Tolstoy’s Children’s Stories • Hacker News Board

Re: Tolstoy’s Children’s Stories

#21

Post by rectang » Mon, Apr 27, 2020, 5:52 PM UTC

> * Tolstoy wrote them; they couldn’t be that bad. Now I sincerely wish I had never touched them.*

The reviewer is Disney's useful idiot. Gotta stay away from Tolstoy — it's not just disturbing, it's actually dangerous!

Only Bowdlerized and Disneyfied happy happy joy joy for your kids!

And if you aren't perpetually happy all your life, it's not not that the universe is indifferent to human suffering, it's that there's something wrong with you.

> There isn’t even that much to talk to your children about: trees are nice, don’t cut them down so much? People are not all that happy?

Yeah. Maybe "People are not all that happy" would be a good thing for kids to learn.

Re: Tolstoy’s Children’s Stories

#22

Post by pmontra » Mon, Apr 27, 2020, 5:53 PM UTC

> The publicists of the most recent edition issued by Simon & Schuster, who seemingly did not read it, write of this book, “children will be able to take away important lessons, as well as laugh at silly mishaps and characters, from this timeless collection.”

This is possible but unfortunately the author of the article decided not to answer his children:

> “Daddy,” my stunned four-year-old son asked, “why did the lion die?”

> “Daddy Daddy,” my daughter asked, still wondering about the now-dead lion’s lifestyle, “why did the people feed the lion puppies?”

Instead he "took the book away and hid it from" them. Not good parenting IHMO. Don't read from that book again, OK, but find an answer to those questions.

Re: Tolstoy’s Children’s Stories

#23

Post by notyourday » Mon, Apr 27, 2020, 5:55 PM UTC

rectang wrote: post #21

> * Tolstoy wrote them; they couldn’t be that bad. Now I sincerely wish I had never touched them.* The reviewer is Disney's useful idiot. Gotta stay away from Tolstoy — it's not just disturbing, it's actually dangerous! Only Bowdlerized and Disneyfied happy happy joy joy for your kids! And if you aren't perpetually happy all your life, it's not not that the universe is indifferent to human suffering, it's that there'…

Old Disney stuff was dark. The fluffy versions are relatively recent.

Re: Tolstoy’s Children’s Stories

#24

Post by zamfi » Mon, Apr 27, 2020, 5:56 PM UTC

rectang wrote: post #21

> * Tolstoy wrote them; they couldn’t be that bad. Now I sincerely wish I had never touched them.* The reviewer is Disney's useful idiot. Gotta stay away from Tolstoy — it's not just disturbing, it's actually dangerous! Only Bowdlerized and Disneyfied happy happy joy joy for your kids! And if you aren't perpetually happy all your life, it's not not that the universe is indifferent to human suffering, it's that there'…

> And if you aren't perpetually happy all your life, it's not not that the universe is indifferent to human suffering, it's that there's something wrong with you.

How people respond to adversity and suffering matters.

Re: Tolstoy’s Children’s Stories

#25

Post by irrational » Mon, Apr 27, 2020, 5:58 PM UTC

pmontra wrote: post #22

> The publicists of the most recent edition issued by Simon & Schuster, who seemingly did not read it, write of this book, “children will be able to take away important lessons, as well as laugh at silly mishaps and characters, from this timeless collection.” This is possible but unfortunately the author of the article decided not to answer his children: > “Daddy,” my stunned four-year-old son asked, “why did the lio…

Find an answer? The lion starved to death before he could pass through all the stages of grief. Loose pets are free meat for the lion. Neither of these answers would be satisfying to children.

Taking the book away and hiding it is good parenting. Better parenting would be reading the book ahead of time and never sharing it with them to begin with.

Re: Tolstoy’s Children’s Stories

#26

Post by neonate » Mon, Apr 27, 2020, 5:58 PM UTC

https://archive.md/yBlli

Re: Tolstoy’s Children’s Stories

#27

Post by dang » Mon, Apr 27, 2020, 6:00 PM UTC

rectang wrote: post #21

> * Tolstoy wrote them; they couldn’t be that bad. Now I sincerely wish I had never touched them.* The reviewer is Disney's useful idiot. Gotta stay away from Tolstoy — it's not just disturbing, it's actually dangerous! Only Bowdlerized and Disneyfied happy happy joy joy for your kids! And if you aren't perpetually happy all your life, it's not not that the universe is indifferent to human suffering, it's that there'…

Please don't post in the flamewar snark style to HN, regardless of how wrong someone is or you feel they are. Maybe you don't owe the LA Review of Books better, but you owe this community better. Bashing another with your snark prowess doesn't open up thoughtful conversation.

We're trying to have a community that manages not to succumb to the default of internet-acidic. I'm sure you know this, because we've had to ask you about this several times before. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and using HN as intended, we'd be grateful.

Re: Tolstoy’s Children’s Stories

#28

Post by dan-robertson » Mon, Apr 27, 2020, 6:02 PM UTC

rosstex wrote: post #13

Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. And down will come Baby, cradle and all. or It’s raining, it’s pouring, The old man’s snoring. He went to bed And he bumped his head And he couldn’t get up in the morning. Tell me these ain't dark.

You’d think the author of the article would have thought about other contemporary stories and mentioned them on their article...

Re: Tolstoy’s Children’s Stories

#29

Post by ken » Mon, Apr 27, 2020, 6:04 PM UTC

notyourday wrote: post #23

rectang wrote: post #21

> * Tolstoy wrote them; they couldn’t be that bad. Now I sincerely wish I had never touched them.* The reviewer is Disney's useful idiot. Gotta stay away from Tolstoy — it's not just disturbing, it's actually dangerous! Only Bowdlerized and Disneyfied happy happy joy joy for your kids! And if you aren't perpetually happy all your life, it's not not that the universe is indifferent to human suffering, it's that there'…

Old Disney stuff was dark. The fluffy versions are relatively recent.

How far do I have to go back? I know Sleeping Beauty (1959) is definitely much sanitized from the stories it's based on.

Re: Tolstoy’s Children’s Stories

#30

Post by dan-robertson » Mon, Apr 27, 2020, 6:06 PM UTC

In case you skimmed the article after the first few paragraphs, note that the point is not that the stories are sad or grim but that they are only sad or grim. There is no moral or hate that leads to things happening. The characters just lives who’ve are sad.

I also read the article as lighthearted and humorous and so assumed some things may have been exaggerated it embellished slightly for effect.