Chapter 1: Tolstoy by Henri Troyat

Tolstoy is known as one of the best authors in history, yet one of his most famous quotes is him stating "Literature is rubbish" on the level of Nietzsche's "God is dead." He was the physical form of contradictions, an aristocrat addressing poverty and the peasant life, speaking of them as virtues. This novel is a biography, but it reads like a fictional novel.