(Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910) was a...)
Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910) was a Russian writer who earned fame and global renown for his novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Writing during the late 19th century, Tolstoy lived during a literary period in which Realism flourished, and today his two novels are considered the apex of realist fiction. Dostoevsky himself declared Anna Karenina "flawless as a work of art," and it is invariably included among discussions of the greatest novels ever.
(Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910) was a...)
Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910) was a Russian writer who earned fame and global renown for his novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Writing during the late 19th century, Tolstoy lived during a literary period in which Realism flourished, and today his two novels are considered the apex of realist fiction. Dostoevsky himself declared Anna Karenina "flawless as a work of art," and it is invariably included among discussions of the greatest novels ever.
(Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910) was a...)
Leo Tolstoy (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910) was a Russian writer who earned fame and global renown for his novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Writing during the late 19th century, Tolstoy lived during a literary period in which Realism flourished, and today his two novels are considered the apex of realist fiction. Dostoevsky himself declared Anna Karenina "flawless as a work of art," and it is invariably included among discussions of the greatest novels ever.
Eugene Schuyler was an American diplomat and scholar. He translated novels of Tourgeniev and Tolstoy and wrote a biography of Peter the Great.
Background
Eugene was born on February 26, 1840 at Ithaca, New York, United States, the son of George Washington Schuyler and Matilda (Scribner). Allied by blood or marriage with some of the first families of his state and the son of a man prominent in public affairs, he enjoyed every social, political, and cultural advantage.
Education
Graduating from Yale College in 1859, Schuyler remained there two years longer doing graduate work in languages and philosophy, and receiving the degree of Doctor of philosophy in 1861. He then studied law at the Columbia Law School, from which he was graduated in 1863.
Career
After graduation Schuyler was admitted to the bar, and began practice in New York.
His interest in language study, however, led him in 1865 to apply for a diplomatic post and on July 15, 1867, he was appointed consul at Moscow, serving in this capacity until the latter part of 1869. During the next nine years he was successively consul at Revel, secretary of legation at Saint Petersburg, and secretary of legation and consul general at Constantinople.
In the fall of 1876, while holding the last-named post, he published, before submitting it to the Department of State, a report on Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria which was widely circulated throughout Europe and, later, in America. It was said that "His report did more to influence England than any other document of the (Russo-Turkish) war", but it invited the criticism that he was subject to Russian influence. His cooperation with the Russian secretary of legation at Constantinople in drafting a plan for an autonomous Bulgaria did not improve his relations with the Porte. The Turkish envoy at Washington protested unofficially in January 1877 and again a year later.
Consequently, Schuyler was ordered to report at Washington and was in July 1878 appointed to Birmingham, where he remained only a few months before going to Rome as consul general.
He played an important role in the recognition of the new Serbian government to which he was accredited. Empowered to negotiate treaties with Rumania and Serbia, he conducted negotiations to the satisfaction of the Department, and his commercial treaty with Rumania signed April 11, 1881, and his commercial treaty and consular convention with Serbia, both signed October 14, 1881, were duly ratified by the United States government. The Rumanian treaty, however, did not go into force. After two pleasurable years at Athens, the legation there being abolished in 1884.
He returned to the United States to lecture at the Johns Hopkins and Cornell universities and to write. In 1886, however, he went back to Europe and settled at Alassio, where he remained until 1889. In March of that year he accepted the offer of Secretary of State, Blaine to be assistant secretary of state, but the nomination was withdrawn because of opposition in the Senate committee on foreign relations. He accepted an appointment to Cairo a few weeks later, was taken ill at that post, and died in Italy.
He edited John A. Porter's Selections from the Kalevala (1868) and published Fathers and Sons (1867), a translation of Turgeniev's work, and The Cossacks (1878), from the Russian of Tolstoi. He also wrote for the North American Review, Scribner's Magazine, The Nation, and other periodicals.
He died in Venice on July 16, 1890, at the age of fifty.