Aleksei Tolstoy--author of many poems, stories, plays, novels, and science-fiction works--is one of Russia's most prolific twentieth-century writers. His emigration to Paris in 1918 and subsequent return to the Soviet Union in 1923 provoked much criticism among Russian intellectuals abroad. In the 1930s Tolstoy enjoyed a successful career in Soviet Russia: in 1936 he became chairman of the Writers' Union; in 1937 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet; and in 1939 he joined the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In the 1940s Tolstoy was awarded the Stalin Prize for literature three times; he also received the Order of Lenin and many other orders and medals. His 1923 novel Aelita became the first Soviet utopian novel. Tolstoy's major Soviet epic and historical novels are written in a realist vein and are preoccupied with national character, heroism, and important events in Russian national history. Some of his works were adapted to the theater and motion pictures...