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The Life of Tolstoy
This magnificent biography by Tolstoy's close friend and translator, Aylmer Maude, is now available in paperback for the first time. First published in 1908-10, when it was largely contributed to by Tolstoy and revised by his wife, Countess Tolstoy, it was revised and reviewed by Tolstoy's
daughter for the centenary of the author's birth in 1928. This second version includes an account of Tolstoy's last days and death and the culmination of his thoughts about life, art, and religion. It is considered by many to be the definitive life of the great Russian writer.
Count Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910), a nobleman and heir to large estates, was a man of tremendous energy and fine intellect. His novels, which include War and Peace and Anna Karenina , and his numerous plays and short stories pursue in fiction the ideals of truth and morality the author
himself pursued in life. Though constantly discouraged and remorseful, Tolstoy never abandoned these ideals and eventually arrived at "intellectual conclusions which involved non-resistance to evil, the abolition of governments and nationality, of churches and dogmas, but involved also belief in
God and love of men." The influence of Tolstoy's ideas and writings spread far beyond the borders of Russia, and he became, and remains, a literary and intellectual prophet to many in the West.
Born in Yásnaya Polyána, an ancestral estate 130 miles south of Moscow, Tolstoy was surrounded in his youth by wealth and privilege. Despite the fact that he and his brothers and sister were orphaned by the time Tolstoy was nine, there were tutors and a large extended family to care for them.
Tolstoy's military career, which forced him to confront mortality and the meaning of life, began in adolescence when he volunteered for duty in the Caucasus and continued through the 1850s and the bloody Crimean War. His search for meaning led him to spiritualism and the occult and to the writing
of short stories, the first of which, "Childhood," was published when he was 24. Tolstoy married and fathered 13 children, but left the daily care of both his children and his estate to his wife, as he repudiated money and property. Aylmer Maude, who spent 23 years in Russia, examines these and
many other facets of Tolstoy's life with the intimacy of a close friend and the objectivity of a Westerner. His Life of Tolstoy , long considered a major biography, illuminates the development of Tolstoy's life and ideas and the great literary works that reflect them.
daughter for the centenary of the author's birth in 1928. This second version includes an account of Tolstoy's last days and death and the culmination of his thoughts about life, art, and religion. It is considered by many to be the definitive life of the great Russian writer.
Count Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910), a nobleman and heir to large estates, was a man of tremendous energy and fine intellect. His novels, which include War and Peace and Anna Karenina , and his numerous plays and short stories pursue in fiction the ideals of truth and morality the author
himself pursued in life. Though constantly discouraged and remorseful, Tolstoy never abandoned these ideals and eventually arrived at "intellectual conclusions which involved non-resistance to evil, the abolition of governments and nationality, of churches and dogmas, but involved also belief in
God and love of men." The influence of Tolstoy's ideas and writings spread far beyond the borders of Russia, and he became, and remains, a literary and intellectual prophet to many in the West.
Born in Yásnaya Polyána, an ancestral estate 130 miles south of Moscow, Tolstoy was surrounded in his youth by wealth and privilege. Despite the fact that he and his brothers and sister were orphaned by the time Tolstoy was nine, there were tutors and a large extended family to care for them.
Tolstoy's military career, which forced him to confront mortality and the meaning of life, began in adolescence when he volunteered for duty in the Caucasus and continued through the 1850s and the bloody Crimean War. His search for meaning led him to spiritualism and the occult and to the writing
of short stories, the first of which, "Childhood," was published when he was 24. Tolstoy married and fathered 13 children, but left the daily care of both his children and his estate to his wife, as he repudiated money and property. Aylmer Maude, who spent 23 years in Russia, examines these and
many other facets of Tolstoy's life with the intimacy of a close friend and the objectivity of a Westerner. His Life of Tolstoy , long considered a major biography, illuminates the development of Tolstoy's life and ideas and the great literary works that reflect them.
1088 pages, Paperback
First published July 16, 1987
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154 people want to read
About the author
Aylmer Maude
419 books38 followersAylmer Maude and his wife, Louise Maude, were English translators of Tolstoy's works, and Aylmer Maude also wrote his friend Tolstoy's biography. After living many years in Russia the Maudes spent the rest of their life in England translating Tolstoy's writing and promoting public interest in his work. Aylmer Maude was also involved in a number of early 20th century progressive and idealistic causes.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 4, 2020
An excellent two-part biography of Tolstoy's life by an admirer, follower, and translator of his, Aylmer Maude. I very much appreciate his and his wife Lise's translations of Tolstoy's novels. Aylmer here presents a sympathetic and highly detailed examination of the artist's life and artistic career without avoiding raising important questions about the count's late dogmatic theory of non-resistance, together with his dubious relationship with Vladimir Chertkov, a Tsarist spy. To his credit, Maude includes a somewhat balanced treatment of the count's terminal conflict with his wife, Sofia Andrevna, over the terms of his final will, leading to his famous flight from home and death near the Astapovo train station.
While the countess did not share Tolstoy's anarchist ideas, that does not mean that Chertkov's opportunistic attempts to appropriate the novelist's oeuvre for his own benefit, and that of the despotic State (while claiming that of 'humanity'), were not extremely problematic. Above all, such a move would have effectively appropriated all of Sofia's decades-long labor editing, copy-editing, and revising her husband's manuscripts and collected works. Chertkov is a good example of a false friend. Perhaps if he had not entered the picture, or if his attempts had been repulsed, Tolstoy's final years would have been less painful and desperate.
Many thanks to the Maudes for their important work.
While the countess did not share Tolstoy's anarchist ideas, that does not mean that Chertkov's opportunistic attempts to appropriate the novelist's oeuvre for his own benefit, and that of the despotic State (while claiming that of 'humanity'), were not extremely problematic. Above all, such a move would have effectively appropriated all of Sofia's decades-long labor editing, copy-editing, and revising her husband's manuscripts and collected works. Chertkov is a good example of a false friend. Perhaps if he had not entered the picture, or if his attempts had been repulsed, Tolstoy's final years would have been less painful and desperate.
Many thanks to the Maudes for their important work.
March 15, 2025
I’ll preemptively caveat this review noting that my feelings about this particular book, the quality of Maude’s writing, etc. is a bit biased by a) the cool story of acquiring this particular double volume and b) my deep love of Tolstoy himself and thus resonance with the subject matter. By that I mean that surely even an undergrad can write a five-page paper about MLKjr. in a cumbersome manner but the reader will still be left with an admiration for King and thus can attribute the feeling of warmth to the writing itself.
That being said, I did really like this book. I might just be a nerd (no doubt about that) or steeped sufficiently in this era to have become familiarized with it that only seldom did I feel lost or abruptly reminded that this biography itself is a century old. This speaks quite well of it in my estimation.
My one complaint about the work was not its length per se (I mean, c’mon, its about Tolstoy) but the editorial decisions that made it that length, namely the inclusion of so much private correspondence. I’m not sure if that was an attempt to legitimate this biography or make it the final word on his life but it was occasionally a slog to get through. Likewise with the inclusion of so much material regarding Maude’s own relationship to Tolstoy was a mixed bag. At times it provided insight, nuance, and details an outside (and possibly more objective) person would not have been able to provide. But also his hand on the scale of an argument, e.g nonviolence, was more noticeable than necessary or helpful. However, I think that critical but loving relational proximity was supremely valuable because, while my critiques are sometimes different than Maude’s, I too feel deep admiration for this man whose conclusions can be confusing and baffling.
At a certain point in the latter half of this biography, as I was reading along with some of Tolstoys significant works, I began referring to reading those works as spending time with grandpa Tolstoy. I can now read his writing and darn near hear his voice coming through. That is probably the greatest success of a biography: to accurately convey the very personality, flaws and all, to a person the subject has never met and leave them with empathy and great affection.
That being said, I did really like this book. I might just be a nerd (no doubt about that) or steeped sufficiently in this era to have become familiarized with it that only seldom did I feel lost or abruptly reminded that this biography itself is a century old. This speaks quite well of it in my estimation.
My one complaint about the work was not its length per se (I mean, c’mon, its about Tolstoy) but the editorial decisions that made it that length, namely the inclusion of so much private correspondence. I’m not sure if that was an attempt to legitimate this biography or make it the final word on his life but it was occasionally a slog to get through. Likewise with the inclusion of so much material regarding Maude’s own relationship to Tolstoy was a mixed bag. At times it provided insight, nuance, and details an outside (and possibly more objective) person would not have been able to provide. But also his hand on the scale of an argument, e.g nonviolence, was more noticeable than necessary or helpful. However, I think that critical but loving relational proximity was supremely valuable because, while my critiques are sometimes different than Maude’s, I too feel deep admiration for this man whose conclusions can be confusing and baffling.
At a certain point in the latter half of this biography, as I was reading along with some of Tolstoys significant works, I began referring to reading those works as spending time with grandpa Tolstoy. I can now read his writing and darn near hear his voice coming through. That is probably the greatest success of a biography: to accurately convey the very personality, flaws and all, to a person the subject has never met and leave them with empathy and great affection.
January 23, 2018
This book annoyed me for a while. Maude is not just writing about Tolstoy's life, he is telling us how he believes Tolstoy got things wrong and gives his own opinions in some detail. However I kept on with it and in time this did not bother me so much. I can't say that I agree totally with Tolstoy myself, nor Maude for that matter. In time I became quite fascinated with the life that Tolstoy led and by time I'd finished the 900+ pages, I have to say that I greatly admire Tolstoy. Whether I agree with him totally or not, he has become one of my heroes.
April 29, 2025
Brilliant and exhaustive, Tolstoy was interesting a man as his stories were.
Definitely worth checking out if you've read his novels, especially interesting if you're read his short stories and essays.
Definitely worth checking out if you've read his novels, especially interesting if you're read his short stories and essays.
November 23, 2025
💫Immerse Yourself in Life of Tolstoy💫
🎶Listen | Russian Classical for Reading & Focus | 1850-1899
And buried there he was. Maude's Life of Tolstoy impeccably encompasses a life; not just the events, family tree, work or legacy, but the essence and evolution of a man. He loads his pages with diary entries and letters from Tolstoy himself as well as his counterparts. He memorializes Tolstoy and lauds him to the highest by actually disagreeing with him on certain points. He loves Tolstoy for the man he was not the ideas he purported. He loves him for all his genius and faults; his humanity. And what a human...
In truth, the book reads more like a doctoral dissertation than a biography. Maude carefully balances objective reporting, reasonable analysis and pages upon pages of source material to support his claims. The reader not only comes to know Tolstoy intimately but Maude as well.
The book naturally follows the chronology of Tolstoy's life and one learns to appreciate his human imperfections as building blocks, not defects, to a great life. At the end, conflict embroiled his life as the forces of his dogmatic icon battled the vulnerable, imperfect beauty of his humanity. According to Maude, his greatness manifests itself in his pursuit of moral perfection rather than the achievement of it. This brings the reader closer to Tolstoy, removed from the pedestal and akin to our own spirits.
Tolstoy lived as a man caught between his person and his path toward moral perfection - the secret to meaning and happiness. From the beginning and up to the end we see those linear projections come closer to alignment but stray from each other based on varying circumstances natural in the procession of life. Tolstoyism seemed to stray from his own personal hemisphere testing not only his own resolve but the validity of his claims. Where some argue that Tolstoy had discovered principles that would guarantee moral perfection and happiness, the spirit of those principles dissipate as with all things rooted in absolutism. And in the end, it is the spirit of War and Peace, Anna Karenina, etc and the characters either journeying within that spirit or towards it which inspire people to live as Tolstoy lived. People must feel inspired to seek happiness of their own volition or the principles crumble.
I imagine his sons carrying his casket alongside peasants; not because Tolstoyism demands it but because a man had inspired them -perhaps even to pursue love and moral perfection as he had. To dilute this inspiration into law only exemplifies one's lack of faith not only in humanity's ability to be inspired but in the man they love to inspire them.
🎶Listen | Russian Classical for Reading & Focus | 1850-1899
'The Ant-Brotherhood was revealed to us but not the chief secret - the way for all men to cease suffering any misfortune, to leave off quarrelling and being angry, and become continuously happy - this secret he said he had written on a green stick buried by the road at the edge of a certain ravine, at which spot (since my body must be buried somewhere) I have asked to be buried in memory of Nikolenka.'
And buried there he was. Maude's Life of Tolstoy impeccably encompasses a life; not just the events, family tree, work or legacy, but the essence and evolution of a man. He loads his pages with diary entries and letters from Tolstoy himself as well as his counterparts. He memorializes Tolstoy and lauds him to the highest by actually disagreeing with him on certain points. He loves Tolstoy for the man he was not the ideas he purported. He loves him for all his genius and faults; his humanity. And what a human...
In truth, the book reads more like a doctoral dissertation than a biography. Maude carefully balances objective reporting, reasonable analysis and pages upon pages of source material to support his claims. The reader not only comes to know Tolstoy intimately but Maude as well.
The book naturally follows the chronology of Tolstoy's life and one learns to appreciate his human imperfections as building blocks, not defects, to a great life. At the end, conflict embroiled his life as the forces of his dogmatic icon battled the vulnerable, imperfect beauty of his humanity. According to Maude, his greatness manifests itself in his pursuit of moral perfection rather than the achievement of it. This brings the reader closer to Tolstoy, removed from the pedestal and akin to our own spirits.
Tolstoy lived as a man caught between his person and his path toward moral perfection - the secret to meaning and happiness. From the beginning and up to the end we see those linear projections come closer to alignment but stray from each other based on varying circumstances natural in the procession of life. Tolstoyism seemed to stray from his own personal hemisphere testing not only his own resolve but the validity of his claims. Where some argue that Tolstoy had discovered principles that would guarantee moral perfection and happiness, the spirit of those principles dissipate as with all things rooted in absolutism. And in the end, it is the spirit of War and Peace, Anna Karenina, etc and the characters either journeying within that spirit or towards it which inspire people to live as Tolstoy lived. People must feel inspired to seek happiness of their own volition or the principles crumble.
I imagine his sons carrying his casket alongside peasants; not because Tolstoyism demands it but because a man had inspired them -perhaps even to pursue love and moral perfection as he had. To dilute this inspiration into law only exemplifies one's lack of faith not only in humanity's ability to be inspired but in the man they love to inspire them.
July 26, 2012
7/26/12: Yes, yes, Tolstoy and more Tolstoy. Never enough Tolstoy. More soon to come at thewryterreviews.wordpress.com.
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October 7, 2012They really classic writers and their literature literature deep and has a more to Antoqah in our imagination
They are giants and pioneers
Greetings and our estimates
They are giants and pioneers
Greetings and our estimates
June 10, 2016
This is one of the few books which I must think of almost every week. It is a life-changing masterpiece.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews