The Journal of Leo Tolstoy - Volume I

This first volume of Tolstoy's journal covers the years 1895 to 1899, a period of intense creative and spiritual activity. During these years Tolstoy worked on Resurrection, Hadji Murad, Father Sergius, and his landmark essay What Is Art? — all while grappling with profound questions about consciousness, morality, violence, and the nature of God.

The journal oscillates between intimate daily observations — visitors, horseback rides, family tensions, illness — and extended philosophical meditations that he numbered like axioms. It is at once a private record of a turbulent household and a spiritual laboratory where some of the most radical ideas of the twentieth century were first tested.

Translated by Rose Strunsky, with explanatory notes by V. G. Chertkov, Tolstoy's designated literary executor. First published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1917.