Acknowledgements Map of European Russia (early twentieth century) and list of Russian geographical names Selected Genealogy Foreword by Vladimir Il’ich Tolstoy From the Editor XXIII From the Translators Chronological list of letters 1862–1910 Editor’s Introduction: Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy & Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya: A dialogue between two independently minded kindred spirits Part I: Letters 1862–1879 Part II: Letters 1880–1888 Part III: Letters 1889–1910 Part IV: Eleven unpublished letters (1864–1905) Bibliography Selected Chronology List of Periodical Titles with their English equivalents Index of Works by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya Index of Names
Andrew Donskov, member of the Royal Society of Canada, is Distinguished Professor at the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures of the University of Ottawa. His research focuses on Russian theatre and drama during the nineteenth century, Russian peasant literature, the Doukhobors, and the literary career of Leo Tolstoy. He received the Tolstoy Medal for Distinguished Contributions to Tolstoy Studies, awarded by the L.N. Tolstoy Museum in Moscow, in 2015.
Andrew Donskov and his team based at the University of Ottawa have
just produced a new gem (...) The volume also includes a wealth of
contextualizing information—from detailed family trees and a list
of Russian geographical names to a lengthy introduction by the
editor, photographs of the Tolstoy family, a chronology and
detailed index. The editors have done everything they can to make
the book both broadly accessible and also of interest to experts.
It succeeds in both of these tasks. As a Tolstoy scholar well
versed in the vicissitudes of his life and thought, and as a human
being who cares about questions of love and intimacy, I found it
illuminating and at times heart-wrenching to immerse myself in this
correspondence. It brings to life both the writers and their
intense relationship. Even the many letters I had read before took
on a new meaning when placed in the context of this greater
dialogue.
*Literary Review of Canada*
There are elements in their relationship that are so very
universal, particularly the weighing and measuring and comparing of
the contributions of each of the spouses to the union and to the
household. It is refreshing to have this unvarnished,
un-romanticized window on the relationship of such a famous and
fascinating couple. It is almost literary voyeurism. Imagine
having one's own relationship laid bare for public consumption in
this way.
*Gerald Dust*
The Tolstoys had things to say — to each other and to the world.
And because that communication was written down in the form of
letters to each other, it is possible to compile their thoughts
into a book. (...) It is a companion book to [Andrew Donskov]
earlier, highly regarded collection of Sofia Tolstoy’s memoirs
called My Life, published in 2010. Donskov is a distinguished
professor of languages at the University of Ottawa and a respected
expert on Tolstoy and his wife.
*Artsfile*
It is a treasure! (...) such a fine volume. It will
stand for ages as the book in its field.
*David Staines*
So how did the written memoirs of Tolstoy's indomitable wife, Sofia
Tolstaya (the Russian feminine version of Tolstoy), one of the most
important and anticipated works in modern Tolstoy scholarship, land
at a university press in Canada's capital city? As with most things
in academia, it involves an almost obsessive love of the subject,
and lots of time. (...) To publish on Tolstoy you need
permission from one of the two directors. Or, as
[Andrew] Donskov jokingly puts it: "The only way to get
something from Russians is to know them." (...) When
Tolstaya's memoirs were scheduled to be printed in Russia as a
coffee-table book, Donskov was entrusted with creating the full
scholarly edition, as well as the obligation to treat the material
as seriously as it deserved.
*"How a Canadian University nabbed the rights to the memoirs of
Tolstoy's wife"*
Tolstoy and Tolstaya: A Portrait of a Life in Letters offers 239 of
more than 1500 letters the couple wrote to each other in the
decades ahead, as Tolstoy became a celebrated author and Sonya his
respected wife. It's a weigthy, fluently translated book of 400
large-format pages, a solemn product of serious scholarship,
announcing itself, a little self-righteously, as an important tool
for future Tolstoy studies.
*Vol.40, No.8, “No Company, No Carpets”*
This is truly a magisterial book: a welcome and valuable addition
to the library of any Tolstoy scholar and to those interested in
the life and works of Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya.
*62.1 (Spring 2018)*
"Tolstoy and Tolstoya includes the letters Sofia and Lev wrote
to each other (...) not without occasional arguments and indeed
fierce fights, deaths of children, and problems with peasants."
*“The Resident and The Stranger”*
"Andrew Donskov and his team based at the University of Ottawa have
just produced a new gem: a collection of the correspondence between
the Tolstoys from their courtship in the early 1860s through to
Tolstaya's last unsent letter on the eve of her husband's death.
(...) Tolstoy and Tolstaya: A Portrait of a Life in Letters is the
epistolary novel of one of the world's greatest literary couples.
And for the first time, both have an equal voice."
*Anna A. Berman*
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