Articles
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A summary of Tolstoy’s “Youth”24.12.2022
The novel “Youth” by Tolstoy, written in 1857, was the conclusion of Leo Tolstoy’s famous trilogy (Childhood, Boyhood, Youth). The book describes the student years of the main character and his inner circle. The story is autobiographical and belongs to the “critical realism” trend. The work describes growing up and becoming a person.
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Analysis of Tolstoy’s novel “Resurrection”24.12.2022
“Resurrection” is the last novel by Leo Tolstoy, written by him in 1889-1899. A social panorama of Russian life in the late 19th century, from the upper to the lower classes: the novel features aristocrats, St Petersburg officials, peasants, convicts, revolutionaries and political prisoners.
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Characters and quotations from Leo Tolstoy’s “Boyhood”24.12.2022
“Boyhood” is the second story in Leo Tolstoy’s pseudo-autobiographical trilogy, first published in 1854 in the journal Sovremennik. This book describes events in the life of a teenager during adolescence: the first betrayal, the change of moral values, etc.
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Creation history and plot of Tolstoy’s story “The Cossacks”24.12.2022
“The Cossacks” is a novella by Leo Tolstoy published in 1863 about the stay of a cadet in a village of Greben Cossacks.
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Reaction of the time to Tolstoy’s story “Kreutzer’s Sonata”24.12.2022
“Kreutzer Sonata” is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1890 and immediately censored by the tsarist authorities. The book proclaims the ideal of abstinence and describes in first person the rage of jealousy. The story is named after Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata No 9 for Violin and Piano, dedicated to the French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer.
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Analysis of Tolstoy’s essay “What is art?”24.12.2022
“What is Art?” (1897) is an essay by Leo Tolstoy in which he argues against numerous aesthetic theories that define art in terms of a theory of relation, truth, and especially beauty. According to Tolstoy, art at the time was corrupt and decadent, and artists were misled.
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What is Tolstoy’s story “Father Sergius” about?24.12.2022
“Father Sergius” is a novella written by Leo Tolstoy in 1890-1898 and published in 1911.
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Early Tolstoy: the development of introspection21.12.2022
“Tolstoy’s Childhood” ushers in an era of psychological prose in Russia: the penetration into the hero’s mind, the precise recording of his thoughts, the ruthlessness towards him are all characteristic marks of Tolstoy’s texts. This will allow him to show the psychology of a child, a teenager, a young man, a young landowner – with their arrogance and mistakes; the confusion of a participant in a senseless massacre and an outsider in a different cultural environment. “War and Peace” will be the ultimate expression of this Tolstoyian skill.
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What is The Tales of Sevastopol about?21.12.2022
The work is about the culminating episode of the Crimean War – the siege of Sevastopol by the superior forces of Anglo-French-Turkish coalition, which lasted from autumn 1854 to August 1855. The book reflects the situation in the city, specific military operations and experiences of their participants. Three stories in the series – “Sevastopol in December”, “Sevastopol in May”, “Sevastopol in August 1855” – cover the whole period of the siege
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What is The Confession about?21.12.2022
Leo Tolstoy wrote The Kreutzer Sonata in 1890. It raises the issues of marriage, family, attitude towards a woman. The main character who could not build his family life properly, eventually turns out to be a murderer. The composition of the story is important: it is constructed as a monologue of the protagonist turned to his fellow passengers on the train.
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