Leo Tolstoy, Diaries and Letters – serie

'An important and long-overdue contribution to our knowledge of Tolstoy.' D. M. Thomas, Sunday TimesVolume 1 of Tolstoy's Diaries covers the years 1847-1894 and was meticulously edited by R.F. Christian so as to reflect Tolstoy's preoccupations as a writer (his views on his own work and that of others), his development as a person and as a thinker, and his attitudes to contemporary social problems, rural life, industrialisation, education, and later, to religious and spiritual questions.Christian introduces each period with a brief and informative summary of the main biographical details of Tolstoy's life. The result is a unique portrait of a great writer in the variegation of his everyday existence.'As a picture of the turbulent Russian world which Tolstoy inhabited these diaries are incomparable - the raw stuff not yet processed into art.' Anthony Burgess'A model of scholarship, one of the most important books to be published in recent years.' A. N. Wilson, Spectator

An important and long-overdue contribution to our knowledge of Tolstoy.' D. M. Thomas, Sunday TimesVolume 2 of Tolstoy's Diaries covers the years 1895-1910. These diaries were meticulously edited by R. F. Christian so as to reflect Tolstoy's preoccupations as a writer (his views on his own work and that of others), his development as a person and as a thinker, and his attitudes to contemporary social problems, rural life, industrialisation, education, and later, to religious and spiritual questions. Christian introduces each period with a brief and informative summary of the main biographical details of Tolstoy's life. The result is a unique portrait of a great writer in the variegation of his everyday existence.'As a picture of the turbulent Russian world which Tolstoy inhabited these diaries are incomparable - the raw stuff not yet processed into art.' Anthony Burgess'A model of scholarship, one of the most important books to be published in recent years.' A. N. Wilson, Spectator

'This country's leading Tolstoy scholar has selected, edited and translated a two-volume set of Tolstoy's Letters, which represents academic publishing of the highest kind.' Yorkshire PostLeo Tolstoy was unquestionably the most prolific letter-writer of all the great Russian novelists of the nineteenth century. In this selection of his correspondence, meticulously edited by R. F. Christian, readers can discover Tolstoy's views about his own work and that of other writers, his evolving attitudes towards the times through which he lived, and his deep meditations on family, friends, and himself.This first of two volumes of the Letters is divided into five sections and spans the years from 1828 to 1879. 'Professor Christian's selection is a major act of scholarship and publication.' George Steiner, Sunday Times'Both scholarly and easy to read . . . exceptionally rewarding.' Raymond Williams, Guardian'Enthralling and deeply moving . . . English Tolstoyans will not be extravagant if they attach to this work Thucydides' epigraph "A possession for ever."' Sir William Hayley, Times