Andrey Zorin "The Life of Leo Tolstoy: A Reading Experience" is an ultra-modern non-classical look at the life and work of a classic of Russian literature.Leo Tolstoy has long been a hallmark of Russian culture, but in modern Russia his perception is often clouded by stereotypes coming from the Soviet tradition. It is precisely today that Tolstoy is strikingly relevant: the idea of non-violent resistance, vegetarianism, downshifting, the requirement to refuse military service, the struggle to preserve nature, attitudes towards love and sexuality - everything that seemed to be his strangeness is becoming the world's intellectual mainstream.Andrey Zorin is a literary historian, professor at Oxford University and the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences.Press about the book:“I don’t know of another biography of Tolstoy that would be as concise, objective, easy to read and thought-provoking, like the one written by Andrey Zorin.”Donald Rayfield, Queen Mary University of London“Against the background of long-standing and heated disputes about the place biographical knowledge in cultural history Andrey Zorin's book opens up a new genre The four richly documented and elegantly written chapters of this groundbreaking "literary biography" take you deeper into 19th-century Russian culture than traditional history can. Combining a deep sensitivity to the uniqueness of the past and analytical transparency, Zorin managed to write an exemplary work, marked by erudition and intellectual elegance.Hans Ulrich Humbert, Stanford UniversityCopyrightReading: Alexey BagdasarovLeo Tolstoy by Andrei Zorin was first published by Reaktion Books, London, 2020© Andrei Zorin, 2020© A. Zorin , translated into Russian, 2020The cover design uses a photograph by V. G. Chertkov “L. N. Tolstoy walks along the street of the village of Yasnaya Polyana”, 1908. Recorded by the VIMBO recording studio© ℗ Audio Publishing VIMBO, 2020Producers: Vadim Bukh, Mikhail Litvakov

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