Profile of the Day: Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy

On this day in 1910, author Leo Tolstoy passed away in Astapovo, Russia at the age of 82.

Tolstoy was born at his family estate at Yasnaya Poyana, southwest of Tula, Russia. He came from a well-known family of old Russian nobility. His father, Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, was a veteran of the Patriotic War of 1812. As a child, he experienced much loss. After his mother and father passed away, he and his siblings were sent to live with an aunt, who also passed away a short time later. The children were then sent to live with other relatives. Despite the loss he experienced, Tolstoy came to idealize his childhood memories in his fictional works.

Considered one of the greatest writers of all time, Tolstoy is best remembered for his novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, which have both been hailed as masterpieces in literature.

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Image: Library of Congress