Tolstoy, Leo ___ 1828-1910 ___ Russian ___ writer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Tolstoy was born at Yasnya Polyana, in Tula Province, Russia. The youngest of four sons, he was orphaned at the age of nine and subsequently brought up by one aunt and then another, both of whom lived in high society. He was educated by tutors, and then at Kazan University, although he dropped out to join his brother in the army. He served as a second lieutenant during the Crimean War, and the experience led not only to the publication of his 'Sevastapol Sketches' but to a lifelong belief in pacifism. He left the army in 1856, and spent some time in St Petersburg, where he became increasingly interested in education. He also travelled to Europe, visiting schools in France and Germany for example. And then, on his return to Yasnya Polyana, he set up a progressive school for peasant children. In 1862, he married Sofya Andreyevna Bers who was only 18. Subsequently, Tolstoy seems to have given up his educational activities to concentrate on family life (he had a very large family) and his writing. His great novels - 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina' - were written in the 1860s and 1970s respectively. In 1876, Tolstoy underwent a spiritual conversion; and issues of social reform then underpinned his later plays and novels. The conversion also affected the way of his life. He dressed in homespun clothes, ate only vegetables, renounced liquor and tobacco, and did manual work. He became increasingly difficult and unhappy, and, in the last days of his life, left home in the middle of winter in search of a simpler life, only to die at a railway station.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - I have been indolent

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1846-1910 ___ domestic literary military social religious family love/sex self education

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
many extracts
etext

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
State Historical Museum, Moscow

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Diaries of Leo Tolstoy. Youth, 1847-1852
The Journal of Leo Tolstoy; First Volume, 1895-1899
Tolstoy's Diaries 
 

May 2005, August 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.