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The Last Station: A Novel of Tolstoy's Last Year

Author	Jay Parini
Language	English
Subject	Leo Tolstoy
Publication date	1990
Publication place	United States
Pages	290
ISBN	0805011765
Preceded by	Town Life (1988)
Followed by	Writers On Writing (1991)

The Last Station by Jay Parini is a 1990 novel about the final year of Leo Tolstoy's life. The novel is told from the perspective of several different narrators, including Tolstoy's wife, personal secretary, daughter, and friends. Interspersed throughout are excerpts from Tolstoy's writings and journals as well as Jay Parini's own poetry.

The novel has been adapted into a film of the same name, which is to be released in Spring 2009. The film stars Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy, Helen Mirren as his wife, James McAvoy as his secretary, and Anne-Marie Duff as Tolstoy's youngest daughter Sasha.

Characters

• Leo Tolstoy

• Sofya Tolstoy - Tolstoy's long-suffering wife, who is obsessed with securing the copyrights to Tolstoy's early works (namely Anna Karenina and War and Peace) so that the family will be provided for after Tolstoy's death.

• Valentin Bulgakov - The young and idealistic man who becomes Tolstoy's personal secretary in his final year of life.

• Sasha Tolstoy - Tolstoy's youngest daughter, whose full name is Alexandra Lvovna Tolstoy. She was a great supporter of her father's work and often served as his secretary.

• Vladimir Chertkov - Tolstoy's friend and ardent supporter, who is the nemesis of Sofya Tolstoy and encourages Tolstoy to leave the copyrights to his works to the people, consistent with Tolstoyan ideals.

Minor Characters

• Masha - Follower of Tolstoyan principles and Bulgakov's love interest.

• Sergeyenko - The

• Lucy Chang - The fourth member of the team, a medical student, who has a crush on Brian and serves as a force of moderation on the team. She is an international student from the United States.

• Char - Desc.

• Char - Desc.

• Char - Desc.

Themes

Class

The Last Station focuses a great deal on the ideology that arose from Tolstoy's works and life, which holds that wealth and worldly goods should be spurned and that the peasants (called muzhiks) live an ideal life and should be exalted. The novel explores the tension between Tolstoy's great wealth and the ascetic ideals that he promotes.

External links

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