“Tolstoy” by French historian Henri Troyat is THE definitive biography of the great Russian novelist. And I finished it! — Yes siree, all 800 pages. On the down side, took me five months and had to put it down and read entire books in between Troyat’s chapters. On the plus side, I never have to read anything about Tolstoy ever again! There is literally nothing left to say.

OK, what struck me. The first thing was the dichotomy between how exemplary and remarkable was Tolstoy’s talent – juxtaposed against what a failed human he was. His novels, “War and Peace” and onward through to the “Cossacks” and “Resurrection” are genius. Brilliant. Masterpieces. As a person, Tolstoy was not even a fun eccentric with maybe a drinking problem or a problem with women. He was, as my wife would say (in Spanish) “absolutamente insoportable”. He went through ideologies and “phases” so quickly nobody could keep up. He was a philanderer, a spoiled son of the nobility, a rapist (forcing himself on peasant women), a drunk, a revolutionary, a humanitarian, a pacifist and at the end a cult leader. In each phase, he was all in – not only for himself but viciously judgmental of all those around him who were not ‘caught up’ with his passion of the moment.

No wonder his family was miserable, and his wife tried to commit suicide. At the end of his days, Tolstoy had nothing but contempt for his wife, for not meeting his (latest) high moral standards – specifically his self-imposed poverty that he wanted to impose on all the people in his life as well (through a will giving away everything). Dude was a terrible bore.

Now, secondly, I never realized just how much of a cult leader Tolstoy was. I knew that he’d founded communities of Tolstoians around Russia; but today, he’d me a modern day Joseph Smith or David Koresh.

Balance. We have to find balance. We have to be good to posterity, to a world that needs works of art like “War and Peace” — but we are also responsible first for those we love, to make their lives better. Some would say that a genius that could give us “War and Peace” does not have it in him to be a balanced human to those he loves; and their suffering is the price paid for greatness. Who knows, that might be true. But that doesn’t make Tolstoy any more of a role model.