Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was a Russian author considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. A writer of Realism, Tolstoy’s novels Anna Karenina (1868) and War and Peace (1869) have stood the test of time and remain two of the most famous works of Russian literature. In his personal life, Tolstoy was a pacifist, education advocate, and Christian anarchist. Tolstoy’s legacy extends far beyond just the literary sphere, but his written contributions remain some of the most important works in literary history.

Leo Tolstoy Biography

Portrait of Leo Tolstoy (1887) by Ilya Repin, pixabay

Leo Tolstoy was born Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy in 1828 at Yasnaya Polyana near Tula, Russia. He grew up in an aristocratic Russian family with four siblings. By the time Tolstoy turned 10, both of his parents had passed away. He attended a Russian university but did not finish his degree. He and his brother fought in the Crimean war (1853-1856); Tolstoy’s horror at what he witnessed during the war would lead to a lifelong passion for nonviolence.

Following his release from the army, Tolstoy traveled around Europe. During his travels, he adopted the moral positions that would guide his life’s work and his writing—nonviolence, the importance of education, and a disdain for the aristocracy.

Upon his return to Russia, Tolstoy married Sofya Andreyevena Bers; the couple had 13 children, three of whom died in infancy. In the period after he married Sofya (commonly referred to by the Russian diminutive, Sonya) and raised his children, Tolstoy wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina, his two masterpieces.

In his later years, Tolstoy became more interested in morality and religion. He rejected many of his earlier works, including War and Peace and Anna Karenina, as being unrealistic, and he wrote treatises on religion and politics. He was particularly interested in nonviolence and pacificism, which he derived from Christian teachings.

Tolstoy was opposed to private land ownership and espoused the economic beliefs of Georgism. He was a strong believer in education and founded 13 schools where he grew up, specifically for the children of Russian peasants.

Toward the end of his life, Tolstoy was dedicated to giving away his wealth and the money he earned from his books. He sought to totally reject the aristocratic way of life in Russia. He worked the fields of his estate alongside Russian peasants and volunteered to help feed those in need during the famine of 1891.

In an effort to reject monetary gains, Tolstoy gave up the copyright to many of the famous novels that he no longer felt represented his beliefs. His approach to money often caused disagreements with his wife Sonya, with whom he was often at odds.

How did Tolstoy die?

Tolstoy died of pneumonia at a train station in 1910. He was 82 at the time of his death. He had left home, as he and his wife were arguing over his religious and political beliefs. Following his death, the procession of his funeral cavalcade was attended by thousands of Russian peasants along the streets.

Famous Works by Leo Tolstoy

Throughout his lifetime, Tolstoy wrote numerous books, novellas, short stories, and essays. His extensive bibliography shows Tolstoy’s own philosophical transformations over time.

Novels & Books by Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy wrote three fictional novels during his career. Each represents a different stage in his life and has cemented his place in the literary halls of fame.

War and Peace (1869)

Originally published serially, and then together in 1869, War and Peace is considered one of Tolstoy’s crowning literary achievements. This Realist novel chronicles the lives of five different Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic Wars. Tolstoy conducted extensive historical research to accurately portray the events. He included philosophical essays in the book, in addition to the fictional narratives.

St. Petersburg, Russia, pixabay

Anna Karenina (1877)

Tolstoy himself considered Anna Karenina to be his first true novel. Like War and Peace, it was originally published serially before it was published as a complete novel in 1877. This massive novel explores themes of love, infidelity, social norms, and religion as well as political themes examining Russia’s feudal system, the Orthodox Church, and the Russian government.

Resurrection (1899)

With Resurrection, the last full novel Tolstoy penned before his death, Tolstoy leveled a critique at Russian society and the Orthodox Church. He details the economic theory with which he became fascinated in his final years, intending to write a novel that would examine every level of Russian society. The release of the novel was condemned by the Russian Orthodox Church, and Tolstoy was subsequently excommunicated.

Short Stories & Novellas by Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy penned many short stories and novellas throughout his storied career. The first of his writing to bring fame was a series of three novellas about a fictionalized version of his own childhood and adolescence— Childhood (1852), Boyhood (1854), and Youth (1856). One of his most famous novellas, and often considered one of the finest examples of a novella, is The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886). In addition to those mentioned here, Tolstoy wrote many other novellas and short stories throughout his lifetime.

Quotes by Leo Tolstoy

Given that he is considered one of the greatest writers to ever put pen to paper, Tolstoy’s works are often quoted. The quotes gathered here provide an insight into Tolstoy's philosophy.

One of the most famous first lines in literary history, Tolstoy opens Anna Karenina with this quote. The book follows the plight of Anna and Levin as one destroys her family and the other creates his. Though a seeming indictment of unhappy families, this quote can also be read as stating that happy families are all alike and thus all uniform and unexciting.

Here Tolstoy elucidates on the nature of philanthropy and change. He notes that the most important and perhaps most effective changes are those we can make within ourselves. It is difficult to go out and enact change and promote goodness in the world without first doing so within oneself.

This quotation distills Tolstoy's philosophy into one sentence. From War and Peace, it echoes Tolstoy's nonviolent, pacifist sentiments.

Similar to the previous quote, this expands upon Tolstoy's central philosophy. War and Peace was written before his spiritual awakening in his later years, but his belief in the power of love and goodness endured.

Here, Tolstoy shows the effect that fighting in the Crimean War had on his philosophical outlook. Following the devastation and violence he witnessed man commit against fellow man, Tolstoy became a lifelong advocate of nonviolence.

Again, this reiterates Tolstoy's foundational belief. He believed in the importance of loving one's fellow man and living a godly lifestyle in the image of God's love toward humanity.

Common Themes in Tolstoy’s Works

Tolstoy’s prolific writing career spanned many different themes and historical periods. The most common themes in his work concerned 19th-century Russian society, theology, morality, and familial relationships.

Each of his major novels explored themes of familial relationships that included romantic love, platonic love, and infidelity. Each novel was also set in a specific period in 19th-century Russian history, whether it was the Napoleonic Wars before his time or the reign of the Russian aristocracy and Imperial rule that Tolstoy lived through. His eventual religious transformation is also reflected in his novels. Both before and after his rejection of organized religion, Tolstoy wrote about religious meaning and morality, and his characters often struggled to come to terms with Christianity and God in their lives.

Tolstoy’s later writings and nonfiction dealt mainly with his philosophical and political beliefs. He wrote about educational reform, nonviolence, and the power of love as the most important guiding force of life. Following his death and the Russian Revolution, many of his works that had previously been censored in Russia were published in full for the first time.

Leo Tolstoy’s Writing Style

Tolstoy is often credited as a writer in the Realist style. His novels were acclaimed for their realistic portrayals of life as part of the Russian aristocracy. His goal as a writer was to represent truth in his works. Rather than create characters that embody the ‘heroic’ trope of earlier Romantic literature styles, Tolstoy instead wrote in a way that created characters that could have been real people (and occasionally were based upon real people!).

His major novels were also often a mix between character-driven familial stories and historical stories. Rather than write historical novels that followed a usual format—linear, concerned with only the big battles and victories—Tolstoy instead vacillated between the personal and the societal. He wrote about the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in War and Peace while also expanding upon the lives of five different aristocratic families in Russia at the time. His stories were often nonlinear and concerned with characters that represented the realities of humans, rather than black and white literary versions that could easily fall into a category of ‘good’ or ‘evil.’

Tolstoy’s Legacy

Tolstoy is a giant of literature and his works have endured as some of the most important and widely-read novels and short stories of the 19th century. Beyond literature, Tolstoy’s philosophical writings and moral standpoints inspired movements and leaders after his death. The Tolstoyan movement, which arose after his death, was supported by those who believed in Tolstoy's moral and philosophical teachings about nonviolence, his religious views, and state opposition. His birthday was celebrated by the Soviet government throughout Russia, and various Russian leaders after Tolstoy wrote extensively about his philosophies, including Lenin and Stalin.

While still alive, Tolstoy communicated with Mahatma Gandhi, who found Tolstoy’s beliefs in nonviolence and religion to be inspiring and led to the formation of many of Gandhi’s own beliefs and actions in his campaign for the liberation of India from British rule.

Citations

1. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, 1877.

2. Leo Tolstoy, "Three Methods of Reform," 1900.

3. Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, 1869.

4. Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, 1869.

5. Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, 1869.

6. Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection, 1899.