Chapter II: Preface: v

NOTE ON PRONUNCIATION OF RUSSIAN NAMES xiii

I. ANCESTRY AND PARENTAGE 1

II. YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD 16

III. THE CAUCASUS 59

IV. THE CRIMEAN WAR 93

V. PETERSBURG; LOVE AFFAIR; DROUZHÍNIN 138

VI. TRAVELS ABROAD 166

VII. AT YÁSNAYA AGAIN; TOURGÉNEF; ARBITER; MAGAZINE 214

VIII. THE SCHOOL 246

IX. MARRIAGE 282

X. NEARING THE CRISIS 329

XI. CONFESSION 399

XII. WORKS: 1852-1878 427

CHRONOLOGY 450

INDEX 457

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PORTRAIT OF TOLSTOY WHEN COMMENCING _Anna Karénina_,
1873. By Kramskóy _Frontispiece_

_Facing page_

TOLSTOY IN 1848, AFTER LEAVING THE UNIVERSITY 48

MAP OF SEVASTOPOL 113

PROMINENT RUSSIAN WRITERS, 1856: TOURGÉNEF, SOLOGOÚB,
TOLSTOY, NEKRÁSOF, GRIGORÓVITCH, AND PANÁEF 142

TOLSTOY IN 1856, THE YEAR HE LEFT THE ARMY 152

TOLSTOY IN 1860, THE YEAR HIS BROTHER NICHOLAS DIED 200

TOLSTOY IN 1862, THE YEAR OF HIS MARRIAGE 290

TOLSTOY'S LIBRARY, SHOWING THE WOODEN CROSSPIECE FROM
WHICH HE WISHED TO HANG HIMSELF 402

NOTE ON PRONUNCIATION OF
RUSSIAN NAMES

The spelling of Russian names in Latin letters in a work of this kind, presents great difficulties. To begin with, we have as yet (though it is much needed) no accepted method of transliteration from Russian into English; and though it is not difficult for any one to frame or select his own system of transliteration--as I have done for my translations--this does not entirely meet the case when one has to deal with the names of people, many of whom have adopted a spelling of their own.

On the one hand, a man has a right to decide how he will have his own name spelt; but on the other hand, the inclusion of a dozen different systems of transliteration in one book, is apt to create confusion.

I have had to do the best I could under the circumstances. To pronounce the names correctly, in accord with the system of transliteration I have adopted, the reader should note the following:

I. Lay stress on the syllable marked with an accent.

II. Vowel sounds are broad and open:

_a_ as in f_a_ther.
_e_ as _a_ in f_a_te.

But _e_ initial and unaccented is pronounced _ye_.

_i_ as _ee_ in m_ee_t.
_o_ as in l_o_ch.
_u_ as _you_.

In diphthongs the broad sounds are retained:

_ou_ as _oo_ in b_oo_t.
_ya_ as in _ya_rd.
_ye_ as in _ye_s.
_yo_ as in _yo_re.
_ay_ as _eye_.
_ey_ as in th_ey_.
_oy_ as in b_oy_.

III. _y_ with a vowel forms a diphthong; _y_ at the end of a
word, after a consonant, sounds something like _ie_ in hyg_ie_ne.

IV. Consonants:

_G_ is hard, as in _g_o.
_Zh_ is like _z_ in a_z_ure.
_R_ is sounded strongly, as in _r_ough, ba_rr_en.
_S_ is sharp, as in _s_eat, pa_ss_.

Where I know of a spelling deliberately adopted by the owner of a name, I have felt bound to follow it. For instance, the name which under my system of transliteration I should have spelt 'Suhotín,' appears in the book as Soohoteén, but in such cases, on the first occasion on which the name occurs, I have given my usual transliteration in square brackets.

I hope the day is not distant when some system will be generally agreed upon in this matter. Any system would be better than the present anarchy.