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The Free Age Press

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Interesting to find out that Chertkov helped create The Free Age Press when exiled in London in 1897.  This is where he met up with the Maudes who would eventually translate much of Tolstoy into English, and Aylmer Maude would write the biography The Life of Tolstoy Later Years.  But, it would seem that Chertkov and the Maudes had a falling out, judging by this undated letter from Tolstoy.  Interesting that he praises their translations.  I don't know how well Tolstoy understood English, but the Maude translations have been raked over the coals in the years that followed, most notably by Nabokov.

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  1. James FergusonAugust 27, 2010 at 1:35 AM

    Tolstoy Later Years is really worth reading as it provides some wonderful insights into Tolstoy, including his love for chess.

    I was reading the last chapter where Maude goes into some of his disagreements with The Free Age Press, without mentioning Chertkov's name in particular. He questioned the shoddiness of the translations and the various collections of Tolstoy quotations made available by the British Publishing House, which he felt didn't offer a complete impression of what Tolstoy was communicating to his readers.

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