Applying Tolstoy
How novelists and other writers can do more: by listening first and writing later.
Seven years ago, some of you may recall, Lynn and I read War and Peace, somewhat concurrently. At the time, I was struck by an aside in the book (below) in which Tolstoy visualized history as the integration of a differential equation; a premise he fleshes out in part two of the massive book’s massive Epilogue. It may sound impractical, but it’s certainly an artful metaphor for what novelists and historians can aspire to do in their desire to apply their talents towards peaceful outcomes of major conflicts.
Since re-acquainting myself with that kind of view of history, I like to apply Tolstoy's own best-case methodology to enormous events when they unfold in our own time. January 6 was one, and October 7 is another. I also like to think that if there is a broader peace to rescue from the course of such a history, it will first be rescued by our most talented and fair-minded writers, whose vocations rely most heavily on their omniscience: to wit, their attention to and integration of the infinitesimal.
The present course now appears to avail no certain outcome – not in Gaza, nor in Jerusalem, nor in Washington DC, nor even in California, where trends and change are so often first manifested.
California always makes for a fascinating case study of the ailments of the broader globe. Here in LA and up in San Francisco too, the uneasy progressive alphabet/social justice coalition of SEIU, BLM, and DSA members, as well as a good portion of the most leftist of LGBT advocates, who in aggregate all drive much local political effort, initially gave full and defiant support to Palestine. This support is not yet fissuring, though many politicians who have been dependent on the support of these organizations have been asked to express unequivocal support for Israel and renounce the elements that express unequivocal support for Palestine.
While some local elected officials and social media pundits fulminate on these international matters, such issues are not typically central to their core political platforms. Coalition politics in Los Angeles and San Francisco generally involve matters impacting these places directly. In the recent past, the question of Palestinian hegemony and human rights has been used to spur social justice acolytes and laborers to action; but it has not been central to their missions, which more typically involve homelessness, rent control, immigration, and transgender rights.
I personally consider the initial terror attack too barbaric to indulge as any kind of legitimate response, and thus I stand with Israel while remaining deeply cognizant of its flaws, and similarly aware of the flaws of Israel’s staunchest advocates in media. These are the flaws of many States, and many media organizations.
And to me, in California, where so much regarding American political will is forecast, it’s not exclusively what the politicians and media say and do, it’s “the sum of the infinitesimals” – the aggregation of the correspondences, dialogues, and actions of you, your friends, your families, your representatives, your bosses and your employees, along with everyone else’s, including the people who protest – that will unveil how things are truly unfolding politically, demonstrate where change may be taking place, and ultimately reveal in which direction our own politics might settle.
None of us are omniscient enough to understand all of it immediately, though our chattering class likes to try anyway, ever jumping the gun on news stories. I recognize that my own own role in this, if I am to have any role, is first to serve as an observer, watching actions, decisions, and needle-moving or needle-responsive opinions, especially of friends and family and of those I interact with in politics and media and on social media. And to pray it all ends sooner rather than later, without more capricious bloodshed. That’s my role. How about yours?