Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy

1. Leo Tolstoy Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910

2. The Early Years • Tolstoy was born at his parents’ estate in YasnayaPolyana, in the Tula Province of Russia. He was the youngest of four boys. • Two years after Tolstoy was born, his mother died, resulting in each of the boys to be taken care of by their uncle. Seven years later, their father and uncle died and the boys’ aunt was given full guardianship. Their former guardian died and the brothers were sent to the next aunt. • In school, Tolstoy had bad grades and failed to excel; he ended up quitting school without a degree. After, he went back to his parents’ estate and attempted to be a farmer and lead the serfs; he also failed at this.

3. The Adult Years • After Tolstoy’s short farming life ended, his older brother, Nikolay, came to visit on military leave. He moved to the Ukraine and fought in the Crimean War (1855). Tolstoy started to write an autobiography including his childhood memories. He also took ideas out of a journal that he had written throughout his whole life. • Once the war was over, Tolstoy moved back to Russia where people demanded his writings. He didn’t enjoy this so he decided to move to Paris and spend all his money, forcing him to move back to Russia. • Tolstoy then married SofyaAndreyevnaBers in 1862 and continued to write. Eventually, Tolstoy and Sofya did not agree on the same beliefs so he ran away with his youngest daughter, Aleksandra. • While incognito with his daughter, Tolstoy shortly died in Astapovo, Russia.

4. WRITING Highlights Novels • War and Peace (1869) • Anna Karenina (1873) • The Resurrection (1899) Plays • “The Candle” • “Three Deaths” Essays • “The Power of Darkness” • “Redemption”

5. Historical/Cultural Context Anna Karenina During this time, Russia was undergoing a crisis of political thought, with a series of tsars provoking liberal and radical intellectuals. This was a time of debate about what direction Russia should take in becoming a modern nation. Character Names • Each Russian has a first name, a patronymic, and a surname. A person’s patronymic consists of his or her father’s first name accompanied by a suffix meaning “son of” or “daughter of.” • Surnames in Russian have masculine and feminine forms. Anna Karenina is Karenin’s wife but adds the “a” to the end.

6. Analysis of Anna Karenina Anna is so into family that she intervenes in someone else's marriage. In Part 1, Anna Karenina is so big on family life that she gets called in to bring her brother and his wife back together. This is also the first time she's ever been away from her son since his birth, and she misses him desperately – another sign of Anna's commitment to the family as an institution. Levin, meanwhile, wants a family and is frustrated that he doesn't have one yet. At the beginning of the novel, Constantine Levin is frustrated and confused. He has two great goals: to reform Russia's agricultural system and to marry Kitty. But he hasn't made significant progress on either front.

7. Historical Context Where Love Is, God Is Written in 1885, "Where Love Is, God Is" is sometimes translated as "Where Love Is, There God Is Also" or "Martin the Cobbler“. The title references the Catholic hymn UbiCaritas, which is a hymn of western Christianity (Latin).

8. Where Love Is, God Is A shoemaker named Martin Avdeitchthat watched through this window where he could see only the feet of people. He had a wifethat died and all their children had died in their infancy except a three-year-old son; the 3 year old, however, died only 2 years later. He denied God wondering how He could allow such a thing to happen to him. One day a missionary visited Martin and Martin told him of his hardships. The missionary tells Martin that he should live his life for God and not deny Him because God's will is the deciding factor and as humans we cannot question that; so he began to read the Bible. Martin then fell asleep when he thought he heard the voice of God telling him that He would visit him the next day. The morning after, Martin watched out his window for God. While he was waiting, he saw Stepanitch shoveling away snow. Martin later saw a young woman outside with a baby not properly dressed for the cold. Martin told her about Jesus and she thanked him and left. Then he saw a young boy stealing from an older lady. That night while Martin wondered why God had not visited him three figures appeared in his home of the three people he had showed hospitality to that day. They said that when he helped them he was helping God. Martin then realized that God had indeed visited him, and he accepted Him well.

9. Key Concepts: Allusion When Martin thought of himself as the Pharisee in that story as he was only living for himself. The name Pharisee in its Hebrew form means separatists, or the separated ones. They were also known as chasidim, which means loyal to God, or love of God.

10. Key Concepts: Inference Martin doesn’t think God is there for him but when he does good deeds, he finds God is there all along. Just because you do not physically see God, or love, or hate, doesn’t mean it’s not there

11. Key Concepts: Mood The mood of the beginning of the story can be found as disappointed because Martin thinks God is not there when everyone close to him is dying. But as the story goes on, the mood becomes lighter and hopeful. Martin now realizes God was by his side the whole time.

12. Love/Hate in Where Love Is, God Is Love and Hate are both shown in the short story. You see hate when Martin denies God, he is hating all the events in his life and becomes doubtful. Eventually love comes into play when God shows he is watching over Martin; Martin becomes hopeful.

13. What I have learned: Many, many classic novels are written from authors’ own tragic experiences. Tolstoy’s multiple deaths and never exceeding in school gave him memories to include in his works.

14. What I have learned: (Cont.) His two most famous works, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists.