Sincerità e bugie infantili in Fonvizin e Tolstoj

Sincerity and Children Lies in Fonvizin and Tolstoy The essay puts forward the idea of a similarity in the treatment of sincerity and lies between the author of Childhood and Eighteenth Century Russian writer Denis Fonvizin. The striking analogy between two episodes depicting children white lies in Childhood and Denis Fonvizin’s memoirs A sincere avowal of my deeds and thoughts is presented. The similarity of the episodes can be explained by the common influence of Rousseau, which Fonvizin knew and appreciated especially after reading his Confessions, and which he quoted in his own memoirs, but the possibility of Tolstoy’s more or less conscious imitation of the older writer is also taken into account.