In "Flaubert" Henri Troyat has written another charming & cozy account of the life of Gustav Flaubert_____arguably the most meticulous literary prose stylist there ever was. Troyat covers all the bases of Flaubert's life starting with his childhood___his father was a solid ,bourgeois doctor___to his earliest literary stirrings & goes on to recount his transformation into one of the most obsessive literary perfectionists of all times.His dalliances with different mistresses ,his solitary forays into the uncharted waters of literary creation [from the safety of his well-stocked study overlooking the river____mostly at night____the light from his study serving as a landmark for the sailors] are narrated with verve .Troyat has drawn extensively from Flaubert's correspondence .Though charming , this work lacks the breadth & sweep of Troyat's " Tolstoy ".

Henri Troyat has excelled in Russian studies over the last decades His work on Catherine the Great is momentous and in this light the comparatively light work on Ivan the Fourth seemed a bit disappointing. But in all fairness to the author the work is a very entertaining read. It traces not just the life of this cruel man but effective leader but also that of the birth of Russia. The rule of Ivan the Fourth set Russia on its course to the West that would gain full momentum under Peter the Great.

Although the book points to the obvious signs of lunacy in Ivan's character it also makes it clear that this man was the first mover in turning Muscovy into Russia proper. His lunacy seems to be confirmed when we learn that Ivan seriously thought that he could win the hand of Elizabeth I in marriage! He probably had his second wife the Csarina Maria poisoned to pave the way for this hoped for English betrothal.

His oriental obsession with religion and therefore sin, and his desire to make Moscow the new Constantinople(after its fall in 1452) forms the basis of the long and sometimes tedious Russian awakening from the confines of the Terem (the royal harem chambers) and medieval superstitions.(which it never really escaped from)

Ivan is indeed portrayed as being that peculiar Russian mix of dark brooding pagan and just Christian that occurred so often in Russian history(think of the characters of Maxin Gorky, Feador Dostoevsky or even Rasputin)

Luckily the work is not just about Ivans 'tempestuous and violent moods swings ( he killed his own son during a temper tantrum) or his callous cruelty ( throwing people to bears often not out of punishment but just for sport) but Troyat also treats us to accounts of English traders being received and treated to sumptuous banquets as well as the important military adventures of Ivan in Kazan and Astrakhan against the Tartars as well as his strife with Sigismund Augustus, King of Poland.

Ivan was also the first Russian leader to value and encourage learning although he was very far removed from being a type of early Enlightment figure. Although Ivan the Fourths' grandfather Ivan III was the first to give Muscovy written laws Ivan desperately wanted to be seen as being a great legislator. He wrote passages in the Domostroy(written mainly by the priest Sylvester)that would be the handbook in Russia for 200 years ,dealing with all manners of household and social issues from personal hygiene, table etiquette, recipes for salting pork to the virtues of beating your wife on a regular basis (those were the days!)

Troyat gives us a fascinating glimpse into a world that was neighter European nor Oriental any more as well as making us aware of the morally uncomfortable fact that Ivan despite the cruelty and madness of the man was probable the only type of man to start Russian on its road to Europe. History cares more for results that morals . It also points to the clear historical precedents in Russian history of genocide ( the extermination of Novgorod compares well to the deeds of Stalin 400 years later.) It poses also the question if Russian political development has not been poisoned by these atrocities from the start? All in all an entertaining read and necessary if one is to understand the development of Russia.