: Due to its critical view of the Orthodox Church and its radical religious shifts, the book was initially banned in Russia and first published in Geneva in 1884.
: He reflects on his youth, admitting to a life driven by ambition, pride, and greed, and critiques the intellectual elite for their inability to provide answers to life's ultimate questions. Д°tiraflarД±m KitabД±nД±
One of the most famous sections of the book is the , where a man hangs over a well to escape a wild beast. He holds onto a branch being gnawed by two mice (day and night) while a dragon waits below. Even as he sees his doom, he licks a few drops of honey from the leaves, representing the fleeting pleasures of life that fail to mask the inevitability of death. : Due to its critical view of the
: Despite his immense literary success and social standing, Tolstoy recounts feeling a "thirst for life" that suddenly vanished, replaced by an overwhelming sense of meaninglessness and recurring thoughts of suicide. He holds onto a branch being gnawed by
(My Confession) is an autobiographical work by the Russian author Lev Tolstoy , written around 1879–1882 during a profound mid-life crisis. Following the success of his masterpieces War and Peace and Anna Karenina , Tolstoy found himself questioning the value of his fame and wealth, leading to a deep existential search for the meaning of life. Key Themes and Content