In Quest of Tolstoy - (Studies in Russian and Slavic Literatures, Cultures, and His) by Hugh McLean (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Lev Tolstoy has held the attention of mankind for well over a century. A supremely talented artist, whose novels and short stories continue to entrance readers all over the world, he was at the same time a fearless moral philosopher who explored and challenged the fundamental bases of human society--political, economic, legal, and cultural. Hugh McLean, Professor Emeritus of Russian literature at the University of California, Berkeley, has been studying and writing about Tolstoy for many years. In these essays he investigates some of the numerous puzzles and paradoxes in the Tolstoyan heritage, engaging both with Tolstoy the artist, author of those incomparable novels, and Tolstoy the thinker, who, from his impregnable outpost at Yasnaya Polyana, questioned the received ideas and beliefs of the whole civilized world. In two concluding essays, "Tolstoy beyond Tolstoy," McLean deals with the impact of Tolstoy on such diverse figures as Ernest Hemingway and Isaiah Berlin.

Review Quotes

"...[T]his book is an important contribution to Tolstoy studies and will be surely of interest not only to specialists in Tolstoy or Russian literature and culture but to the general reader as well, largely thanks to its accessible, unpretentious and engaging style... In addition to its scholarly, informative, and pragmatic value, McLean's book can be a source of genuine emotional and intellectual pleasure: one leaves it with a sense of having held an illuminating conversation with a very intelligent reader of Tolstoy and a passionate admirer of this great talent."--Valeria Sobol, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign "Slavic and East European Journal"

"Reading this collection convinces me that Professor McLean is the most modest, appreciative, and penetrating critic of Tolstoy I've ever read."--Bob Blaisdell, Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York "The Tolstoy Studies Journal"

"The volume is an invaluable companion both for readers of Tolstoy and for long-time fans of McLean's meticulous and thought-provoking work... Through his masterful command of Tolstoy's writings, McLean seems to lead the reader right into Tolstoy's mind."--Robin Feuer Miller, Brandeis University

About the Author

Hugh McLean (Ph.D. Harvard University) taught at Harvard, the University of Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley, where he is now Professor Emeritus. He is the author of Nikolai Leskov, the Man and His Art, and edited In the Shade of the Giant: Essays on Tolstoy