I was asked few questions about Pushkin and Tolstoy by one charming lady from Jordan.

Pushkin and Tolstoy. It is not easy to say whose literary works I prefer. They seem very  different to me. For me Pushkin is like a young genius man, and Tolstoy is an old man, a philosopher. When I was younger I preferred reading Pushkin and couldn't read Tolstoy's novels up to the end. About 1-2 years ago I reread his War and Peace, Sevastopol stories, Cossacks and admired his genius. May be I needed to get more life experience :). I am afraid that lots of cultural nuances get lost after translation and Tolstoy in English is not the same as Tolstoy in Russian, as well as Shakespeare in Russian is not the same as Shakespeare in English.