Set in the years leading up to and culminating in Napoleon''s
disastrous Russian invasion, this classic novel focuses upon an
entire society torn by conflict and change. Here is humanity in all
its innocence and corruption, wisdom and folly, painful defeats and
enduring triumphs. Here is the seemingly effortless artistry of a
master. Here, finally, is a view of history and personal destiny
that is perpetually modern.
關於作者:
Count Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828, in Yasnaya
Polyana, Russia. Orphaned at nine, he was brought up by an elderly
aunt and educated by French tutors until he matriculated at Kazan
University in 1844. In 1847, he gave up his studies and, after
several aimless years, volunteered for military duty in the army,
serving as a junior officer in the Crimean War before retiring in
1857. In 1862, Tolstoy married Sophie Behrs, a marriage that was to
become, for him, bitterly unhappy. His diary, started in 1847, was
used for self-study and self-criticism; it served as the source
from which he drew much of the material that appeared not only in
his great novels War and Peace 1869 and Anna
Karenina 1877, but also in his shorter works. Seeking
religious justification for his life, Tolstoy evolved a new
Christianity based upon his own interpretation of the Gospels.
Yasnaya Polyana became a mecca for his many converts At the age of
eighty-two, while away from home, the writer suffered a break down
in his health in Astapovo, Riazan, and he died there on November
20, 1910.