Lev Tolstoy and the Romantic Tradition of Russian Education

Abstract

Although most western readers are well-acquainted with the historical War and Peace and the moral Anna Karenia works of Tolstoy, few are aware of his literary efforts connected with the nature of the educative process. Tolstoy, like many of the "enlightened" members of the Russian intelligentsia, was vitally interested in education not only as a self-liberating force in a world of confusion and indifference, but also as an instrument of hope that would fore a better future for the Russian Empire.