Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy(1828-1910) was born into one of the grand old families of Imperial Russia. The loss of both of his parents during childhood was the prelude to a series of incidents which made his life as highly coloured as any of his great works of fiction. Whether as a dissolute layabout in the gambling saloons and brothels of Moscow and St Petersburg, as an artillery officer in the Crimean War or as an enlightened landowner educating his peasants and working in the fields, he had abundant energy and was in all areas a giant. Yet he was full of paradoxes, most clearly seen in his tempestuous marriage to Sofya Behrs - one of the most closely documented and perhaps one of the most painful, human relationships in history. A. N. Wilson's Tolstoy is a highly intelligent and accessible biography of the most famous writer in the Russian canon. In this biography of Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, A.N. Wilson narrates the complex drama of the writer's life: his childhood of aristocratic privilege but emotional deprivation, his discovery of his literary genius after aimless years of gambling and womanizing, and his increasingly disastrous marriage. Wilson sweeps away the long-held belief that Tolstoy's works were the exact mirror of his life, and instead traces the roots of Tolstoy's art to his relationship with God, with women, and with Russia. He also recreates the world that shaped the great novelist's life and art - the turmoil of ideas and politics in 19th-century Russia and the literary renaissance that made Tolstoy's work possible. Magisterial... Wilson has an advantage over a mere biographer, looking not to judge his subject but to fully understand the inspirations behind his great works - Daily Express In this biography of Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, A.N. Wilson narrates the complex drama of the writer's life: his childhood of aristocratic privilege but emotional deprivation, his discovery of his literary genius after aimless years of gambling and womanizing, and his increasingly disastrous marriage. Wilson sweeps away the long-held belief that Tolstoy's works were the exact mirror of his life, and instead traces the roots of Tolstoy's art to his relationship with God, with women, and with Russia. He also recreates the world that shaped the great novelist's life and art - the turmoil of ideas and politics in 19th-century Russia and the literary renaissance that made Tolstoy's work possible