The epoch to which L. Tolstoy belonged and which is reflected in such remarkable relief in his masterly works of fiction and in his doctrine is the epoch that set in after 1861 and lasted until 1905. True, Tolstoy commenced his literary activities before and ended them after this period commenced and ended, but he fully developed as an artist and thinker precisely in this period, the transitional character of which gave rise to all the distinguishing features of Tolstoy's works and of 'Tolstoyism'.
The word L. Tolstoy put in the mouth of K. Levin in Anna Karenina very vividly express the nature of the turn in Russia's history that took place during this half - century.