On The Trail Of Tolstoy

Tolstoy may have died 100 years ago, but the novelist excites more interest now than he ever has. Already this year Mexico and Cuba have organised book fairs dedicated to him. New translations of Anna Karenina will be published in four languages. A 100-volume collection of his works is about to be unveiled, and 22 works are to be translated into English. And The Last Station, an Oscar-nominated film about the last two years of the writer's life, has just opened. Numerous centenary celebrations are planned worldwide.

 

  

  

Strangely, though, in spite of many Russians' passion for his works, celebrations are being held everywhere but his own country. Here, as I've discovered in the past week, trying to learn about the writer in his home city, there are no Tolstoy trails, few English-speaking Tolstoy guides and no visitor information in languages other than Russian.