Tolstoy+by+Amy+Rhee

=Leo Tolstoy=

==Leo (Lev Nikolayevich) Tolstoy was born at Yasnaya Polyana on August 28, 1828, and died at at Astapovo, Russia, on November 20, 1910. He was the youngest of four sons. His mother died when he was two years old. In 1837, Tolstoy's father died, and an aunt, Alexandra Osten-Saken, became legal guardian of the children. He was a brilliant child. Tolstoy's habits on a lonely outpost consisted of hunting, drinking, sleeping, chasing the women, and occasionally fighting. Also, he was a great moral philosopher, a truth seeker, a deep religious thinker, and an anarchist who advised his followers not to support or vote for governments that used violence in order to enforce the law, not to serve their military service and not to recourse to courts for justice. As his beliefs were dramatically changing, and his existential despair deepened. He frantically searched for spiritual answers. He formed his own Christianity that was based on five simple tenets: live a life without anger, live a life without lust, avoid taking oaths and promises, love your enemies, and do no combat evil with evil. In 1843 he entered Kazan University. He switched two years later to studying law. Tolstoy left the university in 1847. Tolstoy returned to Yasnaya Polyana. Nikolay, Tolstoy's eldest brother, visited him at in 1848 while on leave from military service in the Caucasus. He asked him to join him in the south, Tolstoy agreed. After a long journey, he reached the mountains of the Caucasus, where he sought to join the army as a Junker, or gentleman-volunteer. During the long lulls he first began to write. He wrote many novels. In September 1862, Tolstoy married Sofya Andreyevna Bers (or Behrs), a woman sixteen years younger than himself. In June 1863 his wife had the first of their thirteen children. Tolstoy's family continued to grow, and his royalties (money earned from sales) were making him an extremely rich man. Later, he determined to become a model farmer. During this time he first began making amazingly honest diary entries, a practice he maintained until his death. His famous writings are War and Peace(1863-69), Anna Karenina (1873-79), Conversion (1879) and His last novel Voskresenia (Resurrection) (1899).== [|source # 1] [|souce #2] [|souce #3] [|souce #4]