Tolstoy's family life was not idyllic. But the first years the union was happy: “Remember, I once wrote to you that people are mistaken, expecting some kind of happiness, in which there is no work, no deceit, no grief, and everything goes smoothly and happily. I then I was wrong: there is such happiness, and I have been living in it for the third year, and every day it becomes smoother and deeper.And the materials from which this happiness is built are the most ugly - children who (guilty) dirty and scream, the wife who feeds one, leads the other, and every minute reproaches me that I don’t see that they are both on the edge of the coffin, and paper and ink, through which I describe events and feelings of people who never existed ... "
Over the long years of marriage, Sophia gave birth to her husband thirteen children, the first of which appeared 10 months after the wedding, and the last after 26 years.
Family L.N. Tolstoy on one of the wedding anniversaries:
The eldest son, Sergei, was born on June 28, 1863 in Yasnaya Polyana. "The elder is fair-haired, not bad; there is something weak and patient in expression and very meek. When he laughs, he does not infect, but when he cries, I can hardly keep myself from crying. Everyone says that he looks like my elder brother ... Seryozha is smart - a mathematical mind - and sensitive to art, he learns well, he is dexterous to jump; but he is gauche and absent-minded. There is little originality in him; he depends on the physical, "the father wrote about his nine-year-old son.
Although Sergei Lvovich graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Department of Moscow University, he became a composer and musical ethnographer. After the revolution, he was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, left memoirs about his father and died in 1947.
A year younger than him was Tatyana, later known as Sukhotina-Tolstaya. “Tanya is 8 years old. If she were Adam’s eldest daughter and there were no children smaller than her, she would be an unhappy girl,” Tolstoy told about her daughter. “Her best pleasure is to mess with the little ones ... her dream is now conscious - to have children ... She does not like to work with her mind, but the head mechanism is good. She will be a beautiful woman if God gives her a husband." Tatyana loved art, she studied at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow, and N. Ge wrote to her: "I am glad that you want to do art. You have great abilities, but know that abilities will not do anything without love for work" . Like Sergei, Tatyana had one child, though not a son, but a daughter, named after her mother Tanya (Sergei's son was also Sergei).
About his son Ilya (1866 - 1933), Lev Nikolaevich prophetically spoke: "Broad-haired, white, ruddy, shining. He studies badly. He always thinks about what he is not told to think about. very important. Hot and violent (impulsive), now to fight; but also gentle and very sensitive. Sensual - loves to eat and lie quietly ... Everything that is forbidden has charm for him ... Ilya will die if he does not have a strict and their favorite leader.
Ilya, with all his talents (and his father believed that the third child had a literary gift), did not finish the gymnasium, in search of a vocation he rushed from a military man to a bank employee, during the First World War he tried to become a journalist, and in 1916 he generally emigrated to the USA. Ilya had eight children (all from his first marriage, concluded back in Russia). By the way, his great-granddaughter (the granddaughter of one of his sons) is Anna (Fyokla) Tolstaya, a journalist and TV presenter.
"Pretty: dexterous, pantive, graceful. Every dress sits as it is sewn on. Everything that others do, then he, and everything is very clever and good," these words of the writer referred to the third son, Lev Lvovich (1869— 1945). Capable, then entering the medical faculty, then moving to the historical and philological, he was seriously engaged in literature and the arts (for example, he studied sculpture with O. Rodin). Once upon a time, a young Leo, who was sent to Finland to improve his health, was advised by an excellent Swedish doctor. The doctor turned out to have not only really extensive knowledge of medicine, but also a pretty daughter, with whom the patient soon got married. From this union, however, which collapsed in the 1920s, a rather large Swedish branch of the Tolstoy family went.
Maria, born in 1871, was perhaps the most beloved daughter of Tolstoy, who spoke of her: "A weak, sickly child. Like milk, a white body, curly white hairs; large, strange, blue eyes: strange in a deep, serious expression. "Very smart and ugly. It will be one of the mysteries. She will suffer, she will search, she will not find anything; but she will always search for the most inaccessible." At 26, she married Nikolai Obolensky, her second cousin, and died at 35. Different sources call the cause differently: either from pneumonia, or from typhus. “I live and often remember the last minutes of Masha (I don’t want to call her Masha, it’s not just a name for the creature that left me)," Lev Nikolayevich wrote in his diary some time later. And four years later he followed her, according to the recollections of eyewitnesses, exclaiming before his death: "Masha! Masha!"
The Tolstoy couple lost their next three children within two years. In 1873, one and a half year old Peter died. Sophia wrote to her sister: “He seemed to suffer little, slept a lot during his illness, and there was nothing even terrible, no convulsions, no torment, and for that, thank God. not one of the older ones. Needless to say, how hard this loss is after all ... Ten days have passed, and I still walk like a lost man, still waiting to hear how quick legs run and how his voice calls me from afar. the child was not so attached to me and not one of them shone with such merriment and such kindness.In all the sad hours, in all the moments of rest after the teaching of the children, I took him to me and amused him ... And now everything is left, but all the joy is gone , all the fun of life ... And now our life went on again in the old way, and only for me alone the joyful light in our house went out - the light that the cheerful, loving good-natured Petya gave me and which illuminated all my saddest moments .. .". In February 1875, Nikolai, who had not reached the age of one, followed him, and in November, while caring for children with whooping cough, the pregnant Sophia became infected again. A premature birth followed, and the girl who was born, named Varvara, soon died.
About Andrei Tolstoy (1877 - 1916), his father, dissatisfied with his second marriage to a woman who left for her beloved husband-governor and six children, said: "I do not want to love him, but I love him because he is genuine and does not want to seem different" . Andrei Lvovich had three children, the eldest daughter (one of S. Yesenin's wives) was the director of Tolstoy's museums for almost twenty years, and his son became the founder of the world's first dolphinarium and Roosevelt's envoy to Tibet.
The musically gifted Mikhail Tolstoy (1879-1944) did not show a penchant for science, but was distinguished by a good disposition and a good sense of humor. Instead of university, he went to serve in the cavalry, at 22 he got married, becoming the father of nine, and in 1920 he moved to live abroad, changing countries: Turkey, Yugoslavia, France, Morocco ...
Alexei Tolstoy, born in 1881, died before his fifth birthday:
Alexandra Tolstaya (1884-1979) from childhood was distinguished by her determination and complex character. During the First World War, she went to the front as a nurse and so distinguished herself in this field that she was awarded three St. George's crosses. The youngest daughter, who never married, she gave everything to the cause of her father's life, who transferred to her all the rights to his literary heritage. In 1920, Alexandra was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison, but was soon released and returned to Yasnaya Polyana, where she became the curator of the museum. In 1929, due to thickening clouds, she was forced to leave for Japan, from there she moved to the United States, where she died half a century later.
Alexandra with her mother, portrait by N. Ge:
Leo Tolstoy adored his last child, Ivan, who was born in 1888. But Vanechka (as he was called in the family) died of transient scarlet fever in 1895.
TOLSTOVSKOYE TRIBE: HOW THE FATE OF 13 CHILDREN OF LEO TOLSTOY HAPPENED. Leo Tolstoy had 13 children - Sofya Andreevna gave birth to the writer 9 sons and 4 daughters. How did their fate develop and what trace did they leave in history?
Unfortunately, 5 out of 13 children died early: Peter lived a little over a year, Nikolai - less than a year, Varvara - a few days, Alexei died at 4 years old, Ivan - at 6 years old. The youngest, Ivan, was unusually similar to his father. His blue-grey eyes were said to see and understand more than he could put into words. Tolstoy believed that it was this son who would continue his work. However, fate decreed otherwise - the child died of scarlet fever.
SERGEY LVOVITCH (1863-1947) Tolstoy described his eldest son as follows: “The eldest, blond, is not bad. There is something weak and patient in the expression and very meek… Everyone says he looks like my older brother. I'm afraid to believe. It would be too good. The main feature of the brother was not selfishness and not self-sacrifice, but a strict middle ... Seryozha is smart - a mathematical mind and sensitive to art, he studies perfectly, he is dexterous in jumping, gymnastics; but gauche (clumsy, fr.) and distracted. Sergei Lvovich was the only one of all the writer's children who survived the October Revolution in his homeland. He seriously studied music, was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory and one of the founders of the Leo Tolstoy Museum in Moscow, took part in commenting on the Complete Works of his father. Also known as the author of musical works: "Twenty-seven Scottish Songs", "Belgian Songs", "Hindu Songs and Dances"; wrote romances based on poems by Pushkin, Fet, Tyutchev. He died in 1947 at the age of 84.
TATYANA LVOVNA (1864-1950) Tatyana, like her sisters Maria and Alexandra, was a follower of Tolstoy's teachings. From her mother, the eldest daughter of the writer inherited practicality, the ability to do a variety of things, like her mother, she loved toilets, entertainment and was not without vanity. She inherited the ability to write from her father and became a writer. In 1925, together with her daughter, Tatyana Lvovna went abroad, lived in Paris, where Bunin, Morois, Chaliapin, Stravinsky, Alexander Benois and many other representatives of culture and art were her guests. From Paris, she moved to Italy, where she spent the rest of her life.
ILYA LVOVICH (1866-1933) Description of Leo Tolstoy: “Ilya, the third ... Broad-haired, white, ruddy, shining. He studies badly. Always thinks about what he is not told to think about. He invents games himself. Accurate, thrifty, "mine" is very important to him. Hot and violent (impetuous), now to fight; but also gentle and very sensitive. Sensual - loves to eat and lie down calmly ... Everything that is forbidden has charm for him ... Ilya will die if he does not have a strict and beloved leader. Ilya did not finish the gymnasium, he worked alternately as an official, then as a bank employee, then as an agent of the Russian social insurance company, then as an agent for the liquidation of private estates. During World War I he worked for the Red Cross. In 1916, Ilya Lvovich left for the United States, where until the end of his life he earned money by lecturing on Tolstoy's work and worldview.
LEV LVOVICH (1869-1945) Lev Lvovich was one of the most talented in the family. Tolstoy himself described his son as follows: “Pretty: dexterous, understanding, graceful. Every dress sits as it is sewn on it. Everything that others do, he does, and everything is very clever and good. I don't quite understand yet." In his youth, he was fond of his father's ideas, but over time he switched to anti-Tolstoy, patriotic and monarchist positions. In 1918, without waiting for his arrest, he emigrated. He lived in France and Italy, in 1940 he finally settled in Sweden. In exile, he continued to engage in creativity. The works of Lev Lvovich were translated into French, German, Swedish, Hungarian and Italian.
MARIA LVOVNA (1871 - 1906) When she was two years old, Lev Nikolaevich described her as follows: “A weak, sickly child. Like milk, white body, curly white hairs; big, strange, blue eyes: strange in their deep, serious expression. Very smart and ugly. This will be one of the mysteries. He will suffer, he will search, he will not find anything; but will always seek the most inaccessible. Sharing the views of her father, she refused secular trips; She devoted a lot of energy to educational work. Having passed away early, at the age of 35, Maria Lvovna was remembered by her contemporaries as "a good person who did not see happiness." Maria Lvovna was well-read, fluent in several foreign languages, played music. When she received a diploma as a teacher, she organized her own school, in which both peasant children and adults were engaged. Her obsession sometimes frightened loved ones, a young fragile woman traveled to remote settlements in any weather, independently driving a horse and overcoming snow drifts. In November 1906, Maria Lvovna fell ill: her temperature suddenly rose sharply, pain appeared in her shoulder. Doctors diagnosed pneumonia. According to Sofya Andreevna, "no measures weakened the strength of the disease." All week, while the woman was in a semi-conscious state, her parents and husband were nearby; Tolstoy held his daughter's hand until the last minutes.
ANDREI LVOVICH (1877 - 1916) He loved his mother very much, she adored him and forgave her son everything. Father appreciated Andrei's kindness, argued that it was "the most expensive and important quality, which is dearer than anyone else in the world," and advised him to apply his ideas for the benefit of the people. However, Andrei Lvovich did not share the views of his father, believing that if he is a nobleman, then he should enjoy all the privileges and advantages that his position gives him. Tolstoy resolutely disapproved of his son's lifestyle, but said of him: "I don't want to love him, but I love him because he is genuine and doesn't want to seem different." Andrei took part in the Russo-Japanese War with the rank of non-commissioned officer as a mounted orderly. In the war he was wounded, received the St. George Cross for bravery. In 1907, he entered the service of an official for special assignments under the Tula governor, Mikhail Viktorovich Artsimovich, who maintained excellent relations with Lev Nikolaevich. Andrei fell in love with his wife, she soon went to Andrei, leaving the house, a desperate husband and six children. In February 1916, in St. Petersburg, Andrei had a strange dream, which he told his brother. He saw himself dead in a dream, in a coffin that was carried out of the house. He attended his own funeral. In the huge crowd following the coffin, he saw Minister Krivoshein, his head of the Ministry of the Interior in St. Petersburg, and his beloved gypsies, whose singing he was very fond of. A few days later he died from blood poisoning.
MIKHAIL LVOVICH (1879 - 1944) Mikhail was gifted musically. From childhood, he was very fond of music, masterfully learned to play the balalaika, harmonica, piano, composed romances, learned to play the violin. Despite his dream of becoming a composer, Mikhail followed in his father's footsteps and chose a military career. During the First World War, he served in the 2nd Dagestan Regiment of the Caucasian Native Cavalry Division. In 1914-1917. participated in the battles on the South-Western Front. He was presented for awarding the Order of St. Anne 4th degree. In 1920 he emigrated, eventually settling in Morocco, where he died. It was in this country that Mikhail wrote his only literary work: a memoir describing how the Tolstoy family lived in Yasnaya Polyana, this novel was called Mitya Tiverin. In the novel, he also recalled that family and country that could no longer be returned. Mikhail Lvovich died in Morocco in 1944.
ALEXANDRA LVOVNA (1884 - 1979) She was a difficult child. The governesses and older sisters did more with her than Sofya Andreevna and Lev Nikolaevich. However, at the age of 16, she became closer to her father, since then she devoted her whole life to him: she performed secretarial work, mastered shorthand, typewriting. According to Tolstoy's will, Alexandra Lvovna received copyright for her father's literary heritage. After the October Revolution of 1917, Alexandra Tolstaya did not want to come to terms with the new government, which brutally persecuted dissidents. In 1920, the Cheka was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison. Thanks to the petition of the peasants of Yasnaya Polyana, she was released ahead of schedule in 1921, she returned to her native estate, and after the corresponding decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, she became the curator of the museum. She organized a cultural and educational center in Yasnaya Polyana, opened a school, a hospital, and a pharmacy. In 1929 she left the Soviet Union, went to Japan, then to the USA, where she lectured about her father at many universities. In 1941, she became a US citizen and in subsequent years helped many Russian emigrants settle in the US, where she herself died on September 26, 1979 at the age of 95. In the Soviet Union, Alexandra Tolstaya was removed from all photographs and newsreels, her name was not mentioned in notes and memoirs, excursion stories and museum exhibits.
Unfortunately, 5 out of 13 children died early: Peter lived a little over a year, Nikolai - less than a year, Varvara - a few days, Alexei died at 4 years old, Ivan - at 6 years old.
Ivan, younger son of Leo Tolstoy
The youngest, Ivan, was unusually similar to his father. His blue-grey eyes were said to see and understand more than he could put into words. Tolstoy believed that it was this son who would continue his work. However, fate decreed otherwise - the child died of scarlet fever.
Tolstoy with his wife and children. 1887
Sergey Lvovich
Tolstoy described his eldest son as follows: “The eldest, blond, is not bad. There is something weak and patient in the expression and very meek… Everyone says he looks like my older brother. I'm afraid to believe. It would be too good. The main feature of the brother was not selfishness and not self-sacrifice, but a strict middle ... Seryozha is smart - a mathematical mind and a sensitivity to art, he studies perfectly, he is dexterous in jumping, gymnastics; but gauche (clumsy, fr.) and distracted.
Sergei Lvovich was the only one of all the writer's children who survived the October Revolution in his homeland. He seriously studied music, was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory and one of the founders of the Leo Tolstoy Museum in Moscow, and took part in commenting on the Complete Works of his father. Also known as the author of musical works: "Twenty-seven Scottish Songs", "Belgian Songs", "Hindu Songs and Dances"; wrote romances based on poems by Pushkin, Fet, Tyutchev. He died in 1947 at the age of 84.
Tatiana Lvovna
Tatyana, like her sisters Maria and Alexandra, was a follower of Tolstoy's teachings. From her mother, the eldest daughter of the writer inherited practicality, the ability to do a variety of things, like her mother, she loved toilets, entertainment and was not without vanity. She inherited the ability to write from her father and became a writer.
In 1925, together with her daughter, Tatyana Lvovna went abroad, lived in Paris, where Bunin, Morois, Chaliapin, Stravinsky, Alexander Benois and many other representatives of culture and art were her guests. From Paris, she moved to Italy, where she spent the rest of her life.
Ilya Lvovich
Characteristics of Leo Tolstoy: “Ilya, the third ... Shirokokost, white, ruddy, shining. He studies badly. Always thinks about what he is not told to think about. He invents games himself. Accurate, thrifty, "mine" is very important to him. Hot and violent (impetuous), now to fight; but also gentle and very sensitive. Sensual - loves to eat and lie down calmly ... Everything that is forbidden has charm for him ... Ilya will die if he does not have a strict and beloved leader.
Ilya did not finish the gymnasium, he worked alternately as an official, then as a bank employee, then as an agent of the Russian social insurance company, then as an agent for the liquidation of private estates. During World War I he worked for the Red Cross.
In 1916, Ilya Lvovich left for the United States, where until the end of his life he earned money by lecturing on Tolstoy's work and worldview.
Lev Lvovich
Lev Lvovich was one of the most talented in the family. Tolstoy himself described his son as follows: “Pretty: dexterous, understanding, graceful. Every dress sits as it is sewn on it. Everything that others do, he does, and everything is very clever and good. I don't quite understand yet."
In his youth, he was fond of his father's ideas, but over time he switched to anti-Tolstoy, patriotic and monarchist positions. In 1918, without waiting for his arrest, he emigrated. He lived in France and Italy, in 1940 he finally settled in Sweden. In exile, he continued to engage in creativity. The works of Lev Lvovich were translated into French, German, Swedish, Hungarian and Italian.
Maria Lvovna
When she was two years old, Lev Nikolaevich described her as follows: “A weak, sickly child. Like milk, white body, curly white hairs; big, strange, blue eyes: strange in deep, serious expression. Very smart and ugly. This will be one of the mysteries. He will suffer, he will search, he will not find anything; but will always seek the most inaccessible.
Sharing the views of her father, she refused secular trips; She devoted a lot of energy to educational work. Having passed away early, at the age of 35, Maria Lvovna was remembered by her contemporaries as "a good person who did not see happiness."
Maria Lvovna was well-read, fluent in several foreign languages, played music. When she received a diploma as a teacher, she organized her own school, in which both peasant children and adults were engaged. Her obsession sometimes frightened loved ones, a young fragile woman traveled to remote settlements in any weather, independently driving a horse and overcoming snow drifts
In November 1906, Maria Lvovna fell ill: her temperature suddenly rose sharply, and pain appeared in her shoulder. Doctors diagnosed pneumonia. According to Sofya Andreevna, "no measures weakened the strength of the disease." All week, while the woman was in a semi-conscious state, her parents and husband were nearby; Tolstoy held his daughter's hand until the last minutes.
Andrey Lvovich
He loved his mother very much, she adored him and forgave her son everything. Father appreciated Andrei's kindness, argued that it was "the most expensive and important quality, which is dearer than anyone else in the world," and advised him to apply his ideas for the benefit of the people. However, Andrei Lvovich did not share the views of his father, believing that if he is a nobleman, then he should enjoy all the privileges and advantages that his position gives him.
Tolstoy resolutely disapproved of his son's way of life, but said of him: "I don't want to love him, but I love him because he is genuine and doesn't want to seem different." Andrei took part in the Russo-Japanese War with the rank of non-commissioned officer as a mounted orderly. In the war he was wounded, received the St. George Cross for bravery. In 1907, he entered the service of an official for special assignments under the Tula governor, Mikhail Viktorovich Artsimovich, who maintained excellent relations with Lev Nikolaevich. Andrei fell in love with his wife, she soon went to Andrei, leaving the house, a desperate husband and six children.
In February 1916, in St. Petersburg, Andrei had a strange dream, which he told his brother. He saw himself dead in a dream, in a coffin that was carried out of the house. He attended his own funeral. In the huge crowd following the coffin, he saw Minister Krivoshein, his head of the Ministry of the Interior in St. Petersburg, and his beloved gypsies, whose singing he was very fond of.
A few days later he died from blood poisoning.
Mikhail Lvovich
Michael was gifted musically. From childhood, he was very fond of music, masterfully learned to play the balalaika, harmonica, piano, composed romances, learned to play the violin. Despite his dream of becoming a composer, Mikhail followed in his father's footsteps and chose a military career.
During the First World War, he served in the 2nd Dagestan Regiment of the Caucasian Native Cavalry Division. In 1914-1917. participated in the battles on the South-Western Front. He was presented for awarding the Order of St. Anne 4th degree.
In 1920 he emigrated, eventually settling in Morocco, where he died. It was in this country that Mikhail wrote his only literary work: a memoir describing how the Tolstoy family lived in Yasnaya Polyana, this novel was called Mitya Tiverin. In the novel, he also recalled that family and country that could no longer be returned.
Alexandra Lvovna
She was a difficult child. The governesses and older sisters did more with her than Sofya Andreevna and Lev Nikolaevich. However, at the age of 16, she became closer to her father, since then she devoted her whole life to him: she performed secretarial work, mastered shorthand, typewriting. According to Tolstoy's will, Alexandra Lvovna received copyright for her father's literary heritage.
After the October Revolution of 1917, Alexandra Tolstaya did not want to come to terms with the new government, which brutally persecuted dissidents. In 1920, the Cheka was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison. Thanks to the petition of the peasants of Yasnaya Polyana, she was released ahead of schedule in 1921, she returned to her native estate, and after the corresponding decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, she became the curator of the museum. She organized a cultural and educational center in Yasnaya Polyana, opened a school, a hospital, and a pharmacy.
In 1929 she left the Soviet Union, went to Japan, then to the USA, where she lectured about her father at many universities. In 1941, she became a US citizen and in subsequent years helped many Russian emigrants settle in the US, where she herself died on September 26, 1979 at the age of 95.
In the Soviet Union, Alexandra Tolstaya was removed from all photographs and newsreels, her name was not mentioned in notes and memoirs, excursion stories and museum expositions.
More than a hundred years have passed since the great Leo Tolstoy passed away, but his personal life is still hotly discussed. Recently, the position has been popular: Tolstoy was a sufferer in his house, and his wife, who did not understand him, achieved only that he left. But in reality, everything was much more complicated ...
After the first sex, he said: "Not that!"
With the family of Lyubov Bers, who had three daughters, Tolstoy was familiar from childhood. But in his youth, he was passionate about learning languages, organizing schools, war, becoming himself as a writer ... And only at the age of 34 he decided to marry 18-year-old Sonya Bers. Tolstoy chose his wife not only with his heart, but also with his mind, he was looking for a creature that would obey his ideas.
Tolstoy honestly told the bride about his premarital affairs, he wanted there to be no deceit between them. However, the close relationship of the spouses did not immediately develop, the first entry of the young husband in the diary the next morning: “Not that!”
Sofya Tolstaya was a well-educated young lady, accustomed to going out into the world, playing the piano, and guests. And her husband locked her for nineteen years in Yasnaya Polyana, in his family estate. At the same time, Sofya Andreevna, like all women of that time, gave birth "a child a year." In total, she gave birth to thirteen children, five of whom died in childhood. Because of the inflammation of the mammary glands, it was difficult for her to feed, she did it anyway, primarily at the insistence of her husband, who did not recognize the nurses. The first fifteen years the couple lived quietly and happily. Tolstoy listened to the opinion of Sofya Andreevna and it was at her request that he acquired a house in Khamovniki in 1882, where they soon moved. It was in this house that dramatic events unfolded ...
Because of the father, the daughter slept on the boards
Tolstoy is over 60 years old. It seemed that at that age it was just right to warm up by the fireplace, surrounded by children and grandchildren. But just during this period, the writer had a spiritual crisis and a desire to rethink his life. Lev Nikolaevich suddenly came to the conclusion that all the excesses and advantages of the upper class are evil! Soon they began to call him the “count-muzhik” because he himself chopped wood, carried water, was engaged in crafts, walked in simple peasant clothes. Unfortunately, neither his wife nor most of the children could agree with him on this. Tolstoy constantly quarreled with his older sons, and reproached the younger ones for excessive spoilage and laziness. The eldest daughter Tatyana, a talented artist, dreamed of going out into the world, hosting the creative elite. Only daughter Mary followed her father, becoming a real ascetic. The girl slept on boards, did not eat meat, worked hard day and night ... When she died of pneumonia in 1906, it was a huge blow to her father. Only she understood when Tolstoy said in his hearts: - It is very hard in the family. I can't sympathize with them! All the joys of children: the exam, the successes of the world, music, the atmosphere - I consider all this a misfortune and evil for them! And the creator and center of this "evil" was Sofya Andreevna, on whom all household concerns lay. She happily created coziness, which irritated her husband. From time to time Tolstoy began to shout that the family was too accustomed to excesses. He said that all property must be distributed. That it is not good to use the labor of servants. The final blow to the family was the death of 8-year-old son Vanechka. He was a truly unusual boy, deeply understanding, kind, God-given. He reconciled everyone in the family. When he died of scarlet fever, Sofya Andreevna almost lost her mind. And Lev Nikolaevich wrote in his diary: "Nature tries to give the best and, seeing that the world is not yet ready for them, takes them back."
Thanked his wife only after death
In the spring of 1901, having lost hope of understanding his family and tired of city life, he left his Moscow home, returning to Yasnaya Polyana. The writer began to openly criticize the authority of the Orthodox Church.
He recognized only five commandments, which, in his opinion, were the true precepts of Christ and which guided his life: do not fall into anger; do not give in to lust; do not bind yourself with oaths; do not resist evil; be equally good with the righteous and the unrighteous.
Relations with his wife became cold. Sofya Andreevna was accused by many of not wanting to follow her husband and “walk in rags,” but she had her own truth.
“He expected from me, my poor, dear husband, that spiritual unity, which was almost impossible with my material life and worries, from which it was impossible and nowhere to go,” she later wrote in her memoirs. “I would not have been able to share his spiritual life in words, but to put it into practice, to break it, dragging a whole large family behind me, was unthinkable, and beyond my strength!”
Not to mention the fact that Tolstaya raised so many children, she very seriously helped her husband in her work, copying by hand drafts of his works (thousands of pages), negotiating with publishers. Was the author of Anna Karenina and War and Peace grateful to her for all this? Of course, but Sofya Andreevna was convinced of this after the death of her husband, when she was handed a letter where the writer summed up their life together: “The fact that I left you does not prove that I was dissatisfied with you ... I don’t blame On the contrary, I remember you with gratitude for the long 35 years of our life! It's not my fault... I have changed, but not for myself, not for people, but because I can't do otherwise! I can't blame you for not following me."
Tolstoy died in 1910 at the age of 82. Sofya Andreevna survived her husband by nine years. It was thanks to her that many things from the house were preserved, which can now be seen in the writer's house-museum in Khamovniki.
Marina Klimenkova.
great-great-grandson of Tolstoy, journalist
Although many modern Tolstoys live abroad (they emigrated after the revolution), the descendants of the "block of Russian literature" remained in our country as well. For example, Pyotr Tolstoy, whose father returned from exile in 1944 with his brother. Thanks to his family, Peter knew about his great-great-grandfather from childhood: he repeatedly visited Yasnaya Polyana, got to know family relics closely. This representative of the Tolstoy family is a very famous Russian journalist and TV presenter who has been working on Channel One for many years. Now he hosts the programs "Politics" and "Time will show." About the famous great-great-grandfather in an interview, Peter said this:
Tolstoy remained honest with himself, always remained so, even when he was mistaken
Fekla Tolstaya
great-great-granddaughter of Tolstoy, journalist
Second cousin of Peter Tolstoy and also a very famous Russian journalist. The real name is Anna, but they know her mainly under the name Thekla - a childhood nickname, which later turned into a pseudonym. Tolstaya was born into a family of philologists and followed in the footsteps of her parents: she graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, speaks five languages. However, already in childhood, she was drawn to television: as a schoolgirl, Fekla began acting in minor roles in films, and in 1995 she entered GITIS at the directing department. Behind Fekla's back are many projects on radio and television, including author's programs about his own family tree "Tolstoy", as well as "War and Peace": Reading a novel. In a conversation with MK Bulvar, the journalist happily spoke about the advantages of her huge family, whose members are scattered all over the world:
If you have relatives in another country, you understand it completely differently. I can explore, for example, Rome with my beautiful niece, who, like a Roman, shows me places that I have loved since childhood - and this is an incomparable feeling. The same can be said about my relatives in Paris or New York. I get into the family, talk to their friends
Andrey Tolstoy
great-great-grandson of Tolstoy, reindeer breeder
Another descendant representing the Swedish branch of the family, Andrey Tolstoy, is a simple farmer who has been breeding deer for many years. He achieved great success: Andrei is one of the most famous reindeer herders in Scandinavia. He admitted that he could not read "War and Peace" at school. However, then he still mastered the four-volume book. A few years ago, Andrei visited Russia for the first time.
Vladimir Tolstoy
great-great-grandson of Tolstoy, adviser to the President of Russia
Vladimir Ilyich is a man without whom there would be no meetings of Tolstoy's descendants (which are held regularly today), and the fate of Leo Tolstoy's estate Yasnaya Polyana would remain in jeopardy. In the early 90s, they wanted to take away the estate's lands for new buildings, cut down the forests ... But in 1992, Vladimir Ilyich published a large amount of material about all the troubles in Komsomolskaya Pravda. Soon he was appointed director of the museum-reserve. Now Tolstoy is an adviser to the President of the Russian Federation, and his wife Ekaterina Tolstaya is in charge of the museum. Vladimir confessed to the Tula newspaper Molodoy Kommunar, speaking of his relatives:
Each of us has his own personality, each of us has his own view of the world. And everyone is talented in their own way. Fat people can do everything: they take pictures, draw, write. And at the same time they are embarrassed by their talents: modesty is another family quality ...
Victoria Tolstoy
great-great-granddaughter of Tolstoy, jazz singer
Yes, yes, she is Tolstoy, not Tolstaya: the Swede Victoria decided not to incline her last name, but to make it more “authentic”. How did the Swedish line of the Tolstoy family appear? The son of Lev Nikolaevich - Lev Lvovich, was forced for health reasons to turn to the Swedish doctor Westerlund. And then he fell in love with his daughter Dora ... The modern representative of this family branch, singer Victoria, is better known in her homeland under the pseudonym "Lady Jazz". By her own admission, Victoria does not know the Russian language and has not read the novels of Lev Nikolayevich, however, in her work she often turns to classical Russian composers. At the moment, the blonde has already 8 albums on her account, one of which is called My Russian Soul (“My Russian Soul”). JazzQuard told JazzQuard:
When I was in Moscow a few years ago, I visited the Tolstoy House Museum. I remember I saw a portrait of a lady from the Tolstoy family there and was amazed at how similar this young woman from past centuries was to me! Then for the first time I really felt my involvement in the Tolstoy family: how much connects and unites us at the deepest genetic level!
Ilaria Stieler-Timor
great-great-granddaughter of Tolstoy, teacher of Italian
