Tolstoy

Justice of the Peace 144–5, 147, 159

peasant dress 4, 5, 11, 12, 147

secret police file on him 147

koumiss cure 152, 208

marriage to Sonya 149, 150, 154–6, 157, 163–4, 183, 185–6, 202, 236, 241, 243–4, 289, 299, 301, 311, 312, 331, 349, 357, 368, 405, 411, 420, 432

decision to change writing style 158–9

interest in bees 161, 162

birth of son Sergey 162, 163

breaks arm pursuing a rabbit 167

his library 176–7, 189, 191

health 177, 182, 210, 228, 349, 379, 381, 387, 394, 396

learns ancient Greek 181, 190, 191

death fixation 185, 231, 240, 322, 323, 389, 451

on his children 201–2

treatment of his children 202–3

property in Samara 207–12

abandoned Peter the Great novel 214–18, 222

portraits 228–30, 298, 308, 319, 325, 391–2, 414

death of son Petya 231

death of Aunt Toinette 233–4

death of son Nikolay 237

death of Aunt Polina 240

initiates sister Masha’s divorce 241–2

spiritual crisis of 1880s 121, 252, 332

newfound religious fervour 252–4, 258

visits Optina Pustyn Monastery 253–7, 258

and Alexeyev 258–9, 261, 262

daily routine 263–4

visit to Caves Monastery, Kiev 277

loss of faith 280, 288–9, 303

and Pushkin celebrations 282, 283, 304

plea for clemency for Alexander II’s assassins 288, 289

crusade to propagate his Christian ideals 293, 294–5

surveillance 302–4, 366, 386, 395

his creed 309–10

‘holy fool’ 2, 311, 332, 333

and The Intermediary 315–16

worldview 318, 322, 323, 450

death of son Alexey 322

twenty-fifth wedding anniversary 326

anathematised in Kharkov 330, 353

renounces copyright and all his property 30, 331, 432

renounces his title 12

famine relief (1892) 5, 9, 335–40

moral leader to the nation 1, 5, 335

longs for martyrdom 339

seeks to bring down the Russian government 345

Stead on T’s fame 346–7

first biography of him 347

excommunicated from the Orthodox Church (1901) 6, 349, 382, 387–94, 412–13, 419, 453–4

death of son Vanechka 358

cycling 358–60

makes notes on his funeral 358

ice-skating 359, 360

jealous of Taneyev 361

choice of music 371

meets Tchaikovsky 371–2

compared with Wagner 373–4

chaotic publishing habits 374–5

compared with his opponent Father Ioann 392–3

known as the ‘Elder of Yasnaya Polyana’ 6, 10, 394

personal physician 402

gathering of Tolstoy utterances 402

Circle of Reading 404

death of daughter Masha 404

eightieth birthday 408–10

wills 411, 412, 418

leaves Sonya 412

death at Astapovo station (7

November 1910) 412–13, 454

buried at Yasnaya Polyana 53, 413–15, 416

his death acts as a catalyst for political action 414–15

centenary of his birth 435–40

advances in Tolstoy scholarship 439–40

fiftieth anniversary of T’s death (1960) 444, 450

150th anniversary of T’s birth (1978) 444–5, 447

‘cult’ of Tolstoy 446

legacy 451–2

character

absent-mindedness 78

ambition 1, 77

anti-authority 60

attitude to women 8, 84, 122–3, 125, 126, 130, 131, 163–4, 185–6

charisma 404

combative nature 3, 125–6

contrariness 121, 125

cult of his ancestors 12–13, 31

eccentricity 3, 77, 125

egotism 8, 125, 283

energy 77, 203

enthusiasms 161–2

erudition 49

fearless in the face of controversy 77, 336

headstrong nature 59, 125

highly emotional 77

hyper-sensitivity 2, 37, 77, 122, 173, 200

independent spirit 49

lack of self-confidence 78

lack of a sense of humour 76

larger than life 9

low boredom threshold 133, 134

mercurial nature 3, 191

narcissism 333

obstinacy 59

piety 4

provocative opinions 121

self-consciousness 74, 88

self-criticism 332–3

self-interest 333

sensuality 333

sentimentality 370

shyness 74, 78, 88

sincerity 76

snobbery 21

social conscience 3–4, 107, 118–19, 127, 140

stamina 66, 177

strength 66, 112, 138

superstitious 34–5, 251

vanity 76, 88, 333, 357

zest for life 9

works

ABC (Azbuka) 4, 188–200, 199, 209, 210, 214, 217, 218, 228, 232, 235–6, 276, 315–16, 340

‘About the Census in Moscow’ 294, 295–7

‘About the Famine’ 336, 338

‘About Ways to Help the Population Suffering from the Failed Harvest’ 338

Aesop’s fables (trans.) 4, 190, 195–6, 354–5

‘Albert’ 137, 139

Anna Karenina 31, 35, 49, 138, 159, 177, 181, 202, 218, 324, 342, 369, 446

and Anna Pirogova’s death 219–20

bee imagery 162

completed 232, 246

Dmitry portrayed in 124

Dumas fils’s L’Homme-femme 219, 220

epilogue 248–9

influence of English fiction 245

and the Komarov case 230

Levin as T’s alter ego 227

Levin questions the meaning of life 252

Levin scoffs at nouveau riche aristocrats and merchants 21

Levin’s courtship of Kitty 153

Levin’s goodwill rebuffed by mistrustful peasants 136

and Madame Bovary 310

marriage as an institution 219

marriage styles 244–5

publication 231, 234, 236, 237, 238, 240, 246, 253, 299, 377

Radstock’s followers caricatured 272

Ralston on 281

reflects T’s search for meaning 4

shooting parties 176

T begins to write 222–6, 225, 229

T draws on Dmitry for Levin’s brother Nikolay 71

T loses interest in writing 233, 234, 235, 238, 240

topicality 246

translations 317

T’s engagement with the French novel of adultery 220, 245

T’s problems finishing the novel 182–3, 226–7, 246

T’s view of adultery 221–2, 241

upper-class Protestant evangelists satirised 271

Varenka based on Pashenka 41