A brief biography of the fat lion Nikolaevich - childhood and youth, the search for his place in life. The beginning of literary activity

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is one of the five most widely read writers. His work made Russian literature recognizable abroad. Even if you have not read these works, you probably know Natasha Rostova, Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky at least from films or jokes. The biography of Lev Nikolaevich can be of interest to every person, because the personal life of a famous person is always of interest, parallels are drawn with his creative activity. Let's try to trace the life of Leo Tolstoy.

The future classic came from a noble family known since the 14th century. Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy, the writer's ancestor on his father's side, earned the favor of Peter I by investigating the case of his son, who was suspected of treason. Then Pert Andreevich headed secret office career took off. Nikolai Ilyich, the father of the classic, received a good education. However, it was combined with unshakable principles that did not allow him to advance at court.

The condition of the father of the future classic was upset because of the debts of his parent, and he married the middle-aged but wealthy Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya. Despite the initial calculation, they were happy in marriage and had five children.

Childhood

Lev Nikolayevich was born fourth (there was also the younger Maria and the elders Nikolai, Sergey and Dmitry), but he received little attention after birth: his mother died two years after the birth of the writer; the father briefly moved with the children to Moscow, but soon also died. The impressions from the trip were so strong that the young Leva created the first composition "Kremlin".

Several guardians brought up children at once: first, T.A. Ergolskaya and A. M. Osten-Saken. A. M. Osten-Saken died in 1840, and the children went to Kazan to P. I. Yushkova.

adolescence

Yushkova's house was secular and cheerful: receptions, evenings, outward brilliance, high society - all this was very important for the family. Tolstoy himself strove to shine in society, to be "comme il faut", but shyness did not allow him to turn around. Real entertainment to Lev Nikolaevich was replaced by reflection and introspection.

The future classic studied at home: first under the guidance of the German tutor Saint-Thomas, and then with the French Reselman. Following the example of the brothers, Lev decides to enter the Imperial Kazan University, where Kovalevsky and Lobachevsky worked. In 1844, Tolstoy began to study at the Oriental Faculty (the admission committee was amazed by the knowledge of the "Turkish-Tatar language"), and later transferred to the Faculty of Law.

Youth

The young man was in conflict with the home history teacher, so the grades in the subject were unsatisfactory, at the university it was necessary to take the course again. In order to avoid repeating what he had gone through, Lev switched to law school, but did not finish, left the university and went to Yasnaya Polyana, his parents' estate. Here he is trying to manage the economy using new technologies, he tried, but unsuccessfully. In 1849 the writer went to Moscow.

During this period, the diary begins, the entries will continue until the death of the writer. They are the most important document, in the diaries of Lev Nikolayevich and describes the events of his life, and is engaged in introspection, and argues. Also here were described the goals and rules that he tried to follow.

History of success

The creative world of Leo Tolstoy took shape back in adolescence, in his emerging need for constant psychoanalysis. Systemically, this quality manifested itself in diary entries. It was as a result of constant introspection that Tolstoy's famous "dialectics of the soul" appeared.

First works

Children's work was written in Moscow, and real works were also written there. Tolstoy creates stories about gypsies, about his daily routine (unfinished manuscripts have been lost). In the early 50s, the story "Childhood" was also created.

Leo Tolstoy - a participant in the Caucasian and Crimean wars. Military service gave the writer many new plots and emotions, described in the stories "Raid", "Cutting the Forest", "Degraded", in the story "Cossacks". Here is completed and "Childhood", which brought fame. Impressions from the battle for Sevastopol helped to write the cycle "Sevastopol stories". But in 1856, Lev Nikolaevich parted ways with the service forever. The personal history of Leo Tolstoy taught him a lot: having seen enough bloodshed in the war, he realized the importance of peace and real values ​​- family, marriage, his people. It was these thoughts that he later put into his works.

Confession

The story "Childhood" was created in the winter of 1850-51, and published a year later. This work and its sequels "Boyhood" (1854), "Youth" (1857) and "Youth" (was never written) were supposed to make up the novel "Four Epochs of Development" about the spiritual development of man.

The trilogies tell about the life of Nikolenka Irteniev. He has parents, an older brother Volodya and a sister Lyubochka, he is happy in his home world, but suddenly his father announces his decision to move to Moscow, Nikolenka and Volodya go with him. Just as suddenly, their mother dies. A severe blow of fate ends childhood. In adolescence, the hero is in conflict with others and with himself, trying to comprehend himself in this world. Nikolenka's grandmother dies, he not only mourns for her, but also notes with bitterness that some care only about her inheritance. In the same period, the hero begins to prepare for the university and meets Dmitry Nekhlyudov. Having entered the university, he feels like an adult and rushes into the maelstrom of secular pleasures. This pastime does not leave time for study, the hero fails the exams. This event led him to think about the incorrectness of the chosen path, leading to self-improvement.

Personal life

It is always difficult for the families of writers: a creative person may be impossible in everyday life, and even he is always not up to earthly things, he is embraced by new ideas. But how did the family of Leo Tolstoy live?

Wife

Sofya Andreevna Bers was born in the family of a doctor, she was smart, educated, simple. The writer met his future wife when he was 34 and she was 18. A clear, bright and pure girl attracted the experienced Lev Nikolaevich, who had already seen a lot and was ashamed of his past.

After the wedding, the Tolstoys began to live in Yasnaya Polyana, where Sofya Andreevna took care of the household, children and helped her husband in all matters: she copied manuscripts, published works, was a secretary and translator. After the opening of the hospital in Yasnaya Polyana, she also helped there, examining the sick. Tolstoy's family rested on her worries, because all economic activity she was leading.

During a spiritual crisis, Tolstoy came up with a special charter of life and decided to renounce property, depriving children of their fortune. Sofya Andreevna opposed this, family life cracked. Nevertheless, Lev Nikolaevich's wife is the only one, and she made a great contribution to his work. He treated her ambivalently: on the one hand, he respected and idolized, on the other, he reproached her for the fact that she was engaged in material matters more than spiritual ones. This conflict was continued in his prose. For example, in the novel "War and Peace" the surname villain, evil, indifferent and obsessed with hoarding - Berg, which is very consonant with his wife's maiden name.

Children

Leo Tolstoy had 13 children, 9 boys and 4 girls, but five of them died in childhood. The image of the great father lived in his children, all of them were associated with his work.

Sergei was engaged in the work of his father (founded a museum, commented on works), and also became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Tatyana was a follower of her father's teachings and also became a writer. Ilya led a disorderly life: he did not study well, he did not find suitable job, and after the revolution he emigrated to the United States, where he lectured on the worldview of Lev Nikolayevich. Lev, too, at first followed the ideas of Tolstoyism, but later became a monarchist, so he also emigrated and was engaged in creativity. Maria shared the ideas of her father, refused the world and was engaged in educational work. Andrei highly valued his noble origin, participated in the Russo-Japanese War, then took his wife away from the boss, and soon died suddenly. Mikhail was musical, but became a military man and wrote memoirs about life in Yasnaya Polyana. Alexandra helped her father in all matters, then she became the keeper of his museum, but due to emigration, her achievements in Soviet time tried to forget.

Creative crisis

In the second half of the 60s - early 70s, Tolstoy was going through a painful spiritual crisis. For several years, the writer was accompanied by panic attacks, thoughts of suicide, fear of death. Lev Nikolaevich could not find an answer to the questions of life that tormented him anywhere, and he created his own philosophical doctrine.

Change of outlook

The way of victory over the crisis was unusual: Leo Tolstoy created his own moral teaching. His thoughts were set forth by him in books and articles: "Confession", "So what should we do", "What is art", "I can not be silent."

The writer's teaching was anti-Orthodox in nature, since Orthodoxy, according to Lev Nikolaevich, perverted the essence of the commandments, his dogmas are not permissible, from the point of view of morality, and are imposed by centuries-old traditions, forcibly instilled in the Russian people. Tolstoyism resonated with the common people and the intelligentsia, and pilgrims from different classes began to come to Yasnaya Polyana for advice. The church reacted sharply to the spread of Tolstoyism: in 1901 the writer was excommunicated from it.

Tolstoyanism

Morality, morality and philosophy are combined in the teachings of Tolstoy. God is the best in man, his moral center. That is why it is impossible to follow dogmas and justify any violence (which the Church did, according to the author of the doctrine). The brotherhood of all people and the victory over world evil are the ultimate goals of mankind, which can be achieved through the self-improvement of each of us.

Lev Nikolaevich took a different look not only at his personal life, but also at his work. Only the common people are close to the truth, and art should only separate good and evil. And this role is played by one folk art. This leads Tolstoy to abandon past works and simplify new works to the maximum, adding edification to them (Kholstomer, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Master and Worker, Resurrection).

Death

Since the beginning of the 80s, family relations have been aggravated: the writer wants to give up copyright on his books, his property and distribute everything to the poor. The wife sharply opposed, promising to accuse her husband of being crazy. Tolstoy realized that the problem could not be solved peacefully, so he came up with the idea of ​​leaving his home, going abroad and becoming a peasant.

Accompanied by Dr. D.P. Makovitsky, the writer left the estate (later his daughter Alexandra also joined). However, the plans of the writer were not destined to come true. Tolstoy had a fever, he stopped at the head of the Astapovo station. After ten days of illness, the writer died.

creative heritage

Researchers distinguish three periods in the work of Leo Tolstoy:

1. Creativity of the 50s ("young Tolstoy")- during this period, the style of the writer, his famous "dialectics of the soul" develops, he accumulates impressions, military service also helps in this.
2. Creativity of the 60s-70s (classical period)- it was at this time that the most famous works of the writer were written.
3. 1880-1910 (Tolstoyan period)- bear the imprint of a spiritual upheaval: renunciation of past creativity, new spiritual beginnings and problems. The style is simplified, as are the plots of the works.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich (28.08. (09.09.) 1828-07(20.11.1910)

Russian writer, philosopher. Born in Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province, in a wealthy aristocratic family. Entered Kazan University, but then left it. At the age of 23 he went to war with Chechnya and Dagestan. Here he began to write the trilogy "Childhood", "Boyhood", "Youth".

In the Caucasus, he participated in hostilities as an artillery officer. During the Crimean War, he went to Sevastopol, where he continued to fight. After the end of the war, he left for St. Petersburg and published Sevastopol Tales in the Sovremennik magazine, which clearly reflected his outstanding writing talent. In 1857 Tolstoy went on a journey through Europe, which disappointed him.

From 1853 to 1863 wrote the story "Cossacks", after which he decided to interrupt his literary activity and become a landowner, doing educational work in the village. To this end, he left for Yasnaya Polyana, where he opened a school for peasant children and created his own system of pedagogy.

In 1863-1869. wrote his fundamental work "War and Peace". In 1873-1877. wrote the novel Anna Karenina. In the same years, the writer's worldview, known as "Tolstoyism", was fully formed, the essence of which can be seen in the works: "Confession", "What is my faith?", "The Kreutzer Sonata".

The doctrine is set forth in the philosophical and religious works "Study of dogmatic theology", "Combining and translating the four Gospels", where the main emphasis is on the moral improvement of a person, denunciation of evil, non-resistance to evil by violence.
Later, a dilogy was published: the drama "The Power of Darkness" and the comedy "The Fruits of Enlightenment", then a series of stories-parables about the laws of being.

From all over Russia and the world, admirers of the writer's work came to Yasnaya Polyana, whom they treated as a spiritual mentor. In 1899, the novel "Resurrection" was published.

The last works of the writer are the stories "Father Sergius", "After the Ball", " Posthumous notes Elder Fyodor Kuzmich” and the drama “The Living Corpse”.

Tolstoy's confessional journalism gives a detailed idea of ​​his emotional drama: drawing pictures social inequality and the idleness of the educated strata, Tolstoy in a harsh form posed questions of the meaning of life and faith to society, criticized all state institutions, reaching the denial of science, art, court, marriage, the achievements of civilization. Tolstoy's social declaration is based on the idea of ​​Christianity as a moral doctrine, and the ethical ideas of Christianity are comprehended by him in a humanistic key, as the basis of the universal brotherhood of people. In 1901, the reaction of the Synod followed: the world famous writer was officially excommunicated, which caused a huge public outcry.

On October 28, 1910, Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana from his family, fell ill on the way and was forced to leave the train at the small Astapovo railway station of the Ryazan-Ural Railway. Here, in the stationmaster's house, he spent the last seven days of his life.

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. The works of the brilliant writer are 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".

Silhouette and portrait of Leo Tolstoy's parents

Elementary education the classic received houses 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 the family estate, he took up 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 the pedagogical systems of European countries in order 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 instructive stories, epics, fables, as well as methodological advice to teachers. The third book included the story " Prisoner of the Caucasus».

Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina"

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 paints pictures of social inequality, castigates 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 even there he did not find satisfaction. The writer came to the conclusion that the Christian church is corrupt, and under the guise of religion, the priests are promoting a 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 "wordy rubbish". The classic wrote the work in the 1860s, 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.

Leo Tolstoy writes "War and Peace"

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 his future wife as a child. Sophia was educated at home, 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 Sofya Andreevna so diligently arranged in the family nest. 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 are alike; 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"

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:	Yasnaya Polyana, Tula Governorate, Russian Empire
Date of death:
A place of death:	Astapovo station, Tambov province, Russian Empire
Occupation:	Prose writer, publicist, philosopher
Aliases:	L.N., L.N.T.
Citizenship:	Russian empire
Years of creativity:
Direction:
Autograph:

Biography

Origin

Education

Military career

Travel Europe

Pedagogical activity

Family and offspring

The heyday of creativity

"War and Peace"

"Anna Karenina"

Other works

religious quest

Excommunication

Philosophy

Bibliography

Tolstoy's translators

World recognition. Memory

Screen versions of his works

Documentary

Movies about Leo Tolstoy

Gallery of portraits

Tolstoy's translators

Graph Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy(August 28 (September 9), 1828 - November 7 (20), 1910) - one of the most widely known Russian writers and thinkers. Member of the defense of Sevastopol. Enlightener, publicist, religious thinker, whose authoritative opinion provoked the emergence of a new religious and moral trend - Tolstoyism.

The ideas of nonviolent resistance that L. N. Tolstoy expressed in his work “The Kingdom of God is within you” influenced Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Biography

Origin

He came from a noble family, known, according to legendary sources, since 1353. His paternal ancestor, Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, is known for his role in the investigation of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, for which he was appointed head of the Secret Chancellery. The features of the great-grandson of Peter Andreevich, Ilya Andreevich, are given in War and Peace to the most good-natured, impractical old Count Rostov. The son of Ilya Andreevich, Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy (1794-1837), was the father of Lev Nikolaevich. In some character traits and biography facts, he was similar to Nikolenka's father in "Childhood" and "Boyhood" and partly to Nikolai Rostov in "War and Peace". However, in real life Nikolai Ilyich differed from Nikolai Rostov not only good education, but also by convictions that did not allow him to serve under Nicholas. A participant in the foreign campaign of the Russian army, including participating in the “battle of the peoples” near Leipzig and being captured by the French, after the conclusion of peace, he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Pavlograd hussar regiment. Soon after his resignation, he was forced to go to official service so as not to end up in a debtor's prison because of the debts of his father, the Kazan governor, who died under investigation for official abuse. For several years, Nikolai Ilyich had to save money. The negative example of his father helped Nikolai Ilyich work out his life ideal - a private independent life with family joys. To put his frustrated affairs in order, Nikolai Ilyich, like Nikolai Rostov, married an ugly and no longer very young princess from the Volkonsky family; the marriage was happy. They had four sons: Nikolai, Sergei, Dmitry and Lev, and a daughter, Maria.

Tolstoy's maternal grandfather, Catherine's general, Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky, had some resemblance to the stern rigorist - the old prince Bolkonsky in "War and Peace", but the version that he served as the prototype of the hero of "War and Peace" is rejected by many researchers of Tolstoy's work. Lev Nikolaevich's mother, similar in some respects to Princess Marya depicted in War and Peace, possessed a wonderful gift for storytelling, for which, with her shyness passed on to her son, she had to lock herself up with those who gathered around her in large numbers listeners in a dark room.

In addition to the Volkonskys, Leo Tolstoy was closely related to some other aristocratic families: the princes Gorchakov, Trubetskoy and others.

Childhood

Born on August 28, 1828 in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province, in the hereditary estate of his mother - Yasnaya Polyana. Was the 4th child; his three older brothers: Nikolai (1823-1860), Sergei (1826-1904) and Dmitry (1827-1856). In 1830 sister Maria (1830-1912) was born. His mother died when he was not yet 2 years old.

A distant relative, T. A. Ergolskaya, took up the upbringing of orphaned children. In 1837, the family moved to Moscow, settling on Plyushchikha, because the eldest son had to prepare for entering the university, but soon his father died suddenly, leaving his affairs (including some litigation related to the family's property) in an unfinished state, and the three younger children again settled in Yasnaya Polyana under the supervision of Yergolskaya and her paternal aunt, Countess A. M. Osten-Saken, who was appointed guardian of the children. Here Lev Nikolaevich remained until 1840, when Countess Osten-Saken died and the children moved to Kazan, to a new guardian - the father's sister P. I. Yushkova.

The Yushkovs' house, somewhat provincial in style, but typically secular, was one of the most cheerful in Kazan; all members of the family highly valued external brilliance. "My good aunt- says Tolstoy, - the purest being, always said that she would want nothing more for me than for me to have a connection with married woman rien ne forme un jeune homme comme une liaison avec une femme comme il faut" (« Confession»).

He wanted to shine in society, earn a reputation young man; but he had no external data for that: he was ugly, as it seemed to him, awkward, and, moreover, he was hampered by natural shyness. Everything that is said in adolescence" And " Youth” about the aspirations of Irtenyev and Nekhlyudov for self-improvement, taken by Tolstoy from the history of his own ascetic attempts. The most diverse, as Tolstoy himself defines them, "thinking" about the main issues of our existence - happiness, death, God, love, eternity - painfully tormented him in that era of life, when his peers and brothers devoted themselves entirely to the fun, easy and carefree pastime of the rich and noble people. All this led to the fact that Tolstoy developed "a habit of constant moral analysis", as it seemed to him, "destroying the freshness of feeling and clarity of mind" (" Youth»).

Education

Did his education go at first under the guidance of the French tutor Saint-Thomas? (Mr. Jerome "Boyhood"), who replaced the good-natured German Reselman, whom he portrayed in "Childhood" under the name of Karl Ivanovich.

At the age of 15, in 1843, following his brother Dmitry, he entered the number of students of Kazan University, where Lobachevsky was a professor at the mathematical faculty, and Kovalevsky was a professor at the Vostochny. Until 1847, he was preparing to enter the Oriental Faculty, the only one in Russia at that time, in the category of Arabic-Turkish literature. At the entrance exams, in particular, he showed excellent results in the obligatory "Turkish-Tatar language" for admission.

Because of the conflict between his family and the teacher Russian history and German, by a certain Ivanov, according to the results of the year, had poor progress in the relevant subjects and had to re-take the first-year program. In order to avoid a complete repetition of the course, he moved to the Faculty of Law, where his problems with grades in Russian history and German continued. The last one was attended by the eminent civil scientist Meyer; Tolstoy at one time became very interested in his lectures and even took on a special topic for development - a comparison of Montesquieu's "Esprit des lois" and Catherine's "Order". Nothing came of this, however. Leo Tolstoy spent less than two years at the Faculty of Law: “It was always difficult for him to have any education imposed by others, and everything he learned in life, he learned himself, suddenly, quickly, with hard work,” Tolstaya writes in her “Materials to biographies of L. N. Tolstoy”.

It was at this time, while in the Kazan hospital, that he began to keep a diary, where, imitating Franklin, he sets himself goals and rules for self-improvement and notes successes and failures in completing these tasks, analyzes his shortcomings and the train of thought and motives for his actions. In 1904, he recalled: “... for the first year I ... did nothing. In my second year, I started working out. .. there was Professor Meyer, who ... gave me a work - a comparison of Catherine's "Instruction" with Montesquieu's "Esprit des lois". ... I was carried away by this work, I went to the village, began to read Montesquieu, this reading opened up endless horizons for me; I began to read Rousseau and left the university, precisely because I wanted to study.

The beginning of literary activity

Having left the university, Tolstoy settled in Yasnaya Polyana in the spring of 1847; his activities there are partly described in The Morning of the Landowner: Tolstoy tried to establish relations with the peasants in a new way.

I followed journalism very little; although his attempt to somehow smooth over the guilt of the nobility before the people dates back to the same year when Grigorovich's "Anton Goremyk" and the beginning of Turgenev's "Notes of a Hunter" appeared, but this is a mere accident. If you were here literary influences, then of a much older origin: Tolstoy was very fond of Rousseau, a hater of civilization and a preacher of a return to primitive simplicity.

In his diary, Tolstoy sets himself a huge number of goals and rules; managed to follow only a small number of them. Among the successful ones are serious studies in English, music, and jurisprudence. In addition, neither the diary nor the letters reflected the beginning of Tolstoy's studies in pedagogy and charity - in 1849 he opened a school for peasant children for the first time. The main teacher was Foka Demidych, a serf, but L. N. himself often conducted classes.

Having left for St. Petersburg, in the spring of 1848 he began to take an exam for a candidate of rights; he passed two exams, from criminal law and criminal proceedings, but he did not take the third exam and went to the village.

Later, he traveled to Moscow, where he often succumbed to the passion for the game, which greatly upset his financial affairs. During this period of his life, Tolstoy was especially passionately interested in music (he played the piano quite well and was very fond of classical composers). Exaggerated in relation to most people, the description of the effect that “passionate” music produces, the author of the Kreutzer Sonata, drew from the sensations excited by the world of sounds in his own soul.

Tolstoy's favorite composers were Bach, Handel and Chopin. In the late 1840s, Tolstoy, in collaboration with his acquaintance, composed a waltz, which he performed in the early 1900s with the composer Taneyev, who made a musical notation of this musical work (the only one composed by Tolstoy).

The development of Tolstoy's love for music was also facilitated by the fact that during a trip to St. Petersburg in 1848, he met in a very unsuitable dance class environment with a gifted but misguided German musician, whom he later described in Alberta. Tolstoy had the idea to save him: he took him to Yasnaya Polyana and played a lot with him. A lot of time was also spent on carousing, playing and hunting.

In the winter of 1850-1851 began to write "Childhood". In March 1851 he wrote The History of Yesterday.

So 4 years passed after leaving the university, when Tolstoy's brother, Nikolai, who served in the Caucasus, came to Yasnaya Polyana and began to call him there. Tolstoy did not give in to his brother's call for a long time, until a major loss in Moscow helped the decision. To pay off, it was necessary to reduce their expenses to a minimum - and in the spring of 1851 Tolstoy hurriedly left Moscow for the Caucasus, at first without any specific goal. He soon decided to enter military service, but there were obstacles in the form of a lack of the necessary papers, which were difficult to obtain, and Tolstoy lived for about 5 months in complete seclusion in Pyatigorsk, in a simple hut. He spent a significant part of his time hunting, in the company of the Cossack Epishka, the prototype of one of the heroes of the story "The Cossacks", appearing there under the name Eroshka.

In the autumn of 1851, having passed an exam in Tiflis, Tolstoy entered the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade, stationed in the Cossack village of Starogladovo, on the banks of the Terek, near Kizlyar, as a cadet. With a slight change in detail, she is depicted in all her semi-wild originality in The Cossacks. The same "Cossacks" will give us a picture of the inner life of Tolstoy, who fled from the capital's whirlpool. The moods that Tolstoy-Olenin experienced were of a dual nature: here is a deep need to shake off the dust and soot of civilization and live in the refreshing, clear bosom of nature, outside the empty conventions of urban and, especially, high-society life, here is the desire to heal the wounds of pride, taken out of the pursuit of success in this "empty" way of life, there is also a heavy consciousness of misdeeds against the strict requirements of true morality.

In a remote village, Tolstoy began to write and in 1852 sent the first part of the future trilogy, Childhood, to the editors of Sovremennik.

The relatively late beginning of the career is very characteristic of Tolstoy: he was never a professional writer, understanding professionalism not in the sense of a profession that provides a livelihood, but in a less narrow sense of the predominance of literary interests. Purely literary interests always stood in the background for Tolstoy: he wrote when he wanted to write and the need to speak out was quite ripe, and in regular time he is a secular person, an officer, a landowner, a teacher, a world mediator, a preacher, a teacher of life, etc. He never took the interests of literary parties to heart, he was far from willing to talk about literature, preferring to talk about questions of faith, morality, public relations. Not a single work of his, in the words of Turgenev, "stinks of literature," that is, it did not come out of a book mood, out of literary isolation.

Military career

Having received the manuscript of Childhood, the editor of Sovremennik Nekrasov immediately recognized its literary value and wrote a kind letter to the author, which had a very encouraging effect on him. He takes up the continuation of the trilogy, and plans for “Morning of the landowner”, “Raid”, “Cossacks” are swarming in his head. Published in Sovremennik in 1852, Childhood, signed with the modest initials L. N. T., was an extraordinary success; the author immediately began to be ranked among the luminaries of the young literary school, along with Turgenev, Goncharov, Grigorovich, Ostrovsky, who already enjoyed loud literary fame at that time. Criticism - Apollon Grigoriev, Annenkov, Druzhinin, Chernyshevsky - appreciated the depth of psychological analysis, the seriousness of the author's intentions, and the bright convexity of realism, with all the veracity of the vividly grasped details of real life, alien to any kind of vulgarity.

Tolstoy remained in the Caucasus for two years, participating in many skirmishes with the highlanders and being exposed to all the dangers of a military life in the Caucasus. He had the rights and claims to the St. George Cross, but did not receive it, which, apparently, was upset. When the Crimean War broke out at the end of 1853, Tolstoy transferred to the Danube army, participated in the battle of Oltenitsa and the siege of Silistria, and from November 1854 to the end of August 1855 was in Sevastopol.

Tolstoy lived for a long time on the terrible 4th bastion, commanded a battery in the battle of Chernaya, was during the hellish bombardment during the assault on Malakhov Kurgan. Despite all the horrors of the siege, Tolstoy wrote at that time a combat story from the Caucasian life "Cutting down the forest" and the first of the three "Sevastopol stories" "Sevastopol in December 1854". He sent this last story to Sovremennik. Immediately printed, the story was eagerly read by all of Russia and made a stunning impression with a picture of the horrors that befell the defenders of Sevastopol. The story was noticed by Emperor Nicholas; he ordered to take care of the gifted officer, which, however, was impossible for Tolstoy, who did not want to go into the category of the "staff" he hated.

For the defense of Sevastopol, Tolstoy was awarded the Order of St. Anne with the inscription "For Courage" and the medals "For the Defense of Sevastopol 1854-1855" and "In Memory of the War of 1853-1856." Surrounded by the brilliance of fame and, using the reputation of a very brave officer, Tolstoy had every chance of a career, but he “spoiled” it for himself. Almost the only time in his life (except for the “Combining different versions of epics into one” made for children in his pedagogical writings) he indulged in poetry: he wrote a satirical song, in the manner of soldiers, about an unfortunate deed 4 (August 16, 1855, when General Read, having misunderstood the order of the commander-in-chief, imprudently attacked the Fedyukhin Heights, the song (Like on the fourth day, it was not easy to take the mountains off us), which offended a number of important generals, was a huge success and, of course, damaged the author. Immediately after the assault on August 27 (8 September) Tolstoy was sent by courier to Petersburg, where he finished Sevastopol in May 1855 and wrote Sevastopol in August 1855.

"Sevastopol stories" finally strengthened his reputation as a representative of a new literary generation.

Travel Europe

In St. Petersburg, he was warmly welcomed both in high-society salons and in literary circles; he became especially close friends with Turgenev, with whom at one time he lived in the same apartment. The latter introduced him to the circle of Sovremennik and other literary luminaries: he became friendly relations with Nekrasov, Goncharov, Panaev, Grigorovich, Druzhinin, Sologub.

"After the deprivations of Sevastopol metropolitan life had a double charm for a rich, cheerful, impressionable and sociable young man. Tolstoy spent whole days and even nights on drinking parties and cards, carousing with gypsies” (Levenfeld).

At this time, "Snowstorm", "Two Hussars" were written, "Sevastopol in August" and "Youth" were completed, the writing of future "Cossacks" was continued.

A cheerful life was not slow to leave a bitter aftertaste in Tolstoy's soul, especially since he began to have a strong discord with a circle of writers close to him. As a result, "people got sick of him and he got sick of himself" - and at the beginning of 1857 Tolstoy, without any regret, left Petersburg and went abroad.

On his first trip abroad, he visited Paris, where he was horrified by the cult of Napoleon I (“Deification of the villain, terrible”), at the same time he attends balls, museums, he admires the “sense of social freedom”. However, the presence at the guillotining made such a painful impression that Tolstoy left Paris and went to places associated with Rousseau - Lake Geneva. At this time, Albert writes the story and the story Lucerne.

In the interval between the first and second trips, he continues to work on The Cossacks, wrote Three Deaths and Family Happiness. It was at this time that Tolstoy almost died on a bear hunt (December 22, 1858). He has an affair with a peasant woman Aksinya, at the same time he has a need for marriage.

On his next trip, he was mainly interested in public education and institutions aimed at raising the educational level of the working population. He closely studied the issues of public education in Germany and France, both theoretically and practically, and through conversations with specialists. Of the outstanding people of Germany, he was most interested in Auerbach, as the author of dedicated folk life"Schwarzwald Tales" and publisher of folk calendars. Tolstoy paid him a visit and tried to get close to him. During his stay in Brussels, Tolstoy met Proudhon and Lelewel. In London he visited Herzen, was at a lecture by Dickens.

Tolstoy's serious mood during his second trip to the south of France was also facilitated by the fact that his beloved brother Nikolai died of tuberculosis in his arms. The death of his brother made a huge impression on Tolstoy.

Pedagogical activity

He returned to Russia shortly after the liberation of the peasants and became a mediator. At that time, they looked at the people as a younger brother who needed to be lifted up; Tolstoy thought, on the contrary, that the people are infinitely higher than the cultural classes, and that the masters must borrow the heights of spirit from the peasants. He was actively engaged in organizing schools in his Yasnaya Polyana and in the entire Krapivensky district.

The Yasnaya Polyana school belongs to the number of original pedagogical attempts: in an era of boundless admiration for the latest German pedagogy, Tolstoy resolutely rebelled against any regulation and discipline in the school; the only method of teaching and education that he recognized was that no method was needed. Everything in teaching should be individual - both the teacher and the student, and their mutual relationship. In the Yasnaya Polyana school, the children sat where they wanted, for as long as they wanted, and for as long as they wanted. There was no specific curriculum. The teacher's only job was to keep the class interested. The classes were going great. They were led by Tolstoy himself with the help of several permanent teachers and a few random ones, from the closest acquaintances and visitors.

Since 1862, he began to publish the pedagogical journal Yasnaya Polyana, where again he himself was the main employee. In addition to theoretical articles, Tolstoy also wrote a number of stories, fables and adaptations. Put together, Tolstoy's pedagogical articles amounted to whole volume collections of his works. Hidden in a very little-spread special magazine, they at one time remained little noticed. No one paid attention to the sociological basis of Tolstoy's ideas about education, to the fact that Tolstoy saw in education, science, art, and the successes of technology only facilitated and improved ways of exploiting the people by the upper classes. Not only that: from Tolstoy's attacks on European education and on the concept of “progress”, which was beloved at that time, many seriously concluded that Tolstoy was a “conservative”.

This curious misunderstanding lasted for about 15 years, bringing together with Tolstoy such a writer, for example, as organically opposed to him, as N. N. Strakhov. Only in 1875, N. K. Mikhailovsky, in the article “The Right Hand and Schuytsa of Count Tolstoy”, striking with the brilliance of analysis and foreseeing Tolstoy’s future activities, described the spiritual image of the most original of Russian writers in a real light. The little attention that was paid to Tolstoy's pedagogical articles is partly due to the fact that little attention was paid to him at that time.

Apollon Grigoriev had the right to title his article on Tolstoy (Vremya, 1862) "Phenomena of Modern Literature Missed by Our Criticism." Having extremely cordially met Tolstoy's debits and credits and "Sevastopol Tales", recognizing in him the great hope of Russian literature (Druzhinin even used the epithet "brilliant" in relation to him), criticism then for 10-12 years, until the appearance of "War and Peace", not only ceases to recognize him as a very important writer, but somehow grows cold towards him.

Among the stories and essays he wrote in the late 1850s are "Lucerne" and "Three Deaths".

Family and offspring

In the late 1850s, he met Sophia Andreevna Bers (1844-1919), the daughter of a Moscow doctor from the Baltic Germans. He was already in his fourth decade, Sofya Andreevna was only 17 years old. On September 23, 1862, he married her, and the fullness of family happiness fell to his lot. In the person of his wife, he found not only the most faithful and devoted friend, but also an indispensable assistant in all matters, practical and literary. For Tolstoy, the brightest period of his life is coming - an intoxication with personal happiness, very significant thanks to the practicality of Sofya Andreevna, material well-being, an outstanding, easily given tension of literary creativity and, in connection with it, unprecedented fame all-Russian, and then worldwide.

However, Tolstoy's relationship with his wife was not cloudless. Quarrels often arose between them, including in connection with the lifestyle that Tolstoy chose for himself.

• Sergei (July 10, 1863 - December 23, 1947)
• Tatiana (October 4, 1864 - September 21, 1950). Since 1899 she has been married to Mikhail Sergeevich Sukhotin. In 1917-1923 she was the curator of the Yasnaya Polyana Museum Estate. In 1925 she emigrated with her daughter. Daughter Tatyana Mikhailovna Sukhotina-Albertini 1905-1996
• Ilya (May 22, 1866 - December 11, 1933)
• Leo (1869-1945)
• Maria (1871-1906) Buried in the village. Kochety of Krapivensky district. From 1897 married to Nikolai Leonidovich Obolensky (1872-1934)
• Peter (1872-1873)
• Nicholas (1874-1875)
• Barbara (1875-1875)
• Andrei (1877-1916)
• Mikhail (1879-1944)
• Alexey (1881-1886)
• Alexandra (1884-1979)
• Ivan (1888-1895)

The heyday of creativity

During the first 10-12 years after his marriage, he creates "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina". At the turn of this second era literary life Tolstoy are conceived back in 1852 and completed in 1861-1862. "Cossacks", the first of the works in which Tolstoy's great talent reached the size of a genius. For the first time in world literature with such brightness and certainty the difference between the brokenness of a cultured person, the absence of strong, clear moods in him, and the immediacy of people close to nature was shown.

Tolstoy showed that it is not at all the peculiarity of people close to nature that they are good or bad. Can't name good heroes works of the fat dashing horse thief Lukashka, a kind of dissolute girl Maryanka, a drunkard Eroshka. But they cannot be called bad either, because they have no consciousness of evil; Eroshka is directly convinced that "nothing is wrong". Tolstoy's Cossacks are simply living people, in whom not a single spiritual movement is obscured by reflection. "Cossacks" were not evaluated in a timely manner. At that time, everyone was too proud of the “progress” and success of civilization to be interested in how a representative of culture gave in to the power of direct spiritual movements of some semi-savages.

"War and Peace"

Unprecedented success fell to the lot of "War and Peace". An excerpt from a novel entitled "1805" appeared in the "Russian Messenger" in 1865; in 1868, three of its parts were published, followed soon by the other two.

Recognized by critics around the world as the greatest epic work new European literature, "War and Peace" is already striking from a purely technical point of view with the size of its fictional canvas. Only in painting can one find some parallel in huge paintings Paolo Veronese in the Doge's Palace in Venice, where hundreds of faces are also drawn with amazing distinctness and individual expression. In Tolstoy's novel, all classes of society are represented, from emperors and kings to the last soldier, all ages, all temperaments, and throughout the entire reign of Alexander I.

"Anna Karenina"

The infinitely joyful intoxication with the bliss of being is no longer in Anna Karenina, dating from 1873-1876. There are many more gratifying experiences in almost autobiographical novel Levina and Kitty, but there is already so much bitterness in the image family life Dolly, in the unfortunate conclusion of the love of Anna Karenina and Vronsky, there is so much anxiety in mental life Levin that in general this novel is already a transition to the third period literary activity Tolstoy.

In January 1871, Tolstoy sent a letter to A. A. Fet: “How happy I am ... that I will never write verbose rubbish like “War” again”.

On December 6, 1908, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: “People love me for those trifles - War and Peace, etc., which seem very important to them”

In the summer of 1909, one of the visitors to Yasnaya Polyana expressed his delight and gratitude for the creation of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Tolstoy replied: “It’s like someone came to Edison and said:“ I really respect you for the fact that you are good at dancing the mazurka. I attribute meaning to my very different books (religious ones!)”.

In the sphere of material interests, he began to say to himself: “Well, well, you will have 6,000 acres in the Samara province - 300 heads of horses, and then?”; in the field of literature: “Well, well, you will be more glorious than Gogol, Pushkin, Shakespeare, Moliere, all the writers in the world - so what!”. Starting to think about raising children, he asked himself: "For what?"; reasoning “about how the people can achieve prosperity,” he “suddenly said to himself: what does it matter to me?” In general, he “felt that what he stood on had given way, that what he lived by was gone”. The natural result was the thought of suicide.

"I, happy man, hid the cord from me so as not to hang myself on the crossbar between the closets in my room, where I was alone every day, undressing, and stopped going hunting with a gun, so as not to be tempted by a too easy way to rid myself of life. I myself did not know what I wanted: I was afraid of life, strove to get away from it and, meanwhile, hoped for something else from it.

Other works

In March 1879, in the city of Moscow, Leo Tolstoy met Vasily Petrovich Shchegolyonok and in the same year, at his invitation, he came to Yasnaya Polyana, where he stayed for about a month and a half. The dandy told Tolstoy many folk tales and epics, of which more than twenty were recorded by Tolstoy, and Tolstoy remembered some of the plots, if he did not write them down on paper (these records are printed in vol. XLVIII of the Jubilee edition of Tolstoy's works). Six works written by Tolstoy are based on the legends and stories of Schegolyonok (1881 - “ How people live", 1885 -" Two old men" And " Three elders", 1905 -" Korney Vasiliev" And " Prayer", 1907 -" old man in church"). In addition, Count Tolstoy diligently wrote down many sayings, proverbs, individual expressions and words told by Shchegolyonok.

Literary criticism of Shakespeare's works

In his critical essay "On Shakespeare and Drama", based on a detailed analysis of some of the most popular works of Shakespeare, in particular: "King Lear", "Othello", "Falstaff", "Hamlet", etc. - Tolstoy sharply criticized Shakespeare's abilities like a playwright.

religious quest

In order to find an answer to the questions and doubts that tormented him, Tolstoy first of all took up the study of theology and wrote and published in 1891 in Geneva his “Study of Dogmatic Theology”, in which he criticized the “Orthodox Dogmatic Theology” of Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov). He conducted conversations with priests and monks, went to the elders in Optina Pustyn, read theological treatises. In order to get to know the original sources of Christian teaching in the original, he studied the ancient Greek and Hebrew languages ​​(in the study of the latter he was helped by the Moscow Rabbi Shlomo Minor). At the same time, he kept an eye on the schismatics, became close to the thoughtful peasant Syutaev, and talked with Molokans and Stundists. Tolstoy also sought the meaning of life in the study of philosophy and in acquaintance with the results of the exact sciences. He made a series of attempts at greater and greater simplification, striving to live a life close to nature and agricultural life.

Gradually, he gives up the whims and comforts of a rich life, does a lot of physical labor, dresses in the simplest clothes, becomes a vegetarian, gives his family all his large fortune, renounces literary property rights. On this basis of an unalloyed pure impulse and striving for moral improvement, the third period of Tolstoy's literary activity is created, the distinguishing feature of which is the denial of all established forms of state, social and religious life. A significant part of Tolstoy's views could not be open expression in Russia and is presented in full only in foreign editions of his religious and social treatises.

No unanimous attitude was established even in relation to Tolstoy's fictional works written during this period. So, in a long series of short stories and legends, intended mainly for popular reading(“What makes people alive”, etc.), Tolstoy, in the opinion of his unconditional admirers, reached the pinnacle of artistic power - that elemental skill that is given only folk tales because they embody the creativity of an entire nation. On the contrary, in the opinion of people who are indignant at Tolstoy for turning from an artist into a preacher, these artistic teachings, written for a specific purpose, are grossly tendentious. The high and terrible truth of The Death of Ivan Ilyich, according to fans, which puts this work along with the main works of the genius of Tolstoy, according to others, is deliberately harsh, deliberately sharply emphasizes the soullessness of the upper strata of society in order to show the moral superiority of a simple "kitchen man" Gerasim. The explosion of the most opposite feelings, caused by the analysis of marital relations and the indirect demand for abstinence from married life, in the Kreutzer Sonata made us forget about the amazing brightness and passion with which this story was written. folk drama"The Power of Darkness", according to Tolstoy's admirers, is a great manifestation of his artistic power: in the narrow framework of the ethnographic reproduction of Russian peasant life, Tolstoy managed to contain so many universal features that the drama went around all the stages of the world with tremendous success.

In the last major work, the novel "Resurrection" condemned judicial practice and high society life, caricatured the clergy and worship.

Critics of the last phase of Tolstoy's literary and preaching activity find that his artistic power has certainly suffered from the predominance of theoretical interests and that now Tolstoy needs creativity only to propagate his socio-religious views in a generally accessible form. In his aesthetic treatise (“On Art”), one can find enough material to declare Tolstoy an enemy of art: in addition to the fact that Tolstoy here partly completely denies, partly significantly diminishes the artistic significance of Dante, Raphael, Goethe, Shakespeare (at the performance of Hamlet, he experienced "special suffering" for this "false semblance of works of art"), Beethoven and others, he directly comes to the conclusion that "the more we surrender to beauty, the more we move away from good."

Excommunication

Belonging by birth and baptism to the Orthodox Church, Tolstoy, like most representatives of the educated society of his time, was indifferent to religious issues in his youth and youth. In the mid-1870s, he showed an increased interest in the teaching and worship of the Orthodox Church. The second half of 1879 became a turning point in the direction of the teachings of the Orthodox Church for him. In the 1880s, he took the position of an unambiguously critical attitude towards church doctrine, the clergy, and official churchness. The publication of some of Tolstoy's works was banned by spiritual and secular censorship. In 1899, Tolstoy's novel "Resurrection" was published, in which the author showed the life of various social strata of contemporary Russia; the clergy were depicted mechanically and hastily performing rituals, and the cold and cynical Toporov was taken by some for a caricature of K. P. Pobedonostsev, chief procurator of the Holy Synod.

In February 1901, the Synod finally inclined to the idea of ​​publicly condemning Tolstoy and declaring him outside the church. Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) played an active role in this. As it appears in the camera-Fourier magazines, on February 22, Pobedonostsev visited Nicholas II in the Winter Palace and talked with him for about an hour. Some historians believe that Pobedonostsev came to the tsar directly from the Synod with a ready definition.

February 24 (old style), 1901, in the official organ of the Synod "Church Gazette, published under the Holy Governing Senod" was published “Determination of the Holy Synod of February 20-22, 1901 No. 557, with a message to the faithful children of the Orthodox Greco-Russian Church about Count Leo Tolstoy”:

A world-famous writer, Russian by birth, Orthodox by his baptism and upbringing, Count Tolstoy, in the seduction of his proud mind, boldly rebelled against the Lord and His Christ and His holy heritage, clearly before all renounced the Mother, the Church, who nourished and raised him Orthodox, and devoted his literary activity and the talent given to him from God to spread among the people teachings that are contrary to Christ and the Church, and to exterminate in the minds and hearts of people the faith of the fathers, the Orthodox faith, which established the universe, by which our ancestors lived and were saved and by which Until now, Holy Russia has held out and been strong. In his writings and letters, in many scattered by him and his disciples all over the world, especially within the borders of our dear Fatherland, he preaches, with the zeal of a fanatic, the overthrow of all the dogmas of the Orthodox Church and the very essence of the Christian faith; rejects the personal living God, glorified in the Holy Trinity, the Creator and Provider of the universe, denies the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, Redeemer and Savior of the world, who suffered for us for the sake of people and for our salvation and rose from the dead, denies the seedless conception according to humanity of Christ the Lord and virginity before of the birth and after the birth of the Most Pure Theotokos, Ever-Virgin Mary, does not recognize the afterlife and retribution, rejects all the sacraments of the Church and the grace-filled action of the Holy Spirit in them, and, scolding the most sacred objects of the faith of the Orthodox people, did not shudder to mock the greatest of the sacraments, the holy Eucharist. All this is preached by Count Tolstoy continuously, in word and writing, to the temptation and horror of everything. Orthodox world, and thus openly, but clearly in front of everyone, consciously and deliberately, he cut himself off from all communion with the Orthodox Church. Former same to his admonition attempts were unsuccessful. Therefore, the Church does not consider him a member and cannot count him until he repents and restores his communion with her. Therefore, bearing witness to his falling away from the Church, we pray together that the Lord grant him repentance into the knowledge of truth (2 Tim. 2:25). We pray, merciful Lord, do not want the death of sinners, hear and have mercy and turn him to Your holy Church. Amen.

In his Response to the Synod, Leo Tolstoy confirmed his break with the Church: “The fact that I have renounced the Church that calls itself Orthodox is absolutely fair. But I denied it not because I rebelled against the Lord, but on the contrary, only because I wanted to serve him with all the strength of my soul. However, Tolstoy objected to the accusations brought against him in the ruling of the synod: “The resolution of the synod in general has many shortcomings. It is illegal or deliberately ambiguous; it is arbitrary, unfounded, untrue and, moreover, contains slander and incitement to bad feelings and actions. In the text of the "Response to the Synod" Tolstoy elaborates on these theses, recognizing a number of significant differences between the dogmas of the Orthodox Church and his own understanding the teachings of Christ.

The synodal definition aroused the indignation of a certain part of society; Numerous letters and telegrams were sent to Tolstoy expressing sympathy and support. At the same time, this definition provoked a flood of letters from another part of society - with threats and abuse.

At the end of February 2001, the great-grandson of Count Vladimir Tolstoy, who manages the museum-estate of the writer in Yasnaya Polyana, sent a letter to Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' with a request to revise the synodal definition; In an informal interview on television, the Patriarch said: “We cannot revise now, because after all, you can revise if a person changes his position.” In March 2009, Vl. Tolstoy expressed his opinion on the meaning of the synodal act: “I studied documents, read the newspapers of that time, got acquainted with the materials of public discussions around the excommunication. And I got the feeling that this act gave a signal for a total split in Russian society. The royal family, and the highest aristocracy, and the local nobility, and the intelligentsia, and the raznochinsk strata, and ordinary people also split. The crack went through the body of the entire Russian, Russian people.

Moscow census of 1882. L. N. Tolstoy - participant in the census

The 1882 census in Moscow is famous for the fact that the great writer Count L. N. Tolstoy took part in it. Lev Nikolayevich wrote: “I suggested using the census in order to find out poverty in Moscow and help her with business and money, and make sure that there were no poor in Moscow.”

Tolstoy believed that the interest and significance of the census for society is that it gives it a mirror in which you want it, you don’t want it, the whole society and each of us will look. He chose for himself one of the most difficult and difficult sections, Protochny Lane, where there was a rooming house, among the Moscow squalor, this gloomy two-story building was called the Rzhanov Fortress. Having received an order from the Duma, a few days before the census, Tolstoy began to walk around the site according to the plan that he was given. Indeed, the dirty rooming house, filled with destitute, desperate people who had sunk to the very bottom, served as a mirror for Tolstoy, reflecting the terrible poverty of the people. Under the fresh impression of what he saw, L. N. Tolstoy wrote his famous article"About the census in Moscow". In this article, he writes:

The purpose of the census is scientific. The census is a sociological study. The goal of the science of sociology is the happiness of people. "This science and its methods differ sharply from other sciences. The peculiarity is that sociological research is not carried out by scientists in their offices, observatories and laboratories, but is carried out by two thousand people from society. Another feature "that research in other sciences is carried out not on living people, but here on living people. The third feature is that the goal of other sciences is only knowledge, and here the benefit of people. Foggy spots can be explored alone, but to explore Moscow, 2000 people are needed. The purpose of the study foggy spots only to learn everything about foggy spots, the purpose of the study of inhabitants is to derive the laws of sociology and, on the basis of these laws, establish better life of people. Foggy patches do not care if they are investigated or not, they have waited and are ready to wait for a long time, but the inhabitants of Moscow do not care, especially those unfortunate ones who constitute the most interesting subject of the science of sociology. The counter comes to the doss house, to the basement, finds a man dying of starvation and politely asks: title, name, patronymic, occupation; and after a slight hesitation as to whether to list him as alive, he writes it down and passes on.

Despite Tolstoy's declared good intentions of the census, the population was suspicious of this event. On this occasion, Tolstoy writes: “When they explained to us that the people had already learned about the rounds of the apartments and were leaving, we asked the owner to lock the gates, and we ourselves went to the yard to persuade the people who were leaving.” Lev Nikolaevich hoped to arouse sympathy for urban poverty in the rich, to raise money, to recruit people who wanted to contribute to this cause, and together with the census to go through all the dens of poverty. In addition to fulfilling the duties of a copyist, the writer wanted to enter into communication with the unfortunate, find out the details of their needs and help them with money and work, expulsion from Moscow, placing children in schools, old men and women in shelters and almshouses.

According to the results of the census, the population of Moscow in 1882 amounted to 753.5 thousand people, and only 26% were born in Moscow, and the rest were “newcomers”. Of the Moscow residential apartments, 57% faced the street, 43% faced the yard. From the 1882 census, one can find out that in 63% the head of the household is a married couple, in 23% - the wife, and only in 14% - the husband. The census recorded 529 families with 8 or more children. 39% have servants and most often they are women.

Last years of life. Death and funeral

In October 1910, fulfilling his decision to live last years according to his views, he secretly left Yasnaya Polyana. Own last trip he started at the Kozlova Zasek station; on the way, he fell ill with pneumonia and was forced to make a stop at the small station Astapovo (now Lev Tolstoy, Lipetsk region), where he died on November 7 (20).

On November 10 (23), 1910, he was buried in Yasnaya Polyana, on the edge of a ravine in the forest, where, as a child, he and his brother were looking for a “green stick” that kept the “secret” of how to make all people happy.

In January 1913, a letter was published by Countess Sophia Tolstaya dated December 22, 1912, in which she confirms the news in the press that a funeral was performed at her husband's grave by a certain priest (she denies rumors that he was not real) in her presence. In particular, the countess wrote: “I also declare that Lev Nikolayevich never expressed a desire not to be buried before his death, but earlier he wrote in his diary of 1895, as if a testament:“ If possible, then (bury) without priests and funerals. But if it is unpleasant for those who will bury, then let them bury as usual, but as cheaply and simply as possible.

There is also unofficial version the death of Leo Tolstoy, described in exile by I.K. Sursky from the words of an official of the Russian police. According to her, the writer, before his death, wanted to reconcile with the church and arrived in Optina Pustyn for this. Here he awaited the order of the Synod, but, feeling unwell, was taken away by his daughter and died at the Astapovo postal station.

Philosophy

The religious and moral imperatives of Tolstoy were the source of the Tolstoy movement, one of the fundamental theses of which is the thesis of "non-resistance to evil by force." The latter, according to Tolstoy, is recorded in a number of places in the Gospel and is the core of the teachings of Christ, as, indeed, of Buddhism. The essence of Christianity, according to Tolstoy, can be expressed in a simple rule: Be kind and do not resist evil by force».

In particular, Ilyin I. A. spoke out against the position of non-resistance, which gave rise to disputes in the philosophical environment, in his work “On Resistance to Evil by Force” (1925)

Criticism of Tolstoy and Tolstoyism

• The Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod of Victorious in his private letter dated February 18, 1887 to Emperor Alexander III wrote about Tolstoy's drama The Power of Darkness: “I have just read a new drama by L. Tolstoy and cannot recover from horror. And they assure me that they are preparing to give it at the Imperial Theaters and are already learning the roles. I do not know anything like this in any literature. It is unlikely that Zola himself reached such a degree of rough realism, which Tolstoy becomes here. The day on which Tolstoy's drama will be presented at the Imperial Theaters will be the day decisive fall our scene, which has already fallen very low.

• The leader of the extreme left wing of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin), after the revolutionary upheavals of 1905-1907, wrote, being in forced emigration, in his work “Leo Tolstoy as a Mirror of the Russian Revolution” (1908): “Tolstoy ridiculous, like a prophet who discovered new recipes for the salvation of mankind - and therefore the foreign and Russian "Tolstoyans" who wished to turn into a dogma just the most weak side his teachings. Tolstoy is great as a spokesman for those ideas and those moods that had developed among millions of the Russian peasantry at the time of the onset of the bourgeois revolution in Russia. Tolstoy is original, because the totality of his views, taken as a whole, expresses precisely the peculiarities of our revolution, as a peasant bourgeois revolution. The contradictions in the views of Tolstoy, from this point of view, are a real mirror of those contradictory conditions in which the historical activity of the peasantry was placed in our revolution. ".
• The Russian religious philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev wrote in early 1918: “L. Tolstoy must be recognized as the greatest Russian nihilist, destroyer of all values ​​and shrines, destroyer of culture. Tolstoy triumphed, his anarchism triumphed, his non-resistance, his denial of the state and culture, his moralistic demand for equality in poverty and non-existence and subordination to the peasant kingdom and physical labor. But this triumph of Tolstoyism turned out to be less meek and beautiful-hearted than Tolstoy imagined. It is unlikely that he himself would have rejoiced at such a triumph. The godless nihilism of Tolstoyism, its terrible poison that destroys the Russian soul, is exposed. To save Russia and Russian culture with a red-hot iron, Tolstoy's morality, low and exterminating, must be burned out of the Russian soul.

His own article “The Spirits of the Russian Revolution” (1918): “There is nothing prophetic in Tolstoy, he did not foresee or predict anything. As an artist, he is drawn to the crystallized past. He did not have that sensitivity to dynamism human nature, which in the highest degree was with Dostoevsky. But it is not Tolstoy's artistic insights that triumph in the Russian revolution, but his moral assessments. There are few Tolstoyans in the narrow sense of the word who share Tolstoy's doctrine, and they represent an insignificant phenomenon. But Tolstoyism in the broad, non-doctrinal sense of the word is very characteristic of a Russian person; it determines Russian moral assessments. Tolstoy was not a direct teacher of the Russian left intelligentsia; Tolstoy's religious teaching was alien to her. But Tolstoy captured and expressed the peculiarities of the moral make-up of most of the Russian intelligentsia, perhaps even a Russian intellectual, perhaps even a Russian person in general. And the Russian revolution is a kind of triumph of Tolstoyism. It imprinted both Russian Tolstoy moralism and Russian immorality. This Russian moralism and this Russian immorality are interconnected and are two sides of the same disease of moral consciousness. Tolstoy was able to instill in the Russian intelligentsia a hatred for everything historically individual and historically different. He was the spokesman for that side of Russian nature that abhorred historical power and historical glory. This he taught in an elementary and simplified way to moralize over history and transfer to historical life the moral categories of individual life. By this he morally undermined the opportunity for the Russian people to live historical life fulfill their historical destiny and historical mission. He morally prepared the historical suicide of the Russian people. He clipped the wings of the Russian people as a historical people, morally poisoned the sources of every impulse to historical creativity. The World War was lost by Russia because Tolstoy's moral assessment of the war prevailed in it. In the terrible hour of the world struggle, the Russian people were weakened, apart from betrayal and animal egoism, by Tolstoy's moral assessments. Tolstoy's morality disarmed Russia and handed her over to the enemy.

• V. Mayakovsky, D. Burliuk, V. Khlebnikov, A. Kruchenykh, called for "to throw Tolstoy L. N. and others from the steamer of modernity" in the 1912 Futurist manifesto "Slap in the face of public taste"
• George Orwell defended W. Shakespeare against Tolstoy's criticism

• Researcher of the history of Russian theological thought and culture Georgy Florovsky (1937): “There is one decisive contradiction in Tolstoy's experience. He certainly had the temperament of a preacher or a moralist, but he had no religious experience at all. Tolstoy was not religious at all, he was religiously mediocre. Tolstoy did not derive his “Christian” worldview from the Gospel at all. He already compares the gospel with his own view, and therefore he cuts and adapts it so easily. The gospel for him is a book compiled many centuries ago by “poorly educated and superstitious people,” and it cannot be accepted in its entirety. But Tolstoy does not mean scientific criticism, but simply personal choice or selection. Tolstoy somehow in a strange way as if mentally belated in the 18th century, and therefore found himself outside of history and modernity. And he deliberately leaves the present for some far-fetched past. All his work is in this respect some kind of continuous moralistic robinsonade. Annenkov also called Tolstoy's mind sectarian. There is a striking discrepancy between the aggressive maximalism of Tolstoy's socio-ethical denunciations and denials and the extreme poverty of his positive moral teaching. All morality comes down to him to common sense and worldly prudence. “Christ teaches us exactly how we can get rid of our misfortunes and live happily.” And that's what the Gospel is all about! Here Tolstoy's insensitivity becomes eerie, and "common sense" turns into madness... rejection of history, only a way out of culture and simplification, that is, through the removal of questions and the rejection of tasks. Moralism in Tolstoy turns around historical nihilism.»

• The holy righteous John of Kronstadt sharply criticized Tolstoy (see “Reply of Father John of Kronstadt to the appeal of Count L. N. Tolstoy to the clergy”), and in his dying diary (August 15 - October 2, 1908) he wrote:

"24 August. How long, O Gdy, do you tolerate the worst atheist who has confused the whole world, Leo Tolstoy? How long do you call him to Your Judgment? Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward with Me will repay anyone according to his deeds? (Rev. Apoc 22:12) Gd, the earth is tired of enduring his blasphemy. -»
"6 September. Where, do not allow Leo Tolstoy, a heretic who surpassed all heretics, to reach the Blessed Virgin Mary before the feast of the Nativity, whom he terribly blasphemed and blasphemes. Take him from the earth - this fetid corpse, stinking the whole earth with its pride. Amen. 9pm."

• In 2009, as part of a court case on the liquidation of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses Taganrog, a forensic examination was conducted, in the conclusion of which Leo Tolstoy was cited: “I am convinced that the teaching of the [Russian Orthodox] Church is theoretically insidious and harmful lie, but a collection of the grossest superstitions and witchcraft, which completely hides the whole meaning of Christian teaching, ”which was characterized as forming a negative attitude towards the Russian Orthodox Church, and Leo Tolstoy himself as“ an opponent of Russian Orthodoxy ”.

Expert evaluation of individual statements of Tolstoy

• In 2009, as part of a court case on the liquidation of the local religious organization Taganrog, Jehovah's Witnesses, a forensic examination of the organization's literature was carried out for signs of inciting religious hatred, undermining respect for and hostility to other religions. The experts concluded that the Awake! contains (without specifying the source) the statement of Leo Tolstoy: "I was convinced that the teaching of the [Russian Orthodox] Church is theoretically an insidious and harmful lie, but practically a collection of the grossest superstitions and witchcraft, hiding the entire meaning of Christian teaching," which was characterized as forming negative attitude and undermining respect for the Russian Orthodox Church, and Leo Tolstoy himself as an "opponent of Russian Orthodoxy."

• In March 2010, in the Kirov Court of Yekaterinburg, Leo Tolstoy was accused of "inciting religious hatred against the Orthodox Church." Pavel Suslonov, an expert on extremism, testified: "Leo Tolstoy's leaflets 'Foreword to the Soldier's Memo' and 'Officer's Memo'" addressed to soldiers, sergeants and officers contain direct calls to incite inter-religious hatred directed against the Orthodox Church.

Bibliography

Tolstoy's translators

World recognition. Memory

Museums

IN former estate Yasnaya Polyana is a museum dedicated to his life and work.

The main literary exposition about his life and work is in State Museum L. N. Tolstoy, in former home Lopukhins-Stanitskaya (Moscow, Prechistenka 11); its branches also: at Lev Tolstoy station (former Astapovo station), memorial estate museum L. N. Tolstoy "Khamovniki" (Leo Tolstoy Street, 21), exhibition hall on Pyatnitskaya.

Figures of science, culture, politicians about Leo Tolstoy

Screen versions of his works

• "Resurrection"(English) resurrection, 1909, UK). 12 minute silent film by novel of the same name(screened during the life of the writer).
• "The Power of Darkness"(1909, Russia). Silent movie.
• "Anna Karenina"(1910, Germany). Silent movie.
• "Anna Karenina"(1911, Russia). Silent movie. Dir. - Maurice Meter
• "Living Dead"(1911, Russia). Silent movie.
• "War and Peace"(1913, Russia). Silent movie.
• "Anna Karenina"(1914, Russia). Silent movie. Dir. - V. Gardin
• "Anna Karenina"(1915, USA). Silent movie.
• "The Power of Darkness"(1915, Russia). Silent movie.
• "War and Peace"(1915, Russia). Silent movie. Dir. - Y. Protazanov, V. Gardin
• "Natasha Rostova"(1915, Russia). Silent movie. Producer - A. Khanzhonkov. Cast - V. Polonsky, I. Mozzhukhin
• "Living Dead"(1916). Silent movie.
• "Anna Karenina"(1918, Hungary). Silent movie.
• "The Power of Darkness"(1918, Russia). Silent movie.
• "Living Dead"(1918). Silent movie.
• "Father Sergius"(1918, RSFSR). Silent film film by Yakov Protazanov, starring Ivan Mozzhukhin
• "Anna Karenina"(1919, Germany). Silent movie.
• "Polikushka"(1919, USSR). Silent movie.
• "Love"(1927, USA. Based on the novel "Anna Karenina"). Silent movie. Anna as Greta Garbo
• "Living Dead"(1929, USSR). Cast - V. Pudovkin
• "Anna Karenina"(Anna Karenina, 1935, USA). Sound film. Anna as Greta Garbo
• « Anna Karenina"(Anna Karenina, 1948, UK). Anna as Vivien Leigh
• "War and Peace"(War & Peace, 1956, USA, Italy). In the role of Natasha Rostova - Audrey Hepburn
• Agi Murad il diavolo bianco(1959, Italy, Yugoslavia). As Hadji Murat - Steve Reeves
• "Too people"(1959, USSR, based on a fragment of "War and Peace"). Dir. G. Danelia, cast - V. Sanaev, L. Durov
• "Resurrection"(1960, USSR). Dir. - M. Schweitzer
• "Anna Karenina"(Anna Karenina, 1961, USA). Vronsky as Sean Connery
• "Cossacks"(1961, USSR). Dir. - V. Pronin
• "Anna Karenina"(1967, USSR). In the role of Anna - Tatyana Samoilova
• "War and Peace"(1968, USSR). Dir. - S. Bondarchuk
• "Living Dead"(1968, USSR). In ch. roles - A. Batalov
• "War and Peace"(War & Peace, 1972, UK). Series. Pierre - Anthony Hopkins
• "Father Sergius"(1978, USSR). Feature film by Igor Talankin, starring Sergey Bondarchuk
• « Caucasian story» (1978, USSR, based on the story "Cossacks"). In ch. roles - V. Konkin
• "Money"(1983, France-Switzerland, based on the story "False Coupon"). Dir. - Robert Bresson
• "Two Hussars"(1984, USSR). Dir. - Vyacheslav Krishtofovich
• "Anna Karenina"(Anna Karenina, 1985, USA). Anna as Jacqueline Bisset
• "Simple Death"(1985, USSR, based on the story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich"). Dir. - A. Kaidanovsky
• "Kreutzer Sonata"(1987, USSR). Cast - Oleg Yankovsky
• "For what?" (Za co?, 1996, Poland / Russia). Dir. - Jerzy Kavalerovich
• "Anna Karenina"(Anna Karenina, 1997, USA). In the role of Anna - Sophie Marceau, Vronsky - Sean Bean
• "Anna Karenina"(2007, Russia). In the role of Anna - Tatyana Drubich

For more details, see: List of film adaptations of Anna Karenina 1910-2007.

• "War and Peace"(2007, Germany, Russia, Poland, France, Italy). Series. In the role of Andrei Bolkonsky - Alessio Boni.

Documentary

• "Lev Tolstoy". Documentary. TSSDF (RTSSDF). 1953. 47 minutes.

Movies about Leo Tolstoy

• "The Departure of the Great Old Man"(1912, Russia). Director - Yakov Protazanov
• "Lev Tolstoy"(1984, USSR, Czechoslovakia). Director - S. Gerasimov
• "Last Station"(2008). In the role of L. Tolstoy - Christopher Plummer, in the role of Sophia Tolstoy - Helen Mirren. Film about last days writer's life.

Gallery of portraits

Tolstoy's translators

• On Japanese- Konishi Masutaro
• In French - Michel Ocouturier, Vladimir Lvovich Binstock
• On Spanish- Selma Ancira
• In English - Constance Garnett, Leo Viner, Aylmer and Louise Maude
• Into Norwegian - Martin Grahn, Olaf Broch, Marta Grundt
• In Bulgarian - Sava Nichev, Georgi Shopov, Hristo Dosev
• On Kazakh language- Ibray Altynsarin
• Into Malay - Victor Pogadaev
• In Esperanto - Valentin Melnikov, Viktor Sapozhnikov
• In Azerbaijani - Dadash-zade, Mammad Arif Maharram ogly

Count, Russian writer, corresponding member (1873), honorary academician (1900) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Beginning with the autobiographical trilogy "Childhood" (1852), "Boyhood" (1852 54), "Youth" (1855 57), the study of "fluidity" inner world, the moral foundations of personality became main theme works of Tolstoy. Painful search for the meaning of life moral ideal, hidden general laws of being, spiritual and social criticism, revealing the "untruth" of class relations, run through all his work. In the story "The Cossacks" (1863), the hero, a young nobleman, is looking for a way out in familiarizing himself with nature, with the natural and integral life of a simple person. The epic "War and Peace" (1863 69) recreates the life of various strata of Russian society during the Patriotic War of 1812, the patriotic impulse of the people, which united all classes and led to victory in the war with Napoleon. historical events and personal interests, ways of spiritual self-determination of the reflecting personality and the elements of the Russian folk life with its "swarm" consciousness are shown as equivalent components of natural-historical being. In the novel "Anna Karenina" (1873 77) about the tragedy of a woman in the grip of a destructive "criminal" passion Tolstoy exposes the false foundations of secular society, shows the collapse of the patriarchal way of life, the destruction of family foundations. To the perception of the world by individualistic and rationalistic consciousness, he contrasts the inherent value of life as such in its infinity, uncontrollable changeability and real concreteness ("Seer of the Flesh" D. S. Merezhkovsky). Since the end of the 1870s, he has been experiencing a spiritual crisis, later captured by the idea of ​​moral improvement and "simplification" (which gave rise to the "Tolstoy movement"), Tolstoy comes to an increasingly irreconcilable criticism of the social structure of modern bureaucratic institutions, the state, the church (in 1901 he was excommunicated from the Orthodox Church ), civilizations and cultures, total way of life"educated classes": the novel "Resurrection" (1889 99), the story "Kreutzer Sonata" (1887 89), the dramas "The Living Corpse" (1900, published in 1911) and "The Power of Darkness" (1887). At the same time, attention is growing to the themes of death, sin, repentance and moral rebirth (the stories "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", 1884 86; "Father Sergius", 1890 98, published in 1912; "Hadji Murad", 1896 1904, publ. . in 1912). Publicistic writings of a moralizing nature, including "Confession" (1879 82), "What is my faith?" (1884), where Christian doctrine about love and forgiveness is transformed into a preaching of non-resistance to evil by violence. the desire to harmonize the way of thinking and life leads to the departure of Tolstoy from the house in Yasnaya Polyana; died at Astapovo station.

Biography

Born on August 28 (September 9, n.s.) in the estate of Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province. By origin, he belonged to the most ancient aristocratic families of Russia. Received home education and upbringing.

After the death of parents (mother died in 1830, father in 1837) future writer with three brothers and a sister he moved to Kazan, to the guardian P. Yushkova. At the age of sixteen, he entered Kazan University, first at the Faculty of Philosophy in the category of Arabic-Turkish literature, then studied at the Faculty of Law (1844 47). In 1847, without completing the course, he left the university and settled in Yasnaya Polyana, which he received as his father's inheritance.

The future writer spent the next four years in search: he tried to reorganize the life of the peasants of Yasnaya Polyana (1847), lived a secular life in Moscow (1848), at St. deputy meeting (autumn 1849).

In 1851 he left Yasnaya Polyana for the Caucasus, the place of service of his older brother Nikolai, and volunteered to take part in hostilities against the Chechens. Episodes Caucasian War described by him in the stories "Raid" (1853), "Cutting down the forest" (1855), in the story "Cossacks" (1852 63). He passed the cadet exam, preparing to become an officer. In 1854, being an artillery officer, he transferred to the Danube army, which acted against the Turks.

In the Caucasus, Tolstoy began to seriously engage in literary work, writing the story "Childhood", which was approved by Nekrasov and published in the journal "Contemporary". Later, the story "Boyhood" (1852 54) was printed there.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Crimean War, Tolstoy, at his personal request, was transferred to Sevastopol, where he participated in the defense of the besieged city, showing rare fearlessness. Awarded with the Order St. Anna with the inscription "For Courage" and medals "For the Defense of Sevastopol". IN " Sevastopol stories"he created a mercilessly reliable picture of the war, which made a huge impression on Russian society. In the same years he wrote the last part of the trilogy "Youth" (1855 56), in which he declared himself not just a "poet of childhood", but a researcher of human nature. This interest in man and the desire to understand the laws of mental and spiritual life will continue in his future work.

In 1855, having arrived in St. Petersburg, Tolstoy became close to the staff of the Sovremennik magazine, met Turgenev, Goncharov, Ostrovsky, Chernyshevsky.

In the autumn of 1856 he retired ("Military career not mine ..." he writes in his diary) and in 1857 went on a six-month trip abroad to France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany.

In 1859 he opened a school for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana, where he taught classes himself. He helped open more than 20 schools in the surrounding villages. In order to study the organization of school affairs abroad, in 1860 1861 Tolstoy made a second trip to Europe, inspected schools in France, Italy, Germany, and England. In London, he met Herzen, attended a lecture by Dickens.

In May 1861 (the year of the abolition of serfdom) he returned to Yasnaya Polyana, assumed the position of mediator and actively defended the interests of the peasants, resolving their disputes with the landowners about the land, for which the Tula nobility, dissatisfied with his actions, demanded his removal from office. In 1862 the Senate issued a decree dismissing Tolstoy. A secret surveillance of him by the III Section began. In the summer, the gendarmes carried out a search in his absence, confident that they would find a secret printing house, which the writer allegedly acquired after meetings and long conversations with Herzen in London.

In 1862, Tolstoy's life, his way of life were ordered for many years: he married the daughter of a Moscow doctor, Sofya Andreevna Bers, and a patriarchal life began on his estate as the head of an ever-increasing family. The Tolstoys raised nine children.

1860 The 1870s were marked by the appearance of two works by Tolstoy that immortalized his name: War and Peace (1863 69), Anna Karenina (1873 77).

In the early 1880s, the Tolstoy family moved to Moscow to educate their growing children. From that time on, Tolstoy spent his winters in Moscow. Here, in 1882, he participated in the census of the Moscow population, became closely acquainted with the life of the inhabitants of the city's slums, which he described in the treatise "So what should we do?" (1882 86), and concluded: "... You can't live like that, you can't live like that, you can't!"

Tolstoy expressed the new worldview in his work "Confession" (1879㭎), where he spoke about the revolution in his views, the meaning of which he saw in the break with the ideology of the noble class and the transition to the side of the "simple working people". This turning point led Tolstoy to deny the state, the official church and property. The consciousness of the meaninglessness of life in the face of inevitable death led him to believe in God. He bases his teaching on the moral precepts of the New Testament: the demand for love for people and the preaching of non-resistance to evil by force constitute the meaning of the so-called "Tolstoyism", which is becoming popular not only in Russia, but also abroad.

During this period, he came to a complete denial of his previous literary activity, engaged in physical labor, plowed, sewed boots, switched to vegetarian food. In 1891 he publicly renounced copyright on all his writings written after 1880.

Under the influence of friends and true admirers of his talent, as well as a personal need for literary activity, Tolstoy changed his negative attitude towards art in the 1890s. During these years he created the drama "The Power of Darkness" (1886), the play "The Fruits of Enlightenment" (1886 90), the novel "Resurrection" (1889 99).

In 1891, 1893, 1898 he participated in helping the peasants of the starving provinces, organized free canteens.

In the last decade, as always, he has been engaged in intense creative work. The story "Hadji Murad" (1896 1904), the drama "The Living Corpse" (1900), the story "After the Ball" (1903) were written.

At the beginning of 1900 he wrote a number of articles exposing the entire system of state administration. The government of Nicholas II issued a decree according to which the Holy Synod (the highest church institution in Russia) excommunicated Tolstoy from the church, which caused a wave of indignation in society.

In 1901 Tolstoy lived in the Crimea, was treated after a serious illness, often met with Chekhov and M. Gorky.

In the last years of his life, when Tolstoy was writing his will, he found himself at the center of intrigue and strife between the "Tolstoyites", on the one hand, and his wife, who defended the well-being of her family and children, on the other. Trying to bring his way of life in line with his beliefs and burdened by the lordly way of life in the estate. On November 10, 1910, Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana. The health of the 82-year-old writer could not stand the trip. He caught a cold and, falling ill, died on November 20 on the way at the Astapovo Ryazans station of the Ural railway.

Buried at Yasnaya Polyana.