Constance Garnett’s Translation of Leo Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God Is within You

Abstract

This article explores Constance Garnett’s work on Tolstoy’s famous treatise The Kingdom of God Is within You as well as on his other works. Through various archival materials from the Tolstoy museums in Moscow and at Yasnaya Polyana, the paper traces Constance Garnett’s thorough and hard work, and her communication and collaboration with Leo Tolstoy. The article also gives a picture of how The Kingdom of God Is within You was published and reviewed in England and in the US. There are some contradictions concerning where the meeting between Leo Tolstoy and Constance Garnett during her visit to Russia in 1894 took place. According to archival materials and Tatiana Tolstoy’s diary, her only meeting with Tolstoy took place on 12/24 January, and it was in Moscow, not at Yasnaya Polyana as some critics say. The article points out the growth of interest in Tolstoy in England in the last decades of his life.