In November 1910, Count Lev Tolstoy died at a remote Russian railway station attended by the world's media. He was eighty-two years old and had lived a remarkable and long life during one of the most turbulent periods of Russian history. Born into a privileged aristocratic family, he seemed set to join the ranks of degenerate Russian noblemen, but fighting in the Crimean war alongside rank and file soldiers opened his eyes to Russia's social problems and he threw himself into teaching the peasantry to read and write. After his marriage he wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina , both regarded as two of the greatest novels in world literature. Rosamund Bartlett's exceptional biography of this brilliant, maddening and contrary man draws on key Russian sources, including the many fascinating new materials which have been published about Tolstoy and his legacy since the collapse of the Soviet Union. A Hundred Years Ago In November 1910 Count Leo Tolstoy Died On A Remote Russian Railway Station, Attended By The World's Media, Taken Ill As He Was Finally Attempting To Escape His Decadent (as He Saw It), Aristocratic Family Life. Tolstoy Has Been Universally Recognised As A Colossus Of World Literature Whether By His Contemporaries Or Critics. In This Exceptional Biography Rosamund Bartlett Draws Extensively On The Many Fascinating New Sources Which Have Been Published About Tolstoy Since The Collapse Of Communism To Write About One Of The Most Compelling, Maddening, Brilliant And Contrary People Who Has Ever Lived. She And We Discover A Remarkable And Long Life In One Of The Most Fascinating And Turbulent Periods Of Russian History, Straddling The 19th And Early 20th Centuries. Tolstoy Spent That Life Rebelling; Not Only Against Conventional Ideas About Literature And Art But Against Traditional Education And Eventually Against Family Life, Organised Religion And The State. Rosamund Bartlett. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 499-507) And Index. Bartlett draws extensively on key Russian sources, including much fascinating new material made available since the collapse of the Soviet Union. She sheds light on Tolstoy's remarkable journey from callow youth to writer to prophet; discusses his troubled relationship with his wife, Sonya, a subject long neglected; and vividly evokes the Russian landscapes Tolstoy so loved. Above all, she gives us an eloquent portrait of the brilliant, maddening, and contrary man who has, once again, been discovered by a new generation of readers. In November 1910, Count Lev Tolstoy died at a remote Russian railway station attended by the world's media. Tolstoy's War and Peace and Anna Karenina are considered two of the greatest novels ever written. This book offers a fresh perspective on his extraordinary life and times.
