Childhood, Boyhood, Youth | Childhood, Boyhood, Youth

At a glance:

Author: Leo Tolstoy
First Published: 1852
Type of Work: Novel
Type of Plot: Autobiographical chronicle
Time of Work: Early nineteenth century
Setting: A country estate in Russia; Moscow
Principal Characters: Vladimir Petrovich Irtenyev, Piotr Alexandrych Irtenyev, Natalya Nikolayevna Irtenyev, Volodya Irtenyev, Lyuba Irtenyev, Avdotya Vassilyevna Epifanov, Prince Dmitri Neklyudov, Sophia Ivanovna, Manya (Mimi) Ivanovna, Sonya Katya, Karl Valakhina, St. Ivanych, Natalya Jerome, Savishna
Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman, Autobiographical fiction
Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Children, Family or family life, Nineteenth century, Russia or Russian people
Locales: Moscow, Russia, Petrovsk, Russia

Childhood, Boyhood, Youth make up the three completed parts of a projected four-part sequence that was Leo Tolstoy’s first writing. One would suppose that with a novelist who generally used a certain amount of autobiography, these first works, which appear in the form of an autobiography (using a first-person narrator), would be the bases for studying his other work; but they have been neglected, and if anyone is to blame, it is Tolstoy himself, who later in life rejected them for their false sentimentality. This is a pity, for, though the young man of the third volume is...

Childhood, Boyhood, Youth | Childhood, Boyhood, Youth

At a glance:

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