Boyhood (1854) is a novel by Leo Tolstoy. Published at the beginning
of his career as a leading Russian author of his generation, Boyhood
is the second in a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels tracing
Nikolenka's journey from innocence to experience. As a record of the
past, a nostalgic reminder of a lost world, Boyhood is one of Tolstoy's
most personal works, and yet his prose shows signs of the universal
religious and philosophical themes that would inspire such masterpieces
as War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877). A story of life
and death, love and grief, Boyhood is an invaluable treasure of
Russian literature. "No longer were my eyes confronted with the closed
door of Mamma's room (which I had never been able to pass without a
pang), nor with the covered piano (which nobody opened now, and at which
I could never look without trembling), nor with mourning dresses (we had
each of us on our ordinary travelling clothes), nor with all those other
objects which recalled to me so vividly our irreparable loss, and forced
me to abstain from any manifestation of merriment lest I should
unwittingly offend against her memory." Following the death of his
beloved mother, Nikolenka is forced to adjust to a world grown
unbearably cold. As though the grief were not enough, he must also
overcome his own feelings of loneliness and uncertainty, as well as his
hatred of his new French tutor. As his story unfolds, we see him
experience love, grief, and anger for the first time in his life,
returning us for a brief moment to our own childhoods, the bittersweet
memories of good and bad things that can never return. Praised for its
expressionistic style and meditative prose, Boyhood won Tolstoy the
attention of Russia's literary elite, launching his career as one of the
nineteenth century's most influential artists. With a beautifully
designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of
Leo Tolstoy's Boyhood is a classic work of Russian literature
reimagined for modern readers.
