Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was a Russian novelist and moral philosopher whose works rank among the greatest in world literature. *War and Peace* and *Anna Karenina* established his reputation for psychological depth and epic scope.
In later life, he rejected his aristocratic past, embracing radical Christian pacifism and simple living.
His ideas influenced Gandhi and the nonviolent resistance movement.
Principled rejection of force
- pacifismAntiwar moral stance
- nonresistanceRefusal to oppose force
- simple livingIntentional reduction of consumption
- asceticismSevere self-denial practice
vegetarianism · renunciation · antimilitarism · civil disobedience · spiritual crisis · ethical living
Russia's capital city
- St. PetersburgRussian Baltic port city
- TsarRussian imperial title
- serfdomFeudal bound labor
- aristocracyRule by hereditary elite
landed gentry · Crimean War · Russian Orthodox · Dostoevsky · Chekhov · Turgenev · Pushkin · samovar
Offering unobstructed wide view
- sweepingExtensive and far-reaching
- sagaExtended heroic narrative
- tomeSubstantial scholarly volume
- monumentalExceptionally large or significant
grandeur · Napoleonic · battlefield · chronicle · generational · aristocracy · historical · intricate
Anti-violence believer
- reformerAgent of institutional improvement
- land redistributionReassigning property among populations
- famine reliefAssistance during mass hunger
- social justiceFair distribution of opportunities
antimilitarism · excommunication · moral teaching · conscientious objection · educational reform · communal living
nonviolence
Principled rejection of force
- pacifismAntiwar moral stance
- nonresistanceRefusal to oppose force
- simple livingIntentional reduction of consumption
asceticism · vegetarianism · renunciation · antimilitarism · civil disobedience · spiritual crisis · ethical living
War and Peace
Opposing states of nations
- Anna Karenina
- ResurrectionRising from death
Moscow
Russia's capital city
- St. PetersburgRussian Baltic port city
- TsarRussian imperial title
- serfdomFeudal bound labor
aristocracy · landed gentry · Crimean War · Russian Orthodox · Dostoevsky · Chekhov · Turgenev · Pushkin · samovar · troika
panoramic
Offering unobstructed wide view
monumental · grandeur · Napoleonic · battlefield · chronicle · generational · aristocracy · historical · intricate · multifaceted
pacifist
Anti-violence believer
- reformerAgent of institutional improvement
- land redistributionReassigning property among populations
- famine reliefAssistance during mass hunger
social justice · antimilitarism · excommunication · moral teaching · conscientious objection · educational reform · communal living
- Tolstoys
- literaturebooks, book, fiction, poetry, stories
- AuthorsShakespeare, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Literary AuthorsC.S. Lewis, Dostoevsky, J.R.R. Tolkien, Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde
- NovelistsStephen King, Agatha Christie, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen
- 1880s LiteratureTreasure Island, The Brothers Karamazov, Anna Karenina, King Solomon's Mines, Ben-Hur
Leo TolstoyOscar Wilde
art for art's sake · aestheticism · Fyodor Dostoevsky · Gustave Flaubert · Vladimir Nabokov
Leo TolstoyFriedrich Nietzsche
Marquis de Sade · Ayn Rand · Aleister Crowley · Thomas Hobbes · Genghis Khan
Leo TolstoyMarquis de Sade
Writer whose name became perversion
hedonist · libertine · Lord Byron · Oscar Wilde · sybarite