ABSTRACT
TOLSTOY himself encouraged the view that his life and writings were divided into two different parts, sharply separated by his conversion. A careful study of his entire work, letters and diaries included, makes one, however, unable to agree with this. There was neither an unexpected nor even a definite rupture between the two phases of Tolstoy's life. What happened was only a change of proportion between them, or rather a kind of shifting of the centre of gravity from one on to the othera process which, far from eliminating Tolstoy's inner conflict, actually increased it. This conflict was all the more difficult, because in him it was a part of the psychological make-up which can be traced back to his earliest years.
