Blog 11

Tolstoy’s standard of art is to explain that it’s not as simple as it seems. He defines this standard as a work that evokes the same feeling the author had when creating his work. Paragraph 7 provides a good example of this, saying that when a boy encounters a frightful wolf and lives to retell his tale, he should be able to evoke a sense of fear, imagery, and surrounding to his audience. And also that this retelling shouldn’t be altered in anyway for dramatic reasons, it should only be told in the same way as how the author had perceived it. 

Yes, this is a good way to evaluate art. Because it’s based on capturing the feeling and inspiring other to have the same feelings as the artist. It follows a checklist of having a sense of individuality, capturing and emitting the emotion, and most importantly the sincerity of the artist. In which sincerity is the most important because the author is staying true to his experience and work. If he is controlled by greed or fame, his work will be diluted in authenticity due to him appeasing the crowd’s demand or exaggerating parts of his work. Therefore reducing his work’s ability to evoke a sense of passion to his viewers. But by staying true to your work, it will have the utmost effect upon the viewers, as is stated in paragraph 33.

An example of this sincerity can be seen in works like games. Such as games like Half-Life 1 and Black Mesa. HL1 is a classic game that most PC gamers know about. There where Black Mesa steps in, it’s a HL1 fan made remake of it. The sincerity of this game is that it does nothing to deviate from the original story line, it’s simply a 1 to 1 copy but with more modern graphics. There’s no doubting the sincerity of this, as the reviews are full of positive feedback if you look up the game on Steam.

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