As a Russian, I am interested in how foreigners perceive the works of the authors of my country. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I currently am reading Anna Karenina. Hoping on reading all of his works this year.

Thank you for making me smile in such a difficult time. I am from Myanmar and if u are aware, the country is under the Military coup's control for 8 days now and we all are fighting for getting Democracy back again. Whatever ... Thank you 💕 The video is really long this time .... I love it 💕

57:30 Your basically saying it's hard to read the terrible youth because the beauty and imagery from childhood gets sucked out. I think that that is purposeful. Kids have such imagination and beauty but that transition to them being adolescent and especially after one's mother dies, that beauty dies with them. There should be a clear line between the innocent and naive then naive to mature. Btw sorry for all the separate comments... I'm watching and writing haha

I find the Tolstoy’s depiction of the transition through the phases of life to be very consistent with reality where the core remains the same while he matures as he faces different challenges and circumstances in life. He doesn’t just change with each new phase.

I think these vlogs of Tolstoy and Dickens will be my favourite thing online 🖤

A new subscriber from Japan. I read some Tolstoys back when I was younger, they gave me a huge impact on me and the way I look at my life. Some ideas in his writing haunt me even now, I have been sort of scared to read them again, but I think I want to get back to him after listening to your very objective thoughts. I will start with some short ones I guess!

The sweet and smiling Emmie back to unpack another classic for us!

Emmie, I want to thank you for introducing me to Tolstoy. I finished Anna Karenina last week and you remind me of Kitty c: So excited to read more of Tolstoy and looking forward to more videos like this!

Yes, I was waiting for this one! Pls upload the debate too, for those of us who couldn't participate by watching it live 💕

I absolutely love your analysis As a psychology student, I'm really fascinated by your observations of human life 💕

Tolstoy was a vegetarian for the last 23 years of his life 🌱

hi, emma! I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your love and passion for books with us. I've always been a reader, but you inspire me to read more and try different genres. hope you're having a wonderful day♡♡♡

I Read Anna Karenina .... It's a Bible of English Literature It took me More Than Month to Understand it with Good Focus & Concentration ......I would like to Read it Again .... Absolutely Slowly....the Characters I liked the most was Anna Karenina's Husband don't recall the Name & Levin... It's Been long Time Since I have Read English Literature.... That's why I want to Read it Again 😊....It's So Nice of You that you have Made this Vlog & this Channel for English Literature.✍️👍👍👍👍👍

Nice magic trick to film yourself at the end ;) Also wow, 5 hours of content on this book, this book club ain’t joking ! thanks so much both for your work :)

this made my evening ! i agree with so many things said in the vlog. i'm heading right to Carolyn's channel for her vlog and then I'm watching the recording of the debate

Yessss I'm so excited to watch this video!! I really enjoyed yesterday's debate btw🥺

Yay, I was so excited to see you upload a Dickensian v Tolstoy video. I love hearing about your opinions and you have inspired me to pick up a Tolstoy book soon.

You look much more comfortable than in the debate, I really enjoy your videos!! Thank You!

Thank you! And by the way, almost every weekend I walk on the estates of Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana in the place where he wrote most of his works because I live nearby. The place is very beautiful, quiet. Everything here breathes his works. It can't be put into words. The territory is very large with forest and fields. You can stay here all day.

This was a great vlog! I absolutely loved this! Great job 💗

i was just saying i needed this because i just finished reading one of his books

I just finished my homework on physics, right on time Emma! Waaah 😍 it's 11 pm here but imma watch ur vlog anyways hihi. Lots of love!! Keep safe ❤️

I had so much fun joining you and carolyn for this reading adventure through tolstoy's first novel - I loved listening to your thoughts and ideas - it really felt like we were all having a discussion about this book and even though I didn't necessarily love it, the thing of knowing that we were reading it all together made it so special 😁 Can't wait for Pickwick Papers and I'm just so excited for the Dicken vs Tolstoy debate to continue 😊

I’m so early again! The debate yesterday was amazing :)

I hope your laptop didn't give you a hard time editing this long vlog/movie (? 😂) Anw, congratulations to your (and Carolyn's) dickens vs tolstoy book club.

🇬🇧 Since finding your channel you have turned me into more of a book nerd 😂 just love love reading and have just put this on my to read list. 🙏

I was waiting for this one... I am so excited for this video and it's so long... Just the way I like your videos 💛💛

Great analysis, as always. I almost want to read it.🤗🤗❤❤

Just realized you’re doing this and now I wanna read along too, now I just need to catch up haha

emmie, you always make it so that i can never finish these types of videos because you make me want to read all these books so feverently for myself that i could not stay lest i stumble across a disheartening spoiler!

Hi Emmie this year i gonna read his book peace and war and i gonna finish Ana carnina ♥️♥️♥️👍 keep up leo tolstoy

I liked the way Tolstoy’s character described females because it fit with the immature, boyish character. It would be unrealistic to think there aren’t young boys who are raised in a paternal society separate from girls who don’t look at the outward nature of a female without digging too deep into the inward. He didn’t have the experience to dig as deeply as with the male characters because as a boy he spent most of his time with other males not females. It wasn’t until the end of Youth that he began to examine his own superficial way of viewing things. We see the progression of his estimation of people through each phase of life. We see a maturing taking place just as in real life it takes many experiences to develop through childhood into adulthood to become a well rounded person. Tolstoy illustrated this brilliantly.

I really enjoyed this and these style vlogs :)

I'm English but love Russian people/literature. The only way to have resolved this would have been to have Charles and Leo, bare chested duking it on neutral ground, I would suggest behind a barn somewhere in central Europe egged on by a braying and blood thirsty crowd.

A big cup and that warm cute blanket it already looks reassuring

For the Pickwick Papers vlogs, could you tell us for each clip what part we have to read up to for no spoilers? I want to follow along with you while I read but I don't want to ruin the book. No worries if it's too much I totally understand

I’m barely joining in, but I already own all of Dicken’s works because my dad handed down his collection to me...so I figured why not? All I have to do is buy all of Tolstoy’s books (I’ve already read Anna Karenina). I’m excited!!

Anna Kareanina is my faborite book ever! 🌹🙌🏻📖♥️

not to say that i don't love your normal style vlogs, but i think it's so interesting to see your thoughts like this. would you consider doing vlogs like this for other books outside of the debates?

His collected short stories are wonderful.

I could not put this book 📖 down and i really loved it please stay safe love from John in Australia

54:56 When you discuss the nostalgia and say it's not possible to love childhood and then in youth hate childhood and then later love both, I would disagree with you and say that it is very accurate. When you are in that in between age when you think you know things you curse being younger and want to grow up. And when you do finally grow up you miss youth and childhood because in reality, it's one in the same. Oh how I couldn't wait to grow up in grade school and wished people would stop saying I was a kid. I often told myself I was much older and smarter than my mudpie making, booger eating self. But now I would pay to go back to all of it. Because age 5 and 15 are both just kids. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I like the arrangement of your Library...

59:30 - 1:02:23 Amazing👏🏽👏🏽

I started childhood boyhood youth today😃

Loved the vlog and was absolutely thrilled with the debate yesterday! Looking forward to The Pickwick Papers!

More videos like this, please!

I’m kinda late for the live show because I only started Youth yesterday but I’m really loving it! I was meant to read War and Peace in high school but unfortunately I didn’t so it’s my first time reading Tolstoy. Also it’s Seryozha (or Seryoja, yo like in yogurt) and Lubochka (u like you), not Laebuchka? Ahah sorry Russian names are kinda hard to pronounce for non-Russian speaking people. And imo Ivan Ivanich is more like duke and not a prince 🤔 it’s Russian knyaz and it’s kinda hard to find a similar word for it in English

I’m thinking about joining the book club 😩 Okay I will

You should be a lecturer,Emma..I would attend ur classes nd listen to u very keenly..ur accent...the way you speak..its a pleasure to just hear your voice..

hi! honestly, such an interesting video especially moments when you criticize Tolstoy xD As russian schoolers we are (of course bruh) read Tolstoy's books A LOT. But especially this trilogy... As far as I remember we have read just the first part at the age of 13 or 14 (middle school I guess) and never other parts. Despite that I remember that I've read all the parts and because of Youth part I lost any interest in Tolstoy's writing for years. The transformation from childhood to youth of the main character... It's kinda painful to read. Anyway, it was interesting to listen to your opinion! It's not as stereotypical as would a russian person have haha (because in school you have to adore Tolstoy with all his problems). Thanks for your work!

Very ambitious (and cool) project! Will you be doing any of their nonfiction also?

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Hi Emma! I know I'm a little late, but I have some thoughts I'd like to share about this video. I agree with your point about the female vs. male character introduction, development, and passages. I think part of this issue comes from the heavy influence of the Russian culture at that time, and the other part is a reflection of Tolstoy's view on women. The last mention of women in the novel: "Our ladies didn't understand at all, and either didn't want to or were unable to grasp what an examination was, and what to pass one meant, and were only sorry for me because they could see my grief" is especially disappointing. Around 54:30, you talked about the contradictory nature of the passage in Youth (which claims Nikolenka's childhood was gloomy) and the happy retelling of his childhood. I would disagree with your point here. That passage (Ch. 3 of Youth, "Daydreams", page 220) was written from the perspective of Youth-age Nikolenka, whose thoughts are still very childish and underdeveloped. He writes, "In the period I regard as the end of boyhood and the beginning of youth... I even took pleasure in my disgust and tried to see the past as gloomier than it was." The happy retelling of his childhood is from present-day, grown-up Nikolenka who looks fondly back at his memories. This quote from Youth-Nikolenka would like to look back at his childhood as "gloomier than it was" so that Youth-Nikolenka can enjoy his Youth period better. It is completely aligned with Nikolenka's attitude throughout Youth, which often exaggerates his experience, looks down on others, and thinks highly of himself/his current position. I also wanted to say that I really appreciated the flaws in Nikolenka's character (as repetitive and annoying as they were). I related to a lot of his foolishness and brattiness as a child, and I think reflecting back on this and discussing it (even mocking it, through self-awareness) is a healthy part of growing up. There is a lack of "redemption" as you say in the end, no conclusion, no wrap-up - but I believe, on the contrary, the self-awareness of Nikolenka's childishness throughout the novel is the redeeming factor (for example, the two Daydreams chapters which happen to be my favorites). No other book I've read (though I haven't read many) executes this reflection as well as Tolstoy, so I was a huge fan of this book! I am looking forward to reading more Tolstoy, getting started with Dickens, and continuing my attempt at catching up with the debate :')

❤

It’s just that hindsight helps. Not liking childhood in teenage years and then romanticizing it later is a thing that happens to real people. A similar thing happens with pop culture. Hating Spongebob was in, now people who grew up with it love it unabashedly. Childhood in teenage years is a thing to shirk off and try to prove better than. Then, later on, when the pressure is off, it stops feeling necessary.

like the half and half thought - yeah, it does sound like Tolstoy and his large canvases.

Emma, Have you ever read The Inheritance Cycle series yet?

I’m early again :)))

Didn't Tolstoy become (or attempt to become) a sort of philosophical prophet toward the end of his life? Reminds me of this character's Youth. Maybe Tolstoy never could let go the notion of providing great philosophical good for mankind.

1:06:53 I think perhaps the point of this book is that little jab he took at Dickens for realism. Real protagonists i.e ourselves of our own life story, does not come to conclusion until death. Perhaps if the book was written all the way up to Nick's death bed he could have had an epiphany. But alas most people live their lives with no major events and die with no major epiphany or life is cut short before the learning something. And that is just life, there's not always tropes or happy endings only reflection. And even that changes depending on the day or mindset. If you look back on your life as a youth, have you had a redemption?

I really wish I could join you guys in this debate! Is it too late to get the book and catch up? I dont like reading multiple books at once so I would probably be able to catch up with the next one? Is this a debate with anyone who wants or just the two of you

oh but the narrator switching between his younger and older self in “childhood” is like The Thing haha. i don’t know how it was conveyed in english but in russian the two voices are easily distinguished,, (btw it reminded me of two other russian novels framed as “fake memoirs” - pushkin’s “captain’s daughter” and turgenev’s “first love”. and my god "first love"... cannot recommend this book enough)

I think his next writing was going to be “Early Manhood” which would have opened the door to continue writing throughout all the phases of life into death. I feel like he initially intended to continue the book and don’t know why he abruptly ended it like he did. The abrupt ending is my primary criticism of the book. I didn’t like that. I think if he decided he wasn’t going to continue the series he should have concluded it properly.

An hour 12 oh my god , is it Heaven up there oh my god!!!

0:00 An excited Introduction 2:15 This text is not an autobiography 7:40 Writing Structure analysis, Quotations Childlike, momentous, dream-quality moments 14:58 12:17 13:48 Boy --> Youth

Emma pleas read Julio Cortázar. Specially Divertimento. Rayuela and Los premios. Please try to find this tittles in english and read his short stories. Im a writer myself and hi's been an inspiration. The Tunnel is another one from Argentina.

My vote goes to Tolstoy because he doesn’t depress me as Dickens does. Nevertheless, Dickens is a fabulous writer.

I couldn't finish childhood boyhood youth..

How much of what you're reading and loving is Tolstoy, and how much is the translator? My own experience with 'Tolstoy' may actually have been with bad translators. In high school, I read a story called 'How Much Land Does a Man Need?,' a story more told than shown. A few years ago, I listened to an audiobook version of War and Peace, and didn't like it. Perhaps I'm a philestine, or maybe it was the fault of the translator, or the reader, or both. I do like the movie version of Anna Karennina with Sophie Marceau, Sean Bean, James Fox and Alfred Molina.

I don’t see a contradiction between Boyhood and Youth . In Childhood he is living life as a child but by Youth he recognizes his misfortunes of losing his mother, losing his beloved Carl, having a new but despised tutor, the embarrassments of past behavior and his childish ways so he is ready to put these things behind him and start afresh. Besides what young person given the choice to experience the freedom of college that they so long for or to go back to being a six year old having to ask permission to use the restroom would choose to go back to childhood? At this stage in life almost all young people are ready to spread their wings and fly and leave all the childish things behind. It’s a natural transition and reflection.

First!❤

i think only if you read tolstoy's in russian can the comparison between their works be fair

I was struck by your thought that Tolstoy was able to write from the perspective of a child. In Orwell's essay Charles Dickens Orwell wrote that "... no novelist has shown the same power of entering into the child's point of view."

Without spelling it out to the reader that this is the way a teenager thinks, he just tells what the character is thinking and it’s perfect. Do you remember being a teenager? Or do you have a teenage child that spends a lot of time in the bathroom just trying to look just right? Or spending all their money on new clothes just to look “cool”? So when he complains in Youth that he is being hindered from doing a “very important activity, getting dressed “, that is humorous because that is the way a teenager might think. It sounds like Tolstoy’s writing irritated you a lot but he made me laugh a lot because I saw the ridiculous reality of human nature that he described. Humans can be like that especially young people who are struggling to figure out and establish their identity.

1:06:24 It's so interesting to see the side of those who are self absorbed. I could never understand how people with privilege think and can't see the wrong things that they do. Perhaps it's a good read to put your feet in some one else's shoes and later we can empathize with them as they try to empathize with us.

Why Dickens vs. Tolstoy? Why not Dickens vs. Thackarey, or the Bronte Sisters? Or Twain? Or one of the French writers of the 19th century? You seem to have decided that Dickens and Tolstoy were the best writers in the world at the time, no ifs, ands, or buts.

Красивая 🇷🇺🥺🤗

As you describe Nicolenka (sp?) I find he really, genuinely embodies the typical cis straight teenage boy mentality. The arrogance, the wanting to be a good person just to be good almost just feel like they are better than most people, thereducing female characters to their appearances and above all: philosophy that essentially captures the subreddit "I'm 14 and this is deep". Nicolenka would love Jordan Peterson.