Tolstoy, Aleksey Konstantinovich
Tolstoy, Aleksey Konstantinovich
tŏl´stoi, Rus. əlyĭksyā´ kənstəntyē´nəvĭch təlstoi´ [key], 1817–75, Russian poet, dramatist, and novelist. He was a distant cousin of LeoTolstoy. Together with two cousins he wrote nonsense verse and humorous works under the pseudonym Kozma Prutkov. These works are primarily satire directed against government bureaucracy. Tolstoy also wrote narrative lyrics and epics in both romantic and humorous veins.Prince Serebryany(1863, tr.A Prince of Outlaws,1927) is a historical novel set in the time of Ivan the Terrible. He also treated this period in a trilogy of historical dramas in blank verse,The Death of Ivan the Terrible(1865, tr. 1926),Tsar Fyodor Ivanovitch(1868, tr. 1922), andTsar Boris(1870). Tolstoy's works reflect his vitality and erudition.
See study by M. Dalton (1972).
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