In the 19th century, Russian literature followed two paths, paved by Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. Tolstoy’s works are smooth, polished, immaculate. They describe life in the order of appearances, ...

In George Steiner’s first book, Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, Steiner promotes the theory that the two great literary traditions of the 19th century – the golden age of the genre – had nowhere left to go: ...