ABOUT THE INFLUENCE OF CHERTKOV ON TOLSTOY: SOME PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS Roberta De Giorgi Resume. The question of Tolstoy’s sincerity becomes a pretext to investigate to what extent he was honest when discussing his own writing projects in his letters to Vladimir G. Chertkov. Started in 1883, the correspondence between Tolstoy and Chertkov ended in 1910. As it is well known, Chertkov tried to divert Tolstoy’s talent to a mass and edifying literature. Tolstoy also states that he even feels guilty about dedicating himself to them. Conversely, in his journals, Tolstoy expresses 70 his strong desire to write pure literary works again, along with his feeling guilty. It is evident that Tolstoy is trying to meet his friend’s aspirations.
