Tolstoi’s Dogmatic Narrator in His Sevastopol Stories
Year: 2021

This chapter explores narratological aspects of the Sevastopol Stories, with an assessment of Tolstoi's typically idiosyncratic approach to the figure of the narrator. Orwin begins by drawing our attention to the distinction – later to be blurred – that the young Tolstoi drew between being 'instructive' and 'dogmatic'. Equally, Tolstoi explains how he will transform the contents of his own life into fiction. Only at a distance in time, when its general significance becomes clear, does the author