A Billy-Goat Pining for Purity TOLSTOY

The artistry of War and Peace and Anna Karenina translates into many languages, but Leo Tolstoy the social phenomenon is strictly Russian. Most biographers take this fact for granted. A.N. Wilson spells it out in his descriptions of that vast, isolated kingdom of the 19th century in which the roles of writer and prophet were frequently indistinguishable. Martine de Courcel strikes a deeper Slavic chord when she says that Tolstoy's aim was to become a Fool of God. Count Leo was, of course, no fool, although many of his truths never got off the ground. His moralizing often seems as windy and endless as the steppes. Had he expounded his ideas about the utility of art earlier in his life, he might never have written his masterpieces of fiction.

To modern American readers, Tolstoy's life sometimes reads like a 19th century version of Portnoy's Complaint, in which the protagonist never stops griping that his desires are repugnant to his morals. Tolstoy's diaries and instructional writings are engorged with this seriocomic theme, a fact that led Biographer Henri Troyat to conclude more than 20 years ago that Russia's literary icon was "a billy-goat pining for purity."

De Courcel, holder of a psychology degree from the Sorbonne, latches on to this internal conflict as a dramatic device. The results are somewhat predictable and schematic. She relies heavily on the diaries of Tolstoy and his wife Sophia Andreyevna, memoirs, letters and interpretive readings of the novels and essays. These materials are tailored to fit what appears to have been a predetermined conclusion: Tolstoy reconciled his warring selves only when, ten days before dying in 1910, he fled farm and family.

Wilson, one of Britain's most accomplished comic novelists, is more relaxed about Tolstoy's contradictions and racked conscience. His imaginative approach to the mysteries of personality is a good reminder that consistency is for peanut butter, not for geniuses who exploit their conflicts in creative acts. Wilson's Tolstoy is the story of the literary titan's relationships with three subjects: God, Russia and women.

Tolstoy tried to resolve the first through a homegrown faith that amounted to a churchless Christianity. He shunned organized religion and city life for rustic self-sufficiency among the muzhiks (peasants) at his estate, Yasnaya Polyana (Bright Glade). He preached against the evils of meat, alcohol, tobacco and fornication. He believed a Christian should make his own shoes and empty his own chamber pot.