Jay Parini: The Last Station

All quotations from Tolstoy’s writings – including those from his letters and diaries – have been ‘Englished’ by me, based on previous translations. In this way, I was able to make his voice conform – in cadence and diction – with the Tolstoy of my invention.

I owe a considerable debt to Professor R. F. Christian of the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He is among the great Tolstoy scholars of this century, and he was kind enough to read my novel in manuscript and provide detailed suggestions and corrections. I am also grateful to Gore Vidal, who offered encouragement, friendship, and practical advice throughout its composition. As always, Devon Jersild, my wife, was my closest reader.

Jay Parini is Axinn Professor of English at Middlebury College, Vermont. His six novels also include Benjamin’s Crossing and The Apprentice Lover . His volumes of poetry include The Art of Subtraction: New and Selected Poems . In addition to biographies of John Steinbeck, Robert Frost and William Faulkner, he has written a volume of essays on literature and politics, as well as The Art of Teaching . He edited the Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature and writes regularly for the Guardian and other publications.

SINGING IN TIME ( poetry )

THEODORE ROETHKE: AN AMERICAN ROMANTIC ( criticism )

THE LOVE RUN ( novel )

ANTHRACITE COUNTRY ( poetry )

THE PATCH BOYS (novel)

AN INVITATION TO POETRY ( textbook )

TOWN LIFE ( poetry )

JOHN STEINBECK ( biography )

First published in Great Britain in 2007

by Canongate Books Ltd,

14 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1TE

First published in Great Britain

by HarperCollins Publishers in 1992

This digital edition first published in 2008

by Canongate Books Ltd

Copyright © Jay Parini, 1990

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available on

request from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84767 394 7

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