Evening star., 1953-09-20
Privute Life
OF ToIstoy
Revealed
ToIstoy: A Life of
Ny Father

ToIstoy:: A Life of
Ny Father
BY Alexandra Tolstoy. Trans
lated from the Russian by
Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood.
(Harper G Bros; $5.)
Reviewed by Edwin TribbIe
This new life of Tolstoy is
by his youngest daughter.
Alexandra, now president of
the Tolstoy Foundation in
New York. It is, in a sense,
a family memoir, yet it is by
far more complete than the
usual volume of its kind; in
deed. Miss Tolstoy has at
tempted a full biography.
Naturally it puts emphasis on
the great Russians private life.
The setting is the family
estate Yasnaya Polyana, where
Tolstoy was born and passed
most of his 81 years and
where he would have died if
he had not fled from it's do
meStic bedlam short month
before his death. To Yasnaya
came a multitude Of family
connections, disciples, curious
travellers and individuals whom
no one ever really identified.
A Jealous Wife
Miss To1stoy keeps her story
focused on the family. They
were at once Tolstoy's delight
and his despair. His wife was
bitterly jealous, resentful Of
her husbands religious princi-
pies Che gave away everything.
including the rights to all his
writings) and was constantly
threatening suicide. The nine
children grew up, embarked
upon highly individualiStic
careers of their own. The most
ardent disciples were perse-
cuted when they followed the
masters doctrine of resistance
to organized government, al
though the CzariSt govern
ment for some reason never
touched him.
A Stormy Rood
1t was a long and stormy
road Tolstoy travelled. The
great success of War and Peace
and Anna Karenina was fol-
lowed by many long decades
of writing on religious and
social and economic subjects.
Tolstoy's conversion to the
idea of poverty and work and
love as the all-in-all of the
good life was not shared by
his family. Instead he had to
get what satisfaction he could
from his followers. Gandhi
was one. The young Indian
wrote from London: Your
writings have profoundly af-
fected my outlook on life"
Tolstoy was communicated
from the orthodox church, but
he cared not at all. He was
confident that he had found
the secret:
His Belief in God
"I believe in God, whom
understand to be the Spirit,
Love and the First principle
of everything. I believe, too,
that He is in me and I in
Him. I also believe that the
will of God is most clearly,
most intelligibly set forth in
the teachings of the human
being, Christ, to accept
whom as a God and to pray to
Him-I look upon as great
Sacrilege. I believe that
mans true bliss lies in his
fulfilling the will of God. His
will is that men should love
one another and consequent
ly that they should do unto
one another as they would be
done by, as it is said in the
Gospels, that therein lies all
the law and the prophets"
A Genius at War
Miss Tolstoy quotes gener-
ously from her fathers diaries,
journals, letters, books and
from remembered conversa-
tions. She does not attempt
a critical analysis of his pub
lished works or of his literary
work. She tells the sad, in
volved story of a genius at war
with his complicated, Russian
world, and often with himself
in a straightforward manner.
It's as involved as Russian his
tory itself as battling and eX-
asperating, but a record worth
having.