ABSTRACT
Infectiousness is indicative not simply of what is genuine in art but also of its importance. So far as one enters the boy’s experience, one enters a viewpoint other than one’s own. L. Tolstoy, then, setting aside subject matter, sees the importance of art as lying in its infectiousness. That is because there can be no importance in art unless there is a connection between art and life. Art is connected with life precisely where it is infectious. Before turning to what Tolstoy says about the subject matter of art, it will be useful to consider in more detail what is involved in the expressive relation between art and life. Tolstoy concentrates on the expression of feeling or emotion. The role of the artist in this society is evidently that of an artist in a traditional culture, Tolstoy having assumed not simply that this culture will be preserved but that it will become universal.
