Trivia

Was notoriously impossible to interview and hated dealing with the public. He was especially wary of the new invention of the movie camera in the early 20th century. Reporters would hide out and try to ambush him. One such reporter, much like the others, hid out for 3 days waiting to ambush him on the way home with his family. Instead of succeeding he accidentally broke his film camera which literally brought him to tears. Taking pity on the man Tolstoy helped him take his camera to a blacksmith shop to repair it after which he agreed to being filmed. This started a relationship of the only man ever allowed to film Tolstoy.

Was probably the first writer to have groupies. Toward the end of his life there were nearly one hundred fans living in and around his home just so they could experience his greatness firsthand.

Tolstoy was a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, through the marriage of Prince Fyodor of Yaroslavl to Anna of the Tatars, a great-great-great-granddaughter of the Khan.

Forced his wife to read his diaries of his bachelor escapades (he was 34, she was 18 when they married). She bore him 13 children, 7 of whom survived to adulthood.

His conversion from a dissolute and privileged society author to the non-violent and spiritual anarchist of his latter days was brought about by his experience in the army as well as two trips around Europe in 1857 and 1860-61. Others who followed the same path were Alexander Herzen, Mikhail Bakunin and Peter Kropotkin. During his 1857 visit, Tolstoy witnessed a public execution in Paris, a traumatic experience that would mark the rest of his life. Writing in a letter to his friend Vasily Botkin: "The truth is that the State is a conspiracy designed not only to exploit, but above all to corrupt its citizens ... Henceforth, I shall never serve any government anywhere.".

Whenever he encountered a problem in writing, he would start to play solitaire, in the hopes that the solution would come to him during the game.

Was one of Mahatma Gandhi's inspirations for taking up pacifism and non-violence.

Hated much of his early work, which he believed had no artistic passion behind it.

He was the obvious choice for the first Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, but one of the Nobel judges criticized his "narrow-minded hostility to all forms of civilization." The conservative panel instead gave the award to the French poet Armand Sully-Prudhomme, whose works have not stood the test of time as Tolstoy's have.

Father of Alexandra Tolstoy and Ilya Tolstoy.

Tolstoy's mother died before his second birthday.

His father died in the street when Tolstoy was eight years old.

After his parent's death, Tolstoy and two of his siblings went to live with their aunt, Toinette, who had once promised their father to look after his children as if they were her own.

Great-great-grandfather of the journalist and TV-host Fyokla Tolstaya.

Started writing when he was twenty-three after joining the army.