LITERARY CRITICISM
BAYLEY, JOHN: Tolstoy and the Novel, Chatto & Windus, London, 1966 (paperback edition 1968). The main focus is on War and Peace, but there are many references to the shorter writings.
CAIN, T. G. S.: Tolstoy (Novelists and their World series), Paul Elek, London, 1977. A survey of Tolstoy’s work which foregrounds his ethical and spiritual struggles. Includes discussions of Family Happiness, the post-conversion writings and Hadji Murad.
CHRISTIAN, R. F.: Tolstoy, a Critical Introduction, Cambridge University Press, 1969. A methodical and detailed survey of Tolstoy’s writings. Includes a discussion of Tolstoy’s earliest writings and a chapter on the later stories.
EIKHENBAUM, B. M.: The Young Tolstoy, tr. G. Kerne, Ardis, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1972. A translation of the great Soviet critic’s 1922 study which has much to say about narrative technique.
GIFFORD, HENRY (editor): Leo Tolstoy – A Critical Anthology, Penguin Books, 1971. An interesting anthology of reactions to Tolstoy’s writing, from contemporaries and later readers.
GREENWOOD, E. B.: Tolstoy – The Comprehensive Vision, Dent, London, 1975, paperback edition Methuen, London, 1980. A densely written survey covering the full range of Tolstoy’s fiction with an emphasis on psychology and ideas. Devotes more space than most critics to the shorter fiction of the early, middle and late periods.
JONES, MALCOLM (editor): New Essays on Tolstoy, Cambridge University Press, 1978. A symposium of contributions by ten writers which includes an essay on Hadji Murad by A. D. P. Briggs and a bibliography of Tolstoy studies in Great Britain.
KNOWLES, A. V. (editor): Tolstoy – The Critical Heritage, Routledge, London and Boston, 1978. A rich collection of criticism and comment on his works from Tolstoy’s own lifetime.
MATLAW, RALPH E.: Tolstoy – A Collection of Critical Essays, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1967. A representative collection of a dozen essays drawn from a wide range of writers. Half the pieces are thematic but Wasiolek’s thoughts on Ivan Ilych are included, as well as Shestov’s essay on Tolstoy’s late works which focuses on Diary of a Madman and discusses After the Ball and Master and Man.
ORWIN, DONNA TUSSING: Tolstoy’s Art and Thought, 1847–1880, Princeton University Press, 1993. A detailed examination of the main philosophical and intellectual influences on Tolstoy during his major creative period.
STEINER, GEORGE: Tolstoy or Dostoevsky – An Essay in Contrast, Faber, London, 1960. A remarkably full introduction to Tolstoy’s world view and art, considering that he shares the focus of the book with Dostoevsky. Many references to the shorter fiction.
WASIOLEK, EDWARD: Tolstoy’s Major Fiction, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1978. A concise overview of Tolstoy’s fiction which gives the shorter works unusual prominence: Wasiolek includes useful sections on Three Deaths, Polikushka and Family Happiness, as well as chapters devoted to The Death of Ivan Ilych and Master and Man.
CHRONOLOGY
DATE
AUTHOR’S LIFE
LITERARY CONTEXT
1828
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy born 28 August at Yasnaya Polyana, his father’s estate 130 miles south of Moscow.
1830
Death of his mother.
Stendhaclass="underline"
Scarlet and Black
.
Pushkin:
Boris Godunov
.
1832
1833
Pushkin:
Eugene Onegin
.
1835
Balzac:
Old Goriot
.
1836
The family moves to Moscow.
Gogoclass="underline"
The Government Inspector
.
1837
Death of his father.
Pushkin dies after a duel.
Dickens:
Oliver Twist
(to 1838).
1838
Death of his grandmother.
1840
Lermontov:
A Hero of Our Time
.
1841
On the death of their guardian (an aunt), the Tolstoy children move to Kazan to live with another aunt.
Lermontov killed in a duel.
1842
Loses his virginity. Starts to read Rousseau.
Gogoclass="underline"
Dead Souls Part 1, The Overcoat
.
1843
Dickens:
Martin Chuzzlewit
(to 1844).
1844
Enters Kazan University.
Thackeray:
Barry Lyndon
.
1846
Dostoevsky:
Poor Folk, The Double
.
1847
Inherits Yasnaya Polyana and leaves Kazan University without graduating. Suffering from a venereal disease. Returns to Yasnaya Polyana and attempts to institute a programme of social reform directed at the peasants.
Herzen:
Who is to Blame?
Goncharov:
An Ordinary Story
.
Belinsky:
Letter to Gogol
.
Charlotte Brontë:
Jane Eyre
.
Emily Brontë:
Wuthering Heights
.
Thackeray:
Vanity Fair
(to 1848).
Herzen:
From the Other Shore
(to 1851).
Turgenev:
A Sportsman’s Notebook
(to 1852).
1848
Goes to Moscow.
HISTORICAL EVENTS
France: July Revolution.
Rebellion in Poland (to 1831).
Great Britain: First Reform Act.
Great Britain: Factory Act.
Great Britain: Accession of Queen Victoria.
First Russian railway line constructed.
Ban on sale of individual peasants.
Tsar Nicholas I visits England.
Herzen leaves Russia.
Revolution in France: Second Republic declared.
First Californian Gold Rush.
DATE
AUTHOR’S LIFE
LITERARY CONTEXT
1849
Goes to St Petersburg, studies law for a time. Becomes local magistrate in Tula.
Dickens:
David Copperfield
(to 1850).
1850
Living in Moscow. Reads and translates Sterne.
Death of Balzac.
1851
First serious attempt at writing fiction:
A History of Yesterday
(fragment). Goes to the Caucasus with eldest brother Nikolai to serve as a volunteer in the army. Begins
Childhood
, first part of a projected tetralogy entitled
Four Periods of Growth
.
Melville:
Moby-Dick