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Podcast: Today In History with The Retrospectors
Episode: Tolstoy's Monastic Adventures
Description: The renowned author of "War and Peace," Count Leo Tolstoy, set off on a pilgrimage to Optina Monastery on 10th June, 1881, disguised as a peasant.Accompanied by his valet, Sergei Arbuzov, Tolstoy traipsed 130 miles from his vast estate; his feet bleeding from blisters thanks to his insistence that he be dressed in authentically threadbare sandals.In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly assess whether Tolstoy’s pilgrimage should be considered a spiritual journey, mid-life crisis, or poverty tourism; consider the impact his impulses had upon his poor wife, Sophia; an...