Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy- an outstanding Russian prose writer, playwright and public figure. Born on August 28 (September 9), 1828 in the estate of Yasnaya Polyana, Tula region. On the maternal side, the writer belonged to the eminent family of the Volkonsky princes, and on the paternal side, to the ancient family of the Counts Tolstoy. Great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather and father of Leo Tolstoy were military men. Even under Ivan the Terrible, representatives of the ancient Tolstoy family served as governors in many cities of Rus'.
The writer's grandfather on his mother's side, "a descendant of Rurik", Prince Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky, was enrolled in military service from the age of seven. He was a member Russian-Turkish war and retired with the rank of general-in-chief. The writer's paternal grandfather - Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy - served in the Navy, and then in the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. The writer's father, Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, voluntarily entered military service at the age of seventeen. He participated in Patriotic war 1812, was captured by the French and was released by Russian troops who entered Paris after the defeat of Napoleon's army. On the maternal side, Tolstoy was related to the Pushkins. Them common ancestor was boyar I.M. Golovin, an associate of Peter I, who studied shipbuilding with him. One of his daughters is the great-grandmother of the poet, the other is the great-grandmother of Tolstoy's mother. Thus, Pushkin was Tolstoy's fourth cousin.
Writer's childhood passed in Yasnaya Polyana - an old family estate. Tolstoy's interest in history and literature arose in his childhood: living in the countryside, he saw how the life of the working people flowed, from him he heard a lot folk tales, epics, songs, legends. The life of the people, their work, interests and views, oral creativity- everything living and wise - was revealed to Tolstoy by Yasnaya Polyana.
Maria Nikolaevna Tolstaya, the writer's mother, was a kind and sympathetic person, an intelligent and educated woman: she knew French, German, English and Italian She played the piano and took up painting. Tolstoy was not even two years old when his mother died. The writer did not remember her, but he heard so much about her from those around him that he clearly and vividly imagined her appearance and character.
Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, his father, was loved and appreciated by the children for his humane attitude towards serfs. In addition to doing housework and children, he read a lot. During his life, Nikolai Ilyich collected a rich library, consisting of rare books for those times. French classics, historical and natural history writings. It was he who first noticed the tendency of his younger son to the living perception of the artistic word.
When Tolstoy was in his ninth year, his father took him to Moscow for the first time. The first impressions of the Moscow life of Lev Nikolaevich served as the basis for many paintings, scenes and episodes of the hero’s life in Moscow Tolstoy's trilogy "Childhood", "Adolescence" and "Youth". Young Tolstoy saw not only the open side of life big city but also some hidden, shady sides. With his first stay in Moscow, the writer connected the end of the earliest period of his life, childhood, and the transition to adolescence. The first period of Tolstoy's life in Moscow did not last long. In the summer of 1837, having gone on business to Tula, his father died suddenly. Soon after the death of his father, Tolstoy, his sister and brothers had to endure a new misfortune: the grandmother died, whom all relatives considered the head of the family. Sudden death her son was a terrible blow to her and less than a year later carried her to the grave. A few years later, the first guardian of the orphaned Tolstoy children, the father's sister, Alexandra Ilyinichna Osten-Saken, died. Ten-year-old Leo, his three brothers and sister were taken to Kazan, where their new guardian, aunt Pelageya Ilyinichna Yushkova, lived.
Tolstoy wrote about his second guardian as a woman "kind and very pious", but at the same time very "frivolous and vain". According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Pelageya Ilyinichna did not enjoy authority among Tolstoy and his brothers, therefore moving to Kazan is considered to be a new stage in the life of the writer: education ended, a period of independent life began.
Tolstoy lived in Kazan for more than six years. It was the time of formation of his character and choice life path. Living with his brothers and sister at Pelageya Ilyinichna, young Tolstoy spent two years preparing to enter Kazan University. Deciding to enter the eastern department of the university, he paid special attention to preparing for exams in foreign languages. At the exams in mathematics and Russian literature, Tolstoy received fours, and in foreign languages - fives. At the exams in history and geography, Lev Nikolaevich failed - he received unsatisfactory marks.
Failure in the entrance exams served as a serious lesson for Tolstoy. He devoted the whole summer to a thorough study of history and geography, passed additional exams on them, and in September 1844 he was enrolled in the first year of the eastern department of the philosophical faculty of Kazan University in the category of Arabic-Turkish literature. However, the study of languages did not captivate Tolstoy, and after summer holidays in Yasnaya Polyana, he transferred from the Oriental Faculty to the Faculty of Law.
But even in the future, university studies did not arouse Lev Nikolayevich's interest in the sciences being studied. Most time he independently studied philosophy, compiled the "Rules of Life" and carefully made entries in his diary. By the end of the third year of studies, Tolstoy was finally convinced that the then university order only interfered with independent creative work and he made the decision to leave the university. However, he needed a university degree to qualify for employment. And in order to get a diploma, Tolstoy passed the university exams as an external student, having spent two years of his life in the countryside preparing for them. Having received university documents at the end of April 1847, the former student Tolstoy left Kazan.
After leaving the university, Tolstoy again went to Yasnaya Polyana and then to Moscow. Here, at the end of 1850, he took up literary creativity. At this time, he decided to write two stories, but he did not finish either of them. In the spring of 1851, Lev Nikolaevich, together with his older brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich, who served in the army as an artillery officer, arrived in the Caucasus. Here Tolstoy lived for almost three years, being mainly in the village of Starogladkovskaya, located on the left bank of the Terek. From here he traveled to Kizlyar, Tiflis, Vladikavkaz, visited many villages and villages.
started in the Caucasus military service Tolstoy. He took part in the combat operations of the Russian troops. Tolstoy's impressions and observations are reflected in his stories "Raid", "Cutting the Forest", "Degraded", in the story "Cossacks". Later, turning to the memories of this period of life, Tolstoy created the story "Hadji Murad". In March 1854, Tolstoy arrived in Bucharest, where the office of the chief of artillery troops was located. From here, as a staff officer, he made trips to Moldavia, Wallachia and Bessarabia.
In the spring and summer of 1854, the writer took part in the siege of the Turkish fortress of Silistria. However, the main place of hostilities at that time was Crimean peninsula. Here, Russian troops led by V.A. Kornilov and P.S. Nakhimov heroically defended Sevastopol for eleven months, besieged by Turkish and Anglo-French troops. Participation in Crimean War - milestone in Tolstoy's life. Here he closely recognized ordinary Russian soldiers, sailors, residents of Sevastopol, sought to understand the source of the heroism of the defenders of the city, to understand the special character traits inherent in the defender of the Fatherland. Tolstoy himself showed bravery and courage in the defense of Sevastopol.
In November 1855 Tolstoy left Sevastopol for St. Petersburg. By this time, he had already earned recognition in the advanced literary circles. During this period attention public life Russia was centered around the issue of serfdom. Tolstoy's stories of this time ("The Morning of the Landowner", "Polikushka", etc.) are also devoted to this problem.
In 1857 the writer made overseas travel. He traveled to France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. Traveling through different cities, the writer got acquainted with the culture and social system of Western European countries with great interest. Much of what he saw later reflected in his work. In 1860 Tolstoy made another trip abroad. The year before, he opened a school for children in Yasnaya Polyana. Traveling through the cities of Germany, France, Switzerland, England and Belgium, the writer visited schools and studied the features of public education. In most of the schools that Tolstoy visited, caning discipline was in effect and corporal punishment was used. Returning to Russia and visiting a number of schools, Tolstoy discovered that many teaching methods that were in force in Western European countries, in particular in Germany, also penetrated into Russian schools. At this time, Lev Nikolaevich wrote a number of articles in which he criticized the system of public education both in Russia and in Western European countries.
Arriving home after overseas trip, Tolstoy devoted himself to work at school and the publication of the pedagogical journal Yasnaya Polyana. The school, founded by the writer, was located not far from his house - in an outbuilding that has survived to our time. In the early 1970s, Tolstoy compiled and published a number of textbooks for elementary school: "ABC", "Arithmetic", four "Books for reading". More than one generation of children have learned from these books. Stories from them are read with enthusiasm by children in our time.
In 1862, when Tolstoy was away, landowners arrived in Yasnaya Polyana and searched the writer's house. In 1861, the tsar's manifesto announced the abolition of serfdom. During the reform, disputes broke out between the landowners and peasants, the settlement of which was entrusted to the so-called peace mediators. Tolstoy was appointed mediator in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province. Dealing with controversial cases between nobles and peasants, the writer most often took a position in favor of the peasantry, which caused discontent among the nobles. This was the reason for the search. Because of this, Tolstoy had to stop the activities of the mediator, close the school in Yasnaya Polyana and refuse to publish a pedagogical journal.
In 1862 Tolstoy married Sofya Andreevna Bers, daughter of a Moscow doctor. Arriving with her husband in Yasnaya Polyana, Sofya Andreevna tried with all her might to create such an environment on the estate in which nothing would distract the writer from hard work. In the 60s, Tolstoy led a solitary life, devoting himself entirely to work on War and Peace.
At the end of the epic War and Peace, Tolstoy decided to write a new work - a novel about the era of Peter I. However, social events in Russia, caused by the abolition of serfdom, so captured the writer that he left work on historical novel and set about creating a new work, which reflected the post-reform life of Russia. This is how the novel "Anna Karenina" appeared, which Tolstoy devoted four years to work on.
In the early 1980s, Tolstoy moved with his family to Moscow to educate his growing children. Here the writer, well acquainted with rural poverty, became a witness to urban poverty. In the early 90s of the XIX century, almost half of the central provinces of the country were gripped by famine, and Tolstoy joined the fight against the people's disaster. Thanks to his call, the collection of donations, the purchase and delivery of food to the villages was launched. At this time, under the leadership of Tolstoy, about two hundred free canteens for the starving population were opened in the villages of the Tula and Ryazan provinces. A number of articles written by Tolstoy on the famine belong to the same period, in which the writer truthfully portrayed the plight of the people and condemned the policy of the ruling classes.
In the mid-1980s Tolstoy wrote Drama "Power of Darkness", which depicts the death of the old foundations of patriarchal-peasant Russia, and the story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", dedicated to the fate of a man who only before his death realized the emptiness and meaninglessness of his life. In 1890, Tolstoy wrote the comedy The Fruits of Enlightenment, which shows true position peasantry after the abolition of serfdom. Created in the early 1990s novel "Sunday", on which the writer worked intermittently for ten years. In all the works relating to this period of creativity, Tolstoy openly shows whom he sympathizes with and whom he condemns; depicts the hypocrisy and insignificance of the "masters of life."
The novel "Sunday" more than other works of Tolstoy was subjected to censorship. Most of the novel's chapters have been released or cut. The ruling circles launched an active policy against the writer. Fearing popular indignation, the authorities did not dare to use open repressions against Tolstoy. With the consent of the tsar and at the insistence of the chief procurator of the Holy Synod, Pobedonostsev, the synod adopted a resolution on excommunication of Tolstoy from the church. The writer was put under police surveillance. The world community was outraged by the persecution of Lev Nikolaevich. The peasantry, the progressive intelligentsia and the common people were on the side of the writer, they sought to express their respect and support to him. The love and sympathy of the people served as a reliable support for the writer in the years when the reaction sought to silence him.
However, despite all the efforts of reactionary circles, every year Tolstoy more and more sharply and boldly denounced the noble-bourgeois society, openly opposed the autocracy. Works from this period "After the Ball", "For what?", "Hadji Murad", "The Living Corpse") are imbued with a deep hatred for royal power, a limited and ambitious ruler. In publicistic articles relating to this time, the writer sharply condemned the instigators of wars, called for a peaceful resolution of all disputes and conflicts.
In 1901-1902 Tolstoy suffered serious illness. At the insistence of doctors, the writer had to go to the Crimea, where he spent more than six months.
In the Crimea, he met with writers, artists, artists: Chekhov, Korolenko, Gorky, Chaliapin, and others. When Tolstoy returned home, he was warmly greeted at the stations by hundreds ordinary people. In the autumn of 1909 the writer last time traveled to Moscow.
In the diaries and letters of Tolstoy recent decades his life was reflected in the difficult experiences that were caused by the discord between the writer and his family. Tolstoy wanted to transfer the land that belonged to him to the peasants and wanted his works to be freely and free of charge published by anyone who wanted to. The writer's family opposed this, not wanting to give up either the rights to the land or the rights to works. The old landlord way of life, preserved in Yasnaya Polyana, weighed heavily on Tolstoy.
In the summer of 1881, Tolstoy made his first attempt to leave Yasnaya Polyana, but a feeling of pity for his wife and children forced him to return. Several more attempts by the writer to leave his native estate ended with the same result. On October 28, 1910, secretly from his family, he left Yasnaya Polyana forever, deciding to go south and spend the rest of his life in a peasant's hut, among the simple Russian people. However, on the way, Tolstoy fell seriously ill and was forced to leave the train at the small Astapovo station. The last seven days of my life great writer spent in the house of the head of the station. News of the death of one of the great thinkers, wonderful writer, the great humanist deeply struck the hearts of all advanced people this time. creative heritage Tolstoy is of great importance for world literature. Over the years, interest in the writer's work does not weaken, but, on the contrary, grows. As A. Frans rightly noted: “With his life he proclaims sincerity, directness, purposefulness, firmness, calm and constant heroism, he teaches that one must be truthful and one must be strong ... Precisely because he was full of strength, he always was true!
The Russian writer and philosopher Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province, the fourth child in a wealthy aristocratic family. Tolstoy lost his parents early, his distant relative T. A. Ergolskaya was engaged in his further education. In 1844 Tolstoy entered Kazan University in the Department of Oriental Languages of the Faculty of Philosophy, but since. classes did not arouse any interest in him, in 1847. submitted a letter of resignation from the university. At the age of 23, Tolstoy, together with his older brother Nikolai, left for the Caucasus, where he took part in the hostilities. These years of the writer's life were reflected in the autobiographical story "The Cossacks" (1852-63), in the stories "Raid" (1853), "Cutting the Forest" (1855), and also in the late story "Hadji Murad" (1896-1904, published in 1912). In the Caucasus, Tolstoy began to write the trilogy "Childhood", "Boyhood", "Youth".
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 immediately joined the Sovremennik circle (N. A. Nekrasov, I. S. Turgenev, A. N. Ostrovsky, I. A. Goncharov, etc.), where he was greeted as " great hope of Russian literature" (Nekrasov), published "Sevastopol Tales", which clearly reflected his outstanding talent as a writer. In 1857, Tolstoy went on a trip to Europe, which he was later disappointed with..
In the autumn of 1856, having retired, Tolstoy decided to interrupt his literary activity and become a landowner, went to Yasnaya Polyana, where he was engaged in educational work, opened a school, and created his own system of pedagogy. Tolstoy was so fascinated by this occupation that in 1860 he even went abroad in order to get acquainted with the schools of Europe.
In September 1862, Tolstoy married the eighteen-year-old daughter of a doctor, Sofya Andreevna Bers, and immediately after the wedding, he took his wife from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana, where he completely devoted himself family life and economic concerns, but by the autumn of 1863 he was captured by a new literary concept, as a result of which the fundamental work "War and Peace" was born. 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".
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.
Latest works writer were the stories "Father Sergius", "After the ball", " Posthumous notes Elder Fyodor Kuzmich” and the drama “The Living Corpse”.
Late in the autumn of 1910, at night, secretly from his family, 82-year-old Tolstoy, accompanied only by his personal doctor D.P. Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana, fell ill on the way and was forced to leave the train at the small Astapovo railway station in Ryazan-Uralskaya railway. Here, in the house of the head of the station, he spent the last seven days of his life. November 7 (20) Leo Tolstoy died.
Lev Tolstoy- the most famous Russian writer, famous throughout the world for his works.
short biography
Born in 1828 in the Tula province in noble family. He spent his childhood at the Yasnaya Polyana estate, where he received his primary home education. He had three brothers and a sister. His guardians raised him, so in early childhood, at the birth of his sister, his mother died, and later, in 1840, his father, because of which the whole family moved to relatives in Kazan. There he studied at Kazan University at two faculties, but decided to quit his studies and return to his native places.
Tolstoy spent two years in the army in the Caucasus. Bravely participated in several battles and even received an order for the defense of Sevastopol. He could be good military career, but he wrote several songs that made fun of the military command, as a result of which he had to leave the army.
At the end of the 50s, Lev Nikolaevich set off to travel around Europe and returned to Russia after the abolition of serfdom. Even during his travels, he was disappointed with the European way of life, as he saw a very large contrast between rich and poor. That is why, when he returned to Russia, he was glad that the peasants had now risen.
He married, 13 children were born in marriage, 5 of whom died in childhood. His wife, Sophia, helped her husband by rewriting all the creations of her husband in neat handwriting.
He opened several schools, in which he furnished everything according to his desire. Himself compiled school curriculum Or rather, the lack of it. Discipline did not play a key role for him, he wanted the children themselves to be drawn to knowledge, so the main task of the teacher was to interest the students so that they wanted to learn.
He was excommunicated because Tolstoy put forward his theories about what the church should be like. Just a month before his death, he decided to secretly leave his native estate. As a result of the trip, he became very ill and died on November 7, 1910. The writer was buried in Yasnaya Polyana near the ravine, where he loved to play with his brothers as a child.
Literary contribution
Lev Nikolaevich began to write while still studying at the University - basically these were homework assignments compared to various literary works. It is believed that it was because of literature that he dropped out - he wanted to devote all his free time to reading.
In the army, he worked on his "Sevastopol stories", and also, as already mentioned, composed songs for his colleagues. Upon returning from the army, he took part in a literary circle in St. Petersburg, from where he went to Europe. He was well aware of the peculiarities of people and tried to reflect this in his works.
Tolstoy wrote many of the most various works, but world fame received thanks to two novels - "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina", in which he accurately reflected the life of people of those times.
The contribution of this great writer to world culture huge - it was thanks to him that many people learned about Russia. His works are published to this day, performances are staged and films are made on them.
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Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is a talented person, whose works are read not only by adults, but also by schoolchildren. Who knows such works as, or Anna Karenina? It is probably difficult to find a person who would not be familiar with creativity this writer. Let's get to know the writer Tolstoy closer by briefly studying his biography.
Brief biography of Tolstoy: the most important
L.N. Tolstoy - philosopher, playwright, most talented person who gave us his legacy. Studying his short biography for children in grades 5 and 4 will allow you to better understand the writer, to study his life, from birth to the last days.
Childhood and youth of Leo Tolstoy
The biography of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy begins with his birth in the Tula province. It happened in 1828. He was the fourth child in a noble family. If we talk briefly about the writer’s childhood and his biography, then at the age of two he loses, and after seven years he lost his father, and was brought up by his aunt in Kazan. The first story of Leo Tolstoy's famous trilogy "Childhood" tells us about the writer's childhood years.
Leo Tolstoy receives his primary education at home, after which he enters Kazan University at the Faculty of Philology. But the young man did not have a craving for study, and Tolstoy wrote a letter of resignation. On the estate of his parents, he tries his hand at farming, but the endeavor ended in failure. After that, on the advice of his brother, he goes to fight in the Caucasus, and later becomes a participant in the Crimean War.
Literary creativity and legacy
If we talk about the work of Tolstoy, then his first work is the story of Childhood, written in the Junker years. In 1852, the story was published in Sovremennik. Already at this time, Tolstoy was put on a par with such writers as Ostrovsky and.
Being in the Caucasus, the writer will write the Cossacks, and then he will start writing, which will be a continuation of the first story. The young writer will have other works, because creative activity did not interfere with serving Tolstoy went hand in hand with his participation in the Crimean War. Sevastopol stories appear from the writer's pen.
After the war, he lives in St. Petersburg, in Paris. Upon his return to Russia, Tolstoy wrote in 1857 the third story, which belongs to the autobiographical trilogy.
Having married Sophia Burns, Tolstoy stayed at his parents' estate, where he continued to create. His most popular work and his first major novel is War and Peace, which was written over the course of ten years. After him he writes at least famous work Anna Karenina.
The eighties were fruitful for the writer. He wrote comedies, novels, dramas, among them After the Ball, Sunday and others. At that time, the writer's worldview had already been formed. The essence of his worldview is clearly visible in his "Confession", in the work "What is my faith?" Many of his admirers began to treat Tolstoy as a spiritual mentor.
In his work, the writer harshly raised questions of faith and the meaning of life, and criticized state institutions.
The authorities were very afraid of the writer's pen, so they followed him, and also had a hand in excommunicating Tolstoy from the church. However, people continued to love and support the writer.
Leo Tolstoy is one of the most famous writers and philosophers in the world. His views and beliefs formed the basis of a whole religious and philosophical movement, which is called Tolstoyism. literary heritage writer made up 90 volumes of fiction and journalistic works, diary notes and letters, and he himself was nominated more than once for Nobel Prize in Literature and the Nobel Peace Prize.
"Fulfill all that you have determined to be fulfilled"
Genealogical tree of Leo Tolstoy. Image: regnum.ru
Silhouette of Maria Tolstoy (nee Volkonskaya), mother of Leo Tolstoy. 1810s Image: wikipedia.org
Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in the estate of Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province. He was the fourth child in a large noble family. Tolstoy was orphaned early. His mother died when he was not yet two years old, and at the age of nine he lost his father. The aunt, Alexandra Osten-Saken, became the guardian of the five Tolstoy children. The two older children moved in with their aunt in Moscow, while the younger ones stayed in Yasnaya Polyana. The most important and dearest memories are connected with the family estate early childhood Lev Tolstoy.
In 1841 Alexandra Osten-Saken died and the Tolstoys moved in with their aunt Pelageya Yushkova in Kazan. Three years after the move, Leo Tolstoy decided to enter the prestigious Imperial Kazan University. However, he did not like to study, he considered exams a formality, and university professors - incompetent. Tolstoy did not even try to get a scientific degree, in Kazan he was more attracted to secular entertainment.
In April 1847, Leo Tolstoy's student life ended. He inherited his part of the estate, including his beloved Yasnaya Polyana, and immediately went home without receiving higher education. In the family estate, Tolstoy tried to improve his life and start writing. He drew up his educational plan: study languages, history, medicine, mathematics, geography, law, Agriculture, natural Sciences. However, he soon came to the conclusion that it is easier to make plans than to carry them out.
Tolstoy's asceticism was often replaced by revelry and card games. Wanting to start the right, in his opinion, life, he made a daily routine. But he did not observe it either, and in his diary he again noted dissatisfaction with himself. All these failures prompted Leo Tolstoy to change his lifestyle. The opportunity presented itself in April 1851: the elder brother Nikolai arrived in Yasnaya Polyana. At that time he served in the Caucasus, where the war was going on. Leo Tolstoy decided to join his brother and went with him to a village on the banks of the Terek River.
On the outskirts of the empire, Leo Tolstoy served for almost two and a half years. He whiled away the time hunting, playing cards, and occasionally participating in raids on enemy territory. Tolstoy liked such a solitary and monotonous life. It was in the Caucasus that the story "Childhood" was born. While working on it, the writer found a source of inspiration that remained important to him until the end of his life: he used his own memories and experiences.
In July 1852, Tolstoy sent the manuscript of the story to the Sovremennik magazine and attached a letter: “…I am looking forward to your verdict. He will either encourage me to continue my favorite activities, or make me burn everything I started. ”. Editor Nikolai Nekrasov liked the work of the new author, and soon "Childhood" was published in the magazine. Encouraged by the first success, the writer soon began to continue the "Childhood". In 1854, he published a second story, Boyhood, in the Sovremennik magazine.
"The main thing is literary works"
Leo Tolstoy in his youth. 1851. Image: school-science.ru
Lev Tolstoy. 1848. Image: regnum.ru
Lev Tolstoy. Image: old.orlovka.org.ru
At the end of 1854, Leo Tolstoy arrived in Sevastopol, the epicenter of hostilities. Being in the thick of things, he created the story "Sevastopol in the month of December." Although Tolstoy was unusually frank in describing battle scenes, the first Sevastopol story was deeply patriotic and glorified the bravery of Russian soldiers. Soon Tolstoy began to work on the second story - "Sevastopol in May". By that time, nothing was left of his pride in the Russian army. The horror and shock that Tolstoy experienced on the front line and during the siege of the city greatly influenced his work. Now he wrote about the meaninglessness of death and the inhumanity of war.
In 1855, from the ruins of Sevastopol, Tolstoy traveled to sophisticated Petersburg. The success of the first Sevastopol story gave him a sense of purpose: “My career is literature, writing and writing! From tomorrow I work all my life or I give up everything, rules, religion, decency - everything ”. In the capital, Leo Tolstoy completed "Sevastopol in May" and wrote "Sevastopol in August 1855" - these essays completed the trilogy. And in November 1856, the writer finally left military service.
Thanks to true stories about the Crimean War, Tolstoy entered the St. Petersburg literary circle of the Sovremennik magazine. During this period, he wrote the story "Snowstorm", the story "Two Hussars", finished the trilogy with the story "Youth". However, after a while, relations with writers from the circle deteriorated: “These people disgusted me, and I disgusted myself”. To unwind, in early 1857, Leo Tolstoy went abroad. He visited Paris, Rome, Berlin, Dresden: met with famous works art, met with artists, observed how people live in European cities. Travel did not inspire Tolstoy: he created the story "Lucerne", in which he described his disappointment.
Leo Tolstoy at work. Image: kartinkinaden.ru
Leo Tolstoy at Yasnaya Polyana. Image: kartinkinaden.ru
Leo Tolstoy tells a fairy tale to his grandchildren Ilyusha and Sonya. 1909. Krekshino. Photo: Vladimir Chertkov / wikipedia.org
In the summer of 1857 Tolstoy returned to Yasnaya Polyana. In his native estate, he continued to work on the story "The Cossacks", and also wrote the story "Three Deaths" and the novel "Family Happiness". In his diary, Tolstoy defined his purpose for himself at that time as follows: "The main thing - literary works, then - family responsibilities, then - household ... And so to live for yourself - according to good deed per day and enough.
In 1899 Tolstoy wrote the novel The Resurrection. In this work, the writer criticized judicial system, army, government. The contempt with which Tolstoy described the institution of the church in Resurrection provoked a backlash. In February 1901, the Holy Synod published a resolution on the excommunication of Count Leo Tolstoy from the Church in the journal Tserkovnye Vedomosti. This decision only increased Tolstoy's popularity and drew public attention to the writer's ideals and beliefs.
Literary and social activity Tolstoy became known abroad. The writer was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902 and 1909 and for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1902-1906. Tolstoy himself did not want to receive the award and even told the Finnish writer Arvid Järnefelt to try to prevent the prize from being awarded, because, “if that happened… it would be very unpleasant to refuse” “He [Chertkov] took the unfortunate old man into his hands in every possible way, he separated us, he killed the artistic spark in Lev Nikolaevich and kindled condemnation, hatred, denial, which are felt in the articles of Lev Nikolaevich recent years, which his stupid evil genius incited him to".
Tolstoy himself was burdened by the life of a landowner and a family man. He sought to bring his life in line with his convictions, and in early November 1910 he secretly left the Yasnaya Polyana estate. The road turned out to be unbearable for an elderly person: on the way he fell seriously ill and was forced to stay at the house of the caretaker of the Astapovo railway station. Here the writer spent last days own life. Leo Tolstoy died on November 20, 1910. The writer was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.
