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Leo Tolstoy has been one of the greatest novelist of all times. He was born at Yasnaya Polyana lying in the Tula province. In the 18th century, Peter the Great bestowed on his ancestor the title of Count. In his early childhood Tolstoy lost his parents and therefore his relatives brought him up. Tolstoy studied at the Karzan University with law and oriental languages as his subjects but did not take the degree.
After returning back to Yasnaya Polyana he suffered from disease and debts. Although in 1851, he joined the army unit, he had started writing literary pieces from 1850 itself. In 1852 he wrote 'Childhood', 'Boyhood' in 1854 and 'Youth' in 1857.
'The Raid' which was an early publication of Tolstoy has some military relevance. He has described about the Chechen mountain tribesman and the military confrontation where his brother Nikolay also took part with his unit. After 50 years Tolstoy narrated his Caucasus experiences in his novel Hadji Murad in 1904. Tolstoy published textbooks and magazines on educational theory and practices, the knowledge of which he gathered from his Europe tour. He married Sonya Andreyaevna Behrs in 1862.
Tolstoy's major works include 'Anna Karenina' and 'War and Peace'. In War and Peace Tolstoy tries to opine that whatever happens is decided and determined beforehand. Anna Karenina is basically a tragedy which describes the life of a married woman in love to her tragic suicide. Hollywood has made films based on Anna Karenina a number of times. Tolstoy's last novel was Voskresenia in 1899. Leo Tolstoy became a moral leader and a sage in his later life. He was attacked by pneumonia and died on 7th November 1910.
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