Lev Nikolaevich general pit. Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy

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

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

Life of Leo Tolstoy

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

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

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

Early work of L. N. Tolstoy

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

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

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

Euro-trip

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

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

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

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

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

Homecoming

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

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

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

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

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

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

Social activity

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

The heyday of creativity

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

The writer's latest works include:

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

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

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

Years of life: from 09/09/1828 to 11/20/1910

Great Russian writer. Graph. educator, publicist, religious thinker, whose authoritative opinion provoked the emergence of a new religious and moral trend - Tolstoyism.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born on September 9 (August 28), 1828 in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province, in the mother's hereditary estate - Yasnaya Polyana. Leo was the fourth child in a large noble family. His mother, nee Princess Volkonskaya, died when Tolstoy was not yet two 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.

Tolstoy's education went at first under the guidance of a rude French tutor, Saint-Thomas. From the age of 15, Tolstoy became a student at Kazan University, one of the leading universities of that time.

Having left the university, Tolstoy lived in Yasnaya Polyana from the spring of 1847. In 1851, realizing the aimlessness of his existence and, deeply despising himself, he went to the Caucasus to join the army. In the Crimea, Tolstoy was captured by new impressions and literary plans. There he began to work on his first novel Childhood. Adolescence. Youth". The literary debut immediately brought real recognition to Tolstoy.

In 1854 Tolstoy was assigned to the Danube Army in Bucharest. Boring staff life soon forced him to transfer to the Crimean army, to the besieged Sevastopol, where he commanded a battery on the 4th bastion, showing rare personal courage ( awarded the order St. Anna and medals). In the Crimea, Tolstoy was captured by new impressions and literary plans, here he began to write the cycle " Sevastopol stories", soon published and had a huge success.

In November 1855, Tolstoy arrived in St. Petersburg and immediately entered the Sovremennik circle (N. A. Nekrasov, I. S. Turgenev, A. N. Ostrovsky, I. A. Goncharov, etc.), where he was greeted as a "great hope of Russian literature.

In the autumn of 1856, after retiring, Tolstoy went to Yasnaya Polyana, and at the beginning of 1857 went abroad. He visited France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, returned to Moscow in the fall, then to Yasnaya Polyana. In 1859, Tolstoy opened a school for peasant children in the village, helped set up more than 20 schools in the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana, and Tolstoy was so fascinated by this occupation that in 1860 he went abroad for the second time to get acquainted with the schools of Europe.

In 1862 Tolstoy married Sofya Andreevna Bers. During the first 10-12 years after his marriage, he creates "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina". Being widely known, recognized and loved by the writer for these works, Leo Tolstoy himself did not attach fundamental importance to them. More important to him was his philosophical system.

Leo Tolstoy was the founder of the Tolstoy movement, one of the fundamental theses of which is the Gospel “non-resistance to evil by force”. Around this topic in the Russian émigré environment in 1925, disputes still flared up that did not subside, in which many Russian philosophers of that time took part.

In the late autumn of 1910, at night, secretly from his family, the 82-year-old Tolstoy, accompanied only by his personal doctor D.P. Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana. The road turned out to be unbearable for him: on the way, Tolstoy fell ill and had to get off the train at the small Astapovo railway station (now Leo Tolstoy, Lipetsk region). Here, in the stationmaster's house, he spent the last seven days of his life. November 7 (20) Leo Tolstoy died.

Information about the works:

IN former estate Yasnaya Polyana is now a museum dedicated to the life and work of Leo Tolstoy. In addition to this museum, the main exposition about his life and work can be seen in the State Museum of Leo Tolstoy, in former home Lopukhins-Stanitskaya (Moscow, Prechistenka 11). Its branches are also: at Lev Tolstoy station (former Astapovo station), memorial estate museum L. N. Tolstoy "Khamovniki" (Leo Tolstoy Street, 21), exhibition hall on Pyatnitskaya.

Many writers and critics were surprised that it was not Leo Tolstoy who received the first Nobel Prize in Literature, because then he was already famous not only in Russia, but also abroad. Numerous publications have been published throughout Europe. But that Tolstoy replied with the following appeal: “Dear and respected brethren! I was very pleased that the Nobel Prize was not awarded to me. Firstly, it saved me from a great difficulty - to dispose of this money, which, like any money, in my opinion, can only bring evil; and secondly, it gave me the honor and great pleasure to receive expressions of sympathy from so many persons, although unknown to me, but nevertheless deeply respected by me. Accept, dear brethren, the expression of my sincere thanks and better feelings. Lev Tolstoy".
But the story of the Nobel Prize in the life of the writer did not end there. In 1905, Tolstoy's new work, The Great Sin, was published. This now almost forgotten sharply nonfiction book talked about the hard lot of the Russian peasantry. The Russian Academy of Sciences came up with the idea to nominate Leo Tolstoy for the Nobel Prize. Upon learning of this, Leo Tolstoy sent a letter to the Finnish writer and translator Arvid Jarnefelt. In it, Tolstoy asked his acquaintance through his Swedish colleagues "to try to make sure that this prize is not awarded to me", because "if this happened, it would be very unpleasant for me to refuse." Jarnefelt fulfilled this delicate task, and the prize was awarded to the Italian poet Giosuè Carducci.

Lev Nikolaevich was, among other things, musically gifted. He loved music, felt it subtly, played music himself. So, in his youth, he picked up a waltz on the piano, which Alexander Goldenweiser later recorded by ear one evening in Yasnaya Polyana. Now this waltz in F major is often performed at events related to Tolstoy, both in the piano version and orchestrated for small strings.

Bibliography

Stories:
List of stories -

Educational literature and didactic aids:
ABC (1872)
New ABC (1875)
Arithmetic (1875)
The first Russian book for reading (1875)
The second Russian book for reading (1875)
The Third Russian Book for Reading (1875)
The fourth Russian book for reading (1875)

Plays:
The Infected Family (1864)
Nihilist (1866)
The Power of Darkness (1886)
Dramatic treatment of the legend of Haggai (1886)
The first distiller, or How an imp deserved a piece of bread (1886)
(1890)
Peter Khlebnik (1894)
Living Corpse (1900)
And the light shines in the darkness (1900)
All qualities come from her (1910)

Religious and philosophical works:
, 1880-1881
, 1882
The kingdom of God is within you - a treatise, 1890-1893.

Screen adaptations of works, theatrical performances

"Resurrection" (eng. 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
"The Living Corpse" (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
"The Living Corpse" (1916). Silent movie.
"Anna Karenina" (1918, Hungary). Silent movie.
"The Power of Darkness" (1918, Russia). Silent movie.
"The Living Corpse" (1918). Silent movie.
"Father Sergius" (1918, RSFSR). Silent motion picture film by Yakov Protazanov, in leading role 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
"The Living Corpse" (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
“They are also 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
"The Living Corpse" (1968, USSR). In ch. roles - A. Batalov
"War and Peace" (War & Peace, 1972, UK). Series. Pierre - Anthony Hopkins
"Father Sergius" (1978, USSR). Feature Film 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 "Fake 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.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) - Russian writer, publicist, thinker, educator, was a corresponding member at Imperial Academy Sciences. Considered one of the greatest writers peace. His works have been repeatedly screened at world film studios, and plays are staged on world stages.

Childhood

Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana, Krapivinsky district, Tula province. Here was the estate of his mother, which she inherited. The Tolstoy family had very branched noble and count roots. In the higher aristocratic world, there were relatives of the future writer everywhere. Whom only was not in his relatives - an adventurer and an admiral, a chancellor and an artist, a maid of honor and the first secular beauty, a general and a minister.

Leo's father, Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, was a man with good education, took part in foreign campaigns of the Russian military against Napoleon, fell into French captivity, from where he fled, retired as a lieutenant colonel. When his father died, solid debts were inherited, and Nikolai Ilyich was forced to get a bureaucratic job. To save his frustrated financial component of the inheritance, Nikolai Tolstoy was legally married to Princess Maria Nikolaevna, who was no longer young and came from the Volkonsky family. Despite a small calculation, the marriage turned out to be very happy. The couple had 5 children. The brothers of the future writer Kolya, Seryozha, Mitya and sister Masha. The lion was the fourth among all.

After the last daughter, Maria, was born, the mother began to have "delivery fever." She died in 1830. Leo was not even two years old then. What a wonderful storyteller she was. Perhaps this is where it came from early love Tolstoy to literature. Five children were left without a mother. Their upbringing had to deal with a distant relative, T.A. Ergolskaya.

In 1837, the Tolstoys left for Moscow, where they settled on Plyushchikha. The older brother, Nikolai, was going to enter the university. But very soon and quite unexpectedly, the father of the Tolstoy family died. His financial affairs were not completed, and the three smallest children had to return to Yasnaya Polyana to be raised by Yergolskaya and his paternal aunt, Countess Osten-Saken A.M. It was here that Leo Tolstoy spent his entire childhood.

The young years of the writer

After the death of Aunt Osten-Saken in 1843, the children were waiting for another move, this time to Kazan under the guardianship of their father's sister P. I. Yushkova. Leo Tolstoy received his primary education at home, his teachers were the good-natured German Reselman and the French tutor Saint-Thomas. In the autumn of 1844, following his brothers, Lev became a student at the Kazan Imperial University. At first he studied at the Faculty of Oriental Literature, later transferred to the Faculty of Law, where he studied for less than two years. He understood that this was absolutely not the occupation to which he would like to devote his life.

In the early spring of 1847, Leo dropped out of school and went to Yasnaya Polyana, which he inherited. At the same time, he began to keep his famous diary, adopting this idea from Benjamin Franklin, whose biography he was well acquainted with at the university. Just like the wisest American politician, Tolstoy set certain goals for himself and tried with all his might to fulfill them, analyzed his failures and victories, actions and thoughts. This diary went with the writer through his whole life.

In Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy tried to build new relationships with the peasants, and also engaged in:

• study in English;
• jurisprudence;
• pedagogy;
• music;
• charity.

In the autumn of 1848, Tolstoy went to Moscow, where he planned to prepare for and pass his candidate's exams. Instead, a completely different Savor with her passion and card games. In the winter of 1849, Leo moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg, where he continued to lead revelry and a wild lifestyle. In the spring of this year, he began taking exams for a candidate of rights, but, having changed his mind about going to the last exam, he returned to Yasnaya Polyana.

Here he continued to lead an almost metropolitan lifestyle - cards and hunting. Nevertheless, in 1849, Lev Nikolayevich opened a school for the children of peasants in Yasnaya Polyana, where he sometimes taught himself, but mostly the lessons were taught by the serf Foka Demidovich.

Military service

At the end of 1850, Tolstoy began work on his first work, the famous Childhood trilogy. At the same time, Lev received an offer from his older brother Nikolai, who served in the Caucasus, to join the military service. The elder brother was an authority for Leo. After the death of his parents, he became the best writer and true friend and a mentor. At first, Lev Nikolaevich thought about the service, but a large gambling debt in Moscow accelerated the decision. Tolstoy left for the Caucasus and in the autumn of 1851 he entered the service of a cadet in an artillery brigade near Kizlyar.

Here he continued to work on the work "Childhood", which he finished writing in the summer of 1852 and decided to send it to the most popular literary magazine of that time, Sovremennik. He signed with the initials "L. N. T.” and attached with the manuscript small letter:

“I look forward to your verdict. He will either encourage me to write more or make me burn everything.”

At that time, the editor of Sovremennik was N. A. Nekrasov and literary value Manuscript "Childhood" he recognized immediately. The work was published and was a huge success.

military life Lev Nikolaevich was too intense:

• more than once he was in danger in skirmishes with the mountaineers commanded by Shamil;
• when the Crimean War began, he transferred to the Danube army and took part in the battle of Oltenitsa;
• participated in the siege of Silistria;
• in the battle of Chernaya he commanded a battery;
• during the assault on Malakhov Kurgan came under bombardment;
• held the defense of Sevastopol.

For military service, Lev Nikolaevich received the following awards:

• Order of St. Anne 4th degree "For Bravery";
• medal "In memory of the war of 1853-1856";
• Medal "For the Defense of Sevastopol 1854-1855"

The brave officer Leo Tolstoy had every chance of military career. But he was only interested in writing. During the service, he did not stop writing and sending his stories to Sovremennik. The Sevastopol Tales, published in 1856, finally approved him as a new literary trend in Russia, and Tolstoy left military service forever.

Literary activity

He returned to St. Petersburg, where he made close acquaintances with N. A. Nekrasov, I. S. Turgenev, I. S. Goncharov. During his stay in St. Petersburg, he released several of his new works:

• "Blizzard",
• "Youth",
• Sevastopol in August
• "Two Hussars".

But very soon the secular life got sick of him, and Tolstoy decided to travel around Europe. He visited Germany, Switzerland, England, France, Italy. All the advantages and disadvantages he saw, the emotions he received, he described in his works.

Returning from abroad in 1862, Lev Nikolaevich married Sofya Andreevna Bers. The brightest period began in his life, his wife became his absolute assistant in all matters, and Tolstoy could calmly do his favorite thing - composing works that later became world masterpieces.

Family, death and memory

In marriage with his wife and love, Lev Nikolayevich lived for almost 50 years, they had 13 children, five of whom died while still young. There are a lot of descendants of Lev Nikolaevich all over the world. Once every two years they gather in Yasnaya Polyana.

In life, Tolstoy always adhered to his certain principles. He wanted to be as close to the people as possible. He loved very much ordinary people.

In 1910, Lev Nikolaevich left Yasnaya Polyana, embarking on a journey that would suit his life views. Only his doctor went with him. There were no specific goals. He went to Optina Hermitage, then to the Shamorda Monastery, then he went to his niece in Novocherkassk. But the writer became ill, after suffering a cold, pneumonia began.

In the Lipetsk region, at the Astapovo station, Tolstoy was taken off the train, taken to the hospital, six doctors tried to save his life, but Lev Nikolaevich quietly answered their proposals: "God will arrange everything." After a whole week of heavy and painful shortness of breath, the writer died at the house of the head of the station on November 20, 1910 at the age of 82.

The estate in Yasnaya Polyana, together with the natural beauty that surrounds it, is a museum-reserve. Three more museums of the writer are located in the village of Nikolskoye-Vyazemskoye, in Moscow and at the Astapovo station. Moscow also has state museum L. N. Tolstoy.

The land of Russia has given mankind a whole scattering of talented writers. In many parts of the world, people know and love the works of I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, N. V. Gogol and many other Russian authors. This publication aims to in general terms describe life and creative way remarkable writer L.N. Tolstoy as one of the most prominent Russians who covered himself and the Fatherland with world-wide glory with his labors.

Childhood

In 1828, or rather, on August 28, in the family estate of Yasnaya Polyana (at that time the Tula province), the fourth child was born in the family, who was named Leo. Despite the imminent loss of his mother - she died when he was not yet two years old - he will carry her image through his whole life and use it in the War and Peace trilogy as Princess Volkonskaya. Tolstoy lost his father before reaching the age of nine, and it would seem that he would perceive these years as a personal tragedy. However, brought up by relatives who gave him love and new family, the writer considered the years of childhood the happiest. This was reflected in his novel "Childhood".

It is interesting, but Leo began to transfer his thoughts and feelings to paper as a child. One of the first attempts at pen of the future literary classic became short story"Kremlin", written under the impression of visiting the Moscow Kremlin.

Adolescence and youth

Having received an excellent primary education (he was taught by excellent teachers from France and Germany) and having moved with his family to Kazan, the young Tolstoy entered Kazan University in 1844. The study was not exciting. After less than two years, he, allegedly for health reasons, drops out of school and returns to family estate with the thought of completing their studies in absentia.

Having experienced all the delights of unsuccessful management, which will then be reflected in the story "The Morning of the Landowner", Lev moves first to Moscow, and later to St. Petersburg with the hope of getting a diploma at the university. The search for oneself during this period led to amazing metamorphoses. Preparation for exams, the desire to become a military man, religious asceticism, suddenly replaced by revelry and revelry - this is not a complete list of his activities at this time. But it is at this stage of life that a serious desire arises.

Adulthood

Heeding the advice of his older brother, Tolstoy becomes a cadet and goes to serve in the Caucasus in 1851. Here he takes part in hostilities, becomes close to the inhabitants of the Cossack village and realizes the huge difference between noble life And everyday reality. During this period, he writes the story "Childhood", which is published under a pseudonym and brings the first success. Having supplemented his autobiography to a trilogy with the stories Boyhood and Youth, Tolstoy gains recognition among writers and readers.

Participating in the defense of Sevastopol (1854), Tolstoy was awarded not only an order and medals, but also new experiences that became the basis of "Sevastopol stories". This collection finally convinced the critics of his talent.

After the war

Having finished with military adventures in 1855, Tolstoy returned to St. Petersburg, where he immediately became a member of the Sovremennik circle. He falls into the company of such people as Turgenev, Ostrovsky, Nekrasov and others. But social life did not please him, and, having been abroad and finally breaking with the army, he returned to Yasnaya Polyana. Here, in 1859, Tolstoy, mindful of the contrast between the common people and the nobles, opened a school for peasant children. With his assistance, 20 more such schools were created in the vicinity.

"War and Peace"

After the wedding with the 18-year-old daughter of a doctor Sophia Bers in 1862, the couple returned to Yasnaya Polyana, where they indulged in the joys of family life and household chores. But a year later, Tolstoy was carried away by a new idea. A trip to the Borodino field, work in the archives, a painstaking study of the correspondence of people from the era of Alexander I and spiritual uplift from family happiness led to the publication of the first part of the novel "War and Peace" in 1865. The complete version of the trilogy was published in 1869 and still causes admiration and controversy regarding the novel.

"Anna Karenina"

The landmark novel known to the whole world was the result of a deep analysis of the life of Tolstoy's contemporaries and was published in 1877. In this decade, the writer lived in Yasnaya Polyana, teaching peasant children and defending his own views on pedagogy through the press. Family life, decomposed through a social prism, illustrates the entire spectrum of human emotions. Despite not the best, to put it mildly, relations between writers, even F.M. Dostoevsky.

Broken soul

Contemplating around you social inequality, now he considers the dogmas of Christianity as an impulse to humanity and justice. Tolstoy, understanding the role of God in people's lives, continues to denounce the corruption of his servants. This period of complete denial of the established way of life explains the criticism of the church and state institutions. It got to the point that he questioned art, denied science, the bonds of marriage and much more. As a result, he was officially excommunicated in 1901, and also caused discontent among the authorities. This period of the writer's life gave the world many sharp, sometimes controversial, works. The result of understanding the views of the author was his last novel "Sunday".

Care

Because of disagreements in the family and misunderstood secular society, Tolstoy, having decided to leave Yasnaya Polyana, but, having got off the train due to poor health, died at a small, godforsaken station. It happened in the autumn of 1910, and next to him was only his doctor, who turned out to be powerless against the writer's illness.

L. N. Tolstoy was one of the first who dared to describe human life without embellishment. His heroes possessed all, sometimes unattractive, feelings, desires and character traits. Therefore, they remain relevant today, and his works are rightfully included in the heritage of world literature.

Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy brief information.

Count, the great Russian writer.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born on August 28 (September 9), 1828 in the estate of the Krapivensky district of the Tula province (now in) in the family of a retired staff captain Count N. I. Tolstoy (1794-1837), a participant Patriotic War 1812.

L. N. Tolstoy received home education. In 1844-1847 he studied at Kazan University, but did not complete the course. In 1851 he went to the Caucasus to the village - to the place military service elder brother N. N. Tolstoy.

Two years of life in the Caucasus turned out to be unusually significant for spiritual development writer. The story "Childhood" written by him here - the first printed work of L. N. Tolstoy (published under the initials L. N. in the journal "Sovremennik" in 1852) - together with the stories "Boyhood" (1852-1854) and "Youth "(1855-1857) was part of an extensive plan autobiographical novel"Four Epochs of Development", the last part of which - "Youth" - was never written.

In 1851-1853 L. N. Tolstoy took part in military operations in the Caucasus (first as a volunteer, then as an artillery officer), in 1854 he was welded into the Danube army. Shortly after the start Crimean War at his personal request, he was transferred to Sevastopol, during the siege of which he participated in the defense of the 4th bastion. Army life and episodes of the war gave L. N. Tolstoy material for the stories "The Raid" (1853), "Cutting the Forest" (1853-1855), as well as for the artistic essays "Sevastopol in the month of December", "Sevastopol in May", " Sevastopol in August 1855" (all published in Sovremennik in 1855-1856). These essays, traditionally called "Sevastopol Tales", made a huge impression on Russian society.

In 1855, L. N. Tolstoy came to, where he became close to the staff of Sovremennik, met I. A. Goncharov, and others. assert your creativity. Most bright work of this time - the story "Cossacks" (1853-1863), in which the author's attraction to folk themes was manifested.

Dissatisfied with his work, disappointed in secular and literary circles, L. N. Tolstoy at the turn of the 1860s decided to leave literature and settle in the countryside. In 1859-1862, he devoted a lot of energy to the school he founded for peasant children, studied the organization of pedagogical work in and abroad, published the pedagogical journal Yasnaya Polyana (1862), preaching a free system of education and upbringing.

In 1862, L. N. Tolstoy married S. A. Bers (1844-1919) and began to live patriarchally and secludedly in his estate as the head of a large and ever-increasing family. During the years of the peasant reform, he acted as a conciliator in the Krapivensky district, resolving disputes between landlords and their former serfs.

The 1860s were the heyday of the artistic genius of Leo Tolstoy. Living a sedentary, measured life, he found himself in an intense, concentrated spiritual creativity. The original ways mastered by the writer led to a new rise in national culture.

The novel by L. N. Tolstoy "War and Peace" (1863-1869, the beginning of publication - 1865) became a unique phenomenon in Russian and world literature. The author managed to successfully combine depth and intimateness. psychological novel with the scope and multifigures of an epic fresco. With his novel, Leo Tolstoy tried to answer the desire of the literature of the 1860s to understand the course of the historical process, to determine the role of the people in the decisive epochs of national life.

In the early 1870s, Leo Tolstoy again focused on pedagogical interests. He wrote "ABC" (1871-1872), later - "New ABC" (1874-1875), for which the writer composed original stories and transcriptions of fairy tales and fables, which made up four "Russian Books for Reading". For a while, Leo Tolstoy returned to teaching at the Yasnaya Polyana school. However, symptoms of a crisis in the moral and philosophical outlook of the writer soon began to appear, aggravated by the historical stop of the social turning point of the 1870s.

The central work of L. N. Tolstoy of the 1870s is the novel "Anna Karenina" (1873-1877, published in 1876-1877). Like novels and written at the same time, Anna Karenina is an acutely problematic work, full of signs of the times. The novel was the result of the writer's thoughts on fate modern society and filled with pessimism.

By the beginning of the 1880s, L. N. Tolstoy formed the basic principles of his new worldview, which later became known as Tolstoyism. They found their fullest expression in his works "Confession" (1879-1880, published in 1884) and "What is my faith?" (1882-1884). In them, L. N. Tolstoy concluded that the foundations of existence are false higher strata societies with which he was connected by origin, upbringing and life experience. To the writer's characteristic criticism of the materialistic and positivist theories of progress, to the apology of naive consciousness, a sharp protest against the state and the official church, against the privileges and way of life of one's class is now added. Your new social views L. N. Tolstoy put in connection with moral and religious philosophy. The works "Study of dogmatic theology" (1879-1880) and "Combination and translation of the four gospels" (1880-1881) laid the foundation for the religious side of Tolstoy's teachings. Purified from distortions and church rituals, the Christian doctrine in its renewed form, according to the writer, was supposed to unite people with the ideas of love and forgiveness. L. N. Tolstoy preached non-resistance to evil by violence, considering the only reasonable means of combating evil to be its public denunciation and passive disobedience to the authorities. He saw the path to the coming renewal of man and mankind in individual spiritual work, the moral improvement of the individual, and rejected the significance of political struggle and revolutionary explosions.

In the 1880s, L. N. Tolstoy noticeably lost interest in artistic work and even condemned his former novels and short stories as lordly "fun". He became interested in simple physical labor, plowed, sewed boots for himself, switched to vegetarian food. At the same time, the writer's dissatisfaction with the usual way of life of loved ones grew. His publicistic works "So what should we do?" (1882-1886) and Slavery of Our Time (1899-1900) sharply criticized the vices of modern civilization, but the author saw a way out of its contradictions mainly in utopian calls for moral and religious self-education. Actually, the artistic work of the writer of these years is saturated with journalism, direct denunciations of the wrong court and modern marriage, land ownership and the church, passionate appeals to the conscience, reason and dignity of people (the stories "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" (1884-1886); "Kreutzer Sonata" (1887- 1889, published 1891); The Devil (1889-1890, published 1911).

In the same period, L. N. Tolstoy began to show a serious interest in dramatic genres. In the drama "The Power of Darkness" (1886) and the comedy "The Fruits of Enlightenment" (1886-1890, published in 1891), he considered the problem pernicious influence urban civilization to a conservative rural society. The desire of L. N. Tolstoy to address directly to the reader from the people brought to life the so-called " folk stories» of the 1880s (“How do people live”, “Candle”, “Two old men”, “How much land does a person need”, etc.), written in the parable genre.

L. N. Tolstoy actively supported the Posrednik publishing house that arose in 1884, led by his followers and friends V. G. Chertkov and I. I. Gorbunov-Posadov, and whose goal was to distribute among the people books that serve the cause of education and are close to Tolstoy’s teachings . Many of the writer's works were published under censorship conditions, first in Geneva, then in London, where, on the initiative of V. G. Chertkov, the Free Word publishing house was founded. In 1891, 1893 and 1898, L. N. Tolstoy led a broad public movement to help the peasants of the starving provinces, spoke with appeals and articles on measures to combat hunger. In the second half of the 1890s, the writer devoted much of his energy to protecting religious sectarians - the Molokans and Doukhobors, and helped the Doukhobors move to Canada. (especially in the 1890s) became a place of pilgrimage for people from the farthest corners of Russia and from other countries, one of major centers attraction of the living forces of world culture.

Home artistic work L. N. Tolstoy of the 1890s was the novel "Resurrection" (1889-1899), the plot of which arose on the basis of a genuine court case. In an amazing combination of circumstances (a young aristocrat who was once guilty of seducing a peasant girl brought up in a manor house, now, as a juror, must decide her fate in court), the alogism of a life built on social injustice was expressed for the writer. The caricature of the ministers of the church and its rites in the Resurrection became one of the reasons for the decision of the Holy Synod to excommunicate Leo Tolstoy from Orthodox Church (1901).

During this period, the alienation observed by the writer in his contemporary society makes the problem of personal moral responsibility extremely important for him, with the inevitable pangs of conscience, enlightenment, a moral upheaval and a subsequent break with his environment. The plot of “leaving”, a sharp and radical change in life, an appeal to a new faith in life becomes typical (“Father Sergius”, 1890-1898, published in 1912; “The Living Corpse”, 1900, published in 1911; “After the Ball” , 1903, published in 1911; "Posthumous notes of the elder Fyodor Kuzmich ...", 1905, published in 1912).

IN last decade life of L. N. Tolstoy became the recognized head of Russian literature. He maintains personal relationships with young contemporary writers V. G. Korolenko, A. M. Gorky. His social and journalistic activities continued: his appeals and articles were published, and work was underway on the book "Circle of Reading". Tolstoyism became widely known as an ideological doctrine, but the writer himself at that time experienced hesitations and doubts about the correctness of his teaching. During the years of the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, his protests against death penalty(article "I can not be silent", 1908).

Leo Tolstoy spent the last years of his life in an atmosphere of intrigue and strife between the Tolstoyans and members of his family. Trying to bring his lifestyle into line with his beliefs, on October 28 (November 10), 1910, the writer secretly left. On the way, he caught a cold and died on November 7 (20), 1910 at the Astapovo station of the Ryazan-Ural Railway (now a village in). The death of Leo Tolstoy caused a colossal public outcry in and abroad.

The work of L. N. Tolstoy marked new stage in the development of realism in Russian and world literature, has become a kind of bridge between the traditions of the classical novel XIX century and literature of the twentieth century. Philosophical views writer had a huge impact on the evolution of European humanism.

Relevant to localities:

Born in Yasnaya Polyana, Krapivensky district, Tula province, on August 28 (September 9), 1828. He lived in the estate in 1828-1837. From 1849 he returned to the estate periodically, from 1862 he lived permanently. Buried at Yasnaya Polyana.

He first visited Moscow in January 1837. He lived in the city until 1841, subsequently visited repeatedly and lived for a long time. In 1882 he bought a house in Dolgokhamovnichesky Lane, where since then his family usually spent the winter. Last time came to Moscow in September 1909.

In February-May 1849 he visited St. Petersburg for the first time. He lived in the city in the winter of 1855-1856, visited annually in 1857-1861, and also in 1878. The last time he came to St. Petersburg was in 1897.

Repeatedly visited Tula in 1840-1900. In 1849-1852 he was in the service of the office of the noble assembly. In September 1858 he took part in the congress of the provincial nobility. In February 1868 he was elected a juror in the Krapivensky district, attended the meetings of the Tula District Court.

The owner of the Nikolskoye-Vyazemskoye estate in the Chernsky district of the Tula province since 1860 (previously belonged to his brother N. N. Tolstoy). In the 1860s and 1870s, he conducted experiments in the estate to improve the economy. The last time he visited the estate was on June 28 (July 11), 1910.

In 1854, the wooden manor house in which Leo Tolstoy was born was sold and moved from the village of Dolgoe, Krapivensky district, Tula province, which belonged to the landowner P. M. Gorokhov. In 1897, the writer visited the village in order to buy a house, but due to its dilapidated state, it was recognized as non-transportable.

In the 1860s, he organized a school in the village of Kolpna, Krapivensky district, Tula province (now within the city of Shchekino). July 21 (August 2), 1894 visited the mine joint-stock company"Partnership R. Gill" at the Yasenki station. On October 28 (November 10), 1910, on the day he left, he boarded a train at the Yasenki station (now in Shchekino).

He lived in the village of Starogladovskaya in the Kizlyar district of the Terek region, the location of the 20th artillery brigade, from May 1851 to January 1854. In January 1852, he was enlisted as a 4th class fireworker in Battery No. 4 of the 20th Artillery Brigade. On February 1 (February 13), 1852, in the village of Starogladovskaya, with the help of his friends S. Miserbiev and B. Isaev, he wrote down the words of two Chechen folk songs with the translation. The notes of L. N. Tolstoy are recognized as “the first written monument in time Chechen language” and “the first experience of recording Chechen folklore in the local language.”

For the first time he visited the Grozny fortress on July 5 (17), 1851. He visited the commander of the left flank of the Caucasian line, Prince A. I. Baryatinsky, to obtain permission to participate in hostilities. Subsequently, he visited Groznaya in September 1851 and in February 1853.

For the first time he visited Pyatigorsk on May 16 (28), 1852. Lived in the Kabardian settlement. On July 4 (16), 1852, he sent the manuscript of the novel Childhood from Pyatigorsk to the editor of the Sovremennik magazine. On August 5 (17), 1852, he set off from Pyatigorsk to the village. He visited Pyatigorsk again in August - October 1853.

Orel visited three times. On January 9-10 (21-22), 1856, he visited his brother D. N. Tolstoy, who was dying of consumption. On March 7 (19), 1885, he was in the city on his way to the Maltsevs' estate. On September 25-27 (October 7-9), 1898, he visited the Oryol provincial prison while working on the novel Resurrection.

In the period from October 1891 to July 1893, he came several times to the village of Begichevka, Dankovsky district, Ryazan province (now Begichevo in), the estate of I. I. Raevsky. In the village, he organized a center to help the starving peasants of Dankovsky and Epifansky counties. The last time Leo Tolstoy left Begichevka was on July 18 (30), 1893.