Self-Development According to Tolstoy. Life Lessons from 11 Works of Russian Classics

Journalist for The Telegraph and professional stand-up comedian Viv Groskop found in the great Russian novels not only solace but also soul-nourishing advice during a difficult period in her life, which helped her escape from dire circumstances—and decided to describe this experience. In "Self-Development According to Tolstoy," she illustrates through her own examples and the fates of Russian classics that even the toughest situation can be overcome with the help of literature: "Anna Karenina" alleviates identity crises, Turgenev's play "A Month in the Country" helps one endure unrequited love, and "The Master and Margarita" assists in dealing with severe circumstances. Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Anna Akhmatova, Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, and others in Groskop's book are not bronze monuments but living people who also suffered and doubted, overwhelmed by thousands of passions, yet managed to maintain their dignity and remained true to themselves.

"Self-Development According to Tolstoy" is an engaging attempt to look from the outside at plots familiar to every Russian-speaking reader from school and to understand why we love the words "soul" and "destiny" so much.