Tolstoy: A Guide for the Perplexed

Count Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) is one of the most important writers in the Western tradition. His two great novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, cover an enormous range of basic human experiences with a precision and probing spirit that, in the words of one critic, are simply "unmatched by any other writer."
This guide offers students a clear introduction to Tolstoy's literary works from his major novels to the shorter novels and texts, including Hadji Murat and The Death of Ivan Ilyich. The guide also covers major themes including sex, death, authority and evil and offers an overview of Tolstoy's religious and philosophical thought. A final chapter assesses his lasting influence in the spheres of literature and culture, religion and philosophy and on major figures including Joyce, Ghandi, Wittgenstein and Heidegger.

Jeff Love is Research Scholar at the Research Initiative in Russian Philosophy, Literature, and Religious Thought, Northwestern University, USA. His books include: Revolutionary Bio-politics from Fedorov to Mao (with Michael Meng) (2023); The Black Circle: A Life of Alexandre Kojève (2018); Tolstoy: A Guide for the Perplexed (2008); The Overcoming of History in War and Peace (2004); and translations of Alexandre Kojève's Atheism, F.W.J. Schelling's Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom, and António Lobo Antunes's Until Stones Become Lighter Than Water.