First published 2020
In a secluded Russian estate, the aging Count Tolstoy grapples with his lifelong obsession: William Shakespeare. As he pores over the Bard's plays, Tolstoy's admiration wars with his conviction that Shakespeare's works are morally bankrupt. Torn between reverence and rejection, Tolstoy must confront his own literary legacy and the eternal question: can art be truly great if it lacks moral purpose? With piercing insight and lyrical prose, this imagined encounter between two literary titans explores the nature of genius, the power of the written word, and the eternal tension between aesthetics and ethics.
Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, biographical-fiction, 19th-century, russian-literature, academic
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers
Setting: Russia
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century
151 pages · Paperback · Independently published