How did Leo Tolstoy become one of the greatest authors of all time?

Tolstoy became one of the greatest writers of all time because of his two main novels, “War and Peace,” and “Anna Karenina.” As a younger man, Tolstoy was a great partier, and after hitting the bottom, he began to search for truth. Thinking that he was going to find what he needed at Church, he began attending a Russian Orthodox Church, but he became disenchanted with the teachings and thought that Christianity in itself was a fraud.

He believed that the Sermon on the Mount should be taken literally. But his writings reflected a raw emotion that resonated with readers. While he had quite a few different works, he was best known for those two novels. With their release, he was catapulted into the literary elite.

His works have been highly sought after and continue to be debated and discussed in literature classes and circles today. The different tenor of his writing, writing during various wars, but promoting peace over war, gave his writing a different feel than most. With the fictionalized stories, mixed with essay type writings at the end, his books have become a treasure trove of information.