Childhood

Told by a boy named Nikolenka Irtenyev, Childhood follows a few years of life on a Russian country estate: lessons with a German tutor, a hunting trip, a mother’s death, and the first sharp feelings of shame, love and pride. Almost nothing “happens”, and that is the point — Tolstoy catches how a child actually experiences the world.

Written in the Caucasus when he was in his early twenties and published under only his initials, it launched his career. It was followed by Boyhood and Youth, which together form an autobiographical trilogy.