"Who, what am I?" : Tolstoy struggles to narrate the self / Irina Paperno.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Paperno, Irina, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910--Criticism and interpretation.

Tolstoy, Leo.

Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910.

Russian prose literature--19th century--History and criticism.

Russian prose literature.

Autobiography--Authorship.

Autobiography.

Identity (Psychology) in literature.

Self in literature.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

x, 229 pages ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Tolstoy stuggles to narrate the self

Place of Publication:

Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2014.

Summary:

"An account of Tolstoy's lifelong attempt to find adequate ways to represent the self, to probe its limits and, ultimately, to arrive at an identity not based on the bodily self and its accumulated life experience. This book guides readers through the voluminous, highly personal nonfiction writings that Tolstoy produced from the 1850s until his death in 1910"-- Publisher's Web site.

Contents:

Chapter 1. "So that I could easily read myself": Tolstoy's early diaries

Interlude: between personal documents and fiction

Chapter 2. "To tell one's faith is impossible... how to tell that which I live by. I'll tell you, all the same..." Tolstoy in his correspondence

Chapter 3. Tolstoys confession: what am I?

Chapter 4. "To write my life": Tolstoy tries, and fails, to produce a memoir or autobiography

Chapter 5. "What should we do then?": Tolstoy on self and other

Chapter 6. "I felt a completely new liberation from personality": Tolstoy's late diaries.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-221) and index.

ISBN:

9780801453342

0801453348

OCLC:

879583414