Brief Lives: Leo Tolstoy [Paperback]

This is the second Russian author featured in this fine series of compact biographies by Hesperus. The first was Pushkin, which we reviewed previously.

This new volume is equally thoughtful and informative, the chapters reading like the sorts of lectures on literature you wish you could attend in your hometown: easy to follow yet surprisingly deep. Of particular interest are the chapters looking at Tolstoy's lesser known works, that unfortunately tend to get overshadowed by his later masterpieces.

As reviewed in Russian Life magazine.

First, Hesperus Press must be praised for doing something well that so many others have done a rather hit-and-miss job of, which is publishing short pieces that actually make for good reading. Oxford University Press has its Very Short Introductions. Many of these are little more than the condensed, but still stale political prejudices of their respective authors. One would have difficulty in recommending them as a series. Encounter has a similar series they are calling Broadsides, which are always very polemical (one is on secondary education written by a university professor who has never taught in secondary education), and Yale has their Why X Matters series, which seem to subject the subjects to the overwhemingly diverse ideological atmosphere that particular univeristy is renowned for. The point being, Hesperus Press with its Brief Lives series has managed to be recommendable as a series unlike its weightier and presumably wealthier competitors.

Second, Anthony Briggs is incredible. I am as impressed with him as I've been with any academic writer in quite a long time. I've read both his short biography of Tolstoy and the more recent one on Dostoevsky. Both do an outstanding job while remaining remarkably concise. I have read two other biographies on Tolstoy - the one by A.N. Wilson and the other by Henri Troyat. I very much enjoyed Troyat's writing - even in translation his writing remains compelling. Briggs manages to demonstrate great respect for Tolstoy without cutting him any breaks - no hagiography here. Imagine, an academic who has not written his conclusions first, who has no ulterior motives or agendas that require him to affectively fit all the pieces of another's life together. An academic, in short, who is intellectually honest. C'est impossible, non? Briggs provides his readers with more than this though. What his readers are exposed to is a very humane and insightful compassion. After reading over a thousand pages of Wilson and Troyat, Briggs managed to bring me to conclusions that felt more like epiphanies in 111 pages. My hat is off to Briggs and whoever is editing material at Hesperus.

Third, Amazon will not allow me to post a review of the Dostoevsky biography because it has not been officially released in the US, but I bought my copy via Amazon.co.uk in order to have it more quickly. It is as good as Briggs' work on Tolstoy with one possible exception. Briggs seems better able to focus on Tolstoy's life while working in details from his novels whereas with Dostoevsky, it seems to be just the opposite: he weaves in details of Dostoevsky's life into discussions about the novels. This is intended as more of an observation than a critique. The Dostoevsky biography really comes off more like a tour guide for the person about to depart on his maiden voyage. Briggs takes you through and suggests the books to read and the order in which to read them, and his advice comes off as remarkably solid. If after reading Briggs and Dostoevsky's novels, you find yourself craving more biographical information, I would recommend Troyat's Firebrand and Frank's single-volume biography of Dostoevsky.

Five stars then to both Hesperus and Briggs, and highly recommended to interested Amazon customers. Finally, if Professor Briggs should happen to be reading this, why not a Brief Lives of Turgenev?