Category: Tolstoy

Shortly after turning fifty, Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828November 10, 1910) succumbed to a profound spiritual crisis. With his greatest works behind him, he found his sense of purpose dwindling as his celebrity and public acclaim billowed, sinking into a state of deep depression and melancholia despite having a large estate, good health for his…

In Kholstomer  The Story of a Horse, Leo Tolstoy uses an animals point of view as a method to increase the exquisiteness of the piece wherein Kholstomer suffered an unfortunate life as a horse because he was being physically and emotionally tormented. This approach is known as defamiliarization which tends to defamiliarize the familiar…

There were indeed a great number of things that made Leo Tolstoy such a relevant figure in the literary tradition. He was deeply interested in politics and social issues of 19th-century Russia, including class struggles and issues regarding the rights and freedoms of the serfs. Later in his life, Tolstoy partially renounced his luxurious lifestyle,…