Biography of Tolstoy Leo Nikolaevich briefly. Short biography of LN Tolstoy

The great Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is known for the authorship of many works, namely: War and Peace, Anna Karenina and others. The study of his biography and work continues to this day.

Philosopher and writer Leo Tolstoy was born in noble family. He inherited from his father county title. His life began in a large family estate in Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province, which left a significant imprint on his life. further fate.

Life of Leo Tolstoy

He was born on September 9, 1828. As a child, Leo experienced many difficult moments in his life. After his parents died, he and his sisters were raised by an aunt. After her death, when he was 13 years old, he had to move to Kazan to a distant relative under guardianship. Elementary education Leo passed at home. At the age of 16 he entered the Faculty of Philology of Kazan University. However, it was impossible to say that he was successful in his studies. This forced Tolstoy to switch to a lighter one, Faculty of Law. After 2 years, he returned to Yasnaya Polyana, having not mastered the granite of science to the end.

Due to the changeable nature of Tolstoy, he tried himself in different industries interests and priorities changed frequently. The work was interspersed with protracted sprees and revels. During this period, they made a lot of debts, which they had to pay off for a long time. The only predilection of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, stably preserved for the rest of his life, is personal diary. From there he then drew the most interesting ideas for their works.

Tolstoy was not indifferent to music. His favorite composers are Bach, Schumann, Chopin and Mozart. At a time when Tolstoy had not yet formed main position regarding his future, he succumbed to his brother's persuasion. At his instigation, he went to serve in the army as a cadet. During the service he was forced to participate in the 1855 year.

Early work of L. N. Tolstoy

Being a junker, he had enough free time to start his creative activity. During this period, Lev began to deal with an autobiographical history called Childhood. For the most part, it recounted the facts that happened to him when he was still a child. The story was sent for consideration to Sovremennik magazine. It was approved and put into circulation in 1852.

After the first publication, Tolstoy was noticed and began to be equated with significant personalities of that time, namely: I. Turgenev, I. Goncharov, A. Ostrovsky and others.

In the same army years, he began work on the story of the Cossacks, which he completed in 1862. The second work after Childhood was Adolescence, then - Sevastopol stories. He was engaged in them while participating in the Crimean battles.

Euro-trip

In 1856 L. N. Tolstoy left military service with the rank of lieutenant. Decided to travel for a while. First he went to Petersburg, where he was given a warm welcome. There he established friendly contacts with popular writers of that period: N. A. Nekrasov, I. S. Goncharov, I. I. Panaev and others. They showed genuine interest in him and took part in his fate. At this time, Blizzard and Two Hussars were painted.

Having lived a cheerful and carefree life for 1 year, spoiling relations with many members of the literary circle, Tolstoy decides to leave this city. In 1857 he began his journey through Europe.

Leo did not like Paris at all and left a heavy mark on his soul. From there he went to Lake Geneva. Having visited many countries, he returned to Russia with a load of negative emotions. Who and what surprised him so much? Most likely - this is too sharp a polarity between wealth and poverty, which was covered with feigned splendor European culture. And it showed up everywhere.

L.N. Tolstoy writes the story Albert, continues to work on the Cossacks, wrote the story Three Deaths and Family Happiness. In 1859 he stopped working with Sovremennik. At the same time, Tolstoy made changes in his personal life, when he planned to marry a peasant woman Aksinya Bazykina.

After the death of his older brother, Tolstoy went on a trip to the south of France.

Homecoming

From 1853 to 1863 his literary activity paused due to repatriation. There he decided to take up farming. At the same time, Leo himself carried out an active educational activities among the rural population. He created a school for peasant children and began to teach according to his own methodology.

In 1862, he himself created a pedagogical journal called Yasnaya Polyana. Under his leadership, 12 publications were published, which were not appreciated at their true worth at that time. Their character was as follows - he alternated theoretical articles with fables and stories for children. entry level education.

Six years of his life from 1863 to 1869, went to write the main masterpiece - War and Peace. Next on the list was Anna Karenina. It took another 4 years. During this period, his worldview was fully formed and resulted in a direction called Tolstoyism. The foundations of this religious and philosophical movement are set forth in the following works of Tolstoy:

• Confession.
• Kreutzer Sonata.
• Study of dogmatic theology.
• About life.
• Christian teaching and others.

Main focus they are based on the moral dogmas of human nature and their improvement. He called to forgive those who bring us evil, and to renounce violence in achieving their goal.

The flow of admirers of Leo Tolstoy's work to Yasnaya Polyana did not stop, looking for support and a mentor in him. In 1899, the novel Resurrection was published.

Social activity

Returning from Europe, he received an invitation to become a superintendent of the Krapivinsky district of the Tula province. He actively joined the active process of protecting the rights of the peasantry, often going against the royal decrees. This work broadened Leo's horizons. Closer facing peasant life, he began to understand all the subtleties better. The information obtained later helped him in literary creativity.

The heyday of creativity

Before starting to write the novel War and Peace, Tolstoy took up another novel - the Decembrists. Tolstoy returned to it several times, but was never able to complete it. In 1865, a small excerpt from War and Peace appeared in the Russian Messenger. After 3 years, three more parts came out, and then all the rest. This created a real sensation in Russian and foreign literature. In the novel the most in detail describe different segments of the population.

TO latest works writer include:

• stories Father Sergius;
• After the ball.
• Posthumous notes Elder Fyodor Kuzmich.
• Drama Living Corpse.

In the nature of his last journalism, one can trace conservative. He harshly condemns the idle life higher strata who do not think about the meaning of life. L. N. Tolstoy severely criticized state dogmas, sweeping aside everything: science, art, court, and so on. The Synod itself reacted to such an attack and in 1901 Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church.

In 1910, Lev Nikolayevich left his family and fell ill on the way. He had to get off the train at Astapovo Uralskaya station railway. last week he spent his life at the home of the local stationmaster, where he died.

Born in the noble family of Maria Nikolaevna, nee Princess Volkonskaya, and Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy in the estate Yasnaya Polyana in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province as the fourth child. The happy marriage of his parents became the prototype of the characters in the novel "War and Peace" - Princess Marya and Nikolai Rostov. Parents died early. Tatyana Alexandrovna Yergolskaya, a distant relative, was engaged in the upbringing of the future writer, education - tutors: the German Reselman and the Frenchman Saint-Thomas, who became the heroes of the writer's stories and novels. At 13 future writer and his family moved to the hospitable house of his father's sister P.I. Yushkova in Kazan.

In 1844, Leo Tolstoy entered the Imperial Kazan University in the Department of Oriental Literature of the Faculty of Philosophy. After the first year, he did not pass the transitional exam and transferred to the Faculty of Law, where he studied for two years, plunging into secular entertainment. Leo Tolstoy, naturally shy and ugly, acquired in secular society reputation of "thinking" about the happiness of death, eternity, love, although he himself wanted to shine. And in 1847 he left the university and went to Yasnaya Polyana with the intention of doing science and "achieving the highest degree excellence in music and painting.

In 1849, the first school for peasant children was opened on his estate, where Foka Demidovich, his serf, taught. former musician. Yermil Bazykin, who studied there, said: “There were about 20 of us boys, the teacher was Foka Demidovich, a courtyard man. Under father L.N. Tolstoy, he acted as a musician. The old man was good. Taught us the alphabet, counting, sacred history. Lev Nikolaevich also came to us, also worked with us, showed us his diploma. I went every other day, every other day, or even every day. He always ordered the teacher not to offend us ... ".

In 1851, under the influence of his older brother Nikolai, Lev left for the Caucasus, having already begun to write Childhood, and in the fall he became a cadet in the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade stationed in the Cossack village of Starogladovskaya on the Terek River. There he completed the first part of Childhood and sent it to the Sovremennik magazine to its editor N.A. Nekrasov. On September 18, 1852, the manuscript was printed with great success.

Leo Tolstoy served three years in the Caucasus and, having the right to the most honorable St. George Cross for bravery, “conceded” to his fellow soldier, as giving a lifelong pension. At first Crimean War 1853-1856 transferred to the Danube army, participated in the battles of Oltenitsa, the siege of Silistria, the defense of Sevastopol. The then written story "Sevastopol in December 1854" was read by Emperor Alexander II, who ordered to take care of a talented officer.

In November 1856, already recognized and famous writer leaves military service and leaves to travel around Europe.

In 1862, Leo Tolstoy married seventeen-year-old Sofya Andreevna Bers. In their marriage, 13 children were born, five died in early childhood, the novels "War and Peace" (1863-1869) and "Anna Karenina" (1873-1877) were written, recognized as great works.

In the 1880s Leo Tolstoy survived a powerful crisis that led to the denial of the official state power and its institutions, awareness of the inevitability of death, faith in God and the creation of his own teaching - Tolstoyism. He lost interest in the usual aristocratic life, he began to have thoughts of suicide and the need to live right, be a vegetarian, engage in education and physical labor- he plowed, sewed boots, taught children at school. In 1891 he publicly relinquished copyright to his literary works written after 1880

During 1889-1899. Leo Tolstoy wrote the novel "Resurrection", whose plot is based on a real court case, and biting articles about the system government controlled- on this basis, the Holy Synod excommunicated Count Leo Tolstoy from Orthodox Church and anathematized in 1901.

On October 28 (November 10), 1910, Leo Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana, setting off on a journey without a specific plan for the sake of his moral and religious ideas. recent years accompanied by doctor D.P. Makovitsky. On the way he caught a cold, fell ill with lobar pneumonia and was forced to get off the train at the Astapovo station (now Lev Tolstoy station). Lipetsk region). Leo Tolstoy died on November 7 (20), 1910 in the house of the head of the station I.I. Ozolin and was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.

Count Leo Tolstoy, a classic of Russian and world literature, is called a master of psychologism, the creator of the epic novel genre, an original thinker and teacher of life. Artworks brilliant writer- the greatest asset of Russia.

In August 1828, a classic was born on the Yasnaya Polyana estate in the Tula province. Russian literature. The future author of "War and Peace" became the fourth child in a family of eminent nobles. On the paternal side, he belonged to the ancient family of Counts Tolstoy, who served and. On the maternal side, Lev Nikolaevich is a descendant of Ruriks. It is noteworthy that Leo Tolstoy and common ancestor- Admiral Ivan Mikhailovich Golovin.

Lev Nikolayevich's mother, nee Princess Volkonskaya, died of childbed fever after the birth of her daughter. At that time, Leo was not even two years old. Seven years later, the head of the family, Count Nikolai Tolstoy, died.

Childcare fell on the shoulders of the writer's aunt, T. A. Ergolskaya. Later, the second aunt, Countess A. M. Osten-Saken, became the guardian of the orphaned children. After her death in 1840, the children moved to Kazan, to a new guardian - the father's sister P. I. Yushkova. The aunt influenced his nephew, and the writer called his childhood in her house, which was considered the most cheerful and hospitable in the city, happy. Later, Leo Tolstoy described his impressions of life in the Yushkov estate in the story "Childhood".

The classic received his primary education at home from German and French teachers. In 1843, Leo Tolstoy entered Kazan University, choosing the faculty of Oriental languages. Soon, due to low academic performance, he moved to another faculty - law. But even here he did not succeed: two years later he left the university without receiving a degree.

Lev Nikolaevich returned to Yasnaya Polyana, wanting to establish relations with the peasants in a new way. The idea failed, but the young man regularly kept a diary, loved secular entertainment and became interested in music. Tolstoy listened for hours, and.

Disillusioned with the life of the landowner after spending the summer in the countryside, 20-year-old Leo Tolstoy left the estate and moved to Moscow, and from there to St. Petersburg. The young man rushed between preparing for the candidate's exams at the university, music lessons, carousing with cards and gypsies, and dreams of becoming either an official or a cadet of a horse guard regiment. Relatives called Leo "the most trifling fellow", and it took years to distribute the debts he had incurred.

Literature

In 1851, the writer's brother, officer Nikolai Tolstoy, persuaded Leo to go to the Caucasus. For three years Lev Nikolaevich lived in a village on the banks of the Terek. The nature of the Caucasus and the patriarchal life of the Cossack village were later reflected in the stories "Cossacks" and "Hadji Murad", the stories "Raid" and "Cutting the Forest".

In the Caucasus, Leo Tolstoy composed the story "Childhood", which he published in the journal "Sovremennik" under the initials L. N. Soon he wrote the sequels "Adolescence" and "Youth", combining the stories into a trilogy. Literary debut turned out to be brilliant and brought Lev Nikolaevich the first recognition.

The creative biography of Leo Tolstoy is developing rapidly: the appointment to Bucharest, the transfer to the besieged Sevastopol, the command of the battery enriched the writer with impressions. From the pen of Lev Nikolaevich came the cycle “ Sevastopol stories". The writings of the young writer struck critics with a bold psychological analysis. Nikolai Chernyshevsky found in them "the dialectic of the soul", and the emperor read the essay "Sevastopol in the month of December" and expressed admiration for Tolstoy's talent.

In the winter of 1855, 28-year-old Leo Tolstoy arrived in St. Petersburg and entered the Sovremennik circle, where he was warmly welcomed, calling him "the great hope of Russian literature." But in a year, the writer's environment with its disputes and conflicts, readings and literary dinners got tired. Later, in Confession, Tolstoy confessed:

“These people disgusted me, and I disgusted myself.”

In the autumn of 1856, the young writer went to the Yasnaya Polyana estate, and in January 1857 he went abroad. For six months, Leo Tolstoy traveled around Europe. Traveled to Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland. He returned to Moscow, and from there to Yasnaya Polyana. IN family estate engaged in the arrangement of schools for peasant children. In the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana, with his participation, twenty educational institutions. In 1860, the writer traveled a lot: in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, he studied pedagogical systems European countries to apply what he saw in Russia.

A special niche in the work of Leo Tolstoy is occupied by fairy tales and compositions for children and adolescents. The writer created hundreds of works for young readers, including good and instructive tales"Kitten", "Two Brothers", "Hedgehog and Hare", "Lion and Dog".

Leo Tolstoy wrote the ABC school manual to teach children to write, read and do arithmetic. Literary and pedagogical work consists of four books. The writer included cautionary tales, epics, fables, as well as methodological advice to teachers. The third book included the story " Prisoner of the Caucasus».

In 1870, Leo Tolstoy, continuing to teach peasant children, wrote the novel Anna Karenina, in which he contrasted two storylines: family drama Karenin and the homely idyll of the young landowner Levin, with whom he identified himself. The novel only at first glance seemed to be a love story: the classic raised the problem of the meaning of the existence of the “educated class”, opposing it with the truth of the peasant life. "Anna Karenina" highly appreciated.

The turning point in the mind of the writer was reflected in the works written in the 1880s. Life-changing spiritual insight is central to stories and novels. “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, “Kreutzer Sonata”, “Father Sergius” and the story “After the Ball” appear. The classic of Russian literature draws pictures social inequality, scourging the idleness of the nobles.

In search of an answer to the question about the meaning of life, Leo Tolstoy turned to the Russian Orthodox Church, but he did not find satisfaction there either. The writer came to the conclusion that Christian church corrupt, and under the guise of religion, the priests promote false doctrine. In 1883, Lev Nikolaevich founded the publication Posrednik, where he set out his spiritual convictions with criticism of the Russian Orthodox Church. For this, Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church, the secret police watched the writer.

In 1898, Leo Tolstoy wrote the novel Resurrection, which received critical acclaim. But the success of the work was inferior to "Anna Karenina" and "War and Peace".

For the last 30 years of his life, Leo Tolstoy, with his doctrine of non-violent resistance to evil, has been recognized as the spiritual and religious leader of Russia.

"War and Peace"

Leo Tolstoy did not like his novel "War and Peace", calling the epic " verbose rubbish". The classic wrote the work in the 1860s, while living with his family in Yasnaya Polyana. The first two chapters, called "1805", were published by "Russian Messenger" in 1865. Three years later, Leo Tolstoy wrote three more chapters and completed the novel, which caused heated debate among critics.

The features of the heroes of the work, written in the years of family happiness and spiritual uplift, the novelist took from life. In Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, the features of Lev Nikolayevich's mother, her penchant for reflection, brilliant education and love for art are recognizable. The traits of his father - mockery, love of reading and hunting - the writer awarded Nikolai Rostov.

When writing the novel, Leo Tolstoy worked in the archives, studied the correspondence of Tolstoy and Volkonsky, Masonic manuscripts, and visited the Borodino field. The young wife helped him, copying the drafts cleanly.

The novel was read avidly, striking readers with the breadth of the epic canvas and subtle psychological analysis. Leo Tolstoy characterized the work as an attempt to "write the history of the people".

According to the estimates of the literary critic Lev Anninsky, by the end of the 1970s, only works abroad Russian classic filmed 40 times. Until 1980, the epic War and Peace was filmed four times. Directors from Europe, America and Russia made 16 films based on the novel "Anna Karenina", "Resurrection" was filmed 22 times.

For the first time, "War and Peace" was filmed by director Pyotr Chardynin in 1913. The most famous film was made by a Soviet director in 1965.

Personal life

Leo Tolstoy married 18-year-old Leo Tolstoy in 1862, when he was 34 years old. The count lived with his wife for 48 years, but the life of the couple can hardly be called cloudless.

Sofya Bers is the second of three daughters of Andrey Bers, a doctor at the Moscow Palace Office. The family lived in the capital, but in the summer they rested in the Tula estate near Yasnaya Polyana. For the first time Leo Tolstoy saw future wife child. Sophia received home education, read a lot, understood art and graduated from Moscow University. The diary kept by Bers-Tolstaya is recognized as a model of the memoir genre.

At the beginning of his married life, Leo Tolstoy, wishing that there were no secrets between him and his wife, gave Sophia a diary to read. The shocked wife found out about her husband's turbulent youth, passion gambling, wild life and the peasant girl Aksinya, who was expecting a child from Lev Nikolayevich.

The first-born Sergey was born in 1863. In the early 1860s, Tolstoy took up writing the novel War and Peace. Sofya Andreevna helped her husband, despite the pregnancy. The woman taught and raised all the children at home. Five out of 13 children died in infancy or early childhood. childhood.

Problems in the family began after the end of Leo Tolstoy's work on Anna Karenina. The writer plunged into depression, expressed dissatisfaction with the life that she so diligently arranged in family nest Sofia Andreevna. The moral throwing of the count led to the fact that Lev Nikolayevich demanded that his relatives give up meat, alcohol and smoking. Tolstoy forced his wife and children to dress in peasant clothes, which he himself made, and wished to give the acquired property to the peasants.

Sofya Andreevna made considerable efforts to dissuade her husband from the idea of ​​distributing good. But the resulting quarrel split the family: Leo Tolstoy left home. Returning, the writer assigned the duty of rewriting drafts to his daughters.

Death last child- seven-year-old Vanya - briefly brought the spouses together. But soon mutual insults and misunderstanding alienated them completely. Sofya Andreevna found solace in music. In Moscow, a woman took lessons from a teacher, to whom romantic feelings arose. Their relationship remained friendly, but the count did not forgive his wife for "half-treason".

The fatal quarrel of the spouses happened at the end of October 1910. Leo Tolstoy left home, leaving Sophia Farewell letter. He wrote that he loved her, but he could not do otherwise.

Death

82-year-old Leo Tolstoy, accompanied by his personal doctor D.P. Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana. On the way, the writer fell ill and got off the train at the Astapovo railway station. Lev Nikolaevich spent the last 7 days of his life in a house stationmaster. The whole country followed the news about Tolstoy's state of health.

The children and wife arrived at the Astapovo station, but Leo Tolstoy did not want to see anyone. The classic died on November 7, 1910: he died of pneumonia. His wife survived him by 9 years. Tolstoy was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.

Quotes by Leo Tolstoy

• Everyone wants to change humanity, but no one thinks about how to change themselves.
• Everything comes to those who know how to wait.
• All happy families similar to each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
• Let everyone sweep in front of his door. If everyone does this, the whole street will be clean.
• Life is easier without love. But without it there is no point.
• I don't have everything I love. But I love everything I have.
• The world moves forward thanks to those who suffer.
• The greatest truths are the simplest.
• Everyone is making plans, and no one knows if he will live until the evening.

Bibliography

• 1869 - "War and Peace"
• 1877 - "Anna Karenina"
• 1899 - "Resurrection"
• 1852-1857 - "Childhood". "Adolescence". "Youth"
• 1856 - "Two Hussars"
• 1856 - "Morning of the landowner"
• 1863 - "Cossacks"
• 1886 - "Death of Ivan Ilyich"
• 1903 - Notes of a Madman
• 1889 - "Kreutzer Sonata"
• 1898 - "Father Sergius"
• 1904 - "Hadji Murad"

Count Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy was born on August 28, 1828 at his father's estate, Yasnaya Polyana, in the Tula province. Thick - old Russian noble family; one representative of this family, the head of the Petrine secret police Petr Tolstoy, was promoted to graphs. Tolstoy's mother was born Princess Volkonskaya. His father and mother served as models for Nicholas Rostov And Princess Mary V War and peace(cm. summary And analysis this novel). They belonged to the highest Russian aristocracy, and tribal belonging to the highest stratum ruling class sharply distinguishes Tolstoy from other writers of his time. He never forgot about it (even when this realization of his became completely negative), he always remained an aristocrat and kept aloof from the intelligentsia.

The childhood and adolescence of Leo Tolstoy passed between Moscow and Yasnaya Polyana, in big family where there were several brothers. He left unusually vivid memories of his early environment, of his relatives and servants, in wonderful autobiographical notes that he wrote for his biographer P. I. Biryukov. His mother died when he was two years old, his father when he was nine years old. His further upbringing was in charge of his aunt, Mademoiselle Yergolskaya, who supposedly served as the prototype for Sonya in War and peace.

Leo Tolstoy in his youth. Photo 1848

In 1844 Tolstoy entered Kazan University, where he first studied oriental languages ​​and then law, but in 1847 he left the university without receiving a diploma. In 1849, he settled in Yasnaya Polyana, where he tried to be useful to his peasants, but soon realized that his efforts were of no use, because he lacked knowledge. IN student years and after leaving the university, he led, as was the custom with the young men of his class, a hectic life filled with the pursuit of pleasures - wine, cards, women - somewhat similar to the life he led Pushkin before referring to the south. But Tolstoy was incapable of accepting life as it is with a light heart. From the very beginning, his diary (existing since 1847) testifies to an unquenchable thirst for the intellectual and moral justification of life, a thirst that has forever remained the guiding force of his thought. The same diary was the first experience in developing that technique psychological analysis, which later became Tolstoy's main literary weapon. His first attempt to try himself in a more purposeful and creative kind writing dates back to 1851.

The tragedy of Leo Tolstoy. Documentary

In the same year, disgusted by his empty and useless life in Moscow, he went to the Caucasus to the Terek Cossacks, where he entered the garrison artillery cadet (junker means volunteer, volunteer, but of noble birth). The next year (1852) he completed his first story ( Childhood) and sent it Nekrasov for publication in Contemporary. Nekrasov immediately accepted it and wrote about it to Tolstoy in very encouraging tones. The story was an immediate success, and Tolstoy immediately rose to prominence in literature.

On the battery, Leo Tolstoy led a rather easy and unburdensome life of a cadet with means; the place to stay was nice too. He had a lot of free time most which he used to hunt. In the few fights in which he had to participate, he showed himself very well. In 1854, he received an officer's rank and, at his request, was transferred to the army that fought the Turks in Wallachia (see. Crimean War), where he took part in the siege of Silistria. In the fall of that year, he joined Sevastopol garrison. There Tolstoy saw real war. He participated in the defense of the famous Fourth Bastion and in the battle on the Black River and ridiculed bad command in a satirical song - the only work of his in verse known to us. In Sevastopol, he wrote the famous Sevastopol stories that appeared in Contemporary when the siege of Sevastopol was still ongoing, which greatly increased interest in their author. Shortly after leaving Sevastopol, Tolstoy went on vacation to St. Petersburg and Moscow, and the next year he left the army.

Only in these years, after the Crimean War, Tolstoy communicated with literary world. The writers of St. Petersburg and Moscow greeted him as outstanding master and fellow. As he later admitted, success was very flattering to his vanity and pride. But he did not get along with writers. He was too aristocratic to like this semi-bohemian intelligentsia. For him, they were too awkward plebeians, they were indignant that he clearly preferred the light to their company. On this occasion, they Turgenev exchanged sharp epigrams. On the other hand, his very mindset was not progressive at heart. Westerners. He did not believe in progress or culture. In addition, his dissatisfaction with the literary world intensified due to the fact that his new works disappointed them. Everything he wrote after Childhood, did not show any movement towards innovation and development, and Tolstoy's critics failed to understand the experimental value of these imperfect works (see more in the article Tolstoy's early work). All this contributed to his termination of relations with the literary world. The culmination was a noisy quarrel with Turgenev (1861), whom he challenged to a duel, and then apologized for this. This whole story is very typical, and it showed the character of Leo Tolstoy, with his secret embarrassment and sensitivity to insults, with his intolerance for the imaginary superiority of other people. The only writers with whom he retained friendly relations were the reactionary and the "land lord" Fet(in whose house a quarrel broke out with Turgenev) and a democrat Slavophile Strakhov- people who did not sympathize with the main direction of the then progressive thought.

The years 1856-1861 Tolstoy spent between St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yasnaya Polyana and abroad. He traveled abroad in 1857 (and again in 1860-1861) and brought back a disgust for the selfishness and materialism of European bourgeois civilization. In 1859 he opened a school for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana and in 1862 he began publishing a pedagogical journal Yasnaya Polyana, in which the progressive world was surprised by the assertion that it is not the intellectuals who should teach the peasants, but rather the peasants the intellectuals. In 1861 he accepted the post of conciliator, a post introduced to oversee how the liberation of the peasants. But the unsatisfied thirst for moral strength continued to torment him. He abandoned the revelry of his youth and began to think about marriage. In 1856 he made the first failed attempt marry (Arsenyeva). In 1860, he was deeply shocked by the death of his brother Nicholas - it was his first encounter with the inevitable reality of death. Finally, in 1862, after long hesitation (he was convinced that since he was old - thirty-four years old! - and ugly, not a single woman would love him) Tolstoy made an offer to Sofya Andreevna Bers, and it was accepted. They got married in September of the same year.

Marriage is one of the two main milestones in Tolstoy's life; the second milestone was his appeal. He was always pursued by one concern - how to justify his life before his conscience and achieve lasting moral well-being. When he was a bachelor, he oscillated between two opposing desires. The first was a passionate and hopeless striving for that integral and unreasoning, “natural” state that he found among the peasants and especially among the Cossacks, in whose village he lived in the Caucasus: this state does not strive for self-justification, for it is free from self-consciousness, this justification demanding. He tried to find such an unquestioning state in conscious obedience to animal impulses, in the lives of his friends, and (and here he came closest to achieving it) in his favorite pastime, hunting. But he was unable to be satisfied with this forever, and another equally passionate desire - to find a rational justification for life - led him aside every time he seemed to have already achieved contentment with himself. Marriage was for him the gateway to a more stable and lasting "state of nature." It was the self-justification of life and the solution of a painful problem. Family life, unreasoning acceptance of it and submission to it, henceforth became his religion.

For the first fifteen years of his married life, Tolstoy lived in a blissful state of contented vegetation, with a peaceful conscience and a hushed need for higher rational justification. The philosophy of this plant conservatism is expressed with great creative power in War and peace(cm. summary And analysis this novel). IN family life he was exceptionally happy. Sofya Andreevna, almost still a girl, when he married her, without difficulty became what he wanted to make her; he explained his new philosophy to her, and she was her indestructible stronghold and unchanging guardian, which eventually led to the breakup of the family. The writer's wife was perfect wife, mother and mistress of the house. In addition, she became a devoted assistant to her husband in literary work- everyone knows that she copied seven times War and peace from the beginning to the end. She bore Tolstoy many sons and daughters. She had no personal life: all of it was dissolved in family life.

Thanks to Tolstoy's prudent management of estates (Yasnaya Polyana was just a place of residence; a large Zavolzhsky estate brought income) and the sale of his works, the family's fortune increased, as did the family itself. But Tolstoy, although absorbed and satisfied with his self-justified life, though glorifying it with unsurpassed artistic power in his best novel, after all, he was not able to completely dissolve in family life, as his wife dissolved. "Life in Art" also did not absorb him as much as his brothers. The worm of moral thirst, though brought to tiny sizes, never died. Tolstoy was constantly worried about the questions and demands of morality. In 1866 he defended (unsuccessfully) before a military court a soldier accused of hitting an officer. In 1873, he published articles on public education, on the basis of which the insightful critic Mikhailovsky managed to predict further development his ideas.