He didn’t like Shakespeare

Throughout his life, Leo Tolstoy admired a variety of authors. He enjoyed the work of many of his contemporaries and was friends with many of them. Tolstoy did not, however, have a particularly positive opinion of Shakespeare. He would even go so far as to imply that he detested the dramatist from England. Shakespeare was a genius, and Chekhov reportedly claimed that Tolstoy was terrified by him.

Tolstoy observed that when he asked Ivan Turgenev and Afanasy Fet, two authors he adored and respected, to explain what exactly made the author so great, they could only do so in general terms, lacking the clarity of language or the in-depth level of analysis they usually show in their fiction. At first, he had thought that with time, he would grow to love Shakespeare. But when Tolstoy read Shakespeare for the uncounted time at the age of 75 and still felt unmoved, he decided to put his comments down in writing.

Leo Tolstoy questioned the bard's playwright skills. It was difficult for spectators to identify to his characters since they were put in absurd situations like sitcom-style identity swaps and biblical killing sprees. They frequently behaved in ways that were inconsistent with their personalities, acting instead in accordance with the plot's timeline.