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Leo Tolstoy
When he arrived in Moscow in 1851, a young Leo Tolstoy set himself three immediate aims: to gamble, to marry, and to obtain a post. At that time he managed only the first. The writer’s momentous life would be full of forced breaks and abrupt departures, from the death of his beloved parents and tortuous courtship to a deep spiritual crisis and an abandonment of the social class into which he had been born. He also made several attempts to break up with literature, but each time he returned to writing.
In this original and comprehensive biography, Andrei Zorin skillfully pieces together the life of one of the greatest novelists of all time. He offers both an innovative account of Tolstoy’s deepest feelings, emotions, and motives, as reflected in his personal diaries and letters, and a brilliant interpretation of his major works, including his celebrated novels on contemporary Russian society, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and his significant philosophical writings.
In this original and comprehensive biography, Andrei Zorin skillfully pieces together the life of one of the greatest novelists of all time. He offers both an innovative account of Tolstoy’s deepest feelings, emotions, and motives, as reflected in his personal diaries and letters, and a brilliant interpretation of his major works, including his celebrated novels on contemporary Russian society, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and his significant philosophical writings.
188 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 3, 2020
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535 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
May 1, 2024
Supposed to write an actual review for this for class but I would rather do it on Goodreads!
This is, in my opinion, not a very good biography. I don't think I've read another biography to compare it to but I swear, with a subject so interesting, surely there'd be more to say and a better way to say it than what happened in this book. Incredibly dry, overstuffed with info about his spiritual transformation, and at the same time way too short to paint any convincing sketch of the man. Made a lot of claims and never followed up on them which made my research presentation that I read this for that much harder to do, thank you very much. Felt extremely unsympathetic to his wife?
Cool facts about Tolstoy: he was THE first celebrity, an actual celebrity! There are tons of PHOTOS of him, and he caused one of the first global media sensations when he showed up at a train station and was surrounded/mobbed by fans. He decided to live like a peasant on his own estate, growing a beard and wearing one of those tunics things. He hosted Turgenev in his home, who danced a little dance for his daughters, after which Tolstoy wrote in his diary, "Turgenev—cancan. Sad." He frequently quit writing, and hated Anna Karenina by the time he published the last section. I'm just fascinated by this guy, an incredible writer who could never convince himself that it was even a worthy occupation.
(Seems like it would be extremely hard to write a Tolstoy biography. What an insane, contradictory man!)
This is, in my opinion, not a very good biography. I don't think I've read another biography to compare it to but I swear, with a subject so interesting, surely there'd be more to say and a better way to say it than what happened in this book. Incredibly dry, overstuffed with info about his spiritual transformation, and at the same time way too short to paint any convincing sketch of the man. Made a lot of claims and never followed up on them which made my research presentation that I read this for that much harder to do, thank you very much. Felt extremely unsympathetic to his wife?
Cool facts about Tolstoy: he was THE first celebrity, an actual celebrity! There are tons of PHOTOS of him, and he caused one of the first global media sensations when he showed up at a train station and was surrounded/mobbed by fans. He decided to live like a peasant on his own estate, growing a beard and wearing one of those tunics things. He hosted Turgenev in his home, who danced a little dance for his daughters, after which Tolstoy wrote in his diary, "Turgenev—cancan. Sad." He frequently quit writing, and hated Anna Karenina by the time he published the last section. I'm just fascinated by this guy, an incredible writer who could never convince himself that it was even a worthy occupation.
(Seems like it would be extremely hard to write a Tolstoy biography. What an insane, contradictory man!)
January 20, 2021
I decided to read this book because of a review in The Economist. I’m glad I did. It was a quick read and helped shape my understanding of a man whom I have heard so much about, but of which I knew so little.
May 5, 2020
I read this book because it is 210 pages long and contains everything you need to know about Tolstoy's somewhat unhappy life. I did not know he sacrificed his wife and family in his endeavour to live the life of a peasant, even to the point of cruelty. However, the schools he opened on his lavish estates to help peasant children and even teach in them himself, was admirable. Although I could not follow all the political events in Russia during Tolstoy's life, his work to bring about a more equal society are clearly explained and tied in with his writings, in particular two of the greatest novels in literature., War and Peace, and Anna Karenina. I am presently reading his autobiographical novels.
August 9, 2022
This is a tremendously fascinating biography of Tolstoy's life and work. The author seamlessly, effortlessly, weaves a very readable work that treats Tolstoy's events, life, work, ambitions, failures, success, anxieties and vices objectively. The author reveals family secrets, a detailed family history and where all these things overlap in both life and his literary works - published and unpublished. Of crucial significance is how the author uses unpublished diary and manuscript entries to reveal the real Leo Tolstoy - most especially his inner struggles, high expectations, doubts, vices, utopianism and restlessness. The author easily juxtaposes Tolstoy's self-reproach and doubt with his energy and ambition. Its extraordinary to witness that his doubt is severe on one day, and 3 days later almost irrational in exuberance. His brilliance was also his bane. He was a tortured soul. The reader is left almost breathless at times as the author makes Tolstoy come alive. I Heartily recommend this book! Did I mention that I heartily recommend this book?
This book is succinct and based on numerous primary sources, the Tolstoy diary, and unpublished and unfinished manuscript's.
There are four chapters, references, bibliography, acknowledgments and photos for a total of 223 reading pages.
This book is succinct and based on numerous primary sources, the Tolstoy diary, and unpublished and unfinished manuscript's.
There are four chapters, references, bibliography, acknowledgments and photos for a total of 223 reading pages.
April 16, 2020
For a brief (200 pp) biography, excellent. Tostoy's unhappy life is closely connected to his various writings and his later-in-life religious beliefs.
November 24, 2021
Slim biography but well put together and written in a lively manner. Perfect for someone wanting to read more about Tolstoy but not devote weeks to a long tome.
January 11, 2024
A perfect treatment of a vast subject in the monograph format. It does not and cannot have the comprehensiveness of a longer biography, but I have not been able to get through Wilson’s or Bartlett’s attempts whereas this was over in two sittings, with repeated visits back to the most vivid parts.
Loved the recollections and impressions of Tolstoy by other writers and his associations with them:
—Flaubert’s ‘outcries of admiration’ on reading War and Peace
—Dostoevsky having his new Christian anarchism explained to him by Alexandra Tolstoy, ‘his hands on his head, repeating in a desperate voice: “It’s all wrong”’, denied the chance to properly respond to it by his death 5 days post
—Turgenev weeping on receiving Tolstoy’s letter making amends, his later deathbed protestations to his friend to return to literature
—Chekhov’s anecdote of Tolstoy saying ‘I cannot abide Shakespeare, but your plays are even worse’; Tolstoy later reading Chekhov’s letters after the younger man’s death, moved to tears to remark that ‘I never knew he loved me so much’
Despite What is Art? being completed only in 1897, and his repudiation of his great works following his personal religious revolution, the ethos of his philosophy of art being to ‘infect’ viewers with universally understandable emotion is made clear as early as 1865: “The aim of the artist is not to solve a problem irrefutably, but to make people love life in all its countless inexhaustible manifestations…if I were to be told that what I should write would be read in about 20 years’ time by those who are now children, and that they would laugh and cry over it and love life, I would devote all my life and all my energies to it”
Great emphasis placed on his obsession with death, repeated brushes with it, the despair of his brother’s death: “A few minutes before he died, he dozed off, then suddenly came to and whispered in horror: ‘why, what is that?’ He had seen it – this absorption of the self in nothingness”. Can observe Tolstoy returning to this scene over and over again, with in War and Peace, Nikolai’s death in Anna Karenina, and Ivan Ilych. Disquietingly, each death becomes in a way more despairing as Tolstoy refines the scene and, presumably, his understanding of it. Despairing again is Tolstoy’s death itself where he was, against his will, drugged and robbed of his chance to feel what he depicted Ivan, , (in Master and Man), and others experiencing at the transition of life to death.
Have not read The Diary of a Mad Man, did not know about the importance the ‘Arzamas crisis’ had in Tolstoy’s life as prelude to the depression shown in A Confession.
Made me want to see Yasnaya Polyana and the site of the ‘green stick’, but I have found that visiting such places has a disappointing incapacity to live up to the importance they take on when reading about them. Almost like intruding on the privacy of the author, mistaking them for a relative/friend. Better to have one’s own green stick.
Loved the recollections and impressions of Tolstoy by other writers and his associations with them:
—Flaubert’s ‘outcries of admiration’ on reading War and Peace
—Dostoevsky having his new Christian anarchism explained to him by Alexandra Tolstoy, ‘his hands on his head, repeating in a desperate voice: “It’s all wrong”’, denied the chance to properly respond to it by his death 5 days post
—Turgenev weeping on receiving Tolstoy’s letter making amends, his later deathbed protestations to his friend to return to literature
—Chekhov’s anecdote of Tolstoy saying ‘I cannot abide Shakespeare, but your plays are even worse’; Tolstoy later reading Chekhov’s letters after the younger man’s death, moved to tears to remark that ‘I never knew he loved me so much’
Despite What is Art? being completed only in 1897, and his repudiation of his great works following his personal religious revolution, the ethos of his philosophy of art being to ‘infect’ viewers with universally understandable emotion is made clear as early as 1865: “The aim of the artist is not to solve a problem irrefutably, but to make people love life in all its countless inexhaustible manifestations…if I were to be told that what I should write would be read in about 20 years’ time by those who are now children, and that they would laugh and cry over it and love life, I would devote all my life and all my energies to it”
Great emphasis placed on his obsession with death, repeated brushes with it, the despair of his brother’s death: “A few minutes before he died, he dozed off, then suddenly came to and whispered in horror: ‘why, what is that?’ He had seen it – this absorption of the self in nothingness”. Can observe Tolstoy returning to this scene over and over again, with in War and Peace, Nikolai’s death in Anna Karenina, and Ivan Ilych. Disquietingly, each death becomes in a way more despairing as Tolstoy refines the scene and, presumably, his understanding of it. Despairing again is Tolstoy’s death itself where he was, against his will, drugged and robbed of his chance to feel what he depicted Ivan, , (in Master and Man), and others experiencing at the transition of life to death.
Have not read The Diary of a Mad Man, did not know about the importance the ‘Arzamas crisis’ had in Tolstoy’s life as prelude to the depression shown in A Confession.
Made me want to see Yasnaya Polyana and the site of the ‘green stick’, but I have found that visiting such places has a disappointing incapacity to live up to the importance they take on when reading about them. Almost like intruding on the privacy of the author, mistaking them for a relative/friend. Better to have one’s own green stick.
February 11, 2023
Reviewing the book or the man? For the most part, this short biography was fascinating.
No wonder Tolstoy's books are so vibrant, so passionate, so cathartic. He was a deeply emotional man whose writings were equally imbued with a sense of genuineness - and genius. Everything he wrote was personal and strongly felt. Admirable.
The biography traces his philosophical background, his intense psychology, and the deeply troubling questions he grappled with throughout his life. It also discusses his status as a quasi-mystic, a man who became more than just a writer - but a father figure, a spiritual guide. A charismatic ideologue, a powerful communicator.
Toward the end, this book became oddly detailed. It devoted numerous pages to his final days, as well as his ridiculous fights with his aged wife. Their old age squabbling matters little to me - a curious use of space in an otherwise tight biography.
Otherwise - a fantastic book that offers essential context for his works. Life-affirming.
No wonder Tolstoy's books are so vibrant, so passionate, so cathartic. He was a deeply emotional man whose writings were equally imbued with a sense of genuineness - and genius. Everything he wrote was personal and strongly felt. Admirable.
The biography traces his philosophical background, his intense psychology, and the deeply troubling questions he grappled with throughout his life. It also discusses his status as a quasi-mystic, a man who became more than just a writer - but a father figure, a spiritual guide. A charismatic ideologue, a powerful communicator.
Toward the end, this book became oddly detailed. It devoted numerous pages to his final days, as well as his ridiculous fights with his aged wife. Their old age squabbling matters little to me - a curious use of space in an otherwise tight biography.
Otherwise - a fantastic book that offers essential context for his works. Life-affirming.
September 26, 2021
A beautiful short biography of a great Russian writer. This book contains wonderful illustrations collected from Russian archives. It is based on extensive research conducted by a professor of the University of Oxford. The author refers to the most important works written by Tolstoy and relates them to developments in Tolstoy's views on life.
July 19, 2021
A very good companion to slogging through W&P. Concise, but full of memorable and revealing anecdotes, especially from the diaries. A deeply sympathetic portrait of a writer i’ll probably be reading for the rest of 2021.
August 28, 2022
The astonishing life of Leo Tolstoy cannot be guessed at from reading his books: he lived in his characters and his characters in him. However, that he had become a prophet in his own time with adherents throughout the World is a story which needs telling.
Read
August 4, 2023A short book for a long life. It seems to only touch the surface of what was a rich, miserable and contradictory life of Tolstoy, but if you’re looking for a short summation to know him better, this book will do you right.
July 12, 2022
Fascinating book on a fascinating writer
Excellent overview of Tolstoy’s work and thought in the context of his life & the people & events that affected him.
Excellent overview of Tolstoy’s work and thought in the context of his life & the people & events that affected him.
November 3, 2022
A good intro; but warning for Tolstoy book spoilers.
December 11, 2023
Illuminating
February 19, 2025
I have become more and more fascinated with Tolstoy’s works so I was eager to learn more about the man himself. This book did that for me!
June 11, 2025
Delightful and brief biography of Leo. You love Lev through his literary alter egos but the infuriatingly ridiculous reality of the man makes me admire him all the more.
February 28, 2024
Not bad, but not in depth enough for my preferences
August 11, 2023
"Two things are always said about Tolstoy," wrote the celebrated Russian critic Mikhailovsky, in a largely forgotten essay published in the 'eighties, "that he is an outstandingly good writer of fiction and a bad thinker. This has become an axiom needing no demonstration".
—Harold Bloom, Leo Tolstoy
Once I read Zorin's splendidly researched account of Tolstoy's life, his deepest thoughts and feelings, I seem to understand what had brought Mikhailovsky to such estimation of one of the giants of Russian literature.
However, I am certain it is impossible to draw a clear assessment of his character and personality, without taking in account the effect Tolstoys early loss of his mother—and not so long after also his father—engraved in him. There was no guidance provided for him on how to assimilate his desires, thoughts and inner natural human mental and emotional turmoils and conflicts. I believe the detrimental impact it left is so clearly shown through his torment of desperately longing for love simultaneously doubting he deserved to be loved, along with his struggle to asses and accept his ones sexual preferences and desires.
Utterly depressing read.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews