I was looking for this comment. Yes.

Lmao

i know right?

No doubt.

Yes. However, when I saw his photo along with the title I did not think of Loki (of whom I am a big fan.) Instead, I harkened to the serious and award-winning stage work he has done. And when I saw the rest of his company I was hooked and very much enjoyed the entire lecture/performance.

I would trade countries and go back to school just for that.

That he would, that he would

He really does. His enthusiasm for classical literature is pretty much unrivaled. It'd probably be a really fun class, tbh.

There seems to be some confusion in the replies to this. His degree in classics is Classics as in the sense of Greco-Roman literature and history, not what we consider classical literature, not anything that really has to do with debate.

Damn. He looks great. I guarantee no student would be able to concentrate in his class.

He is one such classy himself 😎

Yeah, Mr. Timothy West - Great Actor!

Tolstoy and Dickens are not classics...they were written in the Victorian period

@@SS-nx2xx They obviously meant classic novels...

Tbh Hiddleston is not that great of an actor. I mean, at the war horse it was so bad it was painful to watch. It was a running joke that the horse acted better

Yeah, you do sound pretty simple.

classic.

😆 LOL good point!

this.

How relatable :D haha.. Tom is one of the best

Agreed

I agree 🥴👍

Same

Same

Why would you feel stupid? If you're enjoying it it doesn't matter.

Same here. Actually, quite possibly more than that. I spend a lot of time watching things I wouldn't normally watch because he's in them.

LMAO

@@silverhawking Same.

Lol true, i would never watch anything like this, but clicked because of tom. Whoever decided to put his face on thumbnail did a great job.

Well, if it will bring someone to Tolstoy it is good-). I actually always wonder, why people consider War and Peace hard to read, sophisticated etc. in Russian-speaking countries we have (at least we had, ... ) to read it in school and damn idiots kept complaining that W and P it is too long. Whereas apparently War and Peace is as entertaining as Game of Thrones. Battles, noble families, charismatic and diverse characters, historical stuff, all that. And whereas War and Peace is entertaining his short stories and novels are heartbreaking, he gives this image of social inequality and absurdity of the war with such passion and such high-quality art; I remember starting reading these short novels/stories accidentally, they r not as have-to-read as War and Peace; so I've just found the book with his short novels on the bookshelf and Haji Murat makes reader to shiver, this scene of aul (village) devastation...even in English translation... is so powerful...as the whole Haji Murat novel itself...I think when Hiddleston was reading this part of Haji Murat it was possible to see how listeners hold their breath...and also all his short stories about Crimean war. And Tolstoy actually is more pleasant to read than Dostoevsky, because he is kinder to all of his characters. He always tries to show the lighter side, like for example Anatol in War and Peace is a nastiest jerk possible, but when he suffers terribly (they are cutting his leg without anesthesia) in the hospital we can see how pain turns him (the nastier human being in the book) into just a suffering human and we stop hating him as well as Andrey stops to hate him. And importantly the quality of Tolstoy prose loses nothing when translated into English, because his prose is just so humane and universal and powerful and easy to translate...

@Reema Ameer I've seen him too (even noticed the moment when he took off his jacket)

Reema Ameer you can never miss a hiddleston

Precisely

Same mate

Hahahhaha thats me

same

I came here for all three... 😶

Me:I see Charles Dickens I click😂

Same! 😂

FAIRY TAIL SQUAD 👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆

same. i literally didn’t know what it was about but i saw tom so i clicked

Count me in too.

You are not alone. I saw Tom Hiddleston I clicked.If that makes me shallow so be it lol

OMG MEE TOOO!!! BUT IT WAS VERY INTERESTING though becouse am reader and I have read both tolstoi and Dickens.. But as soon as I saw Tom I just cliked fast as I could!!! And his voice reading it was heaven!!!

Yes, indeed.

Did he do any others? If so, could someone PLEASE tell me some? I need more.

Y e s!

Who,? Tom who?

I only knew him as a poetry reader originally, had no idea he was an actor when I first stumbled across his readings years ago. I still don't know that I've ever seen anything he's been in, but I also love that some people who may have never been interested in certain literary works may have been introduced to them because of him, Helena Bonham Carter, Jeremy Irons, Michael Caine, and others who do these kinds of panels and readings.

Я думала я одна такая)))😂 Привет, русский человек)

Does English translation do justice to original? Which one is better..?

@@nuri2318 original is way more better

Yes, but Dostoyevsky is more intuitive, better at everything, not a dilettante, like the dear Count!

@@MJ-py7ml 👋

great comparison

totally agree, lol

Crap they are perfect 🥰

True that's right 🤩

DICKENS

Right, everyone else came for him and I didn't even notice the thumbnail. Glad Tolstoy won.

@@TianaLuo Same here , I came for the debate and then noticed Tom was there. Maybe it was the selection but for me Tolstoy won.

Em Cee thanks

Wow thank you, this is exceptionally helpful👏🏼💕

Thank you so much! I really, really needed this.

You're a hero. Thanks!

Thanks

I agree! hope he has an acting career ahead of him

You will probably never read this, but here goes: 1, I agree, the very young man 👨 has a very strong & very good career ahead of him, possibly a great career, that supports that talent. 2. Hiddleston, so very gifted, is in a company of other very great talents. Iron sharpening iron, i.e. giving wonderful performances because one is in the great talents. Support and encouragement (even competitions) to do even better than you've done before. 3. See how wonderful the classics are with marvelous 😍 acting? Americans do not have a real grasp of the classics, or they would be performed much more, everywhere. And young people would be frequently treated to them on stage, in movies & television, and on the radio. I don't suppose drama classes are given in schools anymore; giving school plays of Dickens, Tolstoy, Shakespear, Chekov, all the Great Ones. Plays like The Glass Menagerie, Richard III... We all learn so much from them, help us to look at who & what we are, help us develope self-insight and sensitivity to others. We have dumbed down as a group of humans.

i was litterly looking for this comment , the young man actually nailed the acting and was so muture through out the debate which is so admirable kudos to him

Extremely impressive ! I couldn't agree more

All the actors are top notch!

Yes!

Never liked her acting.

Dreadful monotone acting, especially in contrast to Julia S.

She's great but Velvet Buzzsaw was terrible

Dostoevsky is a true master of suffering, don't ever try reading him while having any symptoms of depression. Tolstoy is more of a moralist, especially after going vegeterian

Popular opinion in Russia is that Tolstoy have much «water» in his works .

Kate Zebra not “water”, but gigantic expositions and extremely large sentences

Dickens and joy are oxymorons. Even his children's stories are depressing, the children die.

@sochuiwon priscilla I think there should be a warning on his books 'not suitable for those in depression'

I’m so happy for Tom and Zawe! Things are going so well for him! He’s engaged to her and she’s pregnant now with his child ❤️

Absolutely! Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Devils and Brothers Karamazov are the greatest crime mysteries in the entire Russian literature. That being said, I read War and Peace once a year, omitting all the Masonic chapters!

Dostoevsky: Hold my fear-stricken guilt

His characters are unrealistic to me

@@tripp8833 That's because you don't know Russian Society. Those unrealistic characters are very realistic to Russians and surrounding countries(because of the occupation). I don't know where you are from, but I'm speaking as Georgian(Country).

@@nikolozjalabadze I doubt alyosha or prince Myshkin are realistic characters. Sorry. Never been to Russia but I bet they're still human at the end of the day

Spoilers, ahem

I was so happy he chose him! I voted for Tolstoy since the beginning. All the respect for great Dickens though. :)

@@Weronika-ev4gp yeah same.. I love Dickens too. A tale of two cities is one of my favourite books but Tolstoy wins my heart.

@@tusharmusale8739 oops, sorry 😅

What? The dilettante Count won? We needed Dostoyevsky urgently!

Well, let me join in

¡Viva la Revolución!

You are so accurate! Bravo

same :)

They really did.

Now it's going to really happen

When life imitates art…

Hahar yes 😊

Have you ever told Simon how you feel?

sorry, who? :)

so you wrote this and the only thing I could think about was Tom hiddleston :)

@@amandaperez8776 he's exactly who I was talking about

It's why we love him so much.

Obviously people love contests and "conflict". Would this many people have shown up if it was one professor giving a lecture? At least it is exposing thousands of people to 2 amazing authors they might never have heard of or read.

With all due respect, I wholeheartedly disagree. Literature is a battlefield where words are ammunition and authors are soldiers ripping at each other's throats for the public's attention and praise.

@@112steinway I will keep friends with you.

Agreed. I am enjoying it too. I love both, can never choose anyway😁

It's not a battle :D It is a debate. In which people culturaly talk about their opinions, is it not? :D

Aaah I knew she looked familiar

Loki!

where did it take place? how much does it cost?

@@vaibhavgupta20 London, 30 pounds

So underrated!

Marshall Zane Quite disgraceful for someone who read Classics at university: Dostoyevsky, Turgenev and Gogol needed honourable mentions, too!

Exactly what I have thought)))

Absolutely! His novels and Pushkin's works are the pinnacles of Russian literature!

@@annatamparow4917 "You and Thou" is hilarious though.

No he is not. Tolstoy is a complete winner.

@wings of a butterfly have you ever read Tolstoy and Dostoevsky? I bet u never did. Probably you have heard somewhere about Dostoevsky so now u r just pretending that you have read it. Lol. You, with your walnut-sized brain are capable only of reading comic books for kids (well, I doubt even that).

First see movies - Anna Karenina and War and Peace. Tolstoy is Russian, and not Jewish writer and presenter did him disservice. Shama used stage to present his propaganda and not Tolstoy brilliance, In his introductory statement Shama said that he prefers Dickens to Tolstoy, so why he was selected to present Tolstoy?.

@@CaliforniaGirl-qk5kq Thank you so much. I will definitely check out those movies.

emily yarbrough Anna Karenina! It’s wonderful

Check out Resurection

Maybe because I'm older I should try Anna Karenina again. I tried many times as a teen. I just couldnt get past the first part.

There are pictures of Tom speaking to Zawe's father at this event, I'm convinced they were already dating especially if you look at pictures from them at a Pinter event a few weeks prior

Tolstoy of course

Is that you in your profile picture?

Let me just hug you, wonderful person!

@@sandjoons Yeah, that's me with Tom.

@@user-fm3ti6eg1d Sure, I'll take any digital hug! LOL

I'm pretty sure they love it too 😂😉

@@maggiemcfly5267 LOL 😆

Me too! Now they deservedly live happily ever after!💖 I feel they are made for each other especially when portraying flawlessly Pierre and Natasha in the reading of War and Peace!🥰👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 However, the paparazzi should leave them alone🙄😔

это Анна Каренина

«Война и Мир» тоже были))).

и Хаджи Мурат был нет ?

You easily can. If you read their works properly and not engaging in demagogy.

And yet Zawe Ashton didn't move you enough to get her name. ;)

have seen her anywhere else?

She will play the wife of Tom Hiddleston's character in Hiddleston's next stage performance

I disagree, she didn't play Kitty well. If you read the book , Kitty is very young at that moment and her intonations should be more soft, and she should have more of aristocratic bearing. The actors performance and intonations are too modern and they fail to transmit the vibe of the Russian aristocrats.

I agree

ikr it’s insane

WendyWindsor actually I just asked that above, thx I will watch whole thing though

thanks!

Not all heroes wears capes. Or jackets.

Anybody know the band of sweater/shirt he is wearing? It looks like absolutely swank!

Omg I was searching the entire video for the moment he took his jacket off. I wish I had seen this comment before all the hardwork I did. XD

Michael Wu I see what you’re saying; however, I think that what makes this a more fascinating debate is the differences between Dickens and Tolstoy. Perhaps one is more serious, perhaps one is less so. But the point is not to compare two similar styles, but to dive into which of the two very different styles has a longer lasting or more impactful legacy. That’s what makes the debate even more challenging and thus more interesting.

Amanda Marie Thank you for the comment; I agree with you. However, I am more interested in the question of who SHOULD have a longer and more impactful legacy. And I think that concerning the improvement of personal morals, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are more relevant and thus more deserving of debate. What do you think? Edit: I’m not saying that Dickens is shallow or anything like that. He is very penetrating in terms of social issues.

If you think Tolstoy is more "serious" than Dickens, you haven't read enough Dickens.

Julian Perhaps they are both equally serious. But I still think Tolstoy explores deeper topics with a grander scope, such as the philosophy of war and history in the later chapters of War and Peace. I know this is cherry picking but the Encyclopedia Brittanica says “It can be argued that no single English novel attains the universality of the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.” www.britannica.com/art/English-literature

Just Getting By I don’t see your point. Harriet Beecher Stowe also left an everlasting legacy, but to say that Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a supreme work of world literature would be ridiculous.

+

And Dickens has an impeccable sense of humor which always turns a writer to some kind of oracle. As it was with Moliere and Mark Twain. Leo Tolstoy on the other hand was an explorer and his contribution to the Russian 1812 war history is outstanding.

I agree...dickens appealed to the hearts