Is it Time to Stop Treating Leo Tolstoy as Novelist?

I hate to say it, but I’ve gotten Leo Tolstoy wrong for most of my adult life. I have legitimate excuses, of course—I was simply adhering to the consensus view. I accepted the conventional wisdom. I trusted what was said about Tolstoy over what he said himself, even when the texts (not to mention his actions) should have made me suspicious of what I'd b…