How many years did Leo Tolstoy die? Interesting facts from the life of Tolstoy

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is a talented person whose works are read not only by adults, but also by schoolchildren. Who doesn’t know such works as, or Anna Karenina? It is probably difficult to find a person who is not familiar with the work of this writer. Let's get to know the writer Tolstoy better by briefly studying his biography.

Brief biography of Tolstoy: the most important things

L.N. Tolstoy is a philosopher, playwright, a most talented person who gave us his legacy. Studying his short biography for children in grades 5 and 4 will allow you to better understand the writer and study his life, from birth to his last days.

The childhood and youth of Leo Tolstoy

The biography of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy begins with his birth in the Tula province. This happened in 1828. He was the fourth child in a noble family. If we talk briefly about the writer’s childhood and his biography, then at the age of two he lost his father, and seven years later he lost his father and was raised by his aunt in Kazan. The first story of Leo Tolstoy’s famous trilogy “Childhood” tells us about the writer’s childhood years.

Leo Tolstoy received his primary education at home, after which he entered Kazan University at the Faculty of Philology. But the young man had no desire to study, and Tolstoy wrote a letter of resignation. On his parents' estate he tries his hand at farming, but the endeavor ends in failure. After which, on the advice of his brother, he goes to fight in the Caucasus, and later becomes a participant in the Crimean War.

Literary creativity and heritage

If we talk about Tolstoy’s work, his first work is the story Childhood, written in his cadet years. In 1852, the story was published in Sovremennik. Already at this time, Tolstoy was put on a par with such writers as Ostrovsky and.

While in the Caucasus, the writer will write Cossacks, and then begin writing, which will be a continuation of the first story. There will be other works for the young writer, because creative activity did not interfere with serving Tolstoy and went hand in hand with his participation in the Crimean War. Sevastopol stories appear from the writer's pen.

After the war he lives in St. Petersburg, in Paris. Upon returning to Russia, Tolstoy wrote the third story in 1857, which belongs to the autobiographical trilogy.

Having married Sophia Burns, Tolstoy stayed at his parents' estate, where he continued to create. His most popular work and his first major novel is War and Peace, which was written over a period of ten years. After him, he writes the no less famous work Anna Karenina.

The eighties were fruitful for the writer. He wrote comedies, novels, dramas, including After the Ball, Sunday and others. At that time, the writer’s worldview had already been formed. The essence of his worldview is clearly visible in his “Confession”, in the work “What is my faith?” Many of his admirers began to regard Tolstoy as a spiritual mentor.

In his work, the writer harshly posed questions of faith and the meaning of life, and criticized state institutions.

The authorities were very afraid of the writer’s pen, so they kept an eye on him, and also had a hand in ensuring that Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church. However, people continued to love and support the writer.

In the early nineties, Tolstoy began to get sick. In 1910, while he was on the road, he became ill. He stopped at Astapovo station, where he died 7 days later.

There are also interesting facts in Tolstoy’s biography. So the writer created not only works for adults, but also gave children such works as ABC and Reading Book.
The writer had thirteen children, although only ten of them survived.

War and Peace is a novel that was rewritten about eight times, and its individual episodes were rewritten even more. In addition, at first it was called 1805, later it was renamed two more times.

Tolstoy kept diaries where he described the situations that happened to him, made his notes, and shared his emotions. And since he had terrible handwriting, his wife copied the diaries.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is one of the greatest Russian writers who made incredible contributions to our classical literature. From his pen came monumental works that gained worldwide fame and recognition. He is considered one of the best writers not only in Russian literature, but also throughout the world.

The great writer was born in the early autumn of 1828. His small homeland was the village of Yasnaya Polyana, located on the territory of the Tula province of the Russian Empire. He was the fourth child in a noble family.

In 1830, a great tragedy happened - his mother, Princess Volkonskaya, passed away. All responsibility for the children fell on the shoulders of the father of the family, Count Nikolai Tolstoy. His cousin volunteered to help him.

Nikolai Tolstoy died 7 years after the death of his mother, after which his aunt took charge of the children. And she died. As a result, Lev Nikolaevich and his sisters and brothers were forced to move to Kazan, where the second aunt lived.

Childhood, darkened by the deaths of relatives, did not break Tolstoy’s spirit, and in his works he even idealized memories from childhood, recalling these years with warmth.

Education and activities

Tolstoy received his primary education at home. People who speak German and French were chosen as teachers. Thanks to this, Lev Nikolaevich was easily accepted to study at the Imperial Kazan University in 1843. The Faculty of Oriental Languages ​​was chosen for training.

The writer was not successful in his studies and, due to low grades, he transferred to the Faculty of Law. Difficulties arose there too. In 1847, Tolstoy left the university without completing his studies, after which he returned to his parents’ estate and began farming there.

In this path he also failed to achieve success due to constant trips to Moscow and Tula. The only successful thing that Tolstoy did was keeping a diary, which later created the ground for full-fledged creativity.

Tolstoy loved music, and his favorite composers included Bach, Mozart and Chopin. He played the works himself, enjoying the sound of epoch-making works.

At a time when Lev Nikolayevich’s older brother, Nikolai Tolstoy, was visiting, Lev was asked to join the army as a cadet and serve in the Caucasus Mountains. Lev agreed and served in the Caucasus until 1854. In the same year he was transferred to Sevastopol, where he took part in the battles of the Crimean War until August 1855.

Creative path

During his military service, Tolstoy also had free hours, which he devoted to creativity. At this time, he wrote “Childhood,” where he described the most vivid and favorite memories of his childhood years. The story was published in the Sovremennik magazine in 1852 and was warmly received by critics who appreciated the skill of Lev Nikolaevich. At the same time, the writer met Turgenev.

Even during the battles, Tolstoy did not forget about his passion and wrote “Adolescence” in 1854. At the same time, work was carried out on the trilogy “Sevastopol Stories”, and in the second book Tolstoy experimented with narration and presented part of the work from the perspective of a soldier.

At the end of the Crimean War, Tolstoy decided to leave the army. In St. Petersburg, it was not difficult for him to enter the circle of famous writers.

Lev Nikolaevich's character was stubborn and arrogant. He considered himself an anarchist, and in 1857 he went to Paris, where he lost all his money and returned to Russia. At the same time, the book “Youth” was published.

In 1862, Tolstoy published the first issue of the Yasnaya Polyana magazine, of which twelve were always published. It was then that Lev Nikolaevich got married.

At this time, the real flowering of creativity began. Epoch-making works were written, including the novel “War and Peace.” A fragment of it appeared in 1865 on the pages of the Russian Messenger with the title “1805”.

• In 1868, three chapters were published, and the next time the novel was completely finished. Despite questions regarding historical accuracy and coverage of the events of the Napoleonic Wars, all critics recognized the novel's outstanding features.
• In 1873, work began on the book “Anna Karenina,” which was based on real events from the biography of Leo Tolstoy. The novel was published in fragments from 1873 to 1877. The public admired the work, and Lev Nikolaevich's wallet was replenished with large fees.
• In 1883, the publication “Mediator” appeared.
• In 1886, Leo Tolstoy wrote the story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” dedicated to the struggle of the main character with the threat of death hanging over him. He is horrified by how many unrealized opportunities there were during his life's journey.
• In 1898, the story “Father Sergius” was published. A year later - the novel "Resurrection". After Tolstoy's death, the manuscript of the story "Hadji Murat" was found, as well as the story "After the Ball", published in 1911.

“The great writer of the Russian land,” Lev Nikolaevich 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 “Adolescence”, 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-Sacken; The boy's upbringing was entrusted to a distant relative, T. A. Ergolskaya. Tolstoy later recalled touchingly this kind and meek woman, who had a beneficial influence on the children entrusted to her upbringing. Being 24 years old, he wrote to her from the Caucasus: “The tears that I shed, thinking about 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 landowners, Tolstoy in 1844 entered Kazan University at the Faculty of Oriental Languages; a year later he switches to law school. A precocious young man, prone to introspection and a critical attitude towards everything around him, Tolstoy remains extremely dissatisfied with the composition of professors and university teaching. At first, he set to work quite diligently and began writing an essay in which he drew a parallel between Catherine the Great’s “Order” and the works of Montesquieu; but soon these activities were abandoned, and Tolstoy was temporarily captured by the interests of social life: the brilliant outer side of the secular world and its eternal festivities, picnics, balls, receptions, captivated the impressionable young man; he devoted himself 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, Tolstoy even in childhood showed traits of self-absorption, some kind of persistent moral and mental quest; the boy was always haunted by questions from his still vague inner world. We can say, judging by the artistic material the writer left us, that he almost did not know a carefree childhood, with its unconscious joy. Proud, always subordinating everything to his thoughts, he, like most great people, spent a painful childhood, suppressed by various questions of external and internal life, which were beyond his childhood strength to resolve.

It was this feature 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 thoughts and reading, Tolstoy decided to dramatically change his life. What he decided was immediately carried out. Convinced of the emptiness of social life, disappointed with his 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 pure and reasonable life that meets some vague requirements of conscience. It was as if an unknown voice was always heard in his soul, the voice of moral dictates, and forced him to follow him. The same thing happened in Kazan. Tolstoy gives up secular entertainment, stops attending university, becomes interested in Rousseau and spends days and nights reading the books of this writer, who had a great influence on him.

In his books, Tolstoy seeks not mental pleasures or knowledge in themselves, but practical answers to questions How live and how to live, that is, to see the meaning and true content of life. Influenced by these thoughts and reading Rousseau’s books, Tolstoy writes the essay “On the Purpose of Philosophy,” in which he defines philosophy as “the 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 before the young Tolstoy a problem that irresistibly attracted his mental gaze: about moral improvement. Tolstoy, through increased spiritual tension, determines the plan for his future life: it should take place in the implementation of good and in actively helping people. Having come to this conclusion, Tolstoy quits the university and goes 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 “The Morning of the Landowner”: with the help of one person it was impossible to solve such a large task at once, especially since the work was hampered by many unnoticed little things and interference.

Leo Tolstoy in his youth. Photo from 1848

In 1851, Tolstoy left for the Caucasus; here a lot of impressions await him, strong and fresh, which the heroic nature of the 23-year-old Tolstoy longed for. Hunts for wild boars, elk, birds, grandiose pictures of Caucasian nature, and finally, skirmishes and battles with the mountaineers (Tolstoy enlisted as a cadet in the artillery) - all this made a great impression on the future writer. In battles he was calm and courageous, he was always in the most dangerous places and was presented with a reward more than once. Tolstoy’s lifestyle at that time was Spartan, healthy and simple; composure and courage did not leave him in the most dangerous moments, such as when, while hunting a bear, he missed the animal and was crushed by it, rescued a minute later by other hunters and miraculously escaping with two harmless wounds. But he led a life not only of combat and hunting - he also had hours for literary work, which few knew about yet. At the end of 1851, he informed Ergolskaya that he was writing a novel, not knowing whether it would ever be published, but working on it gave him deep pleasure. Characteristic of the young Tolstoy is a lack of ambition and endurance in leisurely and hard work. “I remade the work that I started a long time ago three times,” 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 passion; 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 of his past life. Life in the Caucasus did not coarse his impressionable and childishly tender soul. In 1852, Tolstoy’s first story was published in Nekrasov’s magazine “Sovremennik” with the modest signature of L.N.; only a few close people knew the author of this story, noted in critical literature. After “Childhood” appeared “Adolescence” and a number of stories from Caucasian military life: “Raid”, “Cutting Wood” and the major story “Cossacks”, outstanding in its artistic merit and reflecting the features of a new worldview. In this story, Tolstoy for the first time emphasized the negative attitude towards urban cultural life and the superiority over it of a simple and healthy life in the fresh bosom of nature, in proximity to the simple and spiritually pure masses of the people.

Tolstoy's military wandering life continued during the Crimean War that had then begun. He took part in the unsuccessful siege of Silistria on the Danube and observed with curiosity the life of the southern peoples. Promoted to officer in 1854, Tolstoy arrived in Sevastopol, where he survived its siege until the city’s surrender in 1855. Here Tolstoy tried to start a magazine for soldiers, but did not receive permission. Brave, as always, and here in the most dangerous places, Tolstoy reproduced his rich observations of this siege in three stories “Sevastopol in December, May and August.” These stories, which also appeared in Sovremennik, attracted everyone's attention.

After the fall of Sevastopol, Tolstoy retired, moved to St. Petersburg and devoted himself primarily to literary interests; he becomes close to the circle of writers of that time - Turgenev, Goncharov, Ostrovsky, Nekrasov, Druzhinin, is friends with Fet. But Tolstoy’s new views on life, on culture, on the goals and objectives of a person’s personal life, which were largely determined during his solitary life in the Caucasian wilderness, were alien to the general views of writers and alienated Tolstoy from them: he remained generally closed and alone.

After several years of self-absorbed and lonely life, having reached several certain points of his own worldview, created by great spiritual tension, Tolstoy now, with some kind of mental greed, strives to embrace the entire property of the spiritual culture of the West. After studying agriculture and school in Yasnaya Polyana, he travels abroad, visits Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland, takes a closer look at the life and institutions of the Western world, absorbs a lot of books on philosophy, sociology, history, public education, etc. Everything he sees and everything he heard, everything he read, everything that strikes his mind and soul, becomes material for internal processing in the process of achieving the solid foundations of the worldview, which Tolstoy’s thought tirelessly seeks.

A great event for his inner life was the death of his brother, Nicholas; Questions about the purpose and meaning of life, questions about death took hold of his soul with even greater force, temporarily inclining him to extremely pessimistic conclusions. But soon a burning thirst for mental work and activity again embraces him. Studying the organization of school affairs in Western European countries, Tolstoy came to his own pedagogical theory, which he tried to implement upon returning to Yasnaya Polyana. He starts a school there for peasant children and a pedagogical magazine called Yasnaya Polyana. Education, as a powerful tool for social reforms, seems to him to be the most important task in life. In Yasnaya Polyana, he wanted to do in miniature something that could then be adopted throughout the world. The basis of Tolstoy's theory was the same point of view of the need for personal improvement of a person, not through forcible inoculation of views and beliefs, but in accordance with the basic properties of his nature.

Having married S.A. Bers and having established a calm family life, Tolstoy devoted himself to the study of philosophy, ancient classics, and his own literary works, not forgetting either school or agriculture. The period 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 works in terms of artistic value and outstanding in volume. 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. The desire to implement in his personal life the ideas of goodness and truth that he recognized, which manifested itself in him from his youth, finally takes over in him. Religious, moral and philosophical interests take precedence over literary and artistic interests. He depicted the history of this spiritual turn in “Confession,” written in 1881.

Portrait of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Artist I. Repin, 1901

From then on, Tolstoy subordinated his literary activity to accepted moral ideas, becoming a preacher and moralist (see Tolstoyism), denying his past artistic activity. His mental productivity is still enormous: in addition to a number of religious, philosophical and social treatises, he writes dramas, stories and novels. Since the end of the eighties, stories for the people have appeared: “How people live,” “Two old men,” “Candle,” “If you let the fire go, you won’t put it out”; stories: “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, “The Kreutzer Sonata”, “Master and Worker”, dramas “The Power of Darkness” and “Fruits of Enlightenment”, and the novel “Resurrection”.

Tolstoy's fame in these years became worldwide, his works were translated into the languages ​​of all countries, his name enjoyed 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 amazed the whole world, Tolstoy, an 80-year-old man, tirelessly devoted himself to mental pursuits, creating new philosophical and artistic works.

Wishing to retire before the end of his life and live in complete harmony with the spirit of his teaching, which was always his cherished aspiration, 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.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy- an outstanding Russian prose writer, playwright and public figure. Born on August 28 (September 9), 1828 in the Yasnaya Polyana estate in the Tula region. On his mother’s side, the writer belonged to the eminent family of Princes Volkonsky, and on his father’s side, to the ancient family of Count Tolstoy. Leo Tolstoy's great-great-grandfather, grandfather and father were military men. Representatives of the ancient Tolstoy family served as governors in many cities of Rus' even under Ivan the Terrible.

The writer’s maternal grandfather, “descendant of Rurik,” Prince Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky, was enlisted in military service at the age of seven. He was a participant in the Russian-Turkish war and retired with the rank of general-in-chief. The writer's paternal grandfather, Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, served in the navy and then in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment. The writer's father, Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, voluntarily entered military service at the age of seventeen. He took part in the Patriotic War of 1812, was captured by the French and was freed by Russian troops who entered Paris after the defeat of Napoleon's army. On his mother's side, Tolstoy was related to the Pushkins. Their common ancestor was boyar I.M. Golovin, an associate of Peter I, who studied shipbuilding with him. One of his daughters is the poet's great-grandmother, the other is the great-grandmother of Tolstoy's mother. Thus, Pushkin was Tolstoy’s fourth cousin.

The writer's childhood took place in Yasnaya Polyana - an ancient family estate. Tolstoy's interest in history and literature arose in his childhood: while living in the village, he saw how the life of the working people proceeded, from them he heard many folk tales, epics, songs, and legends. The life of the people, their work, interests and views, oral creativity - everything alive and wise - was revealed to Tolstoy by Yasnaya Polyana.

Maria Nikolaevna Tolstaya, the writer’s mother, was a kind and sympathetic person, an intelligent and educated woman: she knew French, German, English and Italian, played the piano, and studied painting. Tolstoy was not even two years old when his mother died. The writer did not remember her, but he heard so much about her from those around him that he clearly and vividly imagined her appearance and character.

Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, their father, was loved and appreciated by children for his humane attitude towards serfs. In addition to taking care of the house and children, he read a lot. During his life, Nikolai Ilyich collected a rich library, consisting of rare books of French classics, historical and natural history works at that time. It was he who first noticed his youngest son’s inclination towards a vivid perception of the artistic word.

When Tolstoy was nine years old, his father took him to Moscow for the first time. The first impressions of Lev Nikolaevich’s Moscow life served as the basis for many paintings, scenes and episodes of the hero’s life in Moscow Tolstoy's trilogy "Childhood", "Adolescence" and "Youth". Young Tolstoy saw not only the open side of big city life, but also some hidden, shadow sides. With his first stay in Moscow, the writer connected the end of the earliest period of his life, childhood, and the transition to adolescence. The first period of Tolstoy's Moscow life did not last long. In the summer of 1837, while traveling to Tula on business, his father died suddenly. Soon after the death of his father, Tolstoy and his sister and brothers had to endure a new misfortune: their grandmother, whom everyone close to them considered the head of the family, died. The sudden death of her son was a terrible blow for her and less than a year later it took her to the grave. A few years later, the first guardian of the orphaned Tolstoy children, their father’s sister, Alexandra Ilyinichna Osten-Saken, died. Ten-year-old Lev, his three brothers and sister were taken to Kazan, where their new guardian, Aunt Pelageya Ilyinichna Yushkova, lived.

Tolstoy wrote about his second guardian as a “kind and very pious” woman, but at the same time very “frivolous and vain.” According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Pelageya Ilyinichna did not enjoy authority with Tolstoy and his brothers, therefore the move to Kazan is considered to be a new stage in the writer’s life: his upbringing ended, a period of independent life began.

Tolstoy lived in Kazan for more than six years. This was the time of formation of his character and choice of life path. Living with his brothers and sister with Pelageya Ilyinichna, young Tolstoy spent two years preparing to enter Kazan University. Having decided to enter the eastern department of the university, he paid special attention to preparing for exams in foreign languages. In exams in mathematics and Russian literature, Tolstoy received fours, and in foreign languages ​​- fives. Lev Nikolayevich failed in the exams in history and geography - he received unsatisfactory grades.

Failure in the entrance exams served as a serious lesson for Tolstoy. He devoted the entire summer to a thorough study of history and geography, passed additional exams on them, and in September 1844 he was enrolled in the first year of the eastern department of the Faculty of Philosophy of Kazan University in the category of Arabic-Turkish literature. However, Tolstoy was not interested in studying languages, and after the summer holidays in Yasnaya Polyana he transferred from the Faculty of Oriental Studies to the Faculty of Law.

But in the future, university studies did not awaken Lev Nikolaevich’s interest in the sciences he was studying. Most of the time he independently studied philosophy, compiled “Rules of Life” and carefully wrote notes in his diary. By the end of the third year of studies, Tolstoy was finally convinced that the then university order only interfered with independent creative work, and he decided to leave the university. However, he needed a university diploma to obtain the license to enter the service. And in order to receive a diploma, Tolstoy passed university exams as an external student, spending two years of living in the village preparing for them. Having received university documents from the chancellery at the end of April 1847, former student Tolstoy left Kazan.

After leaving the university, Tolstoy again went to Yasnaya Polyana, and then to Moscow. Here, at the end of 1850, he took up literary creativity. At this time, he decided to write two stories, but did not finish either of them. In the spring of 1851, Lev Nikolaevich, together with his older brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich, who served in the army as an artillery officer, arrived in the Caucasus. Here Tolstoy lived for almost three years, being mainly in the village of Starogladkovskaya, located on the left bank of the Terek. From here he traveled to Kizlyar, Tiflis, Vladikavkaz, and visited many villages and villages.

It began in the Caucasus Tolstoy's military service. He took part in military operations of Russian troops. Tolstoy's impressions and observations are reflected in his stories “The Raid”, “Cutting Wood”, “Demoted”, and in the story “Cossacks”. Later, turning to the memories of this period of his life, Tolstoy created the story “Hadji Murat”. In March 1854, Tolstoy arrived in Bucharest, where the office of the chief of artillery troops was located. From here, as a staff officer, he traveled throughout Moldavia, Wallachia and Bessarabia.

In the spring and summer of 1854, the writer took part in the siege of the Turkish fortress of Silistria. However, the main place of hostilities at this time was the Crimean Peninsula. Here Russian troops under the leadership of V.A. Kornilov and P.S. Nakhimov heroically defended Sevastopol for eleven months, besieged by Turkish and Anglo-French troops. Participation in the Crimean War is an important stage in Tolstoy’s life. Here he got to know ordinary Russian soldiers, sailors, and residents of Sevastopol closely, and sought to understand the source of the heroism of the city’s defenders, to understand the special character traits inherent in the defender of the Fatherland. Tolstoy himself showed bravery and courage in the defense of Sevastopol.

In November 1855, Tolstoy left Sevastopol for St. Petersburg. By this time he had already earned recognition in advanced literary circles. During this period, the attention of Russian public life was focused around the issue of serfdom. Tolstoy's stories of this time ("Morning of the Landowner", "Polikushka", etc.) are also devoted to this problem.

In 1857 the writer committed foreign travel. He visited France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. Traveling to different cities, the writer became acquainted with the culture and social system of Western European countries with great interest. Much of what he saw was subsequently reflected in his work. In 1860, Tolstoy made another trip abroad. A year earlier, in Yasnaya Polyana, he opened a school for children. Traveling through the cities of Germany, France, Switzerland, England and Belgium, the writer visited schools and studied the features of public education. In most of the schools that Tolstoy visited, caning discipline was in effect and corporal punishment was used. Returning to Russia and visiting a number of schools, Tolstoy discovered that many teaching methods that were in effect in Western European countries, in particular Germany, had penetrated into Russian schools. At this time, Lev Nikolaevich wrote a number of articles in which he criticized the public education system both in Russia and in Western European countries.

Arriving home after a trip abroad, Tolstoy devoted himself to working at school and publishing the pedagogical magazine Yasnaya Polyana. The school founded by the writer was located not far from his home - in an outbuilding that has survived to this day. In the early 70s, Tolstoy compiled and published a number of textbooks for primary schools: “ABC”, “Arithmetic”, four “Books for Reading”. More than one generation of children learned from these books. The stories from them are read with enthusiasm by children even today.

In 1862, when Tolstoy was away, landowners arrived in Yasnaya Polyana and searched the writer’s house. In 1861, the Tsar's manifesto announced the abolition of serfdom. During the implementation of the reform, disputes broke out between landowners and peasants, the settlement of which was entrusted to the so-called peace intermediaries. Tolstoy was appointed as a peace mediator in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province. When examining controversial cases between nobles and peasants, the writer most often took a position in favor of the peasantry, which caused discontent among the nobles. This was the reason for the search. Because of this, Tolstoy had to stop working as a peace mediator, close the school in Yasnaya Polyana and refuse to publish a pedagogical magazine.

In 1862 Tolstoy married Sofya Andreevna Bers, daughter of a Moscow doctor. Arriving with her husband in Yasnaya Polyana, Sofya Andreevna tried with all her might to create an environment on the estate in which nothing would distract the writer from his hard work. In the 60s, Tolstoy led a solitary life, completely devoting himself to work on War and Peace.

At the end of the epic War and Peace, Tolstoy decided to write a new work - a novel about the era of Peter I. However, social events in Russia caused by the abolition of serfdom so captured the writer that he left work on the historical novel and began creating a new work, in which reflected the post-reform life of Russia. This is how the novel Anna Karenina appeared, to which Tolstoy devoted four years to work.

In the early 80s, Tolstoy moved with his family to Moscow to educate his growing children. Here the writer, well acquainted with rural poverty, witnessed urban poverty. In the early 90s of the 19th century, almost half of the central provinces of the country were gripped by famine, and Tolstoy joined the fight against the national disaster. Thanks to his appeal, the collection of donations, purchase and delivery of food to the villages was launched. At this time, under the leadership of Tolstoy, about two hundred free canteens were opened in the villages of the Tula and Ryazan provinces for the starving population. A number of articles written by Tolstoy about the famine date back to the same period, in which the writer truthfully depicted the plight of the people and condemned the policies of the ruling classes.

In the mid-80s Tolstoy wrote drama "The Power of Darkness", which depicts the death of the old foundations of patriarchal-peasant Russia, and the story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” dedicated to the fate of a man who only before his death realized the emptiness and meaninglessness of his life. In 1890, Tolstoy wrote the comedy “The Fruits of Enlightenment,” which shows the true situation of the peasantry after the abolition of serfdom. In the early 90s it was created novel "Sunday", on which the writer worked intermittently for ten years. In all his works relating to this period of creativity, Tolstoy openly shows whom he sympathizes with and whom he condemns; depicts the hypocrisy and insignificance of the “masters of life.”

The novel “Sunday” was subject to censorship more than other works of Tolstoy. Most of the novel's chapters were released or abridged. The ruling circles launched an active policy against the writer. Fearing popular outrage, the authorities did not dare to use open repression against Tolstoy. With the consent of the tsar and at the insistence of the chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod, Pobedonostsev, the synod adopted a resolution to excommunicate Tolstoy from the church. The writer was under police surveillance. The world community was outraged by the persecution of Lev Nikolaevich. The peasantry, advanced intelligentsia and ordinary people were on the side of the writer and sought to express their respect and support to him. The love and sympathy of the people served as reliable support for the writer in the years when the reaction sought to silence him.

However, despite all the efforts of reactionary circles, every year Tolstoy denounced the noble-bourgeois society more sharply and boldly and openly opposed the autocracy. Works of this period ( “After the Ball”, “For What?”, “Hadji Murat”, “Living Corpse”) are imbued with deep hatred of the royal power, the limited and ambitious ruler. In journalistic articles dating back to this time, the writer sharply condemned the instigators of wars and called for a peaceful resolution of all disputes and conflicts.

In 1901-1902, Tolstoy suffered a serious illness. At the insistence of doctors, the writer had to go to Crimea, where he spent more than six months.

In Crimea, he met with writers, artists, artists: Chekhov, Korolenko, Gorky, Chaliapin, etc. When Tolstoy returned home, hundreds of ordinary people warmly greeted him at the stations. In the fall of 1909, the writer made his last trip to Moscow.

Tolstoy's diaries and letters of the last decades of his life reflected difficult experiences that were caused by the writer's discord with his family. Tolstoy wanted to transfer the land that belonged to him to the peasants and wanted his works to be published freely and free of charge by anyone who wanted. The writer’s family opposed this, not wanting to give up either the rights to the land or the rights to the works. The old landowner way of life, preserved in Yasnaya Polyana, weighed heavily on Tolstoy.

In the summer of 1881, Tolstoy made his first attempt to leave Yasnaya Polyana, but a feeling of pity for his wife and children forced him to return. Several more attempts by the writer to leave his native estate ended with the same result. On October 28, 1910, secretly from his family, he left Yasnaya Polyana forever, deciding to go south and spend the rest of his life in a peasant hut, among the common Russian people. However, on the way, Tolstoy became seriously ill and was forced to get off the train at the small Astapovo station. The great writer spent the last seven days of his life in the house of the station master. The news of the death of one of the outstanding thinkers, a wonderful writer, a great humanist deeply struck the hearts of all progressive people of this time. Tolstoy's creative heritage is of great importance for world literature. Over the years, interest in the writer’s work does not wane, but, on the contrary, grows. As A. France rightly noted: “With his life he proclaims sincerity, directness, purposefulness, firmness, calm and constant heroism, he teaches that one must be truthful and one must be strong... It is precisely because he was full of strength that he always was truthful!”

1828 , August 28 (September 9) - born on the Yasnaya Polyana estate, Krapivinsky district, Tula province, into a noble family.

1837 – the Tolstoy family moved from Yasnaya Polyana to Moscow. Death of Tolstoy's father Nikolai Ilyich.

1841 - death in Optina Hermitage of the guardian of the Tolstoy children A.I. Osten-Saken. The fat people move from Moscow to Kazan, to a new guardian - P. I. Yushkova.

1844 – admission to Kazan University at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, then studying law. The desire to comprehend and understand the world is a passion for philosophy, studying the views of Rousseau.

1845 – transfer to the Faculty of Law of Kazan University.

1847 , March 17 – start of keeping a diary.
April – leaving the university and leaving for Yasnaya Polyana (without completing the university course). A painful search for the meaning of life. Testing the pen - first literary sketches.

1849 – exams for a candidate’s degree at St. Petersburg University. (Discontinued after successful passing in two subjects.)

1851 - the story “The History of Yesterday” was written. The story “Childhood” began (finished in July 1852).
Departure for the Caucasus to fight the mountaineers. Testing yourself. War is an understanding of the path of human formation.

1852 - exam for the rank of cadet, order for enrollment in military service as a 4th class fireworksman.
The story “The Raid” has been written. The story “Childhood” (the beginning of the trilogy) was completed and published (in No. 9 of Sovremennik).

1853 – beginning of work on “Cossacks” (completed in 1862). The story “Notes of a Marker” has been written.

1854 - story "Adolescence". The main question is what should you be like? What to strive for? The process of mental and moral development of a person.
Sevastopol epic. Transfer to the Danube Army, to the fighting Sevastopol after an unsuccessful resignation.

1855 - "Sevastopol Stories" were written - anger and pain about the dead, the curse of war, cruel realism.

1856 , November - dismissal from military service at personal request. "The Landowner's Morning" (the main evil is the pitiful, plight of the men).

1857 – the story “Youth” was written (the completion of the trilogy). First trip abroad.

1859 - opening of a school in Yasnaya Polyana. The idea of ​​raising a new person, the creation of the "ABC" and books for children.

1862 , September - marriage to Sofya Andreevna Bers; moving to Yasnaya Polyana.

1863–1869 - work on the epic novel "War and Peace".

1864–1865 – the first Collected Works of L. N. Tolstoy in two volumes is published (Published by F. Stellovsky, St. Petersburg).

1865–1866 – the first two parts of the future “War and Peace” under the title “1805” were published in the “Russian Bulletin”.

1866 - acquaintance with the artist M. S. Bashilov, to whom Tolstoy entrusts the illustration of “War and Peace.”

1867–1869 – the publication of two separate editions of War and Peace.

1873–1877 - work on the novel "Anna Karenina". Personal happiness and people's happiness. Family life and Russian life.
1873 - I. N. Kramskoy paints a portrait of Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana.

1875 - the beginning of publication of “Anna Karenina” in the magazine “Russian Messenger”.
The French magazine “Le temps” published a translation of the story “The Two Hussars” with a preface by Turgenev, who wrote that upon the release of “War and Peace” Tolstoy “decidedly takes first place in the public’s favor.”

1878 – a separate edition of the novel “Anna Karenina”.

1881 - moving to Moscow. Renunciation of the life of the noble circle. "Confession" (1879–1882).

1882 – participation in the three-day Moscow census.
The article "So what should we do?" has begun. (finished in 1886).
Buying a house on Dolgo-Khamovnichesky Lane in Moscow (now the House-Museum of L. N. Tolstoy).
The story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” began (completed in 1886).

1910 , (night from October 27 to 28) - departure from Yasnaya Polyana.
November 7(20)- Died at Astapovo station, buried in Yasnaya Polyana.