'Childhood', 'Boyhood' and 'Youth': An Autobiographical Trilogy Paperback – December 23, 2016

Another great book from Tolstoy . This is like a autobiography of the writers early years . Can't get enough of Russia's greatest writer !!!

Extremely interesting account of his early life which was similar to Nabokov's wealthy parents.They both received unmatched education bytoday's standards . It produced two of theworlds geniuses

I read the Kindle edition from the collected works of Tolstoy, with the translation by C.J.Hogarth. I have yet to read "War and Peace," but I have been very fond of Tolstoy's later works, the moralistic tales and short novellas, and I have tackled "Anna Karenina." The earlier work I had read was the Penguin edition of "The Cossacks." Having enjoyed that, I was pleased to read this first of Tolstoy's novels. I was not disappointed.They are a series of three semi-autobiographical but fictional accounts begun when the Author was 23, having flunked out of university due to the distractions available to a wealthy youth whose parents had died in his childhood. The circumstances described in this trilogy about the coming of age of "Nicholas" parallel many in Tolstoy's own life, such as the loss of a mother, having to move in with relatives, a distant father, the influence of a worldly brother, the father's gambling habit (which reflected the Author's experience rather than his father's), and the lack of seriousness in university due to the concern to impress peers more than professors.The realism, a combination of detail and limited (or I should say "disciplined") perspective, carried me back into various scenes again and again. The childhood section in particular evoked memory of similar experiences, of the narrowed focus, the growing understanding, the child's concrete experience of mother and father, the wonder of the new. While this gift of evoking similar experiences brought pleasure in childhood, it brought pain in the third section, "Youth." The arrogance of those with a little knowledge, the absurdity of illusion that marks the transition of many of us in the time of adolescence was painfully set forth.Like Shakespeare, Tolstoy has a gift, exhibited in these earliest of his works, of sketching minor characters briefly but with depth. The plight of servants like Karl Ivanitch, a German who serves as tutor for years and is then dismissed due to changes following the mother's death, is particularly moving in itself as well as proving a window into Nicholas' realization of the tragic aspects of life. It recalled to me the story of the Gautama's youth as a prince sheltered from tragedy by his parents, but whose discovery of death, poverty and old age led to the spiritual quest culminating in his enlightenment as the Buddha.The reason I did not give this the highest rating is because of a lack of plot development. It is more of an idyll than a story on the whole, a journey to observe the country rather than one with a clear destination. The journey is worthwhile, not only evoking experiences one will resonate with, but also in portraying life in 19th Century Russia, which we discover as Nicholas discovers it growing up in it without reference to an alternative. Thus we accept it with wonder rather than evaluate it by comparison. This is literature that carries one into another time and place, one of the glories of great writing.

Tolstoy's writing is THE BEST because it is truthful and real. I love anything by him.

I found the childhood memories to be the strongest as Tolstoy’s pseudonym recounts growing up in the nobility, early education, and he relationships within his family. The latter potions of general teenage angst didn’t resonante as much. As a point of comparison I find “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” as a more interesting account of a youthful writer.

These books are fiction in the form of autobiography. The first was Leo Tolstoy's initial published work. Since the age of nineteen, the introduction notes, he had wanted to be an author in order to get to know himself. As the story begins, it is learned that the narrator, Nikolai, and his brother are to go to Moscow with their father to continue their education. The tutor, Karl Ivanych, contrives to have himself included in the move. Playing Robinson to the children means performing scenes from THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON and this is described. The father of the family, Piotr Alexandrych, is enterprising and chivalrous Nikolai avers.In the first thirty-eight pages everything is here-- the serfs, a hunt scene, the monetary issues regarding the management of the estate, the matrimonial fortune brought to Piotr Alexandrych and the need to segregate those funds, the tutor from Germany, the use of the French language, the family retainer, the holy fool. The boys are called home from Moscow because their mother is ill. She had not left her room in six days and dies in dreadful agony. CHILDHOOD was completed in 1852.BOYHOOD commences with a description of a journey during a thunder storm. One of the servants has been appointed the alms-giver. In Moscow the family lives with the maternal grandmother. After the mourning period-- it lasts a year-- visitors are received. Nikolai gets into trouble as he fantasizes that unlike his brother, Volodya, and his sister, Lyuba, he is adopted. The tutor, St.-Jerome, Karl's successor, does not wish to remain at his post for reason of Nikky's misbehavior. Volodya, a year and some months older than Nikki, is sent to the university. University students wear uniforms. The grandmother dies, leaving everything to Lyuba in her will. Nikki prepares for the Faculty of Mathematics because, he claims, he likes words such as sine, tangent differential. The novela was completed in 1854.YOUTH opens with the friendship of the narrator and Dmitri. He is nearly sixteen and it is the year he enters the university. The plan is for the brothers to stay in Moscow near the university while Lyuba and her father travel to Italy for a couple of years. In the absence of the mother and the grandmother, dinner is no longer ceremonial. It is no longer a joyous family festival. The narrator, Nikolai Petrovich, fears being snubbed. After he passes his university entrance exams, his father assigns specific horses for his use, there is a dinner celebrating the event, and he is compelled to make a number of formal visits. At the visit to Dmitri's family, the Nekhlyudovs, ROB ROY is being read aloud.During the summer Nikolai plays the piano, (both brothers have become interested in girls). He also reads French novels. The author devotes an entire chapter to the concept comme il faut. The father remarries. Nikolai fails his first exam. YOUTH was completed in 1857. It is clear that the short novels were preparation for the author's subsequent masterpieces, ANNA KARENINA and WAR AND PEACE.

I don't understand why this book had to be huge, literally A4 size. It's annoying.

Old, soiled 2nd hand copy sold.

Early Tolstoy already give clear indications of his literary genius. This trilogy shows deep psychological insights and a keen sociological insight. The allusions to the natural world are illuminating. Does the writing manifest covert autobiography? The translation is impeccable; and the notes were most helpful.

以前に岩波文庫で読んでいて、ぜひとも英訳で読んでみたいといろいろさがし、数年前に　Childhood, Boyhood, Youth (Oneworld Classics)　を購入。この英訳はとてもいいと思うのですが、活字がちょっと小さめです。そこでアマゾンで検索し、こちらの商品を発見しました。ペンギンのワールドクラシックスは、活字がとても読みやすくなっています。どうしようかと迷っていたとき、決め手になったのは本の大きさ。ここに表示されている　15.5 x 2.1 x 19.7 cm 　はふつうのペンギンブックスよりも２㎝以上も横幅が広いことになります。アメリカのアマゾンでも、インチ表示ですが、同じように横幅の広い変形でした。それならなおのこと読みやすいのではと注文しましたが、届いたのはいつものペンギンブックスと同じ大きさでした。これはアマゾンの表示ミスです。でもそんなところに文句をいう人もいないだろうし、ここは目をつぶって・・｡やはりPenguin classics のあたらしい版は、活字がとても読みやすい。こちらの翻訳も、まだ読んではいないのですが、ぱらぱらとみた限りとてもいい。内容のレビューにはなっていませんが、これから楽しんで少しずつ読んでいくところなので、そこのところはご容赦ください。おすすめできると思います。

My first experience of Tolstoy awesome