Count, Russian writer, corresponding member (1873), honorary academician (1900) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Beginning with the autobiographical trilogy "Childhood" (1852), "Boyhood" (1852 54), "Youth" (1855 57), the study of "fluidity" inner world, the moral foundations of personality became main theme works of Tolstoy. Painful search for the meaning of life moral ideal, hidden general laws of being, spiritual and social criticism, revealing the "untruth" of class relations, run through all his work. In the story "Cossacks" (1863), the hero, a young nobleman, is looking for a way out in communion with nature, with a natural and whole life common man. The epic "War and Peace" (1863 69) recreates the life of various strata of Russian society in Patriotic war 1812, the patriotic impulse of the people, which united all classes and determined the victory in the war with Napoleon. historical events and personal interests, ways of spiritual self-determination of the reflecting personality and the elements of the Russian folk life with its "swarm" consciousness are shown as equivalent components of natural-historical being. In the novel "Anna Karenina" (1873 77) about the tragedy of a woman in the grip of a destructive "criminal" passion Tolstoy exposes the false foundations of secular society, shows the collapse of the patriarchal way of life, the destruction of family foundations. To the perception of the world by individualistic and rationalistic consciousness, he contrasts the inherent value of life as such in its infinity, uncontrollable changeability and real concreteness ("Seer of the Flesh" D. S. Merezhkovsky). Since the end of the 1870s has been experiencing spiritual crisis, later captured by the idea of moral improvement and "simplification" (which gave rise to the Tolstoy movement), Tolstoy comes to an increasingly implacable criticism of the social structure of modern bureaucratic institutions, the state, the church (excommunicated from the Orthodox Church in 1901), civilization and culture, everything way of life"educated classes": the novel "Resurrection" (1889 99), the story "Kreutzer Sonata" (1887 89), the dramas "The Living Corpse" (1900, published in 1911) and "The Power of Darkness" (1887). At the same time, attention is growing to the themes of death, sin, repentance and moral rebirth (the stories "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", 1884 86; "Father Sergius", 1890 98, published in 1912; "Hadji Murad", 1896 1904, publ. . in 1912). Publicistic writings of a moralizing nature, including "Confession" (1879 82), "What is my faith?" (1884), where Christian doctrine about love and forgiveness is transformed into a preaching of non-resistance to evil by violence. the desire to harmonize the way of thinking and life leads to the departure of Tolstoy from the house in Yasnaya Polyana; died at Astapovo station.
Biography
Born on August 28 (September 9, n.s.) in the estate of Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province. By origin belonged to the most ancient aristocratic families Russia. Received home education and upbringing.
After the death of parents (mother died in 1830, father in 1837) future writer with three brothers and a sister he moved to Kazan, to the guardian P. Yushkova. At the age of sixteen, he entered Kazan University, first at the Faculty of Philosophy in the category of Arabic-Turkish literature, then studied at the Faculty of Law (1844 47). In 1847, without completing the course, he left the university and settled in Yasnaya Polyana, which he received as his father's inheritance.
The future writer spent the next four years in search: he tried to reorganize the life of the peasants of Yasnaya Polyana (1847), lived a secular life in Moscow (1848), at St. deputy meeting (autumn 1849).
In 1851 he left Yasnaya Polyana for the Caucasus, the place of service of his older brother Nikolai, and volunteered to take part in hostilities against the Chechens. Episodes Caucasian War described by him in the stories "The Raid" (1853), "Cutting the Forest" (1855), in the story "Cossacks" (1852 63). He passed the cadet exam, preparing to become an officer. In 1854, being an artillery officer, he transferred to the Danube army, which acted against the Turks.
In the Caucasus, Tolstoy began to seriously engage in literary work, writing the story "Childhood", which was approved by Nekrasov and published in the journal "Contemporary". Later, the story "Boyhood" (1852 54) was printed there.
Shortly after the start Crimean War Tolstoy, at his personal request, was transferred to Sevastopol, where he participated in the defense of the besieged city, showing rare fearlessness. Awarded the Order of St. Anna with the inscription "For Courage" and medals "For the Defense of Sevastopol". IN " Sevastopol stories"he created a mercilessly reliable picture of the war, which made a huge impression on Russian society. In the same years he wrote the last part of the trilogy "Youth" (1855 56), in which he declared himself not just a "poet of childhood", but a researcher of human nature. This interest in man and the desire to understand the laws of mental and spiritual life will continue in his future work.
In 1855, having arrived in St. Petersburg, Tolstoy became close to the staff of the Sovremennik magazine, met Turgenev, Goncharov, Ostrovsky, Chernyshevsky.
In the autumn of 1856 he retired Military career not mine..." he writes in his diary) and in 1857 went on a six-month trip abroad to France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany.
In 1859 he opened a school for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana, where he taught classes himself. He helped open more than 20 schools in the surrounding villages. In order to study the organization of school affairs abroad, in 1860 1861 Tolstoy made a second trip to Europe, inspected schools in France, Italy, Germany, and England. In London, he met Herzen, attended a lecture by Dickens.
In May 1861 (the year of the abolition of serfdom) he returned to Yasnaya Polyana, assumed the position of mediator and actively defended the interests of the peasants, resolving their disputes with the landowners about the land, for which the Tula nobility, dissatisfied with his actions, demanded his removal from office. In 1862 the Senate issued a decree dismissing Tolstoy. A secret surveillance of him by the III Section began. In the summer, the gendarmes carried out a search in his absence, confident that they would find a secret printing house, which the writer allegedly acquired after meetings and long conversations with Herzen in London.
In 1862, Tolstoy's life, his way of life were streamlined into long years: he married the daughter of a Moscow doctor Sofya Andreevna Bers and began a patriarchal life on his estate as the head of an ever-increasing family. The Tolstoys raised nine children.
1860 The 1870s were marked by the appearance of two works by Tolstoy that immortalized his name: War and Peace (1863 69), Anna Karenina (1873 77).
In the early 1880s, the Tolstoy family moved to Moscow to educate their growing children. From that time on, Tolstoy spent his winters in Moscow. Here, in 1882, he participated in the census of the Moscow population, became closely acquainted with the life of the inhabitants of the city's slums, which he described in the treatise "So what should we do?" (1882 86), and concluded: "... You can't live like that, you can't live like that, you can't!"
Tolstoy expressed the new worldview in his work "Confession" (1879㭎), where he spoke about the revolution in his views, the meaning of which he saw in the break with the ideology of the noble class and the transition to the side of the "simple working people". This turning point led Tolstoy to deny the state, the official church and property. The consciousness of the meaninglessness of life in the face of inevitable death led him to believe in God. He bases his teaching on the moral precepts of the New Testament: the demand for love for people and the preaching of non-resistance to evil by force constitute the meaning of the so-called "Tolstoyism", which is becoming popular not only in Russia, but also abroad.
During this period, he came to a complete denial of his previous literary activity, got busy physical labor, plowed, sewed boots, switched to vegetarian food. In 1891 he publicly renounced copyright on all his writings written after 1880.
Under the influence of friends and true admirers of his talent, as well as a personal need for literary activity, Tolstoy in the 1890s changed his negative attitude to art. During these years he created the drama "The Power of Darkness" (1886), the play "The Fruits of Enlightenment" (1886 90), the novel "Resurrection" (1889 99).
In 1891, 1893, 1898 he participated in helping the peasants of the starving provinces, organized free canteens.
IN last decade engaged, as always, in intense creative work. The story "Hadji Murad" (1896 1904), the drama "The Living Corpse" (1900), the story "After the Ball" (1903) were written.
At the beginning of 1900 he wrote a series of articles exposing the whole system government controlled. The government of Nicholas II issued a decree according to which the Holy Synod (the highest church institution in Russia) excommunicated Tolstoy from the church, which caused a wave of indignation in society.
In 1901 Tolstoy lived in the Crimea, was treated after a serious illness, often met with Chekhov and M. Gorky.
IN last years life, when Tolstoy was writing his will, he found himself in the center of intrigue and strife between the “Tolstoyites”, on the one hand, and his wife, who defended the well-being of her family and children, on the other. Trying to bring his way of life in line with his beliefs and burdened by the lordly way of life in the estate. On November 10, 1910, Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana. The health of the 82-year-old writer could not stand the trip. He caught a cold and, falling ill, died on November 20 on the way at the Astapovo station of Ryazans-Ko-Uralskaya railway.
Buried at Yasnaya Polyana.
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 with his works world fame himself and the Fatherland.
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 a great elementary 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. Full version 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.
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was born on August 28 (September 9), 1828 in the estate of his mother Yasnaya Polyana, Krapivensky district, Tula province. Tolstoy's family belonged to a wealthy and noble family of counts. By the time Leo was born, the family already had three eldest sons: - Nikolai (1823-1860), Sergey (1826 -1904) and Dmitry (1827 - 1856), and in 1830 she was born younger sister Leo Maria.
A few years later, the mother died. In Tolstoy's autobiographical "Childhood" Irtenyev's mother dies when the boy is 10-12 years old and he is quite conscious. However, the portrait of the mother is described by the writer exclusively from the stories of his relatives. After the death of their mother, a distant relative, T. A. Ergolskaya, took care of the orphaned children. She is represented by Sonya from War and Peace.
In 1837, the family moved to Moscow, because. older brother Nikolai had to prepare for entering the university. But a tragedy suddenly occurred in the family - the father died, leaving things in a bad state. Three younger children were forced to return to Yasnaya Polyana under the upbringing of T. A. Ergolskaya and his father's aunt, Countess A. M. Osten-Saken. Here Leo Tolstoy remained until 1840. This year, Countess A. M. Osten-Saken died and the children were moved to Kazan to their father's sister P. I. Yushkova. L. N. Tolstoy quite accurately conveyed this period of his life in his autobiography Childhood.
Tolstoy at the first stage was educated under the guidance of a rude French tutor Saint-Thomas. He is portrayed by a certain M-r Jérôme of Boyhood. In the future, he was replaced by the good-natured German Reselman. His Lev Nikolaevich lovingly portrayed in "Childhood" under the name of Karl Ivanovich.
In 1843, following his brother Tolstoy, he entered Kazan University. There, until 1847, Leo Tolstoy was preparing to enter the only Oriental Faculty in Russia in the category of Arabic-Turkish literature. For a year of study, Tolstoy showed himself as the best student of this course. However, between the poet's family and the teacher Russian history and German, a certain Ivanov, there was a conflict. This led to the fact that, according to the results of the year, Leo Tolstoy had poor progress in the relevant subjects and had to re-take the first year program. To avoid a complete repetition of the course, the poet is translated into Faculty of Law. But even there the problems with the teacher of German and Russian continue. Soon Tolstoy loses all interest in learning.
In the spring of 1847, Lev Nikolaevich left the university and settled in Yasnaya Polyana. Everything that Tolstoy did in the countryside can be found out by reading The Morning of the Landowner, where the poet introduces himself in the role of Nekhlyudov. There, a lot of time was spent on revelry, games and hunting.
In the spring of 1851, on the advice of his elder brother Nikolai, in order to cut costs and pay off his debts, Lev Nikolayevich left for the Caucasus.
In the fall of 1851, he became a cadet of the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade, stationed in the Cossack village of Starogladovo near Kizlyar. Soon L.N. Tolstoy became an officer. When the Crimean War began at the end of 1853, Lev Nikolaevich transferred to the Danube army, participated in the battles of Oltenitsa and Silistria. From November 1854 to August 1855 he participated in the defense of Sevastopol. After the assault on August 27, 1855, Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy was sent to Petersburg. A noisy life began there: drinking parties, cards and carousing with gypsies.
In St. Petersburg, L.N. Tolstoy met the staff of the Sovremennik magazine with N.A. Nekrasov, I.S. Turgenev, I.A. Goncharov, N.G. Chernyshevsky.
At the beginning of 1857 Tolstoy went abroad. On the road in Germany, Switzerland, England, Italy, France, he spends a year and a half. Travel does not bring him pleasure. He expressed his disappointment with European life in the story "Lucerne". And returning to Russia, Lev Nikolaevich took up the improvement of schools in Yasnaya Polyana.
In the late 1850s, Tolstoy met Sophia Andreevna Bers, born in 1844, the daughter of a Moscow doctor from the Baltic Germans. He was almost 40 years old, and Sophia was only 17. It seemed to him that this difference was too great and sooner or later Sophia would fall in love with a young guy who had not become obsolete. These experiences of Lev Nikolaevich are set forth in his first novel, Family Happiness.
In September 1862, Leo Tolstoy nevertheless married 18-year-old Sofya Andreevna Bers. For 17 years of marriage, they had 13 children. During the same period, "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" were created. In 1861-62. finishes his story "The Cossacks", the first of the works in which great talent Tolstoy was recognized as a genius.
In the early 70s, Tolstoy again showed interest in pedagogy, wrote the ABC and the New ABC, composed fables and stories that made up four Russian books for reading.
In order to answer the questions and doubts of a religious nature that tormented him, Lev Nikolayevich began to study theology. In 1891, in Geneva, the writer writes and publishes a Study of Dogmatic Theology, in which he criticizes Bulgakov's Orthodox Dogmatic Theology. He first began to talk with priests and monarchs, read theological treatises, studied ancient Greek and Hebrew. Tolstoy gets acquainted with schismatics, adjoins sectarian peasants.
In the early 1900s By the Holy Synod, Lev Nikolayevich was excommunicated from the Orthodox Church. L. N. Tolstoy lost all interest in life, he was tired of enjoying the achieved prosperity, the thought of suicide arose. He is fond of simple physical labor, becomes a vegetarian, gives his family all his wealth, renounces literary property rights.
On November 10, 1910, Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana, but on the way he became very ill. On November 20, 1910, Leo Tolstoy died at the Astapovo station of the Ryazan-Ural Railway.
"The great writer of the Russian land", Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy was born on August 28 (September 9), 1828 in the village of Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province. His father, a hussar lieutenant colonel, and his mother, nee Princess Volkonskaya, are described partly in Childhood and Boyhood, partly in War and Peace. The boy was one and a half years old when his mother died, and nine years old when his father died; an orphan, he remained in the care of his aunt, Countess Osten-Saken; the upbringing of the boy was entrusted to a distant relative, T. A. Ergolskaya. About this kind and meek woman who had beneficial effect on the children entrusted to her upbringing, Tolstoy later recalled touchingly. Being 24 years old, he wrote to her from the Caucasus: "The tears that I shed, thinking of you and your love for us, are so joyful that I let them flow without any false shame."
Having received a home education, which was common at that time for the children of landlords, in 1844 Tolstoy entered the Kazan University at the Faculty of Oriental Languages; a year later he goes to law school. A young man precocious, prone to self-observation and a critical attitude towards everything around him, Tolstoy remains extremely dissatisfied with the composition of professors and university teaching. At first, he quite diligently set to work, began to write an essay, where he drew a parallel between the “Instruction” by Catherine the Great II and the works of Montesquieu; but soon these studies were abandoned, and Tolstoy was temporarily taken over by the interests secular life: shiny outer side secular world and his eternal festivities, picnics, balls, receptions, captivated the impressionable young man; he gave himself up to the interests of this world with all the passion of his nature. And, as in everything in his life, he was consistent here to the end, denying at that time everything that was not included in the circle of interests of a secular person.
But, as shown in "Childhood, Adolescence and Youth", which contains a lot of autobiographical material, even in childhood Tolstoy showed signs of self-deepening, some kind of persistent moral and mental quest; the boy was forever haunted by the questions of his still vague inner world. It can be said, judging by the artistic material left to us by the writer, that he almost did not know a carefree childhood, with its unconscious joy. Self-loving, always subordinating everything to his reflection, he, like most great people, spent a painful childhood, depressed by various questions of external and internal life, which it was beyond his childish strength to resolve.
It was this peculiarity of the nature of the young Tolstoy that took over in him after a certain period of time spent in secular pleasures. Under the influence of his own reflections and reading, Tolstoy decided to change his life dramatically. What he decided was immediately carried out. Convinced of the emptiness of secular life, disappointed with university studies, Tolstoy returns to his constant ideals of life. In "Childhood" and Adolescence, we read more than once about how the boy, the hero of the story, draws up programs for a future clean and reasonable life that meets some vague requirements of conscience. As if an unknown voice always resounded in his soul, the voice of moral commands, and forced him to follow him. The same was in Kazan. Tolstoy gives up secular entertainment, stops attending the university, gets carried away by Rousseau and spends days and nights over the books of this writer, who had a great influence on him.
In books, Tolstoy is looking not for intellectual pleasures and not for knowledge in itself, but for practical answers to questions, How live and how to live, that is, in what to see the meaning and true content of life. Under the influence of these reflections and the reading of Rousseau's books, Tolstoy wrote the essay "On the Purpose of Philosophy", in which he defines philosophy as a "science of life", that is, as one that clarifies the goals and way of life of a person. Already at this time, Rousseau's books posed a problem for young Tolstoy that irresistibly attracted his mental gaze: about moral perfection. Tolstoy, through increased spiritual tension, determines the plan for his future life: it should take place in the implementation of good and in active help to people. Having come to this conclusion, Tolstoy left the university and went to Yasnaya Polyana to take care of the life of the peasants and improve their situation. Here, many failures and disappointments awaited him, described in the story “Morning of the Landowner”: it was impossible to solve such a big task at once with the help of one person, especially since many imperceptible little things and interference made the work difficult.
Leo Tolstoy in his youth. Photo 1848
In 1851 Tolstoy left for the Caucasus; here awaits him a mass of impressions, strong and fresh, which the heroic nature of the 23-year-old Tolstoy craved. Hunting for wild boars, elks, birds, grandiose pictures of the Caucasian nature, and finally, skirmishes and battles with the mountaineers (Tolstoy enlisted as a cadet in the artillery) - all this produced great impression for a future writer. In battles, he was cold-blooded and courageous, he was always in the most dangerous places and was repeatedly presented for a reward. The way of life at that time Tolstoy led a Spartan, healthy and simple; composure and courage did not leave him at the most dangerous moments, as, for example, in the case when, while hunting a bear, he missed the beast and was crushed by it, saved a minute later by other hunters and miraculously escaped with two non-dangerous wounds. But he led a life not only of fighting and hunting, he also had hours for literary work, which few people knew about yet. At the end of 1851, he tells Ergolskaya that he is writing a novel, not knowing if it will ever be published, but working on it gives him deep pleasure. Characteristic of the young Tolstoy is the lack of ambition and endurance in leisurely and diligent work. “I redid the work three times, which I started a long time ago,” he writes to Ergolskaya, “and I expect to redo it again in order to be satisfied; I write not out of vanity, but out of inclination, it is pleasant and useful for me to work, and I work.
The manuscript that Tolstoy was working on at that time was the story "Childhood"; among all the impressions of the Caucasus, the young writer loved to revive childhood memories with sadness and love, reviving every feature past life. Life in the Caucasus did not roughen his impressionable and childish gentle soul. In 1852, Tolstoy's first story was published in Nekrasov's journal Sovremennik with a modest signature L.N.; only a few close people knew the author of this story, noted in critical literature. Behind "Childhood" appeared "Boyhood" and a number of stories from the Caucasian military life: "Raid", "Cutting down the forest" and the large story "Cossacks", outstanding in its artistic merits and reflecting the features of a new worldview. In this story, Tolstoy for the first time emphasized a negative attitude towards the city cultural life and the predominance over her of a simple and healthy life in the fresh bosom of nature, in proximity to the simple and pure spiritual masses of the people.
Tolstoy's military wandering life continued during the then outbreak of the Crimean War. He participated in the unsuccessful siege of Silistria on the Danube and observed with curiosity the life of southern peoples. Promoted to officer in 1854, Tolstoy arrived in Sevastopol, where he survived the siege until the surrender of the city in 1855. Here Tolstoy tried to start a magazine for the soldiers, but did not get permission. Courageous, as always, who was here in the most dangerous places, Tolstoy reproduced the rich observations of this siege in three stories “Sevastopol in December, in May and in August”. Appearing also in Sovremennik, these stories drew general attention.
After the fall of Sevastopol, Tolstoy retired, moved to St. Petersburg and devoted himself primarily to literary interests; he draws closer to the circle of writers of that time - Turgenev, Goncharov, Ostrovsky, Nekrasov, Druzhinin, is friends with Fet. But to a large extent determined in Tolstoy during his solitary life in the Caucasian wilderness, his new views on life, on culture, on the goals and objectives of a person’s personal life, were alien to the general views of writers and alienated Tolstoy from them: he remained generally closed and lonely.
After several years of living introspectively and alone, having reached several certain items of his own world outlook created by great spiritual tension, Tolstoy now, with some kind of mental greed, seeks to embrace all the heritage of the spiritual culture of the West. After studying agriculture and school in Yasnaya Polyana, he travels abroad, visits Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland, looks at life and institutions Western world, absorbs a lot of books on philosophy, sociology, history, public education, etc. Everything seen and heard, everything read, everything that strikes his mind and soul, becomes material for internal processing in the process of achieving the firm foundations of a world outlook, which thought is tirelessly looking for Tolstoy.
big event for him inner life was the death of his brother, Nicholas; questions about the purpose and meaning of life, questions about death, took possession of his soul with even greater force, for a time inclining him to extremely pessimistic conclusions. But soon the ardent thirst for mental labor and activity again seizes him. Studying the organization of school affairs in Western European countries, Tolstoy comes to his own pedagogical theory, which he tries to implement upon his return to Yasnaya Polyana. He started a school there for peasant children and a pedagogical magazine called Yasnaya Polyana. Education, as a powerful tool for social reforms, seems to him the most important business of life. In Yasnaya Polyana, he wanted to make something in miniature that could later take root all over the world. At the heart of Tolstoy's theory was the same point of view of the need for personal improvement of a person, not by forcible inoculation of views and beliefs, but in accordance with the basic properties of his nature.
Having married S. A. Bers and having arranged a quiet family life, Tolstoy devotes himself to the study of philosophy, ancient classics, his own literary works, not forgetting neither school nor Agriculture. The period of time from the sixties to the eighties of the last century is distinguished for Tolstoy by exceptional artistic productivity: during these years he wrote the most important artistic value and outstanding in terms of volume of his works. From 1864 to 1869, he was busy with the huge historical epic "War and Peace" (see summary and analysis of this novel). From 1873 to 1876 he worked on the novel Anna Karenina. In this novel, in the history of Levin's inner life, the turning point in the spiritual life of Tolstoy himself is already reflected. In him, that desire for the realization in his personal life of the ideas of goodness and truth recognized by him, which manifested itself in him from his youth, finally prevails. Religious and moral-philosophical interests take precedence over literary and artistic interests. He depicted the history of this spiritual turn in Confession, written in 1881.
Portrait of Leo Tolstoy. Artist I. Repin, 1901
From that time on, Tolstoy subordinated his literary activity to the accepted moral ideas, becoming a preacher and moralist (see Tolstoy), denying his lived artistic activity. His mental productivity is still enormous: in addition to a whole series of religious-philosophical and social treatises, he writes dramas, stories and novels. Since the end of the eighties, stories have appeared for the people: “What makes people alive”, “Two old men”, “Candle”, “You will miss the fire, you will not put it out”; novels: "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", "Kreutzer Sonata", "Master and Worker", the dramas "The Power of Darkness" and "The Fruits of Enlightenment", and the novel "Resurrection".
Tolstoy's fame in these years becomes worldwide, his works are translated into the languages of all countries, his name enjoys great honor and respect among the entire educated world; in the west, special societies are organized dedicated to the study of the works of the great writer. Yasnaya Polyana, where he lived, was visited by people from all countries, driven by the desire to talk with the great writer. Until the very end of his life, an unexpected end that struck the whole world, Tolstoy, an 80-year-old man, tirelessly devoted himself to mental pursuits, creating new philosophical and artistic works.
Wishing before the end of his life to retire and live in full harmony with the spirit of his teaching, which was always his cherished desire, Tolstoy left Yasnaya Polyana in the last days of October 1910, but on the way to the Caucasus he fell ill and had to stop at the Astapovo station, where died 11 days later - November 7 (20), 1910.
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy is one of the greatest novelists in the world. He is not only the world's largest writer, but also a philosopher, religious thinker and enlightener. You will learn more about all this from this.
But where he really succeeded was in personal diary. This habit inspired him to write his novels and stories, and also allowed him to form most of his life goals and priorities.
An interesting fact is that this nuance of Tolstoy's biography (keeping a diary) was the result of imitation of the great.
Hobbies and military service
Naturally, Leo Tolstoy had. He was extremely fond of music. His favorite composers were Bach, Handel and Chopin.
From his biography it clearly follows that sometimes he could play works by Chopin, Mendelssohn and Schumann on the piano for several hours in a row.
It is authentically known that the elder brother of Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai, had a great influence on him. He was a friend and mentor of the future writer.
It was Nicholas who invited younger brother join to military service in the Caucasus. As a result, Leo Tolstoy became a cadet, and in 1854 he was transferred to Sevastopol, where he participated in the Crimean War until August 1855.
Creativity Tolstoy
During the service, Lev Nikolaevich had quite a lot of free time. During this period he wrote autobiographical story"Childhood", in which he masterfully described the memories of the first years of life.
This work was an important event for compiling his biography.
After that, Leo Tolstoy writes the following story - "The Cossacks", in which he describes his army life in the Caucasus.
Work on this work was carried out until 1862, and was completed only after serving in the army.
An interesting fact is that Tolstoy did not stop his writing activity even while participating in the Crimean War.
During this period, from under his pen comes the story "Boyhood", which is a continuation of "Childhood", as well as "Sevastopol stories".
After the end of the Crimean War, Tolstoy leaves the service. Upon arrival home, he already has great fame in the literary field.
His distinguished contemporaries talk about a major acquisition for Russian literature in the person of Tolstoy.
While still young, Tolstoy was distinguished by arrogance and stubbornness, which is clearly visible in him. He refused to belong to one or another philosophical school, and once publicly called himself an anarchist, after which he decided to leave for France in 1857.
He soon developed an interest in gambling. But it didn't last long. When he lost all his savings, he had to return home from Europe.
Leo Tolstoy in his youth By the way, the passion for gambling is observed in the biographies of many writers.
Despite all the difficulties, he writes the last, third part of his autobiographical trilogy "Youth". It happened in the same 1857.
Since 1862, Tolstoy began to publish the pedagogical journal Yasnaya Polyana, where he himself was the main contributor. However, not having a calling as a publisher, Tolstoy managed to publish only 12 issues.
Family of Leo Tolstoy
On September 23, 1862, in Tolstoy's biography, sharp turn: he marries Sofya Andreevna Bers, who was the daughter of a doctor. From this marriage, 9 sons and 4 daughters were born. Five of the thirteen children died in childhood.
When the wedding took place, Sofya Andreevna was only 18 years old, and Count Tolstoy was 34 years old. An interesting fact is that before his marriage, Tolstoy confessed to his future wife in his premarital affairs.
Leo Tolstoy with his wife Sofia Andreevna For some time in the biography of Tolstoy, the brightest period begins.
He is truly happy, and largely due to the practicality of his wife, material wealth, outstanding literary creativity and in connection with it all-Russian and even worldwide fame.
In the person of his wife, Tolstoy found an assistant in all matters, practical and literary. In the absence of a secretary, it was she who several times copied his drafts cleanly.
However, very soon their happiness is overshadowed by the inevitable petty quarrels, fleeting quarrels and mutual misunderstanding, which only gets worse over the years.
The fact is that Leo Tolstoy proposed a kind of “life plan” for his family, according to which he intended to give part of the family income to the poor and schools.
The way of life of his family (food and clothing), he wanted to greatly simplify, while he intended to sell and distribute "everything superfluous": pianos, furniture, carriages.
Tolstoy with his family at the tea table in the park, 1892, Yasnaya Polyana Naturally, his wife, Sofya Andreevna, was clearly not satisfied with such an ambiguous plan. On the basis of this, they broke out the first serious conflict, which served as the beginning of an "undeclared war" to secure the future of their children.
In 1892, Tolstoy signed a separate act and, not wanting to be the owner, transferred all the property to his wife and children.
It must be said that Tolstoy's biography is in many ways extraordinarily contradictory precisely because of his relationship with his wife, with whom he lived for 48 years.
Tolstoy's works
Tolstoy is one of the most prolific writers. His works are large-scale not only in terms of volume, but also in terms of the meanings that he touches on them.
Most popular works Tolstoy are considered "War and Peace", "Anna Karenina" and "Resurrection".
"War and Peace"
In the 1860s, Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy lived with his entire family in Yasnaya Polyana. It was here that his very famous novel"War and Peace".
Initially, part of the novel was published in the Russian Messenger under the title "1805".
After 3 years, 3 more chapters appear, thanks to which the novel was completely over. He was destined to become the most outstanding creative result in Tolstoy's biography.
Both critics and the public have long discussed the work "War and Peace". The subject of their disputes were the wars described in the book.
Thoughtful but still fictional characters were also sharply discussed.
Tolstoy in 1868 The novel also became interesting because it featured 3 meaningful satirical essays on the laws of history.
Among all other ideas, Leo Tolstoy tried to convey to the reader that the position of a person in society and the meaning of his life are derivatives of his daily activities.
"Anna Karenina"
After Tolstoy wrote "War and Peace", he began work on his second, no less famous novel"Anna Karenina".
The writer contributed many autobiographical essays to it. This is easy to see when looking at the relationship between Kitty and Levin, the main characters in Anna Karenina.
The work was published in parts between 1873-1877, and was very highly appreciated by both critics and society. Many have noticed that Anna Karenina is practically Tolstoy's autobiography, written in the third person.
For his next work, Lev Nikolaevich received fabulous fees for those times.
"Resurrection"
In the late 1880s, Tolstoy wrote the novel Resurrection. Its plot was based on a genuine court case. It is in the "Resurrection" that the author's sharp views on church rites are clearly indicated.
By the way, this work was one of the reasons that led to a complete break between the Orthodox Church and Count Tolstoy.
Tolstoy and religion
Despite the fact that the works described above were a tremendous success, this did not bring any joy to the writer.
He was in a depressed state and experienced a deep inner emptiness.
In this regard, the next stage in Tolstoy's biography was a continuous, almost convulsive search for the meaning of life.
Initially, Lev Nikolayevich looked for answers to questions in the Orthodox Church, but this did not bring him any results.
Over time, he began to criticize in every possible way both the Orthodox Church itself and in general christian religion. Your thoughts on these sensitive issues he began to publish in the publication "Intermediary".
His main position was that the Christian teaching is good, but Jesus Christ himself seems to be unnecessary. That is why he decided to make his own translation of the Gospel.
At all religious views Tolstoy were extremely complex and confusing. It was some incredible mixture of Christianity and Buddhism, seasoned with various Eastern beliefs.
In 1901, the decision of the Holy Governing Synod on Count Leo Tolstoy was issued.
It was a decree that officially announced that Leo Tolstoy was no longer a member of the Orthodox Church, since his publicly expressed convictions were incompatible with such membership.
The definition of the Holy Synod is sometimes erroneously interpreted as excommunication (anathema) of Tolstoy from the church.
Copyright and conflict with his wife
In connection with his new beliefs, Leo Tolstoy wanted to distribute all his savings and give up his own property in favor of the poor. However, his wife, Sofya Andreevna, expressed a categorical protest in this regard.
In this regard, the main family crisis was outlined in Tolstoy's biography. When Sofya Andreevna found out that her husband had publicly renounced the copyright to all his works (which, in fact, was their main source of income), they began to have violent conflicts.
From Tolstoy's diary:
“She does not understand, and the children do not understand, spending money, that every ruble they live on and earn by books is suffering, my shame. Let it be a shame, but what a weakening of the effect that the preaching of the truth could have had.
Of course, it is not difficult to understand the wife of Lev Nikolayevich. After all, they had 9 children, whom he, according to by and large left without a livelihood.
Pragmatic, rational and active Sofya Andreevna could not allow this to happen.
Ultimately, Tolstoy made a formal will, transferring the rights youngest daughter, Alexandra Lvovna, who fully sympathized with his views.
At the same time, an explanatory note was attached to the will that in fact these texts should not become someone's property, and V.G. takes over the authority to monitor the processes. Chertkov is a faithful follower and student of Tolstoy, who was supposed to take all the writings of the writer, down to drafts.
Later work of Tolstoy
Tolstoy's later works were realistic fiction, as well as stories filled with moral content.
In 1886, one of Tolstoy's most famous stories appeared - "The Death of Ivan Ilyich".
Her main character realizes that most he had wasted his life, and the realization came too late.
In 1898, Lev Nikolaevich wrote at least famous work"Father Sergius". In it, he criticized his own beliefs that he had after his spiritual rebirth.
The rest of the works are devoted to the theme of art. These include the play The Living Corpse (1890) and the brilliant story Hadji Murad (1904).
In 1903 Tolstoy wrote little story, which is called "After the ball." It was published only in 1911, after the death of the writer.
last years of life
The last years of his biography, Leo Tolstoy was better known as a religious leader and moral authority. His thoughts were directed towards resisting evil in a non-violent way.
Even during his lifetime, Tolstoy became an idol for the majority. However, despite all his achievements, there were serious flaws in his family life, which were especially aggravated in old age.
Leo Tolstoy with grandchildren The writer's wife, Sofya Andreevna, did not agree with her husband's views and felt hostility towards some of his followers, who often came to Yasnaya Polyana.
She said: "How can you love humanity, and hate those who are next to you."
All this could not last long.
In the autumn of 1910, Tolstoy, accompanied only by his doctor D.P. Makovitsky leaves Yasnaya Polyana forever. However, he did not have any specific plan of action.
Death of Tolstoy
However, on the way, Leo Tolstoy felt unwell. First, he caught a cold, and then the disease turned into pneumonia, in connection with which he had to interrupt the trip and take the sick Lev Nikolayevich out of the train at the first large station near the village.
This station was Astapovo (now Leo Tolstoy, Lipetsk region).
The rumor about the writer's illness instantly spread throughout the neighborhood and far beyond. Six doctors tried in vain to save the great old man: the disease progressed inexorably.
On November 7, 1910, Leo Tolstoy died at the age of 83. He was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.
“I sincerely regret the death of the great writer, who, during the heyday of his talent, embodied in his works the images of one of the glorious years of Russian life. May the Lord God be a merciful judge for him.”
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