The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories


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of maturity, and afterward provided they do not marry at the age of  
twenty. That is what we are unwilling to see, but those who have  
eyes see it all the same. And even the majority of these unfortunate  
creatures are so excited by a hidden sensuality (and it is lucky if it  
is hidden) that they are fit for nothing. They become animated only  
in the presence of men. Their whole life is spent in preparations for  
coquetry, or in coquetry itself. In the presence of men they become too  
animated; they begin to live by sensual energy. But the moment the man  
goes away, the life stops.  
"And that, not in the presence of a certain man, but in the presence of  
any man, provided he is not utterly hideous. You will say that this is  
an exception. No, it is a rule. Only in some it is made very evident, in  
other less so. But no one lives by her own life; they are all dependent  
upon man. They cannot be otherwise, since to them the attraction of the  
greatest number of men is the ideal of life (young girls and married  
women), and it is for this reason that they have no feeling stronger  
than that of the animal need of every female who tries to attract the  
largest number of males in order to increase the opportunities for  
choice. So it is in the life of young girls, and so it continues  
during marriage. In the life of young girls it is necessary in order to  
selection, and in marriage it is necessary in order to rule the  
husband. Only one thing suppresses or interrupts these tendencies for  
a time,--namely, children,--and then only when the woman is not a  
monster,--that is, when she nurses her own children. Here again the  
doctor interferes.  
6
8


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66 67 68 69 70

Quick Jump
1 73 145 218 290