The Life of Leo Tolstoy: A Reading Experience

Leo Tolstoy has long become a hallmark of Russian culture, but in modern Russia, his perception is often clouded by stereotypes stemming from the Soviet tradition — school teaching, the desire to oppose Tolstoy the artist to Tolstoy the thinker. Meanwhile, today Tolstoy is astonishingly relevant: the idea of nonviolent resistance, vegetarianism, downsizing, the demand to refuse military service, the fight for nature conservation, attitudes towards love and sexuality — everything that seemed strange to him is becoming a global intellectual mainstream. A new brief biography of the great writer traces the main lines of his fate and creativity. Tolstoy's artistic and philosophical legacy is examined here alongside his military experience, peasant labor, and family tragedy. This 'integrative' approach allows us to talk about him outside the clichéd discussions about 'contradictions' and to more clearly discern the unique sequence and coherence of his life path. Andrei Zorin is a literary historian, professor at the University of Oxford and the Higher School of Economics.