoy asks is just too harsh, too austere and acute a self-denial.
