Episode 270: “Best of” Series – “How Much Land Does a Man Need” by Leo Tolstoy

The Literary Life Podcast

Angelina Stanford

Education, Selfeducation, Classicaleducation, Reading, Literature, Homeschool, Arts, Books, Charlottemason, Homeeducation, Homeschooling

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2025

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on The Literary Life, we bring you a gem from the archives. In this episode hosts Angelina Stanford, Thomas Banks, and Cindy Rollins discuss “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” by Leo Tolstoy. To start off the discussion of this short story, Thomas gives us some background to help answer Angelina’s question about why this story seems so very different from other Tolstoy works. Angelina shares how to approach this story like a parable. Cindy brings up the question of the difference between ambition and vocation in terms of contentment.

The Literary Life Online Conference “Living Language: Why Words Matter” is coming up this month, so now is the time to register for lifetime access. Head over the HouseofHumaneLetters.com to sign up today!

Don't forget to visit our website at https://theliterary.life/270 for the full show notes for this episode.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Literary Life Podcast.
0:03.0	We've grown quite significantly since our debut in 2019,
0:07.0	and we've had many requests to highlight older episodes that new listeners may have missed,
0:12.0	as well as revisit listener favorites.
0:15.0	To honor that request, I present to you this episode of the best of the literary life podcast.
0:21.6	This is not just another book chat podcast.
0:25.6	Lifelong reader Cindy Rollins joins teachers Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks for an ongoing conversation about the skill and art of reading well.
0:35.6	Explore the lost intellectual tradition and discover how to fully
0:40.3	enter end to the great works of literature. Learn what books mean while delighting in the sheer joy of
0:47.3	imagination. Each week we will rescue story from the ivory tower and bring it to your couch, your kitchen, and your commute.
0:57.0	The literary life is for everyone because in the words of Stratford Caldecott, to be enchanted by story is to be granted a deeper insight into reality.
1:07.0	Join us for an ever unfolding discussion of how stories will save the world.
1:13.0	This is the Literary Life Podcast. Hi, and welcome back to the literary life podcast. I am Angelina Stanford, and I am here with my two
1:38.5	cohorts in peasantry as we try to answer the question, how much land does a man need good to be here as always
1:46.3	miss stanfield i feel like i need to give you each a russian name no that's okay yeah i i don't know
1:51.9	i'll take laura like laura from yeah there you go so no evitches ralins Novina, Cindy Rollins Novina.
2:01.1	We have to, like, you know, you have to stick the ending on there.
2:03.3	I'm so excited to talk about this story today.
2:06.2	But before we get to that, we do have some announcements.
2:23.3	I'm going to briefly interrupt this best of episode because it was recorded many years ago, and I want to let you know what's going on right now in 2025 at the House of Humane Letters.
2:28.3	If we had a word of the year, it would be word.
2:33.3	It turns out that so much of what we're struggling right now in the world of education and even in word of the year, it would be word.
	...

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