COUNT LEO TOLSTOY (1828-1910) was born in central Russia. After serving in the Crimean War, he retired to his estate and devoted himself to writing, farming, and raising his large family. His novels and outspoken social polemics brought him world fame.

COUNT LEO TOLSTOY (1828-1910) was born in central Russia. After serving in the Crimean War, he retired to his estate and devoted himself to writing, farming, and raising his large family. His novels and outspoken social polemics brought him world fame.

ANDREW KAHN is a professor of Russian literature at Oxford University and the author of P ushkin's Lyric Intelligence and * Mandelstam's Worlds,*and co-author ofA History of Russian Literature .