26.06 Tolstoy�s Entire Body of Work Goes Online, Descendant Says

MOSCOW, June 26 (RIA Novosti) � Count Leo Tolstoy was a prolific author, rich and generous enough to bequeath his works to be published and distributed free of charge.

His epics �War and Peace� and �Anna Karenina� still top most of the lists of greatest novels of all time, and his controversial views on Christianity earned him excommunication from the Russian Orthodox Church and spawned a short-lived religious movement.

Before he died in 1910 aged 82, the white-bearded writer and social reformer penned so much that the classic edition of his collected works spans 90 volumes. More than a century later, the entire body of his novels, short stories, fairy tales, essays and personal letters will be available online for free, his great-great-granddaughter said Wednesday.

�We�re fulfilling his bequest on a new technological level,� Fyokla Tolstaya, who works at Moscow�s Leo Tolstoy museum, told RIA Novosti.

The website, http://www.readingtolstoy.ru, will feature the 90-volume edition that was published in 1958. The now-classic and rare collection is being scanned and proofread by almost 1,500 of volunteers. The volunteers also verify the accuracy of the e-books that have, for years, been available in online libraries and file-sharing websites, Tolstaya said.