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Tolstoy
 
 

Tolstoy (Paperback)

by A.N. Wilson (Author) "'And on they went, singing "Eternal Memory". . . .' Tolstoy's story begins, like Doctor Zhivago's, with a woman's funeral ..." (more)
3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 624 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (28 Sep 1989)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140116311
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140116311
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 272,742 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

Product Description
Leo Tolstoy(1828-1910) was born into one of the grand old families of Imperial Russia. The loss of both of his parents during childhood was the prelude to a series of incidents which made his life as highly coloured as any of his great works of fiction. Whether as a dissolute layabout in the gambling saloons and brothels of Moscow and St Petersburg, as an artillery officer in the Crimean War or as an enlightened landowner educating his peasants and working in the fields, he had abundant energy and was in all areas a giant. Yet he was full of paradoxes, most clearly seen in his tempestuous marriage to Sofya Behrs - one of the most closely documented and perhaps one of the most painful, human relationships in history.

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'And on they went, singing "Eternal Memory". . . .' Tolstoy's story begins, like Doctor Zhivago's, with a woman's funeral. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Tolstoy without the heart, 9 Oct 2005
By A Customer
This review is from: Tolstoy: A Biography (Paperback)
Great biographers let their subjects speak, and bring them to life again. Wilson however, allows his own decision to turn away from Christianity to colour his approach to Tolstoy. He dismisses the heart of the great writer's philsophy of life, which also came close to the anarchism of fellow Russian aristocrat Kropotkin as "silly", and ignored what for Tolstoy was the essence of his existence, his faith that where love is, there God is. Faith not in Church, or ritual, priests or popes, but that the kingdom of God is in all of us, and in the core of Christian belief and practice - Jesus and the sermon on the mount. And so instead of a biography of a great man and humble Christian who influenced Gandhi, who turned from wealth to life with the peasants, who extolled simplicty and living in harmony nature, who has inspired generations of anti-war actvists amd pacifists, we have a biography which skims the surface of Tolstoy. We have another book about Wilson, by Wilson. I recommend Derrick Leon or Aylmer Maude - they may be older and more sympathetic biographers, but they get to the heart of the man.
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4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Read it!, 22 Nov 2005
By A Customer
Simply put, I enjoyed this biography immensely. As a reader, and re-reader, of Tolstoy since adolescence, this biography served to renew and sharpen my interest in Tolstoy's novels, and moreover to bring the man to life in my mind, and he was a very big character -- thus an apt subject for biography. I am surprised that this admirable, highly-entertaining work by the clever AN Wilson (his Iris Murdoch book is v. good too, a hoot in fact) is not better known and more widely-read than it is. To my mind, it is a gem. It shines with Wilson's own enthusiam, and renews ones own enthusiasm for this brilliant Russian writer.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book, 2 May 2009
By Dr. Pedro Silva "Nuno Silva" (Portugal) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Wilson writes a biography which is more thrilling and moving than many novels. As Tolstoy's life (and the book) progressed and got nearer to the end I started to feel sad about his death just like if I did not know it was going to happen. For admirer's of Tolstoy's non-fictional work it may seem a little patronizing but there's an obvious effort of accuracy in the way Wilson describes facts and shares his opinions. Tolstoy's life is interconnected with Russian history which is very well written (in a summarized and pleasent way) and the book has plenty of little curious stories (like the one in which Tolstoy learned greek in 3 months and had to prove it to a Professor who deemed it to be impossible) that make it an enormous pleasure for any reader who's interested in Tolstoy's work and/or character.
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