Other editions of book Boyhood

Boyhood in Russian, Отрочество or Otrochestvo is the 2nd book in Leo Tolstoy's autobiographical trilogy, next to Childhood and comes after Youth. The autobiography was first produced in the Russian literary journal Sovremennik in 1854. Boyhood comprises these stories: A Slow Journey; The Thunderstorm; A New Point of View; In Moscow; My Elder Brother; Masha; and Small Shot. Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy simply known as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian author who is deemed as among the best writers in history. Leo then had an intellectual principled confrontation, ensued by what he thought as a paralleled exhaustive religious enlivening, as summarized in his non-fiction writing A Confession. His literal apprehension of the righteous canons of Jesus, concentrating on the Sermon on the Mount, resulted him to be a devout Christian anarchist and pacifist. His notions on peaceable intransigence, revealed in his writings including The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have an enlightened influence on the climactic 20th century personages as Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and James Bevel. Leo also was a devoted supporter of Georgism, the industrial ideology of Henry George, which he integrated in his work, specifically Resurrection. Some of the authors expressed their admiration for Leo such as Gustave Flaubert, "What an artist and what a psychologist!" Anton Chekhov, "When literature possesses a Tolstoy, it is easy and pleasant to be a writer; even when you know you have achieved nothing yourself and are still achieving nothing, this is not as terrible as it might otherwise be, because Tolstoy achieves for everyone. What he does serves to justify all the hopes and aspirations invested in literature." The 19th century English poet and critic Matthew Arnold remarked that "a novel by Tolstoy is not a work of art but a piece of life".

Boyhood I. A SLOW JOURNEY Again two carriages stood at the front door of the house at Petrovskoe. In one of them sat Mimi, the two girls, and their maid, with the bailiff, Jakoff, on the box, while in the other--a britchka--sat Woloda, myself, and our servant Vassili. Papa, who was to follow us to Moscow in a few days, was standing bareheaded on the entrance-steps. He made the sign of the cross at the windows of the carriages, and said: “Christ go with you! Good-bye.” Jakoff and our coachman (for we had our own horses) lifted their caps in answer, and also made the sign of the cross. “Amen. God go with us!” The carriages began to roll away, and the birch-trees of the great avenue filed out of sight. I was not in the least depressed on this occasion, for my mind was not so much turned upon what I had left as upon what was awaiting me. In proportion as the various objects connected with the sad recollections which had recently filled my imagination receded behind me, those recollections lost their power, and gave place to a consolatory feeling of life, youthful vigour, freshness, and hope. Seldom have I spent four days more--well, I will not say gaily, since I should still have shrunk from appearing gay--but more agreeably and pleasantly than those occupied by our journey. No longer were my eyes confronted with the closed door of Mamma’s room (which I had never been able to pass without a pang), nor with the covered piano (which nobody opened now, and at which I could never look without trembling), nor with mourning dresses (we had each of us on our ordinary travelling clothes), nor with all those other objects which recalled to me so vividly our irreparable loss, and forced me to abstain from any man

A definitive translation of Tolstoy's early work. Leo Tolstoy began his trilogy, Childhood; Boyhood; Youth, in his early twenties. Although he would in his old age famously dismiss it as an 'awkward mixture of fact and fiction', generations of readers have not agreed, finding the novel to be a charming and insightful portrait of inner growth against the background of a world limned with extraordinary clarity, grace and color. Evident too in its brilliant account of a young person's emerging awareness of the world and of his place within it are many of the stances, techniques and themes that would come to full flower in the immortal War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and in the other great works of Tolstoy's maturity.

"Boyhood" is the second in Tolstoy's trilogy of three autobiographical novels, including "Childhood" and "Youth", published in a literary journal during the 1850s. It is a vibrant account of a young person’s emerging awareness of the world, himself, and the people around him, as described through the eyes of Nikolenka. Themes of shyness, self-image and self-improvement permeate the book, yet we are also exposed to a young Tolstoy’s wider descriptions of nature, art and the workings of the world

A tender, sensitive book, and partly autobiographical. Tolstoy had a difficult childhood, and at this time in his life, after seeing the Crimean War, and having been through so much - a difficult childhood, with both parents dying young, we see both the intense frustration he has with the world, but also his sensitivity and goodness - his ability to understand people, which so colors the rest of his work. It is partly his own life shown here, but also the childhood he wished he had.

Leo Tolstoy began his trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood, Youth, in his early twenties. Although he would in his old age famously dismiss it as an ‘awkward mixture of fact and fiction’, generations of readers have not agreed, finding the novel to be a charming and insightful portrait of inner growth against the background of a world limned with extraordinary clarity, grace and color. Evident too in its brilliant account of a young person’s emerging awareness of the world and of his place within it are many of the stances, techniques and themes that would come to full flower in the immortal War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and in the other great works of Tolstoy’s maturity.

The first published novel by Leo Tolstoy released in November 1852. It is the first in a series of three novels and is followed by Boyhood and Youth. Published when Tolstoy was just twenty-three years old, the book was an immediate success, earning notice from other Russian novelists including Ivan Turgenev, who heralded the young Tolstoy as a major up-and-coming figure in Russian literature. Well-worth reading if you are interested in 19th century literature.