Chapter 30 - America

Summary

From the mid-1880s until his death in 1910, Tolstoy maintained close ties with Americans. He received about 2,500 letters from them and numerous books and periodicals, and thus became acquainted with those American writers, philosophers, and public figures who were near to him in spirit. For Tolstoy, the United States was “the most sympathetic country.” Tolstoy discovered America for himself, but America, in turn, discovered Tolstoy for itself. Many publishers brought out his works; literary magazines competed for his novels and philosophical and religious tracts. On June 21, 1900, Tolstoy addressed the American people. Tolstoy expressed his gratitude for the enormous help he received from American writers who flourished in the 1850s. He wrote about “a brilliant galaxy” of writers “of the kind one rarely encounters in world literature.” American utopia in literary and documentary texts had an impact on Leo Tolstoy’s ideas and literature. Tolstoy had a special interest in American religious communities in part because of his interest in writing an essay “About 1000 Faiths.” Inspired by Tolstoy’s ideas, American pilgrims journeyed to Yasnaya Polyana. In the words of the journalist Lucy Mallory, Tolstoy “became immortal in his own lifetime.”