[Frontispiece: Tolstoy] TOLSTOY BY L. WINSTANLEY, M.A. LECTURER IN ENGLISH IN THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF WALES, ABERYSTWYTH LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK 67 LONG ACRE, W.C., AND EDINBURGH NEW YORK: DODGE PUBLISHING CO. DEDICATED TO MY BELOVED FRIEND ANNA BRODSKY CONTENTS CHAP. I. TOLSTOY'S CONTEMPORARIES II. LIFE OF TOLSTOY--"A LANDED PROPRIETOR"--"CHILDHOOD"--"THE COSSACKS"--"TALES FROM SEBASTOPOL" III. LIFE OF TOLSTOY (_continued_)--JOURNEY ABROAD--PEASANT SCHOOLS--"TALES FOR CHILDREN"--MARRIED LIFE--RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTIES--CONVERSION IV. "WAR AND PEACE" V. "ANNA KARÉNINA" VI. "MY CONFESSION"--"MY RELIGION"--"WHAT IS ART?" ETC. VII. "THE POWER OF DARKNESS"--"THE KREUTZER SONATA"--"RESURRECTION" VIII. THE INFLUENCE OF TOLSTOY BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX {7} TOLSTOY CHAPTER I TOLSTOY'S CONTEMPORARIES The most striking literary phenomenon of the nineteenth century is, undoubtedly, the rise into power and prominence of Russian authors. Some fifty years ago Russian literature was practically unknown to Western Europe; by the majority of people its very existence seems to have been unsuspected; we find even so great an adventurer as Carlyle, himself guiding his countrymen to many new tracts of literary discovery, speaking of "the great silent Russians who are drilling a whole continent into obedience, but who have produced 'nothing articulate' as yet."[1] In less than thirty years from the time when Carlyle penned that sentence Russian literature had become recognised as one of the most powerful and vital in Europe; its influence, already enormous, increases every day; it is great in France, in Germany, in Scandinavia, even in conservative England; hardly since the Renaissance has Europe beheld such a phenomenon--a literary advance at once so rapid and so great. [1] _Heroes and Hero Worship_.