Simply Tolstoy (Paperback or Softback)

“This is a little gem, the best introduction to Tolstoy I have ever encountered, and it is more than that. The most accomplished scholar will find important new insights, the sort that one immediately recognizes as both true and profound. Orwin brings Tolstoy to life as a person and as a writer, and she also shows beautifully how the two are linked. The discussions of Tolstoy's views on psychology and the nature of art are especially illuminating.”
—Gary Saul Morson, Lawrence B. Dumas Professor of the Arts and Humanities and Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Northwestern University

Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born at Yasnaya Polyana, his ancestral estate located about 120 miles from Moscow. While he would live and travel in other places over the years, he always considered this family residence in the Russian heartland as his home. His lifelong quest for truth and meaning began while he was a university student. Subsequent experiences as an artillery officer in the Caucasian and Crimean Wars, and time spent in St. Petersburg and Europe, broadened his perspective and profoundly influenced him.

In Simply Tolstoy, Professor Donna Tussing Orwin traces the author’s profound journey of discovery and explains how he mined his tumultuous inner life to create his great works, including War and Peace, Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilych. She shows how these books, both fiction and nonfiction, are not autobiographical in the conventional sense, but function as snapshots of Tolstoy’s state of mind at specific points in his life. The story she tells is, inevitably, intertwined with the story of Russia, a country also in constant search of its identity.

Mixing biography, literary analysis, and history, Simply Tolstoy is a satisfying read for those already familiar with the author’s work, as well as an accessible and thoroughly engaging introduction to a literary giant who was also a tireless and uncompromising seeker of truth.

Benefits from reading this book include:

• Gain a deep understanding of Tolstoy's personal journey of discovery and the impact it had on his writing Discover the intertwined stories of Tolstoy and Russia, both in constant search of their identity
• Unlock the secrets of Tolstoy's great works, including War and Peace, Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilych

What's included in this book:

• Biography, literary analysis, and history of Tolstoy and Russia
• Insightful quotes and passages from Tolstoy's work
• A satisfying read for those already familiar with Tolstoy and an accessible introduction for those new to Tolstoy's work

Don't miss out on this opportunity to explore the life and works of one of the world's greatest writers. Buy Simply Tolstoy now before the price changes!

Donna Tussing Orwin is Professor of Russian Literature in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto. She is the author of Tolstoy's Art and Thought, and Consequences of Consciousness: Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy. She also edited The Cambridge Companion to Tolstoy and Tolstoy Studies Journal. A member of the Royal Society of Canada and recipient of the Pushkin Medal for her work in disseminating Russian culture, Orwin has helped organize conferences in Russia, Canada, and the United States.