August 28, 2019

17 Readings on Tolstoy


17 Readings on Tolstoy

On this day in 1828 (Old Style date; New Style the date is September 9), Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was born. We scoured our archives and offer this list of readings on his life and works.

  1. A short biography of Tolstoy. {online subscription required}
  2. A rumination on reading the great author and on reading in Russian, by Bob Blaisdell.
  3.  A translation of two short stories by Tolstoy, also by Bob Blaisdell.
  4. Seven fun facts about War and Peace, by Eugenia Sokolskaya?
  5. An offsite link to a New Yorker piece by James Wood, on how War and Peace works.
  6. On visiting a Tolstoy retreat outside Samara. {online subscription required}
  7. Visiting Sophia Tolstaya in the kitchen. {online subscription required}
  8. War, Peace and Cable – on the 2016 War and Peace miniseries.
  9. Can you read Anna Karenina every day? Let's find out.
  10. And what about reading Anna Karenina the first time?
  11. A pair of Americans trace Tolstoy's walking journey from Moscow to Tula. {online subscription required}
  12. A book on Tolstoy's final flight and death in a train station. {online subscription required}
  13. On the descendants of the great writer. {online subscription required}
  14. Optina Pustyn – a retreat the Tolstoy favored. {online subscription required}
  15. An article on the central messages in Tolstoy's writings. {online subscription required}
  16. The Christian sect that Tolstoy helped survive with proceeds from one of his final books. {online subscription required}
  17. A recipe for hot apple compote that Tolstoy loved. {online subscription required}
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Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

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Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

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