Leo Tolstoy Popular Books

Leo Tolstoy Biography & Facts

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (; Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой, IPA: [ˈlʲef nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tɐlˈstoj] ; 9 September [O.S. 28 August] 1828 – 20 November [O.S. 7 November] 1910), usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential authors of all time. He received nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1902 to 1906 and for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902, and 1909. Born into an aristocratic family, Tolstoy's notable works include the novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878), often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction, and two of the greatest books of all time. He first achieved literary acclaim in his twenties with his semi-autobiographical trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth (1852–1856), and Sevastopol Sketches (1855), based upon his experiences in the Crimean War. His fiction includes dozens of short stories such as "After the Ball" (1911), and several novellas such as The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886), Family Happiness (1859) and Hadji Murad (1912). He also wrote plays and essays concerning philosophical, moral and religious themes. In the 1870s, Tolstoy experienced a profound moral crisis, followed by what he regarded as an equally profound spiritual awakening, as outlined in his non-fiction work Confession (1882). His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You (1894), had a profound impact on such pivotal 20th-century figures as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Ludwig Wittgenstein. He also became a dedicated advocate of Georgism, the economic philosophy of Henry George, which he incorporated into his writing, particularly in his novel Resurrection (1899). Tolstoy received praise from countless authors and critics, both during his lifetime and after. Virginia Woolf called Tolstoy "the greatest of all novelists", while Gary Saul Morson referred to War and Peace as the greatest of all novels. Tolstoy never having won a Nobel Prize during his lifetime was a major Nobel Prize controversy, and continues to remain one. Origins The Tolstoys were a well-known family of old Russian nobility who traced their ancestry to a mythical nobleman named Indris described by Pyotr Tolstoy as arriving "from Nemec, from the lands of Caesar" to Chernigov in 1353 along with his two sons Litvinos (or Litvonis) and Zimonten (or Zigmont) and a druzhina of 3000 people. While the word "Nemec" has been long used to describe Germans only, at that time it was applied to any foreigner who did not speak Russian (from the word nemoy meaning mute). Indris was then converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, under the name of Leonty, and his sons as Konstantin and Feodor. Konstantin's grandson Andrei Kharitonovich was nicknamed Tolstiy (translated as fat) by Vasily II of Moscow after he moved from Chernigov to Moscow.Because of the pagan names and the fact that Chernigov at the time was ruled by Demetrius I Starshy, some researchers concluded that they were Lithuanians who arrived from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the same time, no mention of Indris was ever found in the 14th-to-16th-century documents, while the Chernigov Chronicles used by Pyotr Tolstoy as a reference were lost. The first documented members of the Tolstoy family also lived during the 17th century, thus Pyotr Tolstoy himself is generally considered the founder of the noble house, being granted the title of count by Peter the Great. Life and career Tolstoy was born at Yasnaya Polyana, a family estate 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) southwest of Tula, and 200 kilometres (120 mi) south of Moscow. He was the fourth of five children of Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy (1794–1837), a veteran of the Patriotic War of 1812, and Princess Mariya Tolstaya (née Volkonskaya; 1790–1830). His mother died when he was two and his father when he was nine. Tolstoy and his siblings were brought up by relatives. In 1844, he began studying law and oriental languages at Kazan University, where teachers described him as "both unable and unwilling to learn". Tolstoy left the university in the middle of his studies, returned to Yasnaya Polyana and then spent much time in Moscow, Tula and Saint Petersburg, leading a lax and leisurely lifestyle. He began writing during this period, including his first novel Childhood, a fictitious account of his own youth, which was published in 1852. In 1851, after running up heavy gambling debts, he went with his older brother to the Caucasus and joined the army. Tolstoy served as a young artillery officer during the Crimean War and was in Sevastopol during the 11-month-long siege of Sevastopol in 1854–55, including the Battle of the Chernaya. During the war he was recognised for his courage and promoted to lieutenant. He was appalled by the number of deaths involved in warfare, and left the army after the end of the Crimean War.His experience in the army, and two trips around Europe in 1857 and 1860–61 converted Tolstoy from a dissolute and privileged society author to a non-violent and spiritual anarchist. Others who followed the same path were Alexander Herzen, Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin. During his 1857 visit, Tolstoy witnessed a public execution in Paris, a traumatic experience that marked the rest of his life. In a letter to his friend Vasily Botkin, Tolstoy wrote: "The truth is that the State is a conspiracy designed not only to exploit, but above all to corrupt its citizens ... Henceforth, I shall never serve any government anywhere." Tolstoy's concept of non-violence or ahimsa was bolstered when he read a German version of the Tirukkural. He later instilled the concept in Mahatma Gandhi through his "A Letter to a Hindu" when young Gandhi corresponded with him seeking his advice.His European trip in 1860–61 shaped both his political and literary development when he met Victor Hugo. Tolstoy read Hugo's newly finished Les Misérables. The similar evocation of battle scenes in Hugo's novel and Tolstoy's War and Peace indicates this influence. Tolstoy's political philosophy was also influenced by a March 1861 visit to French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, then living in exile under an assumed name in Brussels. Tolstoy reviewed Proudhon's forthcoming publication, La Guerre et la Paix ("War and Peace" in French), and later used the title for his masterpiece. The two men also discussed education, as Tolstoy wrote in his educational notebooks: "If I recount this conversation with Proudhon, it is to show that, in my personal experience, he was the only man who understood the significance of education and of the printing press in our time." Fired by enthusiasm, Tolstoy returned to Yasnaya Polyana and founded 13 schools for the children of Russia's peasants, who had just been emancipated from se.... Discover the Leo Tolstoy popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Leo Tolstoy books.

Best Seller Leo Tolstoy Books of 2024

  • The Complete Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    The Complete Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy

    THE COMPLETE WORKS! 14 Novels, 62 Short Stories and 7 Plays, Plus Collected Works of NonFiction Including Tolstoy's Reminiscences And Personal Journal The Ultimate Collection of Le...

  • Anna Karenina synopsis, comments

    Anna Karenina

    Leo Tolstoy

    This edition, the famous Constance Garnett translation, has been revised throughout by Leonard J. Kent and Nina Berberova."Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unh...

  • Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    Leo Tolstoy

    Daniel Moulin

    How do we know what we should teach? And how should we go about teaching it? These deceptively simple questions about education perplexed Tolstoy. Before writing his famous novels ...

  • The Greatest Short Stories of Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    The Greatest Short Stories of Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy & GP Editors

    Wonderfully wideranging and enjoyable, this outstanding collection features highly acclaimed short stories by Tolstoy who is regarded as one of the greatest writers in history. Amo...

  • 7 best short stories by Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    7 best short stories by Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy & August Nemo

    This book brings together seven of the best short stories by Leo Tolstoy, one of the greatest writers in world literature. In them, the Russian author masterfully portrays the comp...

  • The Collected Works of Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    The Collected Works of Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy & Lew Nikolajewitsch Graf Tolstoi

    This comprehensive eBook presents the complete works or all the significant works the Œuvre of this famous and brilliant writer in one ebook 16100 pages easytoread and easytonav...

  • Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy & Philip Dossick

    Perhaps the greatest of all his novels is Leo Tolstoy's final novel, Resurrection. Resurrection has become one of the most widely read and influential books ever written. The stor...

  • Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    Leo Tolstoy

    Arthur Stanley Turberville

    This biography includes descriptions of the religious philosophies Tolstoy developed late in his life.

  • Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    Leo Tolstoy

    G. K. Chesterton

    With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world. Who are w...

  • The Greatest Short Stories of Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    The Greatest Short Stories of Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy & Book Center

    The Russian novelist and moral philosopher Leo Tolstoy (18281910) ranks as one of the world's great writers, and his "War and Peace" has been called the greatest novel ...

  • Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    Leo Tolstoy

    Daniel Coenn

    This book is a collection of 198 fundamental quotes and aphorisms of Leo Tolstoy. It grants his reflections on subjects ranging from Love to God:“All, everything that I understand,...

  • The Works of Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    The Works of Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy

    A giant collection of the works of Tolstoy in one giant collection with an active table of contents.Works include:Anna KareninaThe AwakeningBethink YourselvesBoyhoodThe Cause of it...

  • War and Peace synopsis, comments

    War and Peace

    Leo Tolstoy, Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky

    From Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the bestselling, awardwinning translators of Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov, comes a brilliant, engaging, and eminently reada...

  • Intellectuals synopsis, comments

    Intellectuals

    Paul Johnson

    "Johnson revels in all the wicked things these great thinkers have done...great fun to read."   New York Times Book ReviewA fascinating portrait of the minds that ha...

  • Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    Leo Tolstoy

    G. K. Chesterton

    Excerpt: ""If any one wishes to form the fullest estimate of the real character and influence of the great man whose name is prefixed to these remarks, he will not find it in his n...

  • The Collected Works of Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    The Collected Works of Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy

    The Collected Works of Leo Tolstoy is a collection of classic novels by one of the greatest novelists in history. The included works of Leo Tolstoy are War and Peace, Anna Karenina...

  • The Novels of Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    The Novels of Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy

    The novels of Leo Tolstoy are collected here with a biography about the life and times of Leo Tolstoy. Works include: Anna Karenina Boyhood Childhood The Cossacks The Death of Ivan...

  • Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    Leo Tolstoy

    Aylmer Maude

    Aylmer Maude spent much of his life in Russia and was a personal friend of Tolstoy’s. Together with his wife Louise, he translated many of Tolstoy’s works and sought to create a un...

  • Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    Leo Tolstoy

    Andrei Zorin

    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 writ...

  • Anna K synopsis, comments

    Anna K

    Jenny Lee

    A national indie bestseller! Meet Anna K: every happy teenage girl is the same, while every unhappy teenage girl is miserable in her own special way...At seventeen, Anna K is at th...

  • A Swim in a Pond in the Rain synopsis, comments

    A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

    George Saunders

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo and Tenth of December comes a literary master class on what makes great stories work an...

  • Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    Leo Tolstoy

    Gilbert Keith Chesterton

    This book contains a brief biography of the famous Russian author. It is accompanied by numerous illustrations.

  • Delphi Complete Works of Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    Delphi Complete Works of Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy

    A master of realistic fiction, Leo Tolstoy is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest novelists. He is best known for his two longest works, ‘War and Peace’ and ‘Anna Kareni...

  • The Devil by Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    The Devil by Leo Tolstoy

    Leo Tolstoy

    <p><b>Explore the depths of human morality and existential dilemmas with "The Devil" by Leo Tolstoy</b>. Tolstoy, known for his philosophical explorations...

  • Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    Leo Tolstoy

    Pavel Basinsky

    Over a hundred years ago something outrageous happened in Yasnaya Polyana. Count Leo Tolstoy, a famous author eighty two years of age at the time, took off, destination unknown. Si...

  • Leo Tolstoy synopsis, comments

    Leo Tolstoy

    G. K. Chesterton

    Excerpt: "If any one wishes to form the fullest estimate of the real character and influence of the great man whose name is prefixed to these remarks, he will not find it in his no...