Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Tolstoy And Clio: An Exploration In Historiography Through Literature, David Wiles

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper explores issues in historiography and history as reflected in some of the literary and didactic works of Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910). An artist of eternal merit, Tolstoy's creativity manifests his intense personal, artistic, and philosophical conflicts. In addressing the 'accursed questions' afflicting his times and society, Tolstoy became the muse of nineteenth-century Russia, but his works embody essential themes in historiography, literature, and history. Attempting to impose a unitary vision upon the rich diversity of reality, yet failing, in his literary works Tolstoy explores the inaccessibility and multiplicity of historical causation, and the dilemmas of freedom and necessity, along …