The First Step (essay)

"The First Step" (AKA: "The Morals of Diet")[1] is an article by Leo Tolstoy primarily advocating for vegetarianism, but at the same time also briefly mentioning themes relating to anarchism and pacifism. It was Tolstoy's preface to a book by Howard Williams (The Ethics of Diet), which Tolstoy translated into Russian.[2][3]

Tolstoy enjoying a vegetarian breakfast

Content

According to South African novelist Imraan Coovadia, writing in 2020, the article begins with a vivid description of the slaughter of a pig by a butcher armed with a butcher's knife; Coovadia notes that this is clearly in line with Tolstoy's style of "plainness and force."[4] While it is a book about the rights of animals, it also takes a decidedly religious tone, invoking that one must practice self-abnegation, fasting, and renouncing worldliness.[5] Ronald D. Leblanc, lecturer at University of New Hampshire, says that the essay is divided into two unequal halves, the first about religious and ascetic reasons for vegetarianism, while the latter half is about the humanitarian and ethical reasons for vegetarianism.[6] In addition, Tolstoy suggests that vegetarianism gives one sufficient strength to resist sexual impulses, which has drawn criticism from contemporary psychologists who describe the piece as "pseudo-erotic."[7] Tolstoy ends the piece taking a more psychological approach, suggesting that the killing and eating of animals deafens the sense of human beings to feel sympathy, pity, and compassion for others around them.[8]

Legacy

This work was considered instrumental in convincing Gandhi to maintain his vegetarian diet.[9] According to Charlotte Alston, lecturer at Northumbria University, Tolstoy had planned to established a vegetarian journal in 1893, with the same title, The First Step.[10] In 1900, it was translated to English by the famous Tolstoy translators Louise Maude and Aylmer Maude,[11] and in 1905 it was translated again by Leo Wiener.[12]

See also

References
  1. Leo Tolsoty (1900). The Morals of Diet; Or, The First Step. Free Age Press.
  2. Leo Tolstoy, R. F. Christian (2015). Tolstoy's Diaries Volume 1: 1847-1894. Faber & Faber.
  3. Carron A. Meaney (2013). Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare. Taylor & Francis. p. 334. ISBN 9781135930028.
  4. Imraan Coovadia (2020). Revolution and Non-Violence in Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Mandela. Oxford University Press. p. 210. ISBN 9780192609090.
  5. Musya Glants, Joyce Stetson Toomre (1997). Food in Russian History and Culture. Indiana University Press. p. 88. ISBN 9780253211064.
  6. Ronald D. LeBlanc. Slavic Sins of the Flesh: Food, Sex, and Carnal Appetite in Nineteenth-Century Russian Fiction. University of New Hampshire Press. ISBN 9781584658245.
  7. Daniel Rancour-Laferriere (1998). Tolstoy on the Couch: Misogyny, Masochism and the Absent Mother. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 116. ISBN 9781349147793.
  8. Donna Tussing Orwin (ed.). Anniversary Essays on Tolstoy. Cambridge University Press. p. 56.
  9. Martin Green, William C. Green (1983). Tolstoy and Gandhi, men of peace: a biography. Basic Books. p. 8. ISBN 9780465086313.
  10. Charlotte Alston (2013). Tolstoy and His Disciples: The History of a Radical International Movement. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 9780857724786.
  11. Leo Tolstoy (1900). The First Step: An Essay on the Morals of Diet, to which are Added Two Stories. Translated by Louise Maude, Aylmer Maude. Albert Broadbent. p. cover.
  12. Colm McKeogh (2009). Tolstoy's Pacifism. Cambria Press. p. 218. ISBN 9781604976342.


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