Selected Essays of Tolstoy

Author: Tolstoy
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-08-01
Features: When selecting materials for this book, the first priority is given to works of substantial length and rich literary merit. Although both "Confessions" and "Memoirs" are lengthy, spanning tens of thousands of words each, they should not be excluded due to their invaluable historical significance, vivid descriptions, and varied narrative styles. Secondly, the selected articles aim to reflect the diversity of the author's literary style and tone, ranging from autobiographies to wills, from dispatches about the defense of Sevastopol to pamphlets denouncing autocratic rulers, from fables promoting self-cultivation to folk tales cautioning against vice. They are diverse yet harmonious as a whole.
Tolstoy was a writer of the 19th century who spanned two eras in Russian literature. Born on September 9, 1828, in Yasna Polyana, a manor in the Tula Province of Russia, he was the son of noble parents and himself inherited the hereditary title of count. Orphaned at the age of two and losing his father at nine, he was raised by his aunt. In 1844, he enrolled in the Department of Eastern Languages at Kazan University but transferred to the Law Department the following year, eventually dropping out in 1847. In 1851, he joined his older brother in the Caucasus, where he fought against local tribes. It was during his military service that he began writing. His short story "Childhood" was published in the ninth issue of the journal The Contemporary in 1852, gaining him literary recognition.