“The stress of bringing Tolstoy’s vision to the big screen nearly killed him.”
Writing the novel almost killed Tolstoy. He had some kind of major break down after he finished it. While he was writing it, he would experience all the intense emotions he was describing.
He wrote it by the light of one candle. His wife would copy his drafts by hand, and sometimes had to use a magnifying glass to see his writing.
She copied that huge novel by hand five times getting it ready for the printers.
And this timeless gift to us remains.