09 September,2014 11:22 AM IST | | Priyanka Dhavle
Today's interactive Google doodle celebrates the greatest Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy's 186's birthday by presenting his work through a collection of images
Today's interactive Google doodle celebrates the greatest Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy's 186's birthday by presenting his work through a collection of images.
Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy in today's doodle. Pictures courtesy Google
Tolstoy was born on 9 September 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana in the Russian Empire to a well-known aristocratic family and died from pneumonia at Astapovo train station aged 82 in 1910.
The doodle starts with a picture of a bearded Tolstoy writing at his desk by candlelight before showing scenes from his most famous works, including War and Peace, Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilyich.
His classic War and Peace is widely regarded as one of the most important works of literature. It tells the events surrounding France's 1812 invasion of Russia and documents life in the Tsarist society of the Napoleonic years through the eyes of five Russian upper class families.
His other great novel, Anna Karenina, follows the tragic life of married socialite Anna and her affair with the wealthy Count Vronsky, while issues such as politics, religion, gender and social class are all explored in detail.
Tolstoy became a passionate Christian anarchist and his ideas on nonviolent resistance had a great impact on Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
