New Essays on Tolstoy

New Essays on Tolstoy Synopsis

This collection of essays was first published in 1978. They commemorate the 150th anniversary of Tolstoy's birth in 1828. The range in subject matter is great and includes a reconsideration of the problems of translating Tolstoy into English, fresh approaches to his major fiction (War and Peace and Anna Karenina), a study of an underrated later work (Hadji Murat) and reassessments of Tolstoy as a thinker. The final essay records an attempt to establish a 'Tolstoyan' colony at Purleigh during Tolstoy's own lifetime. There is also a bibliographical survey of British work on Tolstoy up until the 1970s. The whole collection was conceived as a specifically British contribution to the 150th anniversary celebrations. The book is illustrated with a number of little-known photographs of Tolstoy.