Book Series Guide

Leo Tolstoy

Author guide

Leo Tolstoy Books in Order

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was a Russian writer whose career encompassed realist novels, novellas, short stories, plays, children's literature, educational works, memoir, religious philosophy, social criticism, and literary criticism. His major fiction includes War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Resurrection, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, The Kreutzer Sonata, and Hadji Murad. His later nonfiction developed a radical Christian ethic centered on nonviolence, moral responsibility, simplicity, and resistance to institutional authority.

novelnovellashort storydramanonfictionmemoirreligious writingsocial criticismchildren's literatureeducational writingliterary criticism

Catalog record updated .

Not sure where to begin?

Start with one of these

Cover of War and Peace

War and Peace

Tolstoy's central historical novel and the broadest introduction to his fiction.

Childhood

The natural starting point for his autobiographical trilogy and early development as a writer.

Cover of The Death of Ivan Ilyich

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

A concise, representative novella of Tolstoy's mature moral and psychological fiction.

Cover of A Confession

A Confession

The clearest entry point into Tolstoy's mature religious and philosophical writing.

Read in order

Books by series

trilogy · complete

Autobiographical Trilogy

Tolstoy's fictionalized trilogy tracing Nikolenka's development from childhood through youth.

Series guide →
  1. 1
    Childhood

    Book 1 · novel · 1852

  2. 2
    Boyhood

    Book 2 · novel · 1854

    "Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born at Yasnya Polyana, in Tula Province, fourth of five children. Tolstoy is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all novelists, particularly noted for his masterpieces War and Peace and Anna Karenina;…

  3. 3
    Youth

    Book 3 · novel · 1857

religious-treatise · complete

Religious Treatise in Four Parts

Tolstoy's interconnected religious-philosophical project comprising an autobiographical introduction, a critique of theology, a harmonized Gospel, and a statement of faith.

Series guide →
  1. 1
    A Confession

    Book 1 · memoir · 1884

    This work marks the author's movement from the pursuit of aesthetic ideals toward matters of religious and philosophical consequence. The poignant text describes Tolstoy's heartfelt reexamination of Christian orthodoxy and subsequent…

  2. 2
    A Critique of Dogmatic Theology

    Book 2 · nonfiction · 1882

  3. 3
    The Four Gospels Harmonized and Translated

    Book 3 · nonfiction · 1882

  4. 4
    What I Believe

    Book 4 · nonfiction · 1884

    See also [My Religion][1]; another translation of the same book. [1]: http://openlibrary.org/works/OL457778W/My_Religion

educational-series · complete

Tolstoy's School Books

Tolstoy's educational textbooks and reading collections prepared for peasant schools.

Series guide →
  1. 1
    ABC

    Book 1 · textbook · 1872

  2. 2
    New ABC

    Book 2 · textbook · 1875

  3. 3
    Russian Book for Reading

    Book 3 · short-story-collection · 1875

Outside the series

Bibliography by category

Novels (29)
  1. A Landowner's Morning

    novella · 1856

  2. Two Hussars

    novella · 1856

  3. Family Happiness

    novella · 1859

    Family Happiness is an 1859 novella written by Leo Tolstoy, first published in The Russian Messenger. The story concerns the love and marriage of a young girl, Mashechka (17 years old), and the much older Sergey Mikhaylych (36), an old…

  4. Polikushka

    novella · 1860

  5. The Cossacks

    novella · 1863

    "The Cossacks" by Leo Tolstoy (translated by Louise Maude, Aylmer Maude). Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to…

  6. War and Peace

    novel · 1869

    A stunning clothbound Hardcover Classics edition of Tolstoy’s great novel, one of the undisputed masterpieces of world literature. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

  7. Anna Karenina

    novel · 1878

    Described by William Faulkner as the best novel ever written and by Fyodor Dostoevsky as “flawless,” Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. Tragedy…

  8. The Death of Ivan Ilyich

    novella · 1886

    This satirical novella tells the story of the life and early death of a high court judge. Ivan Ilych is proud of his achievements and his status in society, despite his poor relations with his wife which renders his home life bleak and…

  9. The Gospel in Brief

    nonfiction · 1882

  10. What Shall We Do Then?

    nonfiction · 1886

  11. On Life

    nonfiction · 1887

    'On Life' and 'What is religion?' were published by the Fee Age Press in England; a publishing house set up to side-step the censorship of Tolstoy in Russia, and to give him an international voice. So what is life? 'Life is the sum of…

  12. Power and Liberty

    nonfiction · 1888

  13. Kholstomer

    novella · 1886

  14. Walk in the Light While There Is Light

    novella · 1888

  15. The Kingdom of God Is Within You

    nonfiction · 1893

    Banned in Russia, Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God Is Within You was deemed a threat to church and state. The culmination of a lifetime's thought, it espouses a commitment to Jesus's message of turning the other cheek. In a bold and original…

  16. The Kreutzer Sonata

    novella · 1889

    On comparing with the original Russian some English translations of Count Tolstoi's works, published both in this country and in England, I concluded that they were far from being accurate. The majority of them were retranslations from…

  17. What Is Art?

    nonfiction · 1897

    Marathi translation of the what is art?, English translation by Charles Johnston from Russian.

  18. Master and Man

    novella · 1895

    In this short story, a land owner named Vasili Andreevich Brekhunov takes along one of his peasants, Nikita, for a short journey to the house of the owner of a forest. He is impatient and wishes to get to the town more quickly 'for…

  19. The Christian Teaching

    nonfiction · 1898

  20. Resurrection

    novel · 1899

    Though Resurrection is much less widely known and honored than Tolstoy's earlier great novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, it still is infused with the Tolstoy magic. Many of its scenes seem not like fiction but like windows opening…

  21. What Is Religion?

    nonfiction · 1902

  22. The Forged Coupon

    novella · 1911

  23. A Cycle of Reading

    nonfiction-collection · 1906

  24. Thoughts of Wise Men

    nonfiction-collection · 1904

  25. For Every Day

    nonfiction-collection · 1909

  26. The Devil

    novella · 1911

    Leo Tolstoy is known for epic novels that brilliantly dissect society, but the novella The Devil may be the most personally revealing—and startling—fiction he ever wrote. He thought it so scandalous, in fact, that he hid the manuscript in…

  27. Father Sergius

    novella · 1912

    Vers l'annee 1840, St-Petersbourg fut bouleverse par un evenement dont tous resterent stupefaits: le beau prince Kassatski, chef de l'escadron d'elite du regiment des cuirassiers, futur aide de camp de l'empereur Nicolas 1er, etait alors…

  28. Hadji Murad

    novella · 1912

    Hadji Murad by Leo Tolstoy was published posthumously in 1912. In the novella, Tolstoy presents the rather fictionalized version of the last days of the Chechen rebel leader Murad who defected from his ranks and joined Russian forces.…

Nonfiction (1)
  1. Shakespeare and the Drama

    literary-criticism · 1909

Short fiction (15)
  1. The Raid

    short-story · 1852

  2. The Cutting of the Forest

    short-story · 1855

  3. Notes of a Billiard Marker

    short-story · 1855

  4. The Snowstorm

    short-story · 1856

  5. Lucerne

    short-story · 1857

  6. Albert

    short-story · 1858

  7. Three Deaths

    short-story · 1859

  8. Sevastopol Sketches

    short-story-collection · 1855

    In the Sevastopol Sketches, Leo Tolstoy evocatively recollects his experiences at the Siege of Sevastopol in 1854-1855, over the course of three short stories. Although the trio of tales which comprise the Sevastopol Sketches are…

  9. God Sees the Truth, But Waits

    short-story · 1872

  10. The Prisoner of the Caucasus

    short-story · 1872

  11. What Men Live By

    short-story · 1881

  12. Where Love Is, There God Is

    short-story · 1885

  13. Two Old Men

    short-story · 1885

  14. After the Ball

    short-story · 1903

  15. Alyosha the Pot

    short-story · 1905

Essays and speeches (14)
  1. Why Do Men Intoxicate Themselves?

    pamphlet · 1890

  2. Christianity and Patriotism

    pamphlet · 1894

  3. Patriotism and Government

    pamphlet · 1900

  4. The Slavery of Our Times

    pamphlet · 1900

    PREFACE. THE Author of this very practical treatise on Scotch Loch - Fishing desires clearly that it may be of use to all who had it. He does not pretend to have written anything new, but to have attempted to put what he has to say in as…

  5. Need It Be So?

    pamphlet · 1900

  6. The Only Means

    pamphlet · 1901

  7. Appeal to the Working People

    pamphlet · 1902

  8. Appeal to the Clergy

    pamphlet · 1902

  9. Bethink Yourselves!

    pamphlet · 1904

  10. A Great Iniquity

    pamphlet · 1905

  11. The End of the Age

    pamphlet · 1905

  12. The Meaning of the Russian Revolution

    pamphlet · 1907

  13. The Law of Violence and the Law of Love

    pamphlet · 1908

  14. The Inevitable Revolution

    pamphlet · 1909

Plays (6)
  1. The Power of Darkness

    play · 1886

    The central character is a peasant, Nikita, who seduces and abandons a young orphan girl Marinka; then the lovely Anisija murders her own husband to marry Nikita. He impregnates his new stepdaughter, then, under his wife's influence,…

  2. The First Distiller

    play · 1886

  3. The Fruits of Enlightenment

    play · 1889

  4. The Light Shines in Darkness

    play · 1911

  5. The Living Corpse

    play · 1911

  6. The Cause of It All

    play · 1910

Frequently asked questions about Leo Tolstoy

Who was Leo Tolstoy?

Leo Tolstoy, also known as Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, was a Russian novelist, short-story writer, moral philosopher, and social critic. He also served in the Caucasus and during the Crimean War.

Source: encyclopedia.com (opens in a new tab)

When and where was Leo Tolstoy born, and where did he die?

Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828, at Yasnaya Polyana in Tula province, Russia. He died on November 20, 1910, at Astapovo railway station after falling ill with pneumonia and was buried at Yasnaya Polyana.

Sources: encyclopedia.com (opens in a new tab)ypmuseum.ru (opens in a new tab)

What influenced Leo Tolstoy’s ideas and writing?

His thinking was shaped by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s ideas about human nature and society, his experiences in the Caucasus and Crimean War, and later his radical reading of the Sermon on the Mount. These influences contributed to his emphasis on moral responsibility, simplicity, and nonviolence.

Sources: encyclopedia.com (opens in a new tab)academic.oup.com (opens in a new tab)

Did Leo Tolstoy win a Nobel Prize?

No, Tolstoy was never a Nobel laureate. Nobel records show that he was nominated for both the Peace and Literature prizes, but the Nobel Prize organization lists him among nominees who were not awarded the prize.

Sources: nobelprize.org (opens in a new tab)nobelprize.org (opens in a new tab)

What is Leo Tolstoy’s legacy?

Tolstoy remains influential both as a major figure in world literature and as a thinker whose writings on nonviolence influenced Mohandas Gandhi and later peace movements. Yasnaya Polyana, where he was born and lived much of his life, is preserved as a museum and cultural center.

Sources: academic.oup.com (opens in a new tab)ypmuseum.ru (opens in a new tab)