1886. Russian author, considered one of the greatest of all novelists. Tolstoy's major works include War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Childhood is the first part of Tolstoy's first novel, which won immediate praise from Turgenev and others, and established him as a major writer. Its originality was striking, as Tolstoy sought to communicate with great immediacy the poetry of childhood-the intense emotions, confusions, and fears attendant upon a young boy, Nikolenka, as he grows up. In the years following, Boyhood and Youth appeared, each replete with psychological and philosophical subtleties hitherto unknown in Russian literature. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.