Born in 1828; educated at the University of Kazan; served in
the army and commander of a battery in the Crimea in 1855,
being present at the storming of Sebastopol; sent as a
special courier to St. Petersburg; lived on his estate after
the liberation of the serfs, working with the peasants and
devoting himself to literary work; published "War and Peace"
in 1865-68, "Anna Karenina" in 1875-78, "Sebastopol" in
1853-55, "Childhood, Boyhood and Youth," and "The Kreutzer
Sonata" in 1890, and "War" in 1892.