Understanding Tolstoy
“What pulled me toUnderstanding Tolstoywith enormous force were two things. First, Andrew D. Kaufman’s mastery of the whole Tolstoyan world, in both its artistic and critical texts, is quite impressive. I was particularly moved by the description of his experience at Tolstoy’s estate. Second, Kaufman is very personable as a writer, the kind you would like to get to know and talk Tolstoy with.” —Irwin Weil, professor emeritus, Slavic languages and literatures, Northwestern University “Is there room for yet another book on Tolstoy? The answer is a resounding yes! Andrew D. Kaufman has something of his own to say about Tolstoy, and it’s worth listening to. The key word for describing Kaufman’s approach isrelevance.He believes that reading Tolstoy can help usnow,in the twenty-first century, to understand ourselves and the world. Kaufman’s conviction and convincing argument are admirable.” —Hugh McLean, professor emeritus, Russian literature, University of California, Berkeley