Tolstoy's Diaries Volume 1: 1847-1894

''An important and long-overdue contribution to our knowledge of Tolstoy.'' D. M. Thomas, Sunday Times

Volume 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