The Diaries Of Leo Tolstoy

When the records of a great man's life are in question it is not so much the culmination-a matter of common knowledge-which interests one, but rather the first steps, the early indications of what he was eventually to prove himself. Of Tolstoy's Diaries, of which only a portion relating to his latter years has hitherto been published, it may be said that the good wine has been kept till now. The vintage of Tolstoy's youth holds in a rare degree the essence of his matured philosophy...

“[A] testament to a great spirit, a woman who lived in terrifying proximity to one of the greatest writers of all time, and who understood exactly the high price she would have to pay for this privilege.” —Jay Parini, author of The Last Station Translated by Cathy Porter and with an introduction by Nobel Laureate Doris Lessing, The Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy chronicles in extraordinary detail the diarist’s remarkable marriage to the legendary man of letters, Count Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Set against the backdrop of Russia’s turbulent history at the turn of the 20th century, The Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy offers a fascinating look at a remarkable era, a complicated artist, and the extraordinary woman who stood at his side.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 edition. Excerpt: ... THE DIARY OF LEO NIKOLAYEVIGH TOLSTOY 1846 or 18471 March xjth, Kazan.--It is six days since I entered the hospital, and six days since I became almost contented. Les petiies causes produisent les grands effects.2 [20]]. Yes, I have mounted the step on which I long ago set foot, but on to which I had hitherto failed to wriggle my body (probably because, thoughtlessly, I had kept putting my left foot before my right). Here I am entirely alone, and have no one to disturb me. Here I have no servant, no one helps me. Consequently nothing extraneous is able to influence my judgment and recollection, and my mental activity cannot but develop. The chief advantage is the fact that I have come to see clearly that the irregular life which the majority of fashionable people take to be an outcome of youth is, really, an outcome of early spiritual corruption. The man living in society3 finds solitude as beneficial as the man not living in society finds social intercourse. Let a man but withdraw from society, and retire into himself, and his reason will strip off the spectacles through which he has hitherto seen everything in a corrupt light, and cause his view of things to undergo such a clarification that he will be at a loss to understand how he had failed to perceive things as they are. Only let reason do its work, and it will point out to you your destiny, and furnish you with rules with which to enter boldly into society. Everything conformable with man's prime faculty, reason, will be conformable with everything else existent. For the reason of the individual human being is a portion of everything else existent: and a portion cannot disorganize the whole. Yet the whole can annul a portion: wherefore 'fashion your reason so as to conform with...

1910. Anna Karenina and War and Peace have made Leo Tolstoy the world's most famous author. But fame comes at a price. In the tumultuous final year of his life, Tolstoy is desperate to find respite, so leaves his large family and the hounding press behind and heads into the wilderness. Too ill to venture beyond the tiny station of Astapovo, he believes his last days will pass in isolation. But as we learn through the journals of those closest to him, the battle for Tolstoy's soul will not be a peaceful one. Jay Parini introduces, translates and edits this collection of Tolstoy's autobiographical writing, diaries, and letters related to the last year of Tolstoy's life published to coincide with the 2009 film of Parini's novel The Last Station: A Novel of Tolstoy's Final Year.