Лев Толстой

by Анри Труайя

Духовное наследие Л.Н.Толстого – великого русского писателя, художника, мыслителя – воспринимается неоднозначно. Для одних он – еретик, восставший на основы православия, для других – философ и гуманист, опередивший свое время на несколько столетий, для третьих – «лавка древностей», «музей прошлого». Ярлыков навешано на Толстого много, но ясно и другое – он продолжает волновать умы и сердца многих людей разных возрастов и разных национальностей. Его философия и литературное наследие являются бесценным достоянием всего человечества. Анри Труайя предлагает читателям составить собственное мнение о личности и творчестве этого величайшего деятеля русской культуры XIX–XX столетия.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Russia, Biography Memoir, Russian Literature, Philosophy

896 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

Tolstoy stars here as the villainous hero of his own life story, my abiding memory is the sense that Troyat didn't much like his subject, admittedly this memory coming from his description of Tolstoy's wedding, he married the daughter of a woman he had once asked to marry when he was a young man and having been turned down by the mother popped up years later to carry off the daughter, by which time he had made a name for himself as a writer, but had also been treated several times for syphilis, had lost all his teeth possibly an effect of the use of Mercury to treat the syphilis and had grown his famous beard possibly to hide the sunken toothless cheeks, or maybe he didn't care much for shaving. She was eighteen and had led a fairly sheltered life as the daughter of the Kremlin doctor. There was a definite fade to red for deflowering tone to Troyat's description of their carriage lumbering away from the safety of the parental home toward a very certain future.

Sophia Tolstaya, having got through her wedding night and several babies later eventually emerged as Tolstoy's business manager and tried to regain control over his oeuvre by publishing complete and authorised editions of Tolstoy's works, Dostoevsky's wife turned to her for advice at one point as both husbands had a tendency to sign over anything in return for cash money and as is well known that led to Dostoevsky's second marriage because of stenography, Tolstoy at one point gambled anyway the family house it has since been required and turned into a museum since it was timber framed it was taken apart like IKEA furniture in reverse, but with fewer Allen keys needed, carted off and used by someone else as they family home. Tolstoy was fully committed to the rural life including generously distributing his seed among the local village women until his libido flagged at which point he decided that sex was bad and nobody should indulge in it, about which point he fell under the influence of a spiritual advisor who convinced him that riding a bicycle was bad for his soul because it made it easier for people to get about and meet each other - which as we learn from Anna Karenina is very bad for you, and tends to result in Laudanum related train deaths.

You are left with the impression as a reader that if you have, so far, managed to avoid being married to Tolstoy, or being born as one of his children then you are doing pretty well in life, perhaps it is reassuring to remember all the lives we don't get to lead, a man possessed by a mass of emotion in whom the tensions between Enlightenment values, spiritual beliefs, dissolute living, constant questing for the one true path through life which in War and Peace drive a variety of different individuals (modelled closely on Tolstoy's own ancestors) raged within his own chest, despite which he managed to live to a fairly spry old age possibly due to the bicycling.

Recommended if you've read War & Peace and Anna Karenina and want some context, but dated, and from memory doesn't provide much in the way of analysis of his literary works.

[Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Needs a review and maybe a read of a new bio to compare it with. Just not a revisionist biography. I’m thinking A.N. Wilson’s work.

[Emiliya Bozhilova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Мога единствено да кажа, че биографията на Толстой от Анри Троая е достойна за явлението Толстой. Само чудесен писател като Троая, самият той роден в предреволюционна Москва, може да пренесе върху хартия портрета на Лев Николаевич, вплитайки под формата почти на диалог извадки от дневници, писма и романи, демонстрирайки тънък психологически усет.

————
Троая не е безпристрастен биограф, така както и самият Толстой не е бил ходещ жив паметник, както често се забравя. Из страниците диша, живее, твори, страда едно човешко същество с изумителна чувствителност и проницателност в някои отношения, и изпълнено с не по-малко потресаваща слепота и ограничено упорство - в други. Нещо повече, самият Троая - западен рационалист, никак не крие резервите си към философа Толстой, който е много различен и много по-ограничено реакционен от писателя Толстой. Напълно съм съгласна с цитирания Чехов, който след срещите си с Толстой заявява, че електричеството и парата съдържат много повече любов към човечеството, отколкото самоотричането и постите. А самият Толстой с въздишка заключава, че Чехов има добро сърце, но никак не е религиозен…

————
Религията и средновековието са неизменна част от света, в който се ражда Лев Николаевич Толстой. Родът му е стар, вече не богат като преди, но притежава достатъчно количество земя и крепостни. Самият Толстой, обременен в младостта си с неистова хазартна зависимост, често продава и земя, и свои крепостни, за да погаси дългове “на честта” от игра на карти.


Разломите в Русия между ужасяващия мрак и безпросветност на крепостничеството (което е точно робство, същото като в САЩ) и малката, плувала в лукс и високомерие, прослойка на собствениците на крепостни, са толкова дълбоки, че изглеждат нелечими с ненасилствени средства. В началото Толстой - аристократ, военен и изпълнен с интелектуално любопитство, неугасима жажда за силни емоции и прозрения, арогантно непонасящ глупаците и посредствените, пристрастен към леките жени и крепостните селянки, женомразец и разтърсван периодично от средновековни по същността си религиозни пристъпи на самоомраза и самопрезрение - не се вълнува кой знае колко от въпроса. С течение на времето това се променя.


Талантът на Троая е, че представя незабравимо именно човека Толстой. Човекът с това име е много повече, отколкото сам подозира, с гениалния си усет за реалността и душите на хората. Всичките му романи са свидетелство за това. За “Ана Каренина”, например, сам признава, че е смятал да изобрази героинята си като виновна за всички свои беди, а Вронски и Каренин - като невинни жертви на женското коварство. Но повлечен от стихията на писането, открива, че Ана е оживяла и няма никакво намерение да остане в тези зададени граници. А “Война и мир” - първият истински бестселър в Русия, подобен на днешен сериал с периодичното си публикуване на части - е изумителна симбиоза на неуморни и задълбочени проучвания, отказ да се украсяват фактите и отношенията и дълбоко лично преплитане на куп герои с реални познати, близки и със самия Толстой.

Човекът с името Толстой обаче е много повече и от философа Толстой. Философът Толстой, чиито последователи проповядват толстоизъм, е религиозен мистик от средновековен тип. Този мистик отрича прогреса, отрича секса, отрича жената като нещо повече от инкубатор за деца. Отрича необходимостта бедните да се издигнат чрез образование и нови възможности до нивото на богатите си господари. Вместо това следва господарите да живеят в бедност и въздържание и да слязат в землянките и избите на мужиците. Нещо, което самият Толстой никога не прави. И нещо, което за мен е дълбоко безмислено и безрезултатно. Троая великолепно представя как от един момент толстоизмът се превръща в култ, секта, където част от учениците на Толстой са сляпо ограничени и по-реакционни от самия учител. Те дори се стремят да редактират всяка негова изява и мисъл, която може да подкопае техните представи за това учение. Имат основание за притеснение, защото човекът Толстой е по-многостранен, нюансиран и дълбок от философа и сам си противоречи, отричайки постулатите си. Борбата на Толстой с църковната корупция е нещо, което е било достатъчно обосновано на фона на средновековната закостенялост на руската православна църква. Борбата му за ненасилие обаче е нереалистична. Лесно е за един аристократ, закрилян от цялата система на терор и самодържавие, да го проповядва. Той никога не понася последици за това. Лесно е да проповядва и ограничаване - той иска да ограничи света до безпросветното съществуване на мужиците, което счита за нравствено красиво, вместо да издигне духовно и материално тези мужици. Ненужно и лицемерно средновековие, което е живо в Русия и днес.

————
Истинският роман на Толстой не е някой от написаните от него, а изживеният - и не на последно място със съпругата си София (Соня) Толстая. Две противоположности споделят 50 години брак и 13 деца. Самоотричане срещу желание за активен и обезпечен живот. И у двамата - еднаква детска незрялост и отказ от компромис. Както и арогантност (негова) срещу подчинение, избило на стари години в гневна истерия (от нейна). И все пак - за мен - любов, по-силна, счупена и противоречива - от всяка една от опи��аните в книгите му.

————
Гений, постоянно променлив, постоянно противоречив, безжалостен реалист, дълбоко състрадателен, женомразец, империалист, пацифист, борец срещу лицемерието, често шовинист, непрактичен религиозен идеалист, винаги смел. Толстой е дал на света частица от своята вселена и урок по себепознание. А Троая е дал жива частица от Толстой.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most extensive biogrpahies I have ever read - this book is monumental in scope but precise in its detail. Suddenly you see Tolstoy's life like he must have, and his actions begin to make sense in their own context, instead of seeming crazy like they might to someone who just plotted his life on a calendar.

Really remarkable. I'd never read any tolstoy until I took a survey class my Freshman year - the Life and Art of Lev Tolstoy with the head of our Slavic Languages department at GW. It honestly changed my life, and this book was the main part of it. There is so much to learn - he had such an interesting life - that there is always more to know about him. Wonderful book. Highly recommended for focused and diligent readers.

[Anna Kim-galante · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the top three biographies I've ever read in my life. Almost liked it as much as reading Tolstoy

[Czarny Pies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Je donne cinq étoiles à ce livre remarquable malgré le fait que son analyse du génie du grand romancier russe est inférieur du loin à son portrait du monstre domestique et célébrité pétulante qu'il était.
Troyat décrit très bien les circonstances de la vie et l'état psychologique aux moment de Tolstoï pour ses œuvres qui ont cherché un grand public; c'est à dire:
1. Guerre et Paix (1864-1869)
2. Anna Karénine (1873-1877)
3. Résurrection (1899)
4. Trilogie de Souvenirs: Enfance (1852), Adolescence (1854) et Jeunesse (1855-1857)
5. La Mort d'Ivan Ilitch (1884-1886)
6. La Sonate à Kreutzer (1887-1889)
Troyat parle très peu des nombreuses contes à l'exception des "Notes d'un fou" qui décrit le déclenchement du christianisme radical et communiste chez Tolstoï. À part ses écrits sur la pédagogie, Troyat ne fait aucun effort d'analyser les idées religieuses, politiques et philosophiques de Tolstoï. Aux yeux d'Troyat, Tolstoï a bien mérité son excommunication de l'Église orthodoxe et son socialisme agraire une folie pure.
Les choix de Troyat sont raisonnables. Le public aime Tolstoï surtout pour ses deux romans qui racontent des amours chez les aristocrates russes du dix-neuvième siècle ("Guerre et Paix" et "Anna Karénine"). La philosophie de Tolstoï déplait à tout le monde. Les mécréants trouvent qu'il est trop chrétien. Les chrétiens n'aiment pas ses hérésies. Les conservateurs n'aiment pas la les socialisme de Tolstoï. Les socialistes lui reproche de ne pas être marxiste.
En affirmant que la pensée de Tolstoï était illogiques et bourré de contradictions, Troyat met l'accent sur les défauts du grand écrivain. Tolstoï se prenait pour Dieu; l'église Orthodoxe a du lui refuser des funérailles. C'était un satyre qui couchait avec ses serves et leur faisait des enfants. Il tyrannisait sa femme. Il demandait la vénération absolue de ses filles. Arrogant, il exprimait l'opinion que Shakespeare était un mauvais dramaturge et il a dit à Tchekhov en face qu'il était que ses pièces de théâtre ne valaient pas chères. Il a insulté son grand ami Tourgueniev et l'a provoqué en duel. Bref, dans sa vie personnelle, Tolstoï était une ordure.
"Tolstoï" de Troyat est une très grande biographie, mais elle pose la question si on devrait ou non lire des biographies.

[Dia · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all of its size, this biography of Tolstoy becomes increasingly claustrophobic as it tracks Tolstoy's intellectual development; Tolstoy's intellect seems always to have been driven by guilt, but to have progressed from an intellect that could tolerate guilt to one that could not. Thus Tolstoy became increasingly judgmental and paralyzed, and to read an intimate portrayal of his later years becomes excruciating -- even setting aside the chaotic pressures provided by his wife, family, and disciples. The reader trusts Troyat, as he hangs his finely woven tale on a solid structure of primary sources, but the reader is aware that any biographer of Tolstoy will have to take a side in presenting these final, awful years. Was she truly crazy? Did he truly love her? Was he duped by his disciples? Did he die as he'd wished? Troyat's account is less flattering to both Tolstoy and Sonya than is the recent film that depicts these last years but has to it the unresolved complexity of truth.

A Tolstoy biographer must also grapple with the fact that Tolstoy was not particularly a fan of his own greatest works -- he saw them as frivolous, not accessible and edifying enough -- yet he could not resist writing literature. He wrote perhaps his most powerfully beautiful piece, Hadji Murad, in his last years, after he had utterly rejected writing as a worthy occupation. Troyat does not attempt to fathom this paradox, or even to make a more modest investigation into why Tolstoy ever wrote at all. Troyat is a rather humble biographer, sticking with the "what" and the "how" rather than braving any "whys." And he is a fine writer himself, using a colorful vocabulary to dramatize documented events both external and internal (the latter made quite possible by the prodigious amount of diary-keeping Tolstoy and his people did). I did miss the "scene setting" that is conventional to biographies -- more about the time and place in which Tolstoy lived. Troyat focuses tightly on Tolstoy -- and in the end, we are glad, with Tolstoy, to let go.

[Grace Tjan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Troyat's 700-plus pages biography reads like a Tolstoy novel. It follows Tolstoy's life in detail, quoting extensively from his and his family's copious diaries. His marriage, which started happily enough, and then turned into a nightmare for both him and his wife was morbidly fascinating. It was like watching a slow train wreck. Altogether, a satisfiying if rather lengthy portrait of a complicated genius.

[Iva Iva-Nova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Трогателна история на великата личност и близките му. Откровена, драматична и разтърсваща книга.

[James Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you read about what your favorite author's life was like in real life you get a better picture of how they became who they are and a little more on how the characters came to life. Interesting how a lot of those characters match people they knew in real life.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2766776.html

Having immensely appreciated both War and Peace and Anna Karenina in recent years, I picked this book up to try and get acquainted with the great author.

Oh dear.

Tolstoy was a truly awful person. Having had a couple of (extraordinary) literary successes, he set himself up as a political prophet and became the centre of a cult following which does not appear to have embarrassed him in the slightest. His disciples were in constant conflict with his wife and family as to who controlled access to the great man and who could profit from his literary endeavours. He was entirely capable of writing an essay on how important it is to put sex aside only to then immediately go and impregnate poor Sonya for the umpteenth time. The story of the last few years of his life is a tedious tit-for-tat in his entourage, enlivened by the occasional bit of actual writing.

Henri Troyat (real name Lev Tarasov) ducks almost all of these issues. The biography relies too heavily on the copious written materials left by Tolsty and his family and fans, and never steps back to consider where we have come from. One telling example: in the account of Tolstoy's wedding to Sonya, Troyat lets slip that the great man had already had a son with Axinya, one of the serfs on the family estate - and there is no further examination of this, apart from its effect on Sonya's state of mind (already somewhat perturbed by reading Tolstoy's secret diaries, a detail later written into Anna Karenina).

I am sure that better biographies of Tolstoy have since been written. But I'm not sure I would want to read them.

[Mishka Zakharin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Troyat is the greatest biographer I've read--and not just because he's covered pretty much all of the Russian writers and tsars... (though, yes, that was pretty swell of him to do...) He doesn't just spit out facts, he tells a story... I only wish more of his bios were available in English.

[Aaron Crofut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Admittedly, I had no intention of reading this whole thing and I didn't ; rather, I was interested in his background and conversion. I did get sucked right into the detailed and engaging narrative though, and if I had more time I certainly would have gone cover to cover. Troyat was excellent (as was the translator), and Tolstoy was definitely interesting. Not "good", but interesting. His odd conversion is much less of a surprise to me now that I know he was always a bit of a psychotic and arrogant individual.

[Katherine Prezioso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely interesting but I'm not sure I need this much info on Tolstoy

[Daniel Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography, especially its second half, is extraordinary.

Tolstoy was an incredibly fascinating, complicated and flawed person. To read this biography is not just to learn about Tolstoy, but to see the depths of what it means to be human - through all the greatness and failure; love and tragedy.

A note on the format of the book:
Tolstoy and nearly everyone close to him kept extensive diaries. This biography is a retelling of Tolstoy's life as told through these diary entries. For the most part, the biography does not focus on or prioritize certain events, or even provide analysis on what's happening; just a retelling of all that happened. To that end, this book is sort of like watching Scenes From a Marriage or the Before Trilogy - uncut, unfiltered raw dialogue.

[Julia P · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is longer than Anna Karenina. Tolstoy was a very flawed man and horrible to his wife. He was also a pompous aristocrat who genuinely admired peasants. He was a self-flagellating narcissist. Troyat beautifully captured the many sides of this hypocritical giant, but like Tolstoy himself did so in an overly wordy way.

[Christi Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best biographies I have ever read.

[Graychin · Rating 5 out of 5]

So long as Leo and Sonya weren’t fighting, family life was good for the Tolstoys at Yasnaya Polyana: riding; swimming; hunting; working with peasants in the fields, if you like; picnicking in the woods, if you prefer; riddling out big questions in conversation with the master of the house. There were so many children, so many friends. Around the dinner table they played games. One day they scribbled their personal raisons d'être on slips of paper, put them into a bowl, and read them aloud to guess which belonged to whom. Leo’s was, “To believe he has found a solution to life.”

Another evening, for fun, they drew up a “Distressing Register of the Mentally Deranged Inmates of Yasnaya Polyana.” Patient No. 2 was Sonya: “Her delusion is that everybody is in continual need of quantities of things, and that she doesn’t have time to satisfy them all.” Aunt Tanya was patient No. 6, whose problem was having been spoiled and popular in her youth. She could only be helped by “truffles and champagne, gowns entirely covered with lace and three changes of dress every day.” Count Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy himself, who had already published War and Peace and would soon publish Anna Karenina, was Patient No. 1. In a self-critical mood, he probably wrote his own case study (who else would have dared?):

“His delusion is that he can change others’ lives with words. General symptoms: dissatisfaction with the present scheme of things; blames everyone, except himself; voluble irritability, no consideration for his listeners; often goes through the phases of manic excitement, giving way to exaggerated and lachrymose sentimentality. Particular symptoms: indulges in irrelevant activities: polishes and repairs shoes, mows hay, and so forth.”

Henri Troyat’s biography of the great novelist reads like a great novel itself. Here is the princeling of fairytale childhood, here the restless youth, the soldier of the Caucasus and the Crimea, the gambler, the drunkard, the womanizer, the artist who despises aesthetes, the bear hunter, the devoted husband and family man, the landowner who denounces private property, the conscience-stricken aristocrat who plays at being a muzhik, the guru of universal love adored by millions who explodes his marriage and family while preaching a Christianity stripped of miracles.

According to Troyat, the only really peaceful eras of Tolstoy’s life were the years spent writing the two great novels that assured his fame. That’s how Sonya saw it, too. When he wasn’t consumed in writing fiction, her husband devoured his own heart, straining at the mystery of iniquity, diagnosing his own and the world’s ills and prescribing now this and now that to heal the soul and establish the kingdom of heaven on earth. The evil of our condition (he declares) resides in the state, now in education, now private property, now class distinctions, now organized religion, now marriage, now the ties that make a man prefer his own kin to strangers. Sonya may have been a difficult person, but she earns our sympathy in a decades-long warfare between husband and wife. Leo put her through hell.

For years I had let myself think of Tolstoy as two different men who inhabited a single body in the same way two men may inhabit the same house one after another, the transition occurring sometime after Anna Karenina. First, of course, there was the Novelist of genius; later, the Prophet of social justice, non-violence, and vegetarianism who repudiated literature. Troyat corrected me by demonstrating that the latter was always present, undeveloped, in the former, and the former never completely obscured by the latter. Nevertheless, the older Tolstoy seems to have felt that his best work – his true work – was that undertaken as Prophet.

Certainly, the Prophet was not without accomplishments. He worked tirelessly to organize famine relief in Russia, his efforts eclipsing and embarrassing the government. He almost single-handedly rescued the persecuted pacifist sect of the Molokans, brokering a deal with the Tsar and himself funding the emigration of thousands to Canada. Inspired by his ideals and example, Tolstoyan communities sprang up around the globe. And yet, a hundred and ten years after his death, Tolstoy the Prophet has faded; Tolstoy the Novelist remains. We remember him for his books rather than his doctrines.

In his later years, Tolstoy came to believe that the value of art was indivisible from its power to inspire social change. Distrustful myself of “progressivism” in all its forms, I prefer the sentiments he expressed as a younger man in a letter from July, 1865:

“The aims of art are incommensurable (as the mathematicians say) with the aims of socialism. An artist’s mission must not be to produce an irrefutable solution to a problem, but to compel us to love life in all its countless and inexhaustible manifestations. If I were told I might write a book in which I should demonstrate beyond any doubt the correctness of my opinions on every social problem, I should not waste two hours on it; but if I were told that what I wrote would be read twenty years from now by people who are children today, and that they would weep and laugh over my book and love life more because of it, then I should devote all my life and strength to such a work.”

If he did not devote quite all his life and strength to the work, the life and strength within the man were such that the portion he gave was sufficient to the task. Describing the best passages of War and Peace, Troyat summarizes the special power of Tolstoy’s art and the key to his enduring stature as, arguably, the greatest of all novelists:

“Here, Tolstoy is not a visionary; he is not waving a torch above the abyss, like Dostoyevsky; he does not turn his people inside out like gloves, he does not scare us with our own shadows. His exploration never goes beyond what is directly perceptible to ordinary mortals. But he responds more intensely than ordinary mortals to the appeal of beings and things. Instead of bringing us closer to the Beyond, he brings us closer to the Here-and-Now.”

It was not through his fiction that he earned a place in the Distressing Register of the Mentally Deranged Inmates of Yasnaya Polyana. Tolstoy is among the very few writers of whom it is probably no delusion to say that he could “change others’ lives with words.” He did so in his own time, and he does so still. But, Novelist or Prophet, the words of transformation and the changes to be effected were not always in his power to determine.

[Rudradeep Mukherjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine a boy who keeps diaries from the age of thirteen. He lives upto eighty-two. His wife also writes diaries. His sons, daughters, acquaintances, doctors and copiers keep diaries too. How do you write a biography in three million words which accounts for all the facts as well as the stories that they boy will grow up to write? Henri Troyat does a masterful job of the same.

Seen more than a century later, Tolstoy's life is a mixture of contradictions, absurdities, mundane and profoundness. He is a unique person of his times. On one hand, Russia is slowly transitioning from a monarchy to a revolutionary government. Bicycles are becoming popular, automobiles are getting introduced, first cameras are clicking pictures and first movies are being screened. Between all this, there is a man who thinks that he is committing sin by living in luxury on the labors of peasant class. He is also tormented by his voluptuous desires and wants to reach communion with the Almighty. And, he also wants to write and make a difference by propagating the truths he has encountered. But he has a wife, a property and duty to his family. How will he balance all the tendencies of his soul?

Troyat's biography accounts for all these facts. I am even suspicious that Troyat had to omit some facts to make the book concise. Nevertheless, the details provided at the events before and after Tolstoy's death are very touching. Highly recommended to those who are interested in life, times and work of Tolstoy.

[Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable insight into the contradictory whimsical old “Wizard of Yasnaya Polyana”, Troyat reveals to the reader, with remarkable tact, the inner workings of the author of War & Peace and Anna Karenina. He expertly navigates the vast narrative that is Tolstoy’s life to create a starkly beautiful, by its very nature, but ultimately unadorned testimony to the author.

The lengthy book (reflecting, of course, the vastness of the subject’s life) was a moving journey from start to finish, with the only other experience to which I can compare it being finishing War & Peace itself.

5/5

[Alisu' · Rating 5 out of 5]

"La Lev Tolstoi, nevoia de a fi impotriva opiniei generale devenise o a doua natura. Ca si cum, print-o contrazicere sistematica, si-ar fi dovedit propria sa existenta. Parea ca spune: 'Gindesc pe dos decit ceilalti, deci exist!'"

[Thacher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this wonderful biography of Tolstoy is almost better than reading a Tolstoy novel. His life was an adventure, and the way he wove his own life into his books is fascinating.

[Donna Halloran]

I'm reading this biography while reading Anna Karenina.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this 20-30 years ago. I remember it was very good, and the account of Tolstoy's last few days/hours I still do remember, partially at any rate.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A MARVELOUS BIOGRAPHY OF THE RUSSIAN WRITER AND PACIFIST

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was of course the famous Russian writer. Henri Troyat (1911-2007) was a Russian-born French author, biographer, historian and novelist, who wrote other books such as 'Alexander of Russia: Napoleon's Conqueror,' 'Turgenev,' 'Pushkin: A Biography,' etc. This book was first published in 1945.

Troyat recounts the young Tolstoy's liaison with a servant girl, observing, "when, in The Resurrection, he told the story of a young servant-girl who was deflowered by her benefactress' nephew, turned out of the house pregnant, and driven to prostitution, penury and theft, it was Gasha who was haunting his memory." (Pg. 64) He suggests that "There seemed to be a propensity in the Tolstoy blood for swinging from good to evil, humility to pride, lechery to virtue, with unusual facility." (Pg. 140)

In 1855, Tolstoy wrote in his diary of a "grandiose, stupendous [idea]... I feel capable of devoting my life to it. It is the founding of a new religion, suited to the present state of mankind: the religion of Christ, but divested of faith and mysteries, a practical religion, not promising eternal bliss but providing bliss here on earth." (Pg. 123) He later wrote, "I have looked in the Gospels and found neither God, nor the Redeemer, nor the sacraments, nor anything... I love and respect religion... But I have no religion myself and I do not believe in it. For me, religion comes from life, not life from religion... in my religion, nature is the intermediary." (Pg. 196) By 1881, "he was certain that he had found Christ by rejecting the priests." (Pg. 426)

Of his wife Sonya, Troyat states, "She nursed him, copied his manuscripts, published his works, ran to St. Petersburg to plead with the censorship committee, but she was not, really, an ally." (Pg. 473) He observes, "For the love of God he had given up property, hunting, meat and tobacco, one after the other. Now he wanted to give up sex. For him, the enemy was woman; and the reason was that he was too strongly sensual not to be continually led into temptation." (Pg. 500) Tolstoy wrote in his private diary on January 22, 1909, "I could no more return to the Church and take communion on my deathbed than I could use profanity or look at obscene pictures on my deathbed." (Pg. 723)

This is an excellent, very informative biography of this highly important writer whose spiritual and political influence continues to be felt to this day.

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Tolstoy” by French historian Henri Troyat is THE definitive biography of the great Russian novelist. And I finished it! — Yes siree, all 800 pages. On the down side, took me five months and had to put it down and read entire books in between Troyat’s chapters. On the plus side, I never have to read anything about Tolstoy ever again! There is literally nothing left to say.

OK, what struck me. The first thing was the dichotomy between how exemplary and remarkable was Tolstoy’s talent – juxtaposed against what a failed human he was. His novels, “War and Peace” and onward through to the “Cossacks” and “Resurrection” are genius. Brilliant. Masterpieces. As a person, Tolstoy was not even a fun eccentric with maybe a drinking problem or a problem with women. He was, as my wife would say (in Spanish) “absolutamente insoportable”. He went through ideologies and “phases” so quickly nobody could keep up. He was a philanderer, a spoiled son of the nobility, a rapist (forcing himself on peasant women), a drunk, a revolutionary, a humanitarian, a pacifist and at the end a cult leader. In each phase, he was all in – not only for himself but viciously judgmental of all those around him who were not ‘caught up’ with his passion of the moment.

No wonder his family was miserable, and his wife tried to commit suicide. At the end of his days, Tolstoy had nothing but contempt for his wife, for not meeting his (latest) high moral standards – specifically his self-imposed poverty that he wanted to impose on all the people in his life as well (through a will giving away everything). Dude was a terrible bore.

Now, secondly, I never realized just how much of a cult leader Tolstoy was. I knew that he’d founded communities of Tolstoians around Russia; but today, he’d me a modern day Joseph Smith or David Koresh.

Balance. We have to find balance. We have to be good to posterity, to a world that needs works of art like “War and Peace” — but we are also responsible first for those we love, to make their lives better. Some would say that a genius that could give us “War and Peace” does not have it in him to be a balanced human to those he loves; and their suffering is the price paid for greatness. Who knows, that might be true. But that doesn’t make Tolstoy any more of a role model.

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Amazon review on July 2, 2018: Brilliant life of a really conflicted genius

Superb in almost every respect. Hard to imagine you would need more about Tolstoy. He is presented here in his totality and you will not encounter a more complicated man and life than the one described in these pages. Never having read a bio of Tolstoy I had few preconceived notions going in, other than he wrote one of the longest books I ever read. After reading this I imagine it would be easy for a biographer to fall into one or more 'camps' regarding the true nature of this man. I think Troyat does a very good job in presenting the facts and letting the reader decide just what kind of man Leo Tolstoy was. He was either one of the biggest hypocrites who ever lived or a near saintly man determined to follow a path of righteousness. I believe you will find considerable support for both positions in the pages of this book which is really remarkable. Still not sure where I come down; but he was more or less a huge a-hole for much his life, with an incredible ego which in the end is the way I will mostly see him. But what a magnificent mind and ego it was! He basically invented an entire religion to assuage his own guilt. The poverty and contradictions of 19th century Russia appalled him almost beyond reason. Yet a man with incredible insight into human nature and the Russia of his time. He was clearly far more than just the author or War and Peace and Anna Karenina, although those two works constitute probably 99 percent of what people today read of Tolstoy. The chapters in the book describing those two great works are superb and would help any student needing to write a paper on either one. Yet I found myself regretting that he ever ambled off into the paths of what became Tolstoyism (as I am sure his wife did) and never produced novels of their stature again. Though I will likely pick up one of two others, perhaps the Death of Ivan Ilyich or Resurrection? I will say this, you will not likely read a more riveting end of life saga and of the 'struggle' between two now old people and their views on life.

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly researched and detailed telling of Count Tolstoy's life and work, Henri Troyat's biography of Russia's greatest novelist is an incredible masterpiece. The author weaves a wonderfully written and critical story of Tolstoy's creative development, deteriorating marriage, and spiritual evolution that at times makes the Count the villain in his own life. At times, the biographer seems harshly critical of his subject, but always ends up providing enough evidence to support his chosen lens. Despite this harshness, the admiration of Tolstoy's brilliance as a novelist is never lost. As Troyat writes,

'That is the miracle of Tolstoy: this gift of life that he transmits to hundreds of creatures, all different, lightly yet unforgettably sketched: soldiers peasants, generals, great noblemen, young maidens and women of the world. He moves from one to the other, effortlessly changing age,s ex and social class. He gives each a particular way of thinking and talking, a physical appearance, a weight in live flesh, a past even an odor. There would be nothing so remarkable in it if these were exceptional people, whose features were etched in acid. But no: the protagonists of this drama are standard issue, who might not arouse our curiosity if we were to meet them on the street. Here, however, they are identified and animated with such skill that they continue to live and love in our memories after we have closed the book.' (p. 320)

[Gille Liath · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is actually better than War & Peace – it grabs me more. Tolstoy himself is a far more interesting character than any he created; his wife, too, is a strong and complex figure; unlike the novel's, the story is simple, unified and involving. One of the blurbs says that 'it reads like a novel', the standard comment for non-fiction one wishes to commend; but I'm not sure it is actually that much of a compliment. Novelists often try to be too clever, and often use gimmicks to try and cover the basic weakness of their material. This reads like the work of someone who is content to tell a good story straightforwardly, and not try to draw more attention to himself than to the book's subject.

The one fault is that the translator into English, one Nancy Amphoux, has such an insecure grasp of English language idiom that I suspect she wasn't a native speaker – though it could just be that she was American. But though she sprinkles incongruous not-quite-right phrases throughout the text, they don’t spoil it. Actually they're kinda cute.

[Jonathan Howald · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is interesting to look at Tolstoys life after reading War and Peace and Anna Karenina since Tolstoy draws on so much from his real life for the characters in those books.
The biography took me a long time to finish and I needed to read other books in between sections to prevent burnout but overall it was a worthwhile read.
Tolstoy's written ideals matched up against his real life make an interesting comparison. He created more or less a Christian cult preaching love, self-sacrifice, non-violence, living by your means, not owning anything. Yet his own life was marked by wealth and his family situation was not filled with love or peace.
It was also interesting that as I learned about Tolstoy I was also learning about Russia as a whole as Tolstoy interacted with the great Russian artists, monarchs, and politicians of that time.