Lev Tolstoy is one of the most famous writers and philosophers in the world. His views and beliefs formed the basis of an entire religious and philosophical movement called Tolstoyism. The writer’s literary heritage amounted to 90 volumes of artistic and journalistic works, diary notes and letters, and he himself was more than once nominated for Nobel Prize in Literature and the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Do everything that you have determined to be done.”

Family 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 Yasnaya Polyana estate in the 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. Aunt Alexandra Osten-Saken became the guardian of Tolstoy's five children. The two older children moved to their aunt in Moscow, while the younger ones remained in Yasnaya Polyana. The most important and dear memories are associated with the family estate early childhood Lev Tolstoy.

In 1841, Alexandra Osten-Sacken died, and the Tolstoys moved to their aunt Pelageya Yushkova in Kazan. Three years after moving, Leo Tolstoy decided to enter the prestigious Imperial Kazan University. However, he did not like studying, he considered exams a formality, and university professors as incompetent. Tolstoy did not even try to get a scientific degree; in Kazan he was more attracted to secular entertainment.

In April 1847 student life Leo Tolstoy is over. He inherited his share of the property, including his beloved Yasnaya Polyana, and immediately went home without receiving higher education. On the family estate, Tolstoy tried to improve his life and start writing. He drew up his education 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 implement them.

Tolstoy's asceticism was often replaced by carousing and card games. Wanting to start what he thought was the right life, he created a daily routine. But he didn’t follow it either, and in his diary he again noted his dissatisfaction with himself. All these failures prompted Leo Tolstoy to change his lifestyle. An opportunity presented itself in April 1851: the elder brother Nikolai arrived in Yasnaya Polyana. At that time he served in the Caucasus, where there was a war. Leo Tolstoy decided to join his brother and went with him to a village on the banks of the Terek River.

Leo Tolstoy served on the outskirts of the empire for almost two and a half years. He whiled away his time by hunting, playing cards, and occasionally participating in raids into 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 Sovremennik magazine and attached a letter: “...I look forward to your verdict. He will either encourage me to continue my favorite activities, or force me to burn everything I started.”. Editor Nikolai Nekrasov liked the work of the new author, and soon “Childhood” was published in the magazine. Inspired by the first success, the writer soon began the continuation of “Childhood”. In 1854, he published a second story, “Adolescence”, 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 military operations. Being in the thick of things, he created the story “Sevastopol in 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 working on his second story, “Sevastopol in May.” By that time, there was nothing 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 St. Petersburg. The success of the first Sevastopol story gave him a sense of purpose: “My career is literature - writing and writing! Starting tomorrow, I work all my life or give up everything, rules, religion, decency - everything.”. In the capital, Leo Tolstoy finished “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 his true stories about the Crimean War, Tolstoy entered the St. Petersburg literary circle of the Sovremennik magazine. During this period, he wrote the story “Blizzard”, the story “Two Hussars”, and finished the trilogy with the story “Youth”. However, after some time, relations with the writers from the circle deteriorated: “These people disgusted me, and I disgusted myself.”. To unwind, at the beginning of 1857 Leo Tolstoy went abroad. He visited Paris, Rome, Berlin, Dresden: he met famous works art, met artists, observed how people live in European cities. The journey did not inspire Tolstoy: he created the story “Lucerne”, in which he described his disappointment.

Leo Tolstoy at work. Image: kartinkinaden.ru

Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana. Image: kartinkinaden.ru

Leo Tolstoy tells a fairy tale to his grandchildren Ilyusha and Sonya. 1909. Kryokshino. Photo: Vladimir Chertkov / wikipedia.org

In the summer of 1857, Tolstoy returned to Yasnaya Polyana. At his native estate, he continued to work on the story “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: “The main thing is literary works, then family responsibilities, then farming... And so to live for oneself - according to good deed a day and that's enough".

In 1899, Tolstoy wrote the novel Resurrection. In this work, the writer criticized the judicial system, the army, and the government. The contempt with which Tolstoy described the institution of the church in his novel “Resurrection” provoked a response. In February 1901, in the journal Tserkovnye Vedomosti, the Holy Synod published a resolution excommunicating Count Leo Tolstoy from the church. This decision only increased Tolstoy's popularity and attracted the public's attention to the writer's ideals and beliefs.

Tolstoy's literary and social activities 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 award from being awarded because, “if this 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 can be felt in Lev Nikolaevich’s articles recent years, which his stupid evil genius egged him on".

Tolstoy himself was burdened by the life of a landowner and family man. He sought to bring his life into line with his beliefs and in early November 1910 secretly left the Yasnaya Polyana estate. The road turned out to be too much for the elderly man: on the way he became seriously ill and was forced to stay in 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.

An outstanding Russian writer, philosopher and thinker, the count is known throughout the world. Even in the farthest corners of the world, as soon as the conversation turns to Russia, they certainly remember Peter the Great, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and several more from Russian history.

We decided to collect the most interesting facts from the life of Tolstoy to remind you of them, and maybe even surprise you with some things.

So, let's get started!

1. Tolstoy was born in 1828 and died in 1910 (he lived 82 years). He married 18-year-old Sofya Andreevna at the age of 34. They had 13 children, five of whom died in childhood.

   Leo Tolstoy with his wife and children

2. Before the wedding, the count gave his future wife to re-read his diaries, which described his numerous fornicating relationships. He considered it fair and just. According to the writer’s wife, she remembered their contents for the rest of her life.
3. At the very beginning of their family life, the young couple had complete harmony and mutual understanding, but over time the relationship began to deteriorate more and more, reaching its peak shortly before the death of the thinker.
4. Tolstoy's wife was a real housewife and conducted her household affairs in an exemplary manner.
5. An interesting fact is that Sofya Andreevna (Tolstoy’s wife) rewrote almost all of her husband’s works in order to send manuscripts to the publishing house. This was necessary because not a single editor could decipher the handwriting of the great writer.

   Diary of Tolstoy L.N.

6. Almost all her life, the thinker’s wife copied her husband’s diaries. However, shortly before his death, Tolstoy began to keep two diaries: one that his wife read, and the other personal. The elderly Sofya Andreevna was furious that she could not find him, although she searched the whole house.
7. All significant works (“War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina”, “Resurrection”) were written by Leo Tolstoy after his marriage. That is, until the age of 34 he did not engage in serious writing.

   Tolstoy in his youth

8. The creative heritage of Lev Nikolaevich amounts to 165 thousand sheets of manuscripts and ten thousand letters. The complete works were published in 90 volumes.
9. An interesting fact is that in life Tolstoy could not stand it when dogs barked, and also did not like it.
10. Despite the fact that he was a count from birth, his soul always gravitated towards the people. Often peasants saw him plowing the field on his own. There is a funny anecdote on this occasion: “Leo Tolstoy sits in a linen shirt and writes a novel. A footman in livery and white gloves enters. “Your Excellency, it’s time to plow!”
11. Since childhood, he was an incredibly gambling person and gambler. However, like another great writer -.
12. Interestingly, Count Tolstoy once lost one of the buildings of his Yasnaya Polyana estate at cards. His partner dismantled the property that had been transferred to him down to the stud and took everything away. The writer himself dreamed of buying this extension back, but never realized it.
13. Excellent command of English, French and German languages. I read in Italian, Polish, Serbian and Czech. He studied Greek and Church Slavonic, Latin, Ukrainian and Tatar, Hebrew and Turkish, Dutch and Bulgarian.

    Portrait of the writer Tolstoy

14. As a child, I learned letters using the ABC book, which L.N. Tolstoy wrote for peasant children.
15. All his life he tried to help the peasants in everything he had the strength to do.

    Tolstoy and his assistants compile lists of peasants in need of help

16. The novel “War and Peace” was written over the course of 6 years, and then rewritten 8 more times. Tolstoy rewrote individual fragments up to 25 times.
17. The work “War and Peace” is considered the most significant in the work of the great writer, but he himself said the following in a letter: “I am happy that I will never again write verbose rubbish like “War”.”
18. An interesting fact about Tolstoy is also that the count, towards the end of his life, developed several serious principles of his worldview. The main ones boil down to non-resistance to evil through violence, denial of private property and complete disregard for any authority, be it church, state or any other.

    Tolstoy with his family in the park

19. Many believe that Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Orthodox Church. In fact, the definition of the Holy Synod sounded verbatim like this:

“Therefore, testifying to his (Tolstoy’s – author’s) falling away from the Church, we pray together that the Lord will grant him repentance into the mind of truth.”

That is, the Synod simply testified that Tolstoy “self-excommunicated” from the Church. In fact, this was the case, if we analyze the writer’s numerous statements addressed to the Church.

1. In fact, towards the end of his life, Lev Nikolaevich actually expressed beliefs very far from Christianity. Quote:

“I do not want to be a Christian, just as I did not advise and would not want Buddhists, Confucionists, Taoists, Mohammedans and others to be.”



“Pushkin was like a Kyrgyz. Everyone still admires Pushkin. And just think about the excerpt from his “Eugene Onegin”, placed in all anthologies for children: “Winter. Peasant, triumphant..." Whatever the stanza is, it’s nonsense!

Meanwhile, the poet obviously worked hard and for a long time on the poem. "Winter. Peasant, triumphant..." Why "triumphant"? “Perhaps he’s going to town to buy some salt or shag.”

“On the firewood it renews the path. His horse smells the snow...” How can you “smell” snow?! After all, she runs in the snow - so what does flair have to do with it? Further: “Trotting somehow...”. This “somehow” is a historically stupid thing. And she got into the poem only for the rhyme.

This was written by the great Pushkin, undoubtedly an intelligent man; he wrote because he was young and, as a Kyrgyz, sang instead of speaking.

This question was asked to Tolstoy: But what, Lev Nikolaevich, should we do? Should I really give up writing?

Tolstoy: Of course, quit! I tell this to everyone who is a beginner. This is my usual advice. Now is not the time to write. You need to do things, live exemplary lives and teach others how to live by your example. Quit literature if you want to listen to the old man. Well for me! I will die soon…"




“Over the years, Tolstoy expresses his opinions about women more and more often. These opinions are terrible."

“If a comparison is needed, then marriage should be compared with a funeral, and not with a name day,” said Leo Tolstoy.

“The man was walking alone; five pounds were tied to his shoulders, and he was happy. What can I say, that if I walk alone, then I am free, but if my leg is tied to a woman’s leg, then she will drag behind me and interfere with me.

- Why did you get married? – asked the Countess.

“I didn’t know it then.”

Leo Tolstoy with his wife

Despite the interesting facts about Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy described above, he always declared that the highest value in society is family.




“Indeed, Paris is not at all in harmony with its spiritual system; He’s a strange person, I’ve never met anyone like him and I don’t quite understand him. A mixture of poet, Calvinist, fanatic, barich - something reminiscent of Rousseau, but more honest than Rousseau - a highly moral and at the same time unsympathetic creature.




If you want to get acquainted with more detailed information from Tolstoy’s biography, then we recommend that you read his own work “Confession”. We are sure that some things from the personal life of the outstanding thinker will simply shock you!

Well, friends, we have brought you the most complete list of the most interesting facts from the life of L.N. Tolstoy and we hope that you will share this post on any social network.

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Russian cultural heritage the nineteenth century includes many world famous musical works, achievements choreographic art, masterpieces of brilliant poets. The work of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, a great prose writer, humanist philosopher and public figure, occupies a special place not only in Russian, but also in world culture.

The biography of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is contradictory. It indicates that he did not immediately come to his philosophical views. And the creation of artistic literary works, which made him a world-famous Russian writer, was far from his main occupation. Yes, and the beginning of it life path it was not cloudless. Here are the main ones milestones in the writer's biography:

• Tolstoy's childhood years.
• Military service and the beginning of a creative career.
• European travel and teaching activities.
• Marriage and family life.
• Novels "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina".
• One thousand eight hundred and eighties. Moscow census.
• Novel "Resurrection", excommunication.
• The final years of life.

Childhood and adolescence

The writer's date of birth is September 9, 1828. He was born into a noble aristocratic family, on his mother’s estate “Yasnaya Polyana”, where Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy spent his childhood until he was nine years old. Leo Tolstoy's father, Nikolai Ilyich, came from the ancient Tolstoy count family, which traced its family tree back to the mid-fourteenth century. Lev's mother, Princess Volkonskaya, died in 1830, some time after the birth of her only daughter, whose name was Maria. Seven years later, my father also died. He left five children in the care of his relatives, among whom Leo was the fourth child.

Having changed several guardians, little Leva settled in the Kazan house of his aunt Yushkova, his father’s sister. Live in new family she turned out to be so happy that she pushed the tragic events of her early childhood into the background. Later, the writer recalled this time as one of the best in his life, which was reflected in his story “Childhood,” which can be considered part of the writer’s autobiography.

Having received his primary education at home, as was customary in most noble families at that time, Tolstoy entered Kazan University in 1843, choosing to study oriental languages. The choice turned out to be unsuccessful; due to poor academic performance, he changes the Oriental Faculty to study law, but with the same result. As a result, after two years, Lev returns to his homeland in Yasnaya Polyana, deciding to take up farming.

But the idea, which required monotonous, continuous work, failed, and Lev leaves for Moscow, and then to St. Petersburg, where he tries again to prepare for entering the university, alternating this preparation with carousing and gambling, increasingly accumulating debts, as well as with musical studies and journaling. Who knows how all this could have ended if not for the visit of his brother Nikolai, an army officer, to him in 1851, who persuaded him to enlist in military service.

The army and the beginning of a creative journey

Army service contributed to the writer’s further reassessment of the social relations existing in the country. This is where it was started a writing career that consisted of two important stages:

• Military service in the North Caucasus.
• Participation in the Crimean War.

For three years L.N. Tolstoy lived among the Terek Cossacks, took part in battles - first as a volunteer, and later officially. Impressions of that life were subsequently reflected in the writer’s work, in works dedicated to the life of the North Caucasian Cossacks: “Cossacks”, “Hadji Murat”, “Raid”, “Cutting the Forest”.

It was in the Caucasus, in the intervals between military skirmishes with the highlanders and while waiting for admission to official military service, that Lev Nikolaevich wrote his first published work - the story “Childhood”. The creative growth of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy as a writer began with her. Published in Sovremennik under the pseudonym L.N., it immediately brought fame and recognition to the aspiring author.

Having spent two years in the Caucasus, L. N. Tolstoy, with the beginning of the Crimean War, was transferred to the Danube Army, and then to Sevastopol, where he served in the artillery troops, commanding a battery, participated in the defense of the Malakhov Kurgan and fought at Chernaya. For his participation in the battles for Sevastopol, Tolstoy was awarded several times, including the Order of St. Anna.

Here the writer begins work on “Sevastopol Stories”, which he completes in St. Petersburg, where he was transferred in the early autumn of 1855, and publishes them under his own name in Sovremennik. This publication gives him the name of a representative of a new generation of writers.

At the end of 1857, L.N. Tolstoy resigns with the rank of lieutenant and sets off on his European journey.

Europe and pedagogical activity

Leo Tolstoy's first trip to Europe was a fact-finding, tourist trip. He visits museums, places associated with the life and work of Rousseau. And although he admired the sense of social freedom inherent in the European way of life, his overall impression of Europe was negative, mainly due to the contrast between wealth and poverty hidden under a cultural veneer. The characteristics of Europe at that time were given by Tolstoy in the story “Lucerne”.

After his first European trip, Tolstoy was involved in public education for several years, opening peasant schools in the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana. He already had his first experience in this when, leading a rather chaotic lifestyle in his youth, in search of its meaning, during an unsuccessful farming career, he opened the first school on his estate.

At this time, work continues on “Cossacks” and the novel “Family Happiness”. And in 1860-1861, Tolstoy again traveled to Europe, this time with the goal of studying the experience of introducing public education.

After returning to Russia, he developed his own pedagogical system based on personal freedom, wrote many fairy tales and stories for children.

Marriage, family and children

In 1862 the writer married Sophia Bers, who was eighteen years younger than him. Sophia, who had a university education, later helped her husband a lot in his writing work, including completely rewriting draft manuscripts. Although family relationships were not always ideal, they lived together for forty-eight years. Thirteen children were born into the family, of whom only eight survived to adulthood.

L. N. Tolstoy’s lifestyle contributed to the growth of problems in family relationships over time. They became especially noticeable after the completion of Anna Karenina. The writer plunged into depression and began to demand that his family lead a lifestyle close to peasant life, which led to constant quarrels.

"War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina"

It took Lev Nikolayevich twelve years to work on his most famous works “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina”.

The first publication of an excerpt from “War and Peace” appeared back in 1865, and already in sixty-eight the first three parts were printed in full. The success of the novel was so great that an additional edition of the already published parts was required, even before the completion of the last volumes.

Tolstoy's next novel, Anna Karenina, published in 1873-1876, was no less successful. In this work of the writer, signs of a mental crisis are already felt. The relationships of the main characters of the book, the development of the plot, its dramatic ending testified to the transition of L. N. Tolstoy to the third stage of his literary creativity, reflecting the strengthening of the writer’s dramatic view of existence.

1880s and Moscow census

At the end of the seventies, L. N. Tolstoy met V. P. Shchegolenok, based on folklore stories of which the writer creates some of his works “How People Live,” “Prayer” and others. The change in his worldview by the eighties was reflected in the works “Confession”, “What is My Faith?”, “The Kreutzer Sonata”, which are characteristic of the third stage of Tolstoy’s work.

Trying to improve the lives of the people, the writer took part in the Moscow census in 1882, believing that the official publication of data on the plight ordinary people will help change their destiny. According to the plan issued by the Duma, he collects statistical information for several days on the territory of the most difficult site, located in Protochny Lane. Impressed by what he saw in the Moscow slums, he wrote an article “On the census in Moscow.”

The novel "Resurrection" and excommunication

In the nineties, the writer wrote a treatise “What is art?”, in which he substantiates his view of the purpose of art. But the pinnacle of Tolstoy’s writing of this period is considered the novel “Resurrection.” Its depiction of church life as a mechanical routine later became the main reason for Leo Tolstoy’s excommunication from the church.

The writer’s response to this was his “Response to the Synod,” which confirmed Tolstoy’s break with the church, and in which he justifies his position, pointing out the contradictions between church dogmas and his understanding of the Christian faith.

The public reaction to this event was contradictory - part of society expressed sympathy and support for L. Tolstoy, while others heard threats and abuse.

Final years of life

Deciding to live the rest of his life without contradicting his beliefs, L.N. Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana in early November 1910, accompanied only by his personal doctor. The departure did not have a specific end goal. It was supposed to go to Bulgaria or the Caucasus. But a few days later, feeling unwell, the writer was forced to stop at the Astapovo station, where doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia.

Attempts by doctors to save him failed, and the great writer died on November 20, 1910. The news of Tolstoy's death caused excitement throughout the country, but the funeral took place without incident. He was buried in Yasnaya Polyana, in his favorite place of childhood play - at the edge of a forest ravine.

The spiritual quest of Leo Tolstoy

Despite the recognition of the writer’s literary heritage throughout the world, he himself Tolstoy treated the works he wrote with disdain. He considered the dissemination of his philosophical and religious views, which were based on the idea of ​​“non-resistance to evil through violence,” known as “Tolstoyism,” to be truly important. In search of answers to the questions that worried him, he communicated a lot with people of clergy, read religious treatises, and studied the results of research in the exact sciences.

In everyday life, this was expressed by a gradual renunciation of the luxury of landowner life, of one’s property rights, and a transition to vegetarianism—“simplification.” In Tolstoy’s biography, this was the third period of his work, during which he finally came to the denial of all the then social, state, and religious forms of life.

World recognition and heritage study

And in our time, Tolstoy is considered one of the greatest writers in the world. And although he himself considered his literary pursuits to be a secondary matter, and even in certain periods of his life insignificant and useless, it was his stories, tales and novels that made his name famous and contributed to the spread of the religious and moral teaching he created, known as Tolstoyism, which for Lev Nikolaevich was the main outcome of life.

In Russia, a project to study Tolstoy’s creative heritage is launched from the junior grades of secondary schools. The first presentation of the writer’s work begins in the third grade, when an initial acquaintance with the writer’s biography takes place. In the future, as they study his works, students write abstracts on the theme of the classic’s work, make reports both on the biography of the writer and on his individual works.

The study of the writer’s work and the preservation of his memory are facilitated by many museums in memorable places in the country associated with the name of L. N. Tolstoy. First of all, such a museum is the Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Reserve, where the writer was born and buried.

In 1828, on the Yasnaya Polyana estate, on August 26, the future great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy was born. The family was well-born - his ancestor was a noble nobleman who received the title of count for his services to Tsar Peter. Mother was from ancient times noble family Volkonskikh. Belonging to a privileged layer of society influenced the behavior and thoughts of the writer throughout his life. short biography Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich does not fully reveal the entire history of the ancient family.

Serene life in Yasnaya Polyana

The writer's childhood was quite prosperous, despite the fact that he lost his mother early. Thanks to family stories, he preserved her bright image in his memory. A short biography of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy indicates that his father was the embodiment of beauty and strength for the writer. He instilled in the boy a love of hound hunting, which was later described in detail in the novel War and Peace.

He also had a close relationship with his older brother Nikolenka - he taught little Levushka different games and told him interesting stories. Tolstoy's first story, “Childhood,” contains many autobiographical memories of the writer’s childhood years.

Youth

A serene, joyful stay in Yasnaya Polyana was interrupted due to the death of his father. In 1837, the family was taken under the care of an aunt. In this city, according to a short biography of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, the writer spent his youth. Here he entered the university in 1844 - first at the Faculty of Philosophy and then at the Faculty of Law. True, studies attracted him little; the student preferred various amusements and revelries.

In this biography of Tolstoy, Lev Nikolaevich characterizes him as a person who disdainfully treated people of the lower, non-aristocratic class. He denied history as a science - in his eyes it had no practical use. The writer retained the sharpness of his judgments throughout his life.

As a landowner

In 1847, without graduating from university, Tolstoy decides to return to Yasnaya Polyana and try to improve the life of his serfs. Reality sharply diverged from the writer’s ideas. The peasants did not understand the master’s intentions, and a short biography of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy describes his management experience as unsuccessful (the writer shared it in his story “The Morning of the Landowner”), as a result of which he leaves his estate.

The path to becoming a writer

The next few years spent in St. Petersburg and Moscow were not in vain for the future great prose writer. From 1847 to 1852, diaries were kept in which Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy carefully verified all his thoughts and reflections. A short biography tells that during his service in the Caucasus, work was being carried out in parallel on the story “Childhood”, which will be published a little later in the magazine “Sovremennik”. This marked the beginning of further creative path great Russian writer.

Ahead of the writer lies the creation of his great works "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina", but for now he is honing his style, publishing in Sovremennik and basking in favorable reviews from critics.

Later years of creativity

In 1855, Tolstoy came to St. Petersburg for a short time, but literally a couple of months later he left it and settled in Yasnaya Polyana, opening a school there for peasant children. In 1862 he married Sophia Bers and was very happy in the first years.

In 1863-1869, the novel “War and Peace” was written and revised, which bore little resemblance to the classic version. It lacks traditional key elements of the time. Or rather, they are present, but are not key.

1877 - Tolstoy completed the novel Anna Karenina, in which the technique of internal monologue is repeatedly used.

Since the second half of the 60s, Tolstoy has been going through an experience that was only overcome at the turn of the 1870s and 80s by completely rethinking his previous life. Then Tolstoy appears - his wife categorically did not accept his new views. The ideas of the late Tolstoy are similar to socialist teachings, the only difference being that he was an opponent of the revolution.

In 1896-1904, Tolstoy completed the story, which was published after his death, which occurred in November 1910 at the Astapovo station on the Ryazan-Ural road.

Count Leo Tolstoy, a classic of Russian and world literature, is called a master of psychologism, the creator of the epic novel genre, an original thinker and teacher of life. The works of this brilliant writer are Russia’s greatest asset.

In August 1828, a classic was born on the Yasnaya Polyana estate in the Tula province Russian literature. The future author of War and Peace became the fourth child in a family of eminent nobles. On his father's side, he belonged to the old family of Count Tolstoy, who served and. On the maternal side, Lev Nikolaevich is a descendant of the Ruriks. It is noteworthy that Leo Tolstoy also has a common ancestor - Admiral Ivan Mikhailovich Golovin.

Lev Nikolayevich’s mother, nee Princess Volkonskaya, died of childbirth fever after the birth of her daughter. At that time, Lev was not even two years old. Seven years later, the head of the family, Count Nikolai Tolstoy, died.

Caring for the children fell on the shoulders of the writer’s aunt, T. A. Ergolskaya. Later, the second aunt, Countess A. M. Osten-Sacken, became the guardian of the orphaned children. After her death in 1840, the children moved to Kazan, to a new guardian - their father’s sister P. I. Yushkova. The aunt influenced her nephew, and the writer called his childhood in her house, which was considered the most cheerful and hospitable in the city, happy. Later, Leo Tolstoy described his impressions of life at the Yushkov estate in his story “Childhood.”

Silhouette and portrait of Leo Tolstoy's parents

Elementary education the classic received at home from German and French teachers. In 1843, Leo Tolstoy entered Kazan University, choosing the Faculty of Oriental Languages. Soon, due to low academic performance, he transferred to another faculty - law. But he did not succeed here either: after two years he left the university without receiving a degree.

Lev Nikolaevich returned to Yasnaya Polyana, wanting to establish relations with the peasants in a new way. The idea failed, but the young man regularly kept a diary, loved social entertainment and became interested in music. Tolstoy listened for hours, and...

Disillusioned with the life of the landowner after spending the summer in the village, 20-year-old Leo Tolstoy left the estate and moved to Moscow, and from there to St. Petersburg. The young man rushed between preparing for candidate exams at the university, studying music, carousing with cards and gypsies, and dreams of becoming either an official or a cadet in a horse guards regiment. Relatives called Lev “the most trifling fellow,” and it took years to pay off the debts he incurred.

Literature

In 1851, the writer’s brother, officer Nikolai Tolstoy, persuaded Lev to go to the Caucasus. For three years Lev Nikolaevich lived in a village on the banks of the Terek. The nature of the Caucasus and the patriarchal life of the Cossack village were later reflected in the stories “Cossacks” and “Hadji Murat”, the stories “Raid” and “Cutting the Forest”.

In the Caucasus, Leo Tolstoy composed the story “Childhood,” which he published in the magazine “Sovremennik” under the initials L.N. Soon he wrote the sequels “Adolescence” and “Youth,” combining the stories into a trilogy. The literary debut turned out to be brilliant and brought Lev Nikolaevich his first recognition.

The creative biography of Leo Tolstoy is developing rapidly: an appointment to Bucharest, a transfer to besieged Sevastopol, and command of a battery enriched the writer with impressions. From the pen of Lev Nikolaevich came the series “Sevastopol Stories”. The works of the young writer amazed critics with their bold psychological analysis. Nikolai Chernyshevsky found in them a “dialectic of the soul,” and the emperor read the essay “Sevastopol in December” and expressed admiration for Tolstoy’s talent.

In the winter of 1855, 28-year-old Leo Tolstoy arrived in St. Petersburg and entered the Sovremennik circle, where he was warmly welcomed, calling him “the great hope of Russian literature.” But over the course of a year, I got tired of the writing environment with its disputes and conflicts, readings and literary dinners. Later in Confession Tolstoy admitted:

“These people disgusted me, and I disgusted myself.”

In the fall of 1856, the young writer went to the Yasnaya Polyana estate, and in January 1857 he went abroad. Leo Tolstoy traveled around Europe for six months. Visited Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland. He returned to Moscow, and from there to Yasnaya Polyana. On the family estate, he began arranging schools for peasant children. In the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana, with his participation, twenty educational institutions. In 1860, the writer traveled a lot: in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium he studied pedagogical systems European countries to apply what they saw in Russia.

A special niche in the work of Leo Tolstoy is occupied by fairy tales and works for children and teenagers. The writer has created hundreds of works for young readers, including good and instructive fairy tales “Kitten”, “Two Brothers”, “Hedgehog and Hare”, “Lion and Dog”.

Leo Tolstoy wrote the school textbook “ABC” to teach children writing, reading and arithmetic. The literary and pedagogical work consists of four books. The writer included instructive stories, epics, fables, as well as methodological advice for teachers. The third book includes the story “ Prisoner of the Caucasus».

Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina"

In the 1870s, Leo Tolstoy, while continuing to teach peasant children, wrote the novel Anna Karenina, in which he contrasted the two storylines: the family drama of the Karenins and the domestic idyll of the young landowner Levin, with whom he identified himself. The novel only at first glance seemed to be a love affair: the classic raised the problem of the meaning of existence of the “educated class”, contrasting it with the truth of peasant life. "Anna Karenina" was highly appreciated.

The turning point in the writer’s consciousness was reflected in the works written in the 1880s. Life-changing spiritual insight occupies a central place in the stories and stories. “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, “The Kreutzer Sonata”, “Father Sergius” and the story “After the Ball” appear. The classic of Russian literature paints pictures of social inequality and castigates the idleness of the nobles.

In search of an answer to the question about the meaning of life, Leo Tolstoy turned to the Russian Orthodox Church, but didn’t find satisfaction there either. The writer came to the conclusion that Christian church corrupt, and under the guise of religion, priests promote false teaching. In 1883, Lev Nikolaevich founded the publication “Mediator,” where he outlined his spiritual beliefs and criticized the Russian Orthodox Church. For this, Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church, and the writer was monitored by the secret police.

In 1898, Leo Tolstoy wrote the novel Resurrection, which received favorable reviews from critics. But the success of the work was inferior to “Anna Karenina” and “War and Peace”.

For the last 30 years of his life, Leo Tolstoy, with his teachings on non-violent resistance to evil, was recognized as the spiritual and religious leader of Russia.

"War and Peace"

Leo Tolstoy disliked his novel War and Peace, calling the epic “wordy rubbish.” The classic writer wrote the work in the 1860s, while living with his family in Yasnaya Polyana. The first two chapters, entitled “1805,” were published by Russkiy Vestnik in 1865. Three years later, Leo Tolstoy wrote three more chapters and completed the novel, which caused heated controversy among critics.

Leo Tolstoy writes "War and Peace"

The novelist took the features of the heroes of the work, written during the years of family happiness and spiritual elation, from life. In Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, the features of Lev Nikolaevich’s mother are recognizable, her penchant for reflection, brilliant education and love of art. The writer awarded Nikolai Rostov with his father's traits - mockery, love of reading and hunting.

When writing the novel, Leo Tolstoy worked in the archives, studied the correspondence of Tolstoy and Volkonsky, Masonic manuscripts, and visited the Borodino field. His young wife helped him, copying his drafts out clean.

The novel was read avidly, striking readers with the breadth of its epic canvas and subtle psychological analysis. Leo Tolstoy characterized the work as an attempt to “write the history of the people.”

According to the calculations of literary critic Lev Anninsky, by the end of the 1970s, only works abroad Russian classic filmed 40 times. Until 1980, the epic War and Peace was filmed four times. Directors from Europe, America and Russia have made 16 films based on the novel “Anna Karenina”, “Resurrection” has been filmed 22 times.

“War and Peace” was first filmed by director Pyotr Chardynin in 1913. The most famous film was made by a Soviet director in 1965.

Personal life

Leo Tolstoy married 18-year-old in 1862, when he was 34 years old. The count lived with his wife for 48 years, but the couple’s life can hardly be called cloudless.

Sofia Bers is the second of three daughters of the Moscow palace office doctor Andrei Bers. The family lived in the capital, but in the summer they vacationed on a Tula estate near Yasnaya Polyana. For the first time Leo Tolstoy saw future wife child. Sophia was educated at home, read a lot, understood art, and graduated from Moscow University. The diary kept by Bers-Tolstaya is recognized as a model memoir genre.

At the beginning of his married life, Leo Tolstoy, wanting there to be no secrets between him and his wife, gave Sophia a diary to read. The shocked wife learned about her husband’s stormy youth, passion for gambling, wild life and the peasant girl Aksinya, who was expecting a child from Lev Nikolaevich.

The first-born Sergei was born in 1863. In the early 1860s, Tolstoy began writing the novel War and Peace. Sofya Andreevna helped her husband, despite her pregnancy. The woman taught and raised all the children at home. Five of the 13 children died in infancy or early childhood.

Problems in the family began after Leo Tolstoy finished working on Anna Karenina. The writer plunged into depression, expressed dissatisfaction with the life that Sofya Andreevna so diligently arranged in the family nest. The count's moral turmoil led to Lev Nikolayevich demanding that his relatives give up meat, alcohol and smoking. Tolstoy forced his wife and children to dress in peasant clothes, which he made himself, and wanted to give his acquired property to the peasants.

Sofya Andreevna made considerable efforts to dissuade her husband from the idea of ​​​​distributing goods. But the quarrel that occurred split the family: Leo Tolstoy left home. Upon returning, the writer entrusted the responsibility of rewriting drafts to his daughters.

The death of their last child, seven-year-old Vanya, briefly brought the couple closer together. But soon mutual grievances and misunderstandings alienated them completely. Sofya Andreevna found solace in music. In Moscow, a woman took lessons from a teacher for whom romantic feelings developed. Their relationship remained friendly, but the count did not forgive his wife for “half-betrayal.”

The couple's fatal quarrel occurred at the end of October 1910. Leo Tolstoy left home, leaving Sophia a farewell letter. He wrote that he loved her, but could not do otherwise.

Death

82-year-old Leo Tolstoy, accompanied by his personal doctor D.P. Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana. On the way, the writer fell ill and got off the train at the Astapovo railway station. Lev Nikolaevich spent the last 7 days of his life in the house stationmaster. The whole country followed the news about Tolstoy’s health.

The children and wife arrived at the Astapovo station, but Leo Tolstoy did not want to see anyone. The classic died on November 7, 1910: he died of pneumonia. His wife survived him by 9 years. Tolstoy was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.

Quotes by Leo Tolstoy

• Everyone wants to change humanity, but no one thinks about how to change themselves.
• Everything comes to those who know how to wait.
• All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
• Let everyone sweep in front of his own door. If everyone does this, the whole street will be clean.
• It's easier to live without love. But without it there is no point.
• I don't have everything I love. But I love everything I have.
• The world moves forward because of those who suffer.
• The greatest truths are the simplest.
• Everyone is making plans, and no one knows whether he will survive until the evening.

Bibliography

• 1869 – “War and Peace”
• 1877 – “Anna Karenina”
• 1899 – “Resurrection”
• 1852-1857 – “Childhood”. "Adolescence". "Youth"
• 1856 – “Two Hussars”
• 1856 – “Morning of the Landowner”
• 1863 – “Cossacks”
• 1886 – “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”
• 1903 – “Notes of a Madman”
• 1889 – “Kreutzer Sonata”
• 1898 – “Father Sergius”
• 1904 – “Hadji Murat”