Page 77 - DENG202_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_III

Elective English—III

Notes and essays. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his
extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual
awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount,
caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas
on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were
to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and
Martin Luther King, Jr.

6.1 About the Author

Leo Nikolaivich Tolstoy was born on August 28, 1828 to Princess Marie Volkonsky and Count
Nicolas Tolstoy. Tolstoy was born at Yasnaya Polyana, the Volkonsky manor house on the road
to Kieff in Russia. It was here that he was to spend the majority of his adult life. Leo was the
fourth and last son of the family; they also had one daughter. Tolstoy’s mother died when he was
18 months old, an event that would forever affect his feelings about women and motherhood.
His father died when Tolstoy was nine years old, and the children grew up with a variety of
aunts. According to Tolstoy, one of those aunts, Tatiana Yergolsky, “had the greatest influence
on [his] life” because she taught him “the moral joy of love.”

Figure 6.1: Leo Tolstoy

Source: http://www.prefeitura.sp.gov.br/cidade/secretarias/upload/meio_ambiente/Count_
Tolstoy%20_with_hat.jpg
Leo Nicolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) was the next to youngest of five children, descending from
one of the oldest and best families in Russia. His youthful surroundings were of the upper class
gentry of the last period of serfdom. Though his life spanned the westernization of Russia, his
early intellectual and cultural education was the traditional eighteenth century training.
Lyovochka (as he was called) was a tender, affection-seeking child who liked to do things
“out of the ordinary.”

In 1844, Leo attended the University of Kazan, then one of the great seats of learning east of
Berlin. He early showed a contempt for academic learning but became interested enough at the
faculty of Jurisprudence (the easiest course of study) to attend classes with some regularity.
Kazan, next to St. Petersburg and Moscow, was a great social centre for the upper class.
An eligible, titled young bachelor, Tolstoy devoted his energies to engage in the brilliant social
life of his set. However, his homely peasant face was a constant source of embarrassment and

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