ABSTRACT
DURING the last months of his life, Tolstoy kept a very detailed record both of external events and of his inner state. "What I wish to do, he had told Birukov some time before, "is to try to note everything I think and feel, every hour, every moment of my life. People will read it later and refuse to believe that Tolstoy thought of such trifles. And yet I catch myself often, along with serious philosophic thoughts, suddenly thinking: 'Hope somebody will not take and eat my orange.'"
