Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (/ˈtoʊlstɔɪ, ˈtɒl-/;[1] Russian: Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й, pronounced [lʲɛf nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ tɐlˈstoj]; 9 September [O.S. 28 August] 1828 – 20 November [O.S. 7 November] 1910), usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian novelist today regarded as one of the greatest of all time. In the 1870s Tolstoy experienced a profound moral crisis, followed by what he regarded as an equally profound spiritual awakening. His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist. Tolstoy's ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal 20th-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi,[2] Martin Luther King, Jr.,[3] and James Bevel. Life and career Death Tolstoy's grave with flowers at Yasnaya Polyana. Tolstoy died in 1910, at the age of 82. Personal life In films See also
Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski;[1]:11–12 Berdichev, Imperial Russia, 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924, Bishopsbourne, Kent, England) was a Polish author who wrote in English after settling in England. He was granted British nationality in 1886, but always considered himself a Pole.[note 1] Conrad is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in English,[2] though he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties (and always with a marked accent). While some of his works have a strain of romanticism, his works are viewed as modernist literature. Early life[edit] Nowy Świat 47, Warsaw, where three-year-old Conrad lived with his parents in 1861 Though the vast majority of the area's inhabitants were Ukrainians, the land was almost completely owned by the Polish szlachta (nobility) that Conrad's parents belonged to. Because of the father's attempts at farming and his political activism, the family moved repeatedly. He stayed with us ten months...
Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Пу́шкин, tr. Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr sʲɪˈrɡʲejɪvʲɪt͡ɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn] ( ); 6 June [O.S. 26 May] 1799 – 10 February [O.S. 29 January] 1837) was a Russian author of the Romantic era[1] who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet[2][3][4][5] and the founder of modern Russian literature.[6][7] Pushkin was born into Russian nobility in Moscow. His great-grandfather from his mother's side – Abram Gannibal – was brought over as a slave from Africa and had risen to become an aristocrat.[8] Pushkin published his first poem at the age of fifteen, and was widely recognized by the literary establishment by the time of his graduation from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Notoriously touchy about his honour, Pushkin fought as many as twenty-nine duels, and was fatally wounded in such an encounter with Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès. Life and career[edit] Georges d'Anthès Pushkin descendants[edit] Legacy[edit]
A Taste of Marmelodov: Crime and Punishment Essay | A Taste of Marmelodov: Crime and Punishment Summary: In Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel, Crime and Punishment, Marmeladov is a minor character whose story is told in only a few short chapters of the first two books, and yet, Marmeladov plays an important role in the novel. A Taste of Marmeladov In Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel, Crime and Punishment, Marmeladov is a minor character whose story is told in only a few short chapters of the first two books, and yet, Marmeladov plays an important role in the novel. Raskolnikov first meets Marmeladov at a dirty tavern.
Ayn Rand Literary critics received Rand's fiction with mixed reviews,[6] and academia generally ignored or rejected her philosophy, though academic interest has increased in recent decades.[7][8][9] The Objectivist movement attempts to spread her ideas, both to the public and in academic settings.[10] She has been a significant influence among libertarians and American conservatives.[11] Life[edit] Early life[edit] Rand was born Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum (Russian: Али́са Зиновьевна Розенбаум) on February 2, 1905, to a Russian Jewish bourgeois[12] family living in Saint Petersburg. She was the eldest of the three daughters of Zinovy Zakharovich Rosenbaum and his wife, Anna Borisovna (née Kaplan), largely non-observant Jews. The subsequent October Revolution and the rule of the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin disrupted the life the family had previously enjoyed. Along with many other "bourgeois" students, Rand was purged from the university shortly before graduating. Early fiction[edit] [edit]
The "Conversion" of Leo Tolstoy. In the late 1870s Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), author of the great novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, underwent a severe inward crisis. His life, the existence of all mankind and the universe, seemed completely futile to him. He overcame his despondency by thinking his way through to a religion of "the infinite" as God, and morality demanding simplicity of daily life, non-violence, and the abolition of government, church, science and industry. He spoke of this development as his conversion. However, his extensive diaries kept between 1847 and his death, and his Confession, the record of his crisis and conversion, show that both before and afterwards his all but exclusive and obsessive concern was with his own self. Let us observe Tolstoy's crisis and "conversion" in detail through his Confession. He says this was usual among educated people, for whom "religious doctrine [was only] an external phenomenon disconnected from life[1]." Then his inward crisis began.
Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Набо́ков, pronounced [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr nɐˈbokəf] ( ), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin; 22 April [O.S. 10 April] 1899c – 2 July 1977) was a Russian-American novelist.[1] Nabokov's first nine novels were in Russian. He then rose to international prominence as a writer of English prose. He also made serious contributions as a lepidopterist and chess composer. Nabokov's Lolita (1955) is his most famous novel, and often considered his finest work in English. It exhibits the love of intricate word play and synesthetic detail that characterised all his works. Life and career[edit] Russia[edit] Nabokov was born on 22 April 1899 (10 April 1899 Old Style), in Saint Petersburg,b to a wealthy and prominent family of minor nobility. The Rozhdestveno mansion, inherited from his uncle in 1916: Nabokov possessed it for less than a year before the October Revolution Emigration[edit] Berlin years (1922–37)[edit] United States[edit] Work[edit]
Franz Kafka Kafka was born into a middle-class, German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In his lifetime, most of the population of Prague spoke Czech, and the division between Czech- and German-speaking people was a tangible reality, as both groups were strengthening their national identity. The Jewish community often found itself in between the two sentiments, naturally raising questions about a place to which one belongs. Kafka trained as a lawyer and after completing his legal education, obtained employment with an insurance company. Life[edit] Family[edit] Plaque marking the birthplace of Franz Kafka in Prague. Kafka's parents probably spoke a variety of German influenced by Yiddish that was sometimes pejoratively called Mauscheldeutsch, but, as the German language was considered the vehicle of social mobility, they probably encouraged their children to speak High German. Education[edit] Employment[edit] Miss FB.