John+O'connell

Leo Tolstoy

Source 1 (internet) "Leo Tolstoy." //The infidels//. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr 2010. .
 * 1) Born in 1828
 * 2) Regarded as one of the greatest novelists of all time
 * 3) Beliefs were based on the Sermon on the Mount
 * 4) He saw a justification for pacifism, nonviolence and nonresistance
 * 5) Believed Christians should look inside to find happiness rather than to church and state
 * 6) Huge influence on the nonviolent resistance movement
 * 7) Profound influence on anarchist thoughts
 * 8) Did not refer to himself as an anarchist
 * 9) Member of wealthy nobility
 * 10) Believed he was undeserving of his wealth
 * 11) Lived as a peasant
 * 12) Often gave much of his money to street beggars
 * 13) Influenced Gandhi towards the concept of nonviolent resistance
 * 14) Describes state as domination of wicked ones
 * 15) Criticizes prejudices against men by the church
 * 16) Government powers are supported by brutal force
 * 17) Condemnation of all wars
 * 18) Abandoned his family and wealth
 * 19) Anarchist portions of his work appeal to religious and nonreligious readers
 * 20) Died of pneumonia in 1898

Source 2 (internet) "Leo Tolstoy." //www.answers.com//. N.p., 2010. Web. 29 Apr 2010. .

1. In his early life spent time in the field of education 2. Wrote great psychological novels 3. After the 1880s devoted himself to spiritual and phylosophical matters 4. Wrote several essays on ethics and morals 5. His work gave a vivid description of russian life 6. Went throught a period of despair and became a fundamentalist Christian who rejected all churches and authority 7. Strong feelings about politics, cultures and religion 8. Member of an aristocratic family 9. Praised for realistic depiction of the war 10. Had a big influence on people like Martin Luther King Jr. 11. His work was greatly influenced by his background 12. Later he went through a phase of depression and his work changed 13. Started a school for poor children 14. Later he used tons of money to free serfs 15. Did not go out of his way to cause his new convictions 16. Most famous for his novel "War and Peace" 17. His first published work was a trilogy about his life in the 1850s 18. After joining the military early on he became a pacifist 19. His experience in the Crimean war gave him insight to write War and Peace 20. War and Peace was the highest point in his life and he became very well known for it

Source 3 (book) "Tolstoy, Leo (Nikolaevich) (1828-1910)." //DISCovering Authors//. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. //Student Resource Center - Gold//. Web. 29


 * 1)   Most of his education was through personal study
 * 2)   Early in his career his work was mostly about psychology and society, later more about religious and philosophical issues
 * 3)   War and Peace was commonly considered the greatest novel of all time due to its vivid descriptions of the struggles throughout the war
 * 4)   Controversial theory of history in his novels
 * 5)   In his novel Anna Karenina   his uses one characters struggles as a metaphor for his own
 * 6) Often criticized for his extremism
 * 7) Later published several dramas to express his feelings outside of fiction
 * 8) His dramas were praised for their realism
 * 9) Some of his dramas were called "terrible but essentially comedic"
 * 10) Believed literature should have a religious and ethical meaning
 * 11) Admired for his ambition to discover the meaning of ethics
 * 12) 1883- organized relief for the less fortunate people in Russia using his own money
 * 13) 1891-92 renounced the rights to his books and property
 * 14) 1901- kicked out of the Russian Orthodox Church
 * 15) The church disagreed with his moral and theological feelings
 * 16) Considered himself a philosopher
 * 17) His longest most philosophical works were less successful than his well known novels like War and Peace
 * 18) Said that art only filled the recipient with a false feeling of religion
 * 19) Critics preferred Tolstoy's pre-conversion works
 * 20) Some of his works were criticized as simplistic

Source 4 (biography) "Tolstoy, Leo (1828-1910)." //DISCovering Biography//. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. //Student Resource Center - Gold//. Web. 29 Apr. 2010.


 * 1) Called a sublime artist by critics
 * 2) His theory of religion was called Tolstoyism and he had many followers
 * 3) He was a very important figure in Russian literature and culture
 * 4) Mostly famous for his moral authority
 * 5) Also wrote novels concerning civil disobedience
 * 6) Lived with his aunts for most of his life
 * 7) His family members were commonly used as characters in his books
 * 8) Completed his first novels while in the military
 * 9) Many of his work was inspired by military life
 * 10) His work symbolized a gap between what is natural and what is wrong but expected by society
 * 11) His formal school ended after several years of college
 * 12) Attracted to sentimentalism because of emphasis on feelings
 * 13) As Tolstoy began his career his type of writing was uncommon
 * 14) He was sometimes criticized for his ideas about searching for answers of universal problems
 * 15) After writing War and Peace he was known as Russia's leading novelist
 * 16) War and Peace was based on Napoleon
 * 17) It centers around aristocratic families
 * 18) It was about how they were affected by his advancing armies
 * 19) Controversial theories in his novels
 * 20) Discovered his theories through personal study