Famous people who were fans of Leo Tolstoy

Gustave Flaubert – ecstatic when he read War and Peace.

French writer Gustave Flaubert

Ivan Turgenev – who did a lot to popularize Russian literature in Europe – sent a translation of Tolstoy's epic novel to the French author. And in a letter to Tolstoy, Turgenev passed on Flaubert's remarks about the novel:

"It's a first-rate work! What an artist and what a psychologist! The first two volumes are sublime," wrote Flaubert. "It seems to me worthy of Shakespeare!. At times I exclaimed with delight as I was reading it, and it's a long read! Yes, it is very good! Very good indeed!"

Incidentally, Tolstoy himself had been greatly influenced by Flaubert's Madame Bovary and many critics later found echoes of it in Anna Karenina.

Theodore Dreiser – became a writer thanks to Tolstoy

American writer Theodore Dreiser

American writer Theodore Dreiser believed that Tolstoy's enduring greatness lay not in his social and moral theories but in his novels. It was in these, more than anywhere else, that Tolstoy's enormous humanity and striving for a better life for everyone was manifest – this is what the American novelist wrote in an article marking the 100th anniversary of the Russian writer's birth in 1928.

In addition, in Dawn, which is his autobiographical book that focuses on his youth, Dreiser confessed that he was particularly influenced by Tolstoy's later works - The Kreutzer Sonata and The Death of Ivan Ilyich.

"I was so astounded and thrilled by the pictures of life they presented that it suddenly occurred to me - almost as a new thought - that it would be a wonderful thing to be a novelist. If a man could write like Tolstoy and have all the world listen to him!"

Thomas Mann – a true admirer

German writer Thomas Mann

According to Mann's Russian translator, Solomon Apt, the German writer gravitated towards Chekhov in his mature years, but Tolstoy was the "idol of his youth".

"The world has possibly not known another artist in whom the eternal-epic, Homeric tradition was so strong as it was in Tolstoy," Mann wrote in an article on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Tolstoy's birth.

"The pure narrative power of his work is unequaled," Mann says. He compares the moral power of Tolstoy's work to the straining muscles of Michelangelo's Atlas Slave.

The German writer even conjectures that World War I might never have started in 1914 "if the keen, shrewd grey eyes of that old man at Yasnaya Polyana had still been open to the world.” Tolstoy belongs to the great era of the 19th century: "a titan whose shoulders did not bend under the weight of an epic burden that could have crushed the members of the present anemic and asthmatic generation."

Mahatma Gandhi – "humble follower" of Tolstoy

Indian thinker and politician Mahatma Gandhi

The Indian thinker had a lively correspondence with Tolstoy. Gandhi wrote to Tolstoy first, telling him that his books had left a profound mark on his personal worldview and philosophy. He also sent Tolstoy translations of his works: "...needless to say I shall value your criticism of the writing.'' In his letters, he later refered to himself as "a humble follower of yours".

Gandhi's doctrine of passive, non-violent resistance was in part inspired by Tolstoy and his idea of "non-resistance to evil by force".

In his autobiography, Gandhi admits that his first time reading Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You had "overwhelmed" him so much that other books when compared with the "independent thinking, profound morality, and the truthfulness of [Tolstoy]... seemed to pale into insignificance”. In his writings, Gandhi frequently cited Tolstoy as a "supreme moral authority".

Thomas Edison – wanted to immortalize Tolstoy's words

American engineer and inventor Thomas Edison

In 1908, the inventor of the phonograph sent a letter from New York to Yasnaya Polyana. He asked for Tolstoy's approval and cooperation to make a recording of his voice in English and French. Edison promised to send him the equipment along with his assistants.

"Your fame is worldwide and I am sure that a message from you would be eagerly received by millions of people, who could not help from being impressed with the intimate personality of your own words, which through this medium would be preserved for all time."

And so it happened: In 1909, representatives of the International Graphophone Company recorded Tolstoy's voice in Russian, English, French and German. The recording machine itself was left as a gift to Tolstoy, who developed a great enthusiasm for recordings and dictated stories for children and wise pronouncements.

Romain Rolland – Tolstoy is everything to us

French writer Romain Rolland

In an article about Tolstoy, Rolland assigns the Russian writer a special place in world cultural life. "Never before had such a voice sounded in Europe… It was not enough for us to admire Tolstoy's creativity: We lived it, it belonged to us. It was ours with its burning vitality and its youthfulness of heart... Ours with its withering exposure to the impostures of civilization."

Rolland admitted that Tolstoy had also exercised a profound influence on him personally. "To the end of my days I shall be faithful and grateful to the master of the epic narrative War and Peace and the author of popular tales and stories. He has a place in my heart alongside Shakespeare, Goethe and Beethoven," Rolland wrote to the Bulgarian critic Rusin Filipov.

Orhan Pamuk – has read Anna Karenina ragged

Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk

"In my view, Anna Karenina is the best novel ever written." These are the words of the Turkish writer and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (2006) when he spoke in Moscow in February 2017 on the occasion of the presentation of the Yasnaya Polyana literary award.

Pamuk has read Anna Karenina numerous times, and confesses that he knows it almost by heart. He teaches the book to his students at Columbia University. "I like the scene where Oblonsky has dinner with Levin in a restaurant. I have reread it many times: It comes across as so true to life and sounds so natural and uncontrived."

Pamuk regards Tolstoy as the gold standard of world literature. "He gives us an idea of what life is about and teaches what is important in life." Pamuk particularly notes that Tolstoy instills his novels with higher values.

Yiyun Li – spent the entire Covid pandemic with Tolstoy

American writer Yiyun Li

In March 2020, at the very start of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, the American writer Yiyun Li decided to launch a project that involved the collective online reading and discussion of War and Peace. Li and her online listeners from around the world spent 85 days in Tolstoy's company; they left their impressions in social media under the hashtag #TolstoyTogether. 

For many, it was an opportunity to read the legendary novel for the first time, while Li, it turns out, rereads the novel every year! "I have found that the more uncertain life is, the more solidity and structure Tolstoy’s novels provide," the writer says. And in 2021 she repeated the project.