Tolstoy

Or Tol·stoi

[tohl-stoi, tol-, tuhl-stoi]

noun

1. Leo or Lev Nikolaevich Count, 1828–1910, Russian novelist and social critic.

Tolstoy

/ ˈtɒlstɔɪ, talˈstɔj /

noun

1. Leo , Russian name Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy. 1828–1910, Russian novelist, short-story writer, and philosopher; author of the two monumental novels War and Peace (1865–69) and Anna Karenina (1875–77). Following a spiritual crisis in 1879, he adopted a form of Christianity based on a doctrine of nonresistance to evil

Other Word Forms

• Tolstoyan adjective
• Tolstoian adjective
• Tolstoyism noun
• Tolstoyist noun

Example Sentences

In an aphorism sometimes attributed to Leo Tolstoy, sometimes to John Gardner, all literature relies on one of two plots: A person goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.

From Salon

An impossible composer to pin down, Machover has written a traditional grand opera such as “Resurrection,” based on Tolstoy’s novel, and “Brain Opera,” which is just that, using electrodes on your noggin.

From Los Angeles Times

Wally Lamb has been likened to Joyce and Tolstoy.

From Los Angeles Times

The world of “Pachinko” is as complex as a Tolstoy novel, in which the fortunes of a family and the country where they struggle for love and money are tied in exhilarating ways.

From Los Angeles Times

The series begins with Isla offering a more profane version of the oft-quoted Tolstoy observation that all happy families are alike, but each unhappy one is unhappy in its own way.

From Los Angeles Times