Leo Tolstoy was the Russian writer who influenced Mahatma Gandhi through the Letter to a Hindu, prompting Gandhi to him to ask for advice and permission to reprint the letter in his own newspaper in South Africa. Readers all over the world were inspired by not only his idea of love among the people which could gain freedom but also his masterpieces like War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Death of Ivan Ilych. With a complex array of characters that represented the milieu of Russia and its literature to the people across the world.
Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828. His first published work was Childhood which was published in a journal named The Contemporary. This was followed by Boyhood and Youth making it an autobiographical trilogy. He wrote his first great novel, War and Peace in the 1860’s. In 1873, he went on to write Anna Karenina. He continued to write fiction in the late years. Tolstoy died on November 20, 1910.
