The
Tragedy of Tolstoy
This biography of her father by Aleksandra Tolstaya, published in
1933, gives a first-hand view of the last years of Tolstoy's life.
Aleksandra's bitterness toward her mother allows the reader to
experience the family conflict from the inside.
Lev
Tolstoy: His Life and Workby Pavel Biryukov. This is the
first of a two-volume biography of Tolstoy, written with Tolstoy's
cooperation by his former secretary.
William
Dean Howells on Tolstoy - from My Literary Passions, 1895 There are plenty of
novelists to tell you that their characters felt and thought so and
so, but you have to take it on trust; Tolstoy alone makes you know how
and why it was so with them and not otherwise.