Get Tolstoy confident with our new course

Our latest release in the Idler Academy is “The Life and Work of Tolstoy” with A.N. Wilson. Take the course and you’ll feel like an expert on 19th century Russian history and literature.

As the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy looms large in the Western canon of literature.

From his time spent as a young soldier in the Crimean War, to becoming a campaigner, Christian anarchist, and inspiration to Gandhi, this illuminating, witty and accessible course guides you through the pivotal moments and crises of Tolstoy’s life.

In A.N. Wilson’s six fascinating, witty and accessible talks, you will learn about Tolstoy’s life chronologically. You’ll learn about his childhood in a country estate and how his upbringing there affected his ideas, his work, and indeed the rest of the world. You’ll see how he was a radical ahead of his time, working tirelessly to make the world better for the poor.

Finally, you will see his impact on Russia, and how his work and philosophy may have played a part in the Revolution, coming just seven years after his death.

Your brilliant teacher is A.N. Wilson, whose biography of Tolstoy won the Whitbread Award for best biography. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his work.

Available to all Idler Academy members. Click here to read more or take the course.

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