A survey of the writer's principal artistic works, treated in relation to his life and to developments in Russian and European literature. Extensive outside reading required for this course.

Leo Tolstoy, the principal force behind Russia's 19th century prose tradition, was a man of many natures. An aristocrat, he aspired to give up his lifestyle of privilege in favor of tilling and sowing alongside his peasants. Once a fearless officer, he became a pacifist. A hedonist, he fathered at least 13 children before taking up the causes of celibacy and vegetarianism. Unsurprisingly, issues of the body occupy a major place in Tolstoy's writing: childbirth and maternity, disease and death, lust and abstinence, bodies of war and labor are shown in Tolstoy's works through the prisms of conflicting traditions and ideologies. Students will address these issues, reading fiction from various phases of Tolstoy's monumental career: short stories, diary entries, "Anna Karenina" and "Hadji Murat". We will consider his representations of the human body in the context of the literary trends of his day: realism, naturalism, and decadence. All the texts will be presented in English Translation

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills