The making of the man

After dropping out of university Leo Tolstoy finds it hard to settle down. He can’t decide whether to live in the city or the country, or whether to strive for self perfection or embrace the idleness of the aristocratic class he was born into.

As with many young men of his social status and connections he drifts into the military, following his brother Nicholas. It is then that the writer is born, with his work acclaimed from the outset. This success immediately gives him contacts across Europe, which he visits for an extended time twice.

Thus he leaves his home and family as a rudderless young man and returns back into the arms of the literary world, although it is not necessarily a place where he fits comfortably.

Education
Off to war
Early literary recognition
In the frontline
Home from the war
First trip to Europe
Another brother dies