Rosamund Bartlett - Tolstoy: A Russian Life

First U.S. edition

Copyright 2011 by Rosamund Bartlett

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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First published in Great Britain in 2010 by Profile Books Ltd

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bartlett, Rosamund.
Tolstoy : a Russian life / Rosamund Bartlett.1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-15-101438-5
1. Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 18281910. 2. Authors, Russian9th centuryBiography. I. Title.
PG 3385. B 37 2011
891.73'3c22
[ B ]
2010050015

Printed in the United States of America
DOC 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

for Lucy

A simplified transliteration system has been used in the body of the text (e.g. 'Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy'), but a more accurate one in the notes and bibliography (e.g. 'Petr Andreevich Tolstoi'). Exceptions are made in the case of accepted spellings such as 'Potemkin' (pronounced 'Potyomkin'), 'Tchaikovsky' and 'Bolshoi Theatre'.

Russian dates before 1918 are given according to the Julian calendar, which was twelve days behind the Gregorian calendar in the nineteenth century, and thirteen days behind in the twentieth century.

IN JANUARY 1895, deep in the heart of the Russian winter, Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy left Moscow to go and spend a few days with some old friends at their country estate. He had just experienced another fracas with his wife over the publication of a new story, he felt suffocated in the city, and he wanted to clear his head by putting on his old leather coat and fur hat and going for some long walks in the clear, frosty air, far away from people and buildings. His hosts had taken care to clear the paths on their property, but Tolstoy did not like walking on well-ordered paths. Even in his late sixties he preferred tramping in the wilds, so he invariably ventured out past the garden fence and strode off into the deep snow, in whichever direction his gaze took him. Some of the younger members of the household had the idea of following in his footsteps one evening, but they soon had to give up when they saw how great was the distance between the holes left in the soft snow by his felt boots.