Tolstoy: The Comprehensive Vision

Tolstoy was as much a philosopher as a novelist. From the entries in his early diaries through to the great novels he was constantly searching for a comprehensive vision, equal to ‘the confusion of life’. This volume, published first in 1975, assesses Tolstoy’s character-portraits in the light of his engagement with the question of the nature of happiness and his views on society and education, psychology and religion.

Tolstoy was as much a philosopher as a novelist. From the entries in his early diaries through to the great novels he was constantly searching for a comprehensive vision, equal to ‘the confusion of life’. It was in his personal diaries that Tolstoy first attempted a ‘literary psychology’ to reveal those thoughts and feelings we conceal from ourselves, then inventing the interior monologue to expose the psychology of his characters.

Emphasising the importance of these early characteristics for Tolstoy’s development as a writer, this volume, published first in 1975, assesses Tolstoy’s character-portraits in the light of his engagement with the question of the nature of happiness and the problem of historical truth in fiction. Greenwood also considers Tolstoy’s views on society and education, his understanding of the psychology of war, and in the later chapters critically examines his answers to the religious questions that increasingly preoccupied him as he matured.