Andrew Kaufman "wrote the book" on understanding Tolstoy (its called Understanding Tolstoy). He enlightened NPR on Tues 11/20/2012 as Tolstoy's epic novel of passion and despair, Anna Karenina, hits the big screen. He's a lecturer in Slavic languages and literature at the University of Virginia. Here's the episode on the show's web archive.
UVa Lecturer on NPR
