Free Press
Sophia Tolstoy: A Biography
Key Metrics
- Alexandra Popoff
- Free Press
- Paperback
- 9781416597605
- 9 X 6 X 0.82 inches
- 1.19 pounds
- Biography & Autobiography > Historical
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
Drawing on newly available archival material, including Sophia's unpublished memoir, Alexandra Popoff presents a dramatically different and accurate portrait of the woman and the marriage. This lively, well-researched biography demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, Sophia was remarkably supportive of Tolstoy and was, in fact, key to his fame.
Gifted and versatile, Sophia assisted Tolstoy during the writing of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Having modeled his most memorable female characters on her, Tolstoy admired his wife's boundless energy, which he called the force of life. Sophia's letters, never before translated, illuminate the couple's true relationship and provide insights into Tolstoy's creative laboratory. Although long portrayed as an elitist and hysterical countess, Sophia was in reality a practical, independent-minded, generous, and talented woman who shared Tolstoy's important values and his capacity for work. Mother of thirteen, she participated in Tolstoy's causes and managed all business a airs.
Popoff describes in haunting detail the intrusion into their marriage by Tolstoy's religious disciple Vladimir Chertkov, who controlled Tolstoy at the end of his life and led a smear campaign against Sophia, branding her evil and mad. She is still judged by Chertkov's false accounts, which dismissed her valuable achievements and contributions.
During his later religious phase, Tolstoy renounced his property and copyright, and Sophia had to become the breadwinner. She published Tolstoy's collected works and supported their large family. Despite the pressures of her demanding life, she realized her own talents as a writer, photographer, translator, and aspiring artist.
This vigorous, engrossing biography presents in fascinating depth and detail the many ways in which Sophia Tolstoy enriched the life and work of one of the world's most revered authors.
Author Bio
I am a former journalist, an expert in Russian literature and culture, and a biographer. My current project is a concise interpretive biography of Ayn Rand, commissioned by Yale University Press (Jewish Lives).
I began my career as a journalist working in Moscow. As a 1991 Alfred Friendly Press Fellow I wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer and its Sunday magazine. Over the years I contributed book reviews and essays to The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Literary Hub, The Globe and Mail, National Post, and other newspapers and outlets.
I was educated in Moscow’s Gorky Literary Institute, the University of Toronto, and the University of Saskatchewan where I also taught Russian literature and history. I live in Canada.
Source: russianliteratureandbiography.com
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