What topics did Tolstoy write about? Tolstoy, L.N. Tolstoy complete biography

Lev Nikolaevich was born on August 28 (September 9, n.s.) 1829, in the Yasnaya Polyana estate. Tolstoy was the fourth child in a large noble family. By origin, Tolstoy belonged to the oldest aristocratic families in Russia. Among the writer's paternal ancestors is an associate of Peter I - P. A. Tolstoy, one of the first in Russia to receive the title of count. A participant in the Patriotic War of 1812 was the father of the writer, Count. N.I. Tolstoy. On his mother's side, Tolstoy belonged to the family of the Bolkonsky princes, related by kinship to the Trubetskoy, Golitsyn, Odoevsky, Lykov and other noble families. On his mother's side, Tolstoy was a relative of A.S. Pushkin.

When Tolstoy was nine years old, his father took him to Moscow for the first time, the impressions of the meeting with which were vividly conveyed by the future writer in children's essay"Kremlin". Moscow is here called “the greatest and most populous city in Europe,” the walls of which “saw the shame and defeat of Napoleon’s invincible regiments.” The first period of young Tolstoy's Moscow life lasted less than four years.

After the death of his parents (mother died in 1830, father in 1837) future writer with three brothers and a sister he moved to Kazan, to his guardian P. Yushkova. As a sixteen-year-old boy, 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 property as his father's inheritance. Tolstoy went to Yasnaya Polyana with the firm intention of studying the entire course of legal sciences (in order to pass the exam as an external student), “practical medicine,” languages, Agriculture, history, geographic statistics, write a dissertation and "achieve highest degree excellence in music and painting."

After a summer in the countryside, disappointed by the unsuccessful experience of managing under new conditions favorable to the serfs (this attempt is depicted in the story “The Morning of the Landowner,” 1857), in the fall of 1847 Tolstoy went first to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg to take candidate exams at the university. His lifestyle during this period often changed: he spent days preparing and passing exams, he devoted himself passionately to music, he intended to start an official career, he dreamed of joining a horse guards regiment as a cadet. Religious sentiments, reaching the point of asceticism, alternated with carousing, cards, and trips to the gypsies. In the family he was considered “the most trifling fellow,” and he was able to repay the debts he incurred then only many years later. However, it was precisely these years that were colored by intense introspection and struggle with oneself, which is reflected in the diary that Tolstoy kept throughout his life. At the same time, he had a serious desire to write and the first unfinished artistic sketches appeared.

1851 - Leo Tolstoy works on the story “Childhood”. In the same year, he left as a volunteer for the Caucasus, where his brother Nikolai was already serving. Here he takes the exam for the rank of cadet and is enrolled in military service. His rank is fireworksman 4th class. Tolstoy participates in Chechen war. This period is considered the beginning literary activity writer: he writes many stories, stories about the war.

1852 - “Childhood”, the first of the writer’s published works, was published in Sovremennik.

1854 - Tolstoy was promoted to the rank of ensign, he petitioned for transfer to the Crimean Army. Going Russian-Turkish war, and Count Tolstoy participates in the defense of besieged Sevastopol. Awarded the Order of St. Anne with the inscription “For Bravery”, medals “For the Defense of Sevastopol”. He writes “Sevastopol Stories”, which with their realism make an indelible impression on Russian society, who lived far from the war.

1855 - return to St. Petersburg. Leo Tolstoy is one of the circle of Russian writers. Among his new acquaintances are Turgenev, Tyutchev, Nekrasov, Ostrovsky and many others.

Soon “people became disgusted with him and he became disgusted with himself,” and at the beginning of 1857, leaving St. Petersburg, he went abroad. Tolstoy spent only about a year and a half in Germany, France, England, Switzerland, and Italy (1857 and 1860 - 1861). The impression was negative.

Returning to Russia immediately after the liberation of the peasants, he became a peace mediator and began setting up schools in his Yasnaya Polyana and throughout the Krapivensky district. The Yasnaya Polyana school is one of the most original pedagogical attempts ever made: the only method of teaching and education that he recognized was that no method was needed. Everything in teaching should be individual - both the teacher and the student, and their relationships. At the Yasnaya Polyana school, children sat wherever they wanted, as much as they wanted, and as they wanted. There was no specific teaching program. The teacher's only job was to get the class interested. Despite this extreme pedagogical anarchism, classes went well. They were led by Tolstoy himself, with the help of several regular teachers and several random ones, from his closest acquaintances and visitors.

In 1862, Tolstoy began publishing the pedagogical magazine Yasnaya Polyana. Put together, Tolstoy's pedagogical articles made up a whole volume of his collected works. Having warmly welcomed Tolstoy's debuts, recognizing in him the great hope of Russian literature, criticism then cooled towards him for 10 - 12 years.

In September 1862, Tolstoy married the eighteen-year-old daughter of a doctor, Sofya Andreevna Bers, and immediately after the wedding, he took his wife from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana, where he devoted himself completely to family life and economic concerns. However, already in the autumn of 1863 he was captured by a new literary idea, which for a long time was called "One Thousand Eight Hundred and Five".

The time of creation of the novel was a period of spiritual elation, family happiness and calm, solitary work. Tolstoy read memoirs and correspondence of people of the Alexander era (including materials from Tolstoy and Volkonsky), worked in archives, studied Masonic manuscripts, traveled to the Borodino field, moving forward in his work slowly, through many editions (his wife helped him a lot in copying manuscripts, refuting this friends joked that she was still so young, as if she were playing with dolls), and only at the beginning of 1865 he published the first part of “War and Peace” in the “Russian Bulletin”. The novel was read avidly, evoked many responses, striking with its combination of a broad epic canvas with subtle psychological analysis, with a living picture of private life, organically inscribed in history.

Heated debate provoked the subsequent parts of the novel, in which Tolstoy developed a fatalistic philosophy of history. Reproaches were voiced that the writer “entrusted” the intellectual demands of his era to the people of the beginning of the century: the idea of ​​a novel about Patriotic War was really a response to the problems that worried Russian post-reform society. Tolstoy himself characterized his plan as an attempt to “write the history of the people” and considered it impossible to determine its genre nature (“will not fit any form, no novel, no story, no poem, no history”).

In 1877, the writer completed his second novel, Anna Karenina. In the original edition, it bore the ironic title “Well done, woman,” and main character was depicted as a woman without spirituality and immorality. But the plan changed, and in the final version Anna is a subtle and sincere nature, she is connected with her lover by the present, strong feeling. However, in Tolstoy's eyes, she is still guilty of deviating from her destiny as a wife and mother. Therefore, her death is a manifestation of God’s judgment, but she is not subject to human judgment.

On the top literary fame, shortly after the completion of Anna Karenina, Tolstoy entered a period of deep doubt and moral quest. The story of the moral and spiritual torment that almost drove him to suicide as he vainly sought to find the meaning of life is told in Confession (1879–1882). Tolstoy then turned to the Bible, especially the New Testament, and was confident that he had found the answer to his questions. Each of us, he argued, has the ability to recognize goodness. She is a living source of reason and conscience, and the goal of our conscious life is to obey her, that is, to do good. Tolstoy formulated five commandments, which he believed were the true commandments of Christ and by which a person should be guided in his life. Briefly they are: don't get angry; don't give in to lust; do not bind yourself with oaths; do not resist evil; be equally good with the righteous and the unrighteous. Both Tolstoy’s future teaching and his life’s actions are somehow correlated with these commandments.

All his life the writer painfully experienced the poverty and suffering of the people. He was one of the organizers of public assistance to starving peasants in 1891. Tolstoy considered personal labor and the renunciation of wealth, property acquired through the work of others, to be the moral duty of every person. His later ideas are reminiscent of socialist ones, but unlike the socialists, he was a staunch opponent of the revolution, as well as any violence.

Perversity, depravity human nature and society is the main topic late creativity Lev Nikolaevich. IN latest works(“Kholstomer” (1885), “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” (1881-1886), “Master and Worker” (1894-1895), “Resurrection” (1889-1899)) he abandons his favorite technique of “dialectics of the soul”, replacing it with direct author's judgments and assessments.

IN last years During his life, the writer worked on the story "Hadji Murat" from 1896 to 1904. In it, Tolstoy wanted to compare “the two poles of imperious absolutism” - the European, represented by Nicholas I, and the Asian, represented by Shamil.

Also loud was the article “I Can’t Be Silent,” published in 1908, where Lev Nikolaevich protested against the persecution of participants in the revolution of 1905–1907. Tolstoy's stories "After the Ball" and "For What?" date back to the same time.
The way of life in Yasnaya Polyana was a burden to Tolstoy, and he more than once wanted and for a long time could not decide to leave it.

In the late autumn of 1910, at night, secretly from his family, 82-year-old Tolstoy, accompanied only by his personal doctor D.P. Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana. The road turned out to be too much for him: on the way, Tolstoy fell ill and was forced to get off the train at the small railway station of Astapovo (now Leo Tolstoy, Lipetsk region). Here, in the station master's house, he spent the last seven days of his life. November 7 (20) Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy died.

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. Literary heritage the writer amounted to 90 volumes of fiction and journalistic works, diary notes and letters, and he himself was repeatedly nominated for the 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 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. It is with the family estate that the most important and dear memories of Leo Tolstoy’s early childhood are associated.

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 part of the estate, 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. 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 got acquainted with famous works of art, met with artists, and 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. Krekshino. 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: "Main - literary works, Then - family responsibilities, then - farming... And so live for yourself - according to good deed a day and that's enough".

In 1899, Tolstoy wrote the novel Resurrection. In this work the writer criticized judicial system, army, 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 “Church Gazette,” 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.

Literary and social activity Tolstoy became known abroad. The writer was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902 and 1909 and for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1902–1906. Tolstoy himself did not want to receive the award and even told the Finnish writer Arvid Järnefelt to try to prevent the 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 recent articles 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.

Years of life: from 09.09.1828 to 20.11.1910

Great Russian writer. Graph. Educator, publicist, religious thinker, whose authoritative opinion provoked the emergence of a new religious and moral movement - Tolstoyism.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born on September 9 (August 28), 1828 in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province, on his mother’s hereditary estate - Yasnaya Polyana. Leo was the fourth child in a large noble family. His mother, nee Princess Volkonskaya, died when Tolstoy was not yet two years old. A distant relative, T. A. Ergolskaya, took up the task of raising orphaned children. In 1837, the family moved to Moscow, settling on Plyushchikha, because the eldest son had to prepare to enter university, but soon his father suddenly died, leaving affairs (including some litigation related to the family’s property) in an unfinished state, and the three younger ones The children again settled in Yasnaya Polyana under the supervision of Ergolskaya and their paternal aunt, Countess A. M. Osten-Sacken, who was appointed guardian of the children. Here Lev Nikolaevich remained until 1840, when Countess Osten-Sacken died and the children moved to Kazan, to a new guardian - their father's sister P. I. Yushkova.

Tolstoy's education first proceeded under the guidance of a rude French tutor, Saint-Thomas. From the age of 15, Tolstoy became a student at Kazan University, one of the leading universities of that time.

Having dropped out of the university, Tolstoy lived in Yasnaya Polyana from the spring of 1847. In 1851, realizing the purposelessness of his existence and, deeply despising himself, he went to the Caucasus to join the active army. In Crimea, Tolstoy was captured by new impressions and literary plans. There he began working on his first novel, “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth". Tolstoy's literary debut immediately brought real recognition.

In 1854, Tolstoy was assigned to the Danube Army in Bucharest. Boring life at the headquarters soon forced him to transfer to the Crimean Army, to besieged Sevastopol, where he commanded a battery on the 4th bastion, showing rare personal courage ( awarded the order St. Anna and medals). In Crimea, Tolstoy was captured by new impressions and literary plans, here he began to write a cycle of “Sevastopol stories”, which were soon published and had enormous success.

In November 1855, Tolstoy arrived in St. Petersburg and immediately entered the Sovremennik circle (N. A. Nekrasov, I. S. Turgenev, A. N. Ostrovsky, I. A. Goncharov, etc.), where he was greeted as a “great hope of Russian literature."

In the fall of 1856, Tolstoy, having retired, went to Yasnaya Polyana, and at the beginning of 1857 he went abroad. He visited France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, returned to Moscow in the fall, then to Yasnaya Polyana. In 1859, Tolstoy opened a school for peasant children in the village, helped to establish more than 20 schools in the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana, and this activity fascinated Tolstoy so much that in 1860 he traveled abroad for the second time to get acquainted with the schools of Europe.

In 1862, Tolstoy married Sofya Andreevna Bers. During the first 10-12 years after his marriage, he created War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Although a widely known, recognized and beloved writer for these works, Leo Tolstoy himself did not attach fundamental importance to them. More important to him was his philosophical system.

Leo Tolstoy was the founder of the Tolstoyanism movement, one of the fundamental theses of which is the Gospel “non-resistance to evil by force.” In 1925, around this topic among the Russian émigré community, a still ongoing debate flared up, in which many Russian philosophers of that time took part.

In the late autumn of 1910, at night, secretly from his family, 82-year-old Tolstoy, accompanied only by his personal doctor D.P. Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana. The road turned out to be too much for him: on the way, Tolstoy fell ill and was forced to get off the train at the small railway station of Astapovo (now Leo Tolstoy, Lipetsk region). Here, in the station master's house, he spent the last seven days of his life. November 7 (20) Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy died.

Information about the works:

The former Yasnaya Polyana estate now houses a museum dedicated to the life and work of L. N. Tolstoy. In addition to this museum, the main exhibition about his life and work can be seen in State Museum L. N. Tolstoy, in former house Lopukhinykh-Stanitskaya (Moscow, Prechistenka 11). Its branches are also: at the Lev Tolstoy station (former Astapovo station), the memorial museum-estate of L. N. Tolstoy “Khamovniki” (Lva Tolstoy Street, 21), showroom on Pyatnitskaya.

Many writers and critics were surprised that the first Nobel Prize in Literature was not awarded to Leo Tolstoy, because at that time he was already famous not only in Russia, but also abroad. Numerous publications were published throughout Europe. But Tolstoy responded with the following address: “Dear and respected brothers! I was very pleased that the Nobel Prize was not awarded to me. Firstly, it saved me from a great difficulty - managing this money, which, like any money, in my conviction, can only bring evil; and secondly, it gave me the honor and great pleasure to receive expressions of sympathy from so many people, although unfamiliar to me, but still deeply respected by me. Please accept, dear brothers, my sincere gratitude and best feelings. Lev Tolstoy".
But that's the story Nobel Prize the writer's life did not end. In 1905, Tolstoy's new work, The Great Sin, was published. This, now almost forgotten, acutely journalistic book talked about the difficult lot of the Russian peasantry. The Russian Academy of Sciences came up with the idea of ​​nominating Leo Tolstoy for the Nobel Prize. Having learned about this, Leo Tolstoy sent a letter to the Finnish writer and translator Arvid Järnefelt. In it, Tolstoy asked his acquaintance through his Swedish colleagues to “try to make sure that I am not awarded this prize,” because “if this happened, it would be very unpleasant for me to refuse.” Järnefelt carried out this delicate task, and the prize was awarded Italian poet Giosue Carducci.

Lev Nikolaevich was, among other things, musically gifted. He loved music, felt it subtly, and played music himself. So, in his youth, he picked up a waltz on the piano, which Alexander Goldenweiser later recorded by ear one evening in Yasnaya Polyana. Now this waltz in F major is often performed at events associated with Tolstoy, both in a piano version and orchestrated for a small string ensemble.

Bibliography

Stories:
List of stories -

Educational literature and teaching aids:
ABC (1872)
New ABC (1875)
Arithmetic (1875)
The first Russian book for reading (1875)
Second Russian book for reading (1875)
The third Russian book for reading (1875)
The fourth Russian book for reading (1875)

Plays:
The Infected Family (1864)
Nihilist (1866)
Power of Darkness (1886)
Dramatic Treatment of the Legend of Haggai (1886)
The first distiller, or How the little devil earned the edge (1886)
(1890)
Peter Khlebnik (1894)
Living Corpse (1900)
And the light shines in the darkness (1900)
All the qualities come from her (1910)

Religious and philosophical works:
, 1880-1881
, 1882
The Kingdom of God is within you - a treatise, 1890-1893.

Film adaptations of works, theatrical performances

“Resurrection” (English: Resurrection, 1909, UK). 12 minute silent film novel of the same name(filmed during the writer’s lifetime).
“The Power of Darkness” (1909, Russia). Silent film.
"Anna Karenina" (1910, Germany). Silent film.
"Anna Karenina" (1911, Russia). Silent film. Dir. - Maurice Maitre
“Living Corpse” (1911, Russia). Silent film.
“War and Peace” (1913, Russia). Silent film.
"Anna Karenina" (1914, Russia). Silent film. Dir. - V. Gardin
"Anna Karenina" (1915, USA). Silent film.
“The Power of Darkness” (1915, Russia). Silent film.
“War and Peace” (1915, Russia). Silent film. Dir. - Y. Protazanov, V. Gardin
“Natasha Rostova” (1915, Russia). Silent film. Producer - A. Khanzhonkov. Starring: V. Polonsky, I. Mozzhukhin
"Living Corpse" (1916). Silent film.
"Anna Karenina" (1918, Hungary). Silent film.
“The Power of Darkness” (1918, Russia). Silent film.
"Living Corpse" (1918). Silent film.
“Father Sergius” (1918, RSFSR). Silent film film by Yakov Protazanov, in leading role Ivan Mozzhukhin
"Anna Karenina" (1919, Germany). Silent film.
“Polikushka” (1919, USSR). Silent film.
“Love” (1927, USA. Based on the novel “Anna Karenina”). Silent film. As Anna - Greta Garbo
“Living Corpse” (1929, USSR). Starring: V. Pudovkin
"Anna Karenina" (Anna Karenina, 1935, USA). Sound film. As Anna - Greta Garbo
"Anna Karenina" (Anna Karenina, 1948, UK). As Anna - Vivien Leigh
“War and Peace” (War & Peace, 1956, USA, Italy). As Natasha Rostova - Audrey Hepburn
“Agi Murad il diavolo bianco” (1959, Italy, Yugoslavia). As Hadji Murat - Steve Reeves
“People Too” (1959, USSR, based on a fragment from “War and Peace”). Dir. G. Danelia, starring V. Sanaev, L. Durov
“Resurrection” (1960, USSR). Dir. - M. Schweitzer
"Anna Karenina" (Anna Karenina, 1961, USA). As Vronsky - Sean Connery
“Cossacks” (1961, USSR). Dir. - V. Pronin
"Anna Karenina" (1967, USSR). In the role of Anna - Tatiana Samoilova
“War and Peace” (1968, USSR). Dir. - S. Bondarchuk
“Living Corpse” (1968, USSR). In ch. roles - A. Batalov
"War and Peace" (War & Peace, 1972, UK). Series. As Pierre - Anthony Hopkins
“Father Sergius” (1978, USSR). Feature film by Igor Talankin, starring Sergei Bondarchuk
« Caucasian story"(1978, USSR, based on the story "Cossacks"). In ch. roles - V. Konkin
“Money” (1983, France-Switzerland, based on the story “False Coupon”). Dir. - Robert Bresson
“Two Hussars” (1984, USSR). Dir. - Vyacheslav Krishtofovich
"Anna Karenina" (Anna Karenina, 1985, USA). As Anna - Jacqueline Bisset
« Simple Death"(1985, USSR, based on the story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich"). Dir. - A. Kaidanovsky
“The Kreutzer Sonata” (1987, USSR). Starring: Oleg Yankovsky
"For what?" (Za co?, 1996, Poland / Russia). Dir. - Jerzy Kawalerowicz
"Anna Karenina" (Anna Karenina, 1997, USA). In the role of Anna - Sophie Marceau, Vronsky - Sean Bean
"Anna Karenina" (2007, Russia). In the role of Anna - Tatiana Drubich
For more details, see also: List of film adaptations of “Anna Karenina” 1910-2007.
“War and Peace” (2007, Germany, Russia, Poland, France, Italy). Series. In the role of Andrei Bolkonsky - Alessio Boni.

(1828-1910)

A brief message about the personal life and work of L.N. Tolstoy for children of grades 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Tolstoy was born in 1828 in the Yasnaya Polyana estate in big family nobles His mother and father died early, and he was raised by a relative who influenced the boy big influence. But Lev Nikolaevich remembered the appearance of his parents well and subsequently reflected them in the heroes of his works. In short, Tolstoy spent his childhood years quite happily. Subsequently, he recalled that time with warmth; it repeatedly served as material for his creativity.

At the age of 13, Tolstoy moved with his family to Kazan. There he entered the university, where he first studied oriental languages ​​and then law. But the young man never finished university and returned to Yasnaya Polyana. There, however, he decided to take up his education and independently study many different sciences. Still, he spent only one summer in the village and soon moved to St. Petersburg with the goal of passing exams at the university.

A brief biography of Tolstoy in his young years comes down to an intense search for himself and his calling. Either he plunged headlong into festivities and revelry, or he led the life of an ascetic, indulging in religious thoughts. But during these years the young count already felt a love for literary creativity.

In 1851, he and his older brother, an officer, went to the Caucasus, where they took part in military operations. The time spent there left an indelible impression on Tolstoy. During these years he worked on the story “Childhood”, which later, together with two other stories, brought the aspiring writer great fame. Next, Tolstoy was transferred to serve first in Bucharest, and then in Sevastopol, where he participated in the Crimean campaign and showed great courage.

After the end of the war, Tolstoy went to St. Petersburg and became a member of the famous Sovremennik circle, but he did not take root in it and soon went abroad. Returning to his family home, the writer opened a famous school there, intended for peasant children. Tolstoy was very fascinated by the cause of education, and he became interested in the organization of schools in Europe, for which he again went abroad. Soon Lev Nikolaevich married young S.A. Bers. Tolstoy's short biography during this period was marked by quiet family happiness.

At the same time, the writer first began work on his great work “War and Peace”, and then on another, no less famous novel- “Anna Karenina”.
The 1880s sometimes became a serious spiritual crisis for Lev Nikolaevich. This was reflected in a number of his works of that time, such as, for example, “Confession”. Tolstoy thinks a lot about faith, the meaning of life, social inequality, criticizes state institutions and achievements of civilization. He also works on religious treatises. The writer wanted to see Christianity as a practical religion, purified from any mysticism. He criticized the Orthodox Church and its rapprochement with the state, and then completely abandoned it. At the beginning of the 20th century he was officially excommunicated from the Church. Lev Nikolaevich reflected the entire gamut of his emotional experiences of those years in his last novel"Resurrection".

Tolstoy's drama was expressed in a severance of relations not only with the Church, but also with his own family. In the fall of 1910, the elderly writer secretly left home, but, already in poor health, fell ill on the road and died a week later, on November 7. Lev Nikolaevich was buried in Yasnaya Polyana. One can briefly say this about Tolstoy: he was truly a great literary genius. His work was so loved by readers that the writer’s departure became great grief for millions of people who lived not only in Russia, but also in the most different corners peace.

Biography, life story of Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich

He came from a noble family, known, according to legendary sources, since 1351. His paternal ancestor, Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, is known for his role in the investigation of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, for which he was put in charge of the Secret Chancellery. The traits of Pyotr Andreevich’s great-grandson, Ilya Andreevich, are given in “War and Peace” to the good-natured, impractical old Count Rostov. The son of Ilya Andreevich, Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy (1794-1837), was the father of Lev Nikolaevich. In some character traits and biographical facts, he was similar to Nikolenka’s father in “Childhood” and “Adolescence” and partly to Nikolai Rostov in “War and Peace.” However, in real life Nikolai Ilyich differed from Nikolai Rostov not only in his good education, but also in his convictions, which did not allow him to serve under Nikolai. A participant in the foreign campaign of the Russian army against Napoleon, including participating in the “Battle of the Nations” near Leipzig and being captured by the French, after the conclusion of peace he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment. Soon after his resignation, he was forced to go into bureaucratic service in order not to end up in debtor's prison because of the debts of his father, the Kazan governor, who died under investigation for official abuses. His father’s negative example helped Nikolai Ilyich develop his own life ideal- private independent life with family joys. To put his upset affairs in order, Nikolai Ilyich, like Nikolai Rostov, married a no longer very young princess from the Volkonsky family; the marriage was happy. They had four sons: Nikolai, Sergei, Dmitry, Lev and daughter Maria.

Tolstoy's maternal grandfather, Catherine's general, Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky, bore some resemblance to the stern rigorist old Prince Bolkonsky in War and Peace. Lev Nikolaevich's mother, similar in some respects to Princess Marya depicted in War and Peace, had a remarkable gift for storytelling.

In addition to the Volkonskys, L.N. Tolstoy was closely related to several other aristocratic families: the princes Gorchakovs, Trubetskoys and others.

CONTINUED BELOW

Born on August 28, 1828 in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province, on his mother’s hereditary estate - Yasnaya Polyana. Was the fourth child; he had three older brothers: Nikolai (1823-1860), Sergei (1826-1904) and Dmitry (1827-1856). In 1830, Sister Maria (1830-1912) was born. His mother died at birth last daughter when he was not yet 2 years old.

A distant relative, T. A. Ergolskaya, took up the task of raising orphaned children. In 1837, the family moved to Moscow, settling on Plyushchikha, because the eldest son had to prepare to enter university, but soon his father suddenly died, leaving affairs (including some related to family property, litigation) in an unfinished state, and the three youngest children again settled in Yasnaya Polyana under the supervision of Ergolskaya and their paternal aunt, Countess A. M. Osten-Sacken, who was appointed guardian of the children. Here Lev Nikolaevich remained until 1840, when Countess Osten-Sacken died, and the children moved to Kazan, to a new guardian - their father's sister P. I. Yushkova.

The Yushkov house was one of the most fun in Kazan; All family members highly valued external shine. “My good aunt,” says Tolstoy, “a pure being, always said that she would want nothing more for me than for me to have a relationship with a married woman.”

He wanted to shine in society, but his natural shyness and lack of external attractiveness hampered him. The most diverse, as Tolstoy himself defines them, “philosophies” about the most important issues our existence - happiness, death, God, love, eternity - painfully tormented him in that era of life. What he told in “Adolescence” and “Youth” about the aspirations of Irtenyev and Nekhlyudov for self-improvement was taken by Tolstoy from the history of his own ascetic attempts of this time. All this led to the fact that Tolstoy developed a “habit of constant moral analysis,” which, as it seemed to him, “destroyed the freshness of feeling and clarity of reason” (“Adolescence”).

Education

His education was first carried out under the guidance of the French tutor Saint-Thomas (Mr. Jerome in Boyhood), who replaced the good-natured German Reselman, whom he portrayed in Childhood under the name Karl Ivanovich.

In 1841, P.I. Yushkova, taking on the role of guardian of her minor nephews (only the eldest, Nikolai, was an adult) and niece, brought them to Kazan. Following the brothers Nikolai, Dmitry and Sergei, Lev decided to enter the Imperial Kazan University, where Lobachevsky worked at the Faculty of Mathematics, and Kovalevsky worked at the Eastern Faculty. On October 3, 1844, Leo Tolstoy was enrolled as a student in the category of oriental literature as a student. In the entrance exams, in particular, he showed excellent results in the “Turkish-Tatar language” required for admission.

Due to a conflict between his family and the teacher of Russian and general history and the history of philosophy, Professor N.A. Ivanov, at the end of the year he had poor performance in the relevant subjects and had to re-take the first-year program. To avoid repeating the course completely, he transferred to the Faculty of Law, where he had problems with his grades. Russian history and German continued. Leo Tolstoy spent less than two years at the Faculty of Law: “Every education imposed by others was always difficult for him, and everything he learned in life, he learned himself, suddenly, quickly, with intense work,” writes Tolstaya in her “Materials for biography of L.N. Tolstoy." In 1904 he recalled: “ ...for the first year...I did nothing. In the second year I began to study... there was Professor Meyer, who... gave me a work - a comparison of Catherine’s “Order” with Montesquieu’s “Esprit des lois”. ... this work fascinated me, I went to the village, began to read Montesquieu, this reading opened up endless horizons for me; I started reading Rousseau and dropped out of university precisely because I wanted to study».

While in the Kazan hospital, he began to keep a diary, where, imitating, he set goals and rules for self-improvement and noted successes and failures in completing these tasks, analyzed his shortcomings and train of thoughts, the motives of his actions.

In 1845, L.N. Tolstoy had a godson in Kazan. On November 11 (23), according to other sources - November 22 (December 4), 1845, in the Kazan Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, the 18-year-old Jewish cantonist of the Kazan battalions of military cantonists Zalman was baptized under the name Luka Tolstoy ("Zelman") Kagan, godfather whose documents listed a student of the Imperial Kazan University, Count L.N. Tolstoy. Before this - on September 25 (October 7), 1845 - his brother, a student at the Imperial Kazan University, Count D. N. Tolstoy became the successor of the 18-year-old Jewish cantonist Nukhim (“Nohim”) Beser, baptized (with the name Nikolai Dmitriev) archimandrite Kazan Assumption (Zilantov) Monastery by Gabriel (V.N. Voskresensky).

Beginning of literary activity

Having dropped out of the university, Tolstoy settled in Yasnaya Polyana in the spring of 1847; his activities there are partly described in “The Landowner’s Morning”: Tolstoy tried to establish a new relationship with the peasants.

His attempt to somehow atone for the guilt of the nobility before the people dates back to the same year when Grigorovich’s “Anton the Miserable” and the beginning of Turgenev’s “Notes of a Hunter” appeared.

In his diary, Tolstoy sets himself great amount goals and rules; Only a small number of them were able to follow. Among those who succeeded were serious studies in English, music, and law. In addition, neither the diary nor the letters reflected the beginning of Tolstoy's studies in pedagogy and charity - in 1849 he first opened a school for peasant children. The main teacher was Foka Demidych, a serf, but Lev Nikolaevich himself often taught classes.

Having left for St. Petersburg in February 1849, he spends time in revelry with K. A. Islavin, the uncle of his future wife (“My love for Islavin ruined for me 8 whole months of life in St. Petersburg”); in the spring he began taking the exam to become a candidate of rights; He passed two exams, from criminal law and criminal proceedings, successfully, but he did not take the third exam and went to the village.

Later he came to Moscow, where he often succumbed to his passion for gambling, greatly upsetting his financial affairs. During this period of his life, Tolstoy was especially passionately interested in music (he himself played the piano quite well and greatly appreciated his favorite works performed by others). The author of the “Kreutzer Sonata” drew an exaggerated description in relation to most people of the effect that “passionate” music produces from the sensations excited by the world of sounds in his own soul.

Tolstoy's favorite composers were Handel and. In the late 1840s, Tolstoy, in collaboration with his acquaintance, composed a waltz, which in the early 1900s he performed under the composer Taneev, who made a musical notation of this musical work (the only one composed by Tolstoy).

The development of Tolstoy’s love for music was also facilitated by the fact that during a trip to St. Petersburg in 1848, he met in a very unsuitable dance class setting with a gifted but lost German musician, whom he later described in Alberta. Tolstoy came up with the idea of ​​saving him: he took him to Yasnaya Polyana and played a lot with him. A lot of time was also spent on carousing, gaming and hunting.

In the winter of 1850-1851. started writing "Childhood". In March 1851 he wrote “The History of Yesterday.”

After leaving the university, 4 years passed when Lev Nikolayevich’s brother Nikolai, who served in the Caucasus, came to Yasnaya Polyana and invited his younger brother to join military service in the Caucasus. Lev did not immediately agree, until a major loss in Moscow accelerated the final decision. The writer's biographers note significant and positive influence brother Nikolai on the young and inexperienced Leo in everyday affairs. In the absence of his parents, his older brother was his friend and mentor.

To pay off his debts, it was necessary to reduce his expenses to a minimum - and in the spring of 1851, Tolstoy hastily left Moscow for the Caucasus without a specific goal. Soon he decided to enlist in military service, but obstacles arose in the form of a lack of necessary papers, which were difficult to obtain, and Tolstoy lived for about 5 months in complete solitude in Pyatigorsk, in a simple hut. He spent a significant part of his time hunting, in the company of the Cossack Epishka, the prototype of one of the heroes of the story “Cossacks”, who appears there under the name Eroshka.

In the fall of 1851, Tolstoy, having passed the exam in Tiflis, entered the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade, stationed in the Cossack village of Starogladov, on the banks of the Terek, near Kizlyar, as a cadet. With a slight change in details, she is depicted in all her semi-wild originality in “Cossacks”. The same “Cossacks” convey the picture inner life a young gentleman who fled from Moscow life.

In a remote village, Tolstoy began to write and in 1852 he sent the first part to the editors of Sovremennik. future trilogy: "Childhood".

The relatively late start of his career is very characteristic of Tolstoy: he never considered himself a professional writer, understanding professionalism not in the sense of a profession that provides a means of living, but in the sense of the predominance of literary interests. He did not take the interests of literary parties to heart, and was reluctant to talk about literature, preferring to talk about issues of faith, morality, and social relations.

Military career

Having received the manuscript of “Childhood,” the editor of Sovremennik, Nekrasov, immediately recognized its literary value and wrote a kind letter to the author, which had a very encouraging effect on him.

Meanwhile, the encouraged author sets about continuing the tetralogy “Four Epochs of Development,” the last part of which, “Youth,” never materialized. Plans for “The Morning of the Landowner” (the completed story was only a fragment of “The Romance of a Russian Landowner”), “The Raid”, and “The Cossacks” are swarming in his head. “Childhood,” published in Sovremennik on September 18, 1852, signed with the modest initials L.N., was extremely successful; the author immediately began to be ranked among the luminaries of the young literary school along with Turgenev, Goncharov, Grigorovich, Ostrovsky, who already enjoyed great literary fame. Criticism - Apollo Grigoriev, Annenkov, Druzhinin, Chernyshevsky - also appreciated the depth psychological analysis, and the seriousness of the author’s intentions, and the bright salience of realism.

Tolstoy remained in the Caucasus for two years, participating in many skirmishes with the mountaineers and being exposed to the dangers of war. Caucasian life. He had rights and claims to the St. George Cross, but did not receive it. When it broke out at the end of 1853 Crimean War, Tolstoy transferred to the Danube Army, participated in the battle of Oltenitsa and the siege of Silistria, and from November 1854 to the end of August 1855 he was in Sevastopol.

Tolstoy lived for a long time on the dangerous 4th bastion, commanded a battery at the Battle of Chernaya, and was present during the bombardment during the assault on Malakhov Kurgan. Despite all the horrors of the siege, Tolstoy wrote at this time the story “Cutting Wood,” which reflected Caucasian impressions, and the first of the three “Sevastopol stories” - “Sevastopol in December 1854.” He sent this story to Sovremennik. Immediately printed, the story was read with interest throughout Russia and made a stunning impression with the picture of the horrors that befell the defenders of Sevastopol. The story was noticed by Emperor Alexander II; he ordered to take care of the gifted officer.

For the defense of Sevastopol, Tolstoy was awarded the Order of St. Anne with the inscription “For Honor,” medals “For the Defense of Sevastopol 1854-1855” and “In Memory of the War of 1853-1856.” Surrounded by the brilliance of fame, enjoying the reputation of a brave officer, Tolstoy had every chance of a career, but he ruined it for himself by writing several satirical songs, stylized as soldiers' songs. One of them is about failure military operation August 4 (16), 1855, when General Read, misunderstanding the order of the commander-in-chief, attacked Fedyukhin Heights. A song called “Like the fourth, we had a hard time taking away mountains,” which touched whole line important generals, was a huge success. Leo Tolstoy answered for her to the assistant chief of staff A. A. Yakimakh. Immediately after the assault on August 27 (September 8), Tolstoy was sent by courier to St. Petersburg, where he completed “Sevastopol in May 1855.” and wrote “Sevastopol in August 1855,” published in the first issue of Sovremennik for 1856 with the author’s full signature.

“Sevastopol Stories” finally strengthened his reputation as a representative of the new literary generation, and in November 1856 the writer parted with military service forever.

Traveling around Europe

In St. Petersburg he was warmly welcomed in high society salons and literary circles; He became especially close friends with Turgenev, with whom he lived in the same apartment for some time. The latter introduced him to the Sovremennik circle, after which Tolstoy established friendly relations with Nekrasov, Goncharov, Panaev, Grigorovich, Druzhinin, Sollogub.

At this time, “Blizzard”, “Two Hussars” were written, “Sevastopol in August” and “Youth” were completed, and the writing of the future “Cossacks” continued.

The cheerful life was not slow to leave a bitter aftertaste in Tolstoy’s soul, especially since he began to have a strong discord with the circle of writers close to him. As a result, “people became disgusted with him and he became disgusted with himself” - and at the beginning of 1857, Tolstoy left St. Petersburg without any regret and went abroad.

On his first trip abroad, he visited Paris, where he was horrified by the cult (“The idolization of a villain, terrible”), at the same time he attends balls, museums, and is fascinated by the “sense of social freedom.” However, his presence at the guillotine made such a grave impression that Tolstoy left Paris and went to places associated with Rousseau - to Lake Geneva.

Lev Nikolaevich writes the story “Albert”. At the same time, his friends never cease to be amazed at his eccentricities: in his letter to I. S. Turgenev in the fall of 1857, P. V. Annenkov tells of Tolstoy’s project to plant forests throughout Russia, and in his letter to V. P. Botkin, Leo Tolstoy reports how very happy he was the fact that he did not become only a writer, contrary to Turgenev’s advice. However, in the interval between the first and second trips, the writer continued to work on “Cossacks”, wrote the story “Three Deaths” and the novel “Family Happiness”.

His last novel was published in “Russian Bulletin” by Mikhail Katkov. Tolstoy's collaboration with the Sovremennik magazine, which lasted from 1852, ended in 1859. In the same year, Tolstoy took part in the organization Literary Fund. But his life was not limited to literary interests: on December 22, 1858, he almost died on a bear hunt. Around the same time, he began an affair with the peasant woman Aksinya, and plans for marriage were ripening.

On his next trip, he was mainly interested in public education and institutions aimed at raising the educational level of the working population. He closely studied issues of public education in Germany and France, both theoretically and practically, and through conversations with specialists. From outstanding people In Germany, he was most interested in Auerbach as the author of the “Black Forest Stories” dedicated to folk life and as a publisher folk calendars. Tolstoy paid him a visit and tried to get closer to him. In addition, he also met with the German teacher Disterweg. During his stay in Brussels, Tolstoy met Proudhon and Lelewell. In London he visited Herzen and attended a lecture by Dickens.

Tolstoy’s serious mood during his second trip to the south of France was also facilitated by the fact that his beloved brother Nikolai died of tuberculosis in his arms. The death of his brother made a huge impression on Tolstoy.

The stories and essays he wrote in the late 1850s include “Lucerne” and “Three Deaths.” Gradually, criticism for 10-12 years, before the appearance of “War and Peace,” cooled towards Tolstoy, and he himself did not strive for rapprochement with writers, making an exception for Afanasy Fet.

One of the reasons for this alienation was the quarrel between Leo Tolstoy and Turgenev, which occurred while both prose writers were visiting Fet on the Stepanovo estate in May 1861. The quarrel almost ended in a duel and ruined the relationship between the writers for 17 long years.

Treatment in the Bashkir nomadic camp Karalyk

In 1862, Lev Nikolaevich was treated with kumis in the Samara province. Initially I wanted to be treated at the Postnikov kumiss clinic near Samara, but due to large quantity vacationers went to the Bashkir nomadic camp Karalyk, on the Karalyk River, 130 versts from Samara. There he lived in a Bashkir tent (yurt), ate lamb, basked in the sun, drank kumiss, tea and played checkers with the Bashkirs. The first time he stayed there for a month and a half. In 1871, Lev Nikolaevich came again due to deteriorating health. Lev Nikolaevich lived not in the village itself, but in a tent near it. He wrote: “The melancholy and indifference have passed, I feel myself returning to the Scythian state, and everything is interesting and new... Much is new and interesting: the Bashkirs, who smell of Herodotus, and Russian men, and villages, especially charming in the simplicity and kindness of the people.” . In 1871, having fallen in love with this region, he bought from Colonel N.P. Tuchkov an estate in the Buzuluk district of the Samara province, near the villages of Gavrilovka and Patrovka (now Alekseevsky district), in the amount of 2,500 acres for 20,000 rubles. Lev Nikolaevich spent the summer of 1872 on his estate. A few fathoms from the house there was a felt tent in which lived the family of the Bashkir Muhammad Shah, who made kumiss for Lev Nikolaevich and his guests. In general, Lev Nikolaevich visited Karalyk 10 times in 20 years.

Pedagogical activity

Tolstoy returned to Russia shortly after the liberation of the peasants and became a peace mediator. Unlike those who looked at the people as a younger brother who needed to be raised to their level, Tolstoy thought, on the contrary, that the people were infinitely higher than the cultural classes and that the gentlemen needed to borrow the heights of spirit from the peasants. He actively began setting up schools in his Yasnaya Polyana and throughout the Krapivensky district.

The Yasnaya Polyana school belonged to the number of original pedagogical attempts: in the era of admiration for the German pedagogical school Tolstoy resolutely rebelled against any regulation and discipline in school. In his opinion, everything in teaching should be individual - both the teacher and the student, and their mutual relationships. At the Yasnaya Polyana school, the children sat where they wanted, as much as they wanted, and as they wanted. There was no specific teaching program. The teacher's only job was to get the class interested. The classes went well. They were led by Tolstoy himself with the help of several regular teachers and several random ones, from his closest acquaintances and visitors.

Since 1862, he began publishing the pedagogical magazine “Yasnaya Polyana”, where he himself was the main employee. In addition to theoretical articles, Tolstoy also wrote a number of stories, fables and adaptations. Combined together, Tolstoy's pedagogical articles made up an entire volume of his collected works. At one time they went unnoticed. On the sociological basis of Tolstoy’s ideas about education, on the fact that Tolstoy saw only simplified and improved ways of exploiting the people in education, science, art and technological success upper classes, no one paid attention. Moreover, from Tolstoy’s attacks on European education and “progress,” many concluded that Tolstoy was a “conservative.”

Soon Tolstoy left teaching. Marriage, the birth of his own children, plans related to writing the novel “War and Peace” push him back by ten years pedagogical activities. Only in the early 1870s did he begin to create his own “ABC” and publish it in 1872, and then release “ New alphabet"and a series of four "Russian books for reading", approved as a result of long ordeals by the Ministry of Public Education as aids for elementary educational institutions. Classes at the Yasnaya Polyana school resume briefly.

It is known that the Yasnaya Polyana school had a certain influence on other domestic teachers. For example, it was S. T. Shatsky who initially took it as a model when creating his own school “Cheerful Life” in 1911.

Acting as a defense attorney in court

In July 1866, Tolstoy appeared at a military court as a defender of Vasil Shabunin, a company clerk stationed near Yasnaya Polyana of the Moscow Infantry Regiment. Shabunin hit the officer, who ordered him to be punished with canes for being drunk. Tolstoy argued that Shabunin was insane, but the court found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Shabunin was shot. This case made a great impression on Tolstoy.

From his youth, Lev Nikolaevich knew Lyubov Alexandrovna Islavina, married to Bers (1826-1886), and loved to play with her children Lisa, Sonya and Tanya. When the Bersov daughters grew up, Lev Nikolaevich thought about marrying eldest daughter Lise, hesitated for a long time until he made a choice in favor of his middle daughter Sophia. Sofya Andreevna agreed when she was 18 years old, and the count was 34 years old. On September 23, 1862, Lev Nikolaevich married her, having previously admitted his premarital affairs.

For a certain period of time, the brightest period of his life begins for Tolstoy - the rapture of personal happiness, very significant thanks to the practicality of his wife, material well-being, outstanding literary creativity and in connection with it all-Russian and worldwide fame. It would seem that in his wife he found an assistant in all matters, practical and literary - in the absence of a secretary, she rewrote her husband’s drafts several times. But very soon happiness is overshadowed by inevitable petty disagreements, fleeting quarrels, mutual misunderstandings, which only worsened over the years.

The wedding of Sergei Nikolaevich Tolstoy’s elder brother was also planned with younger sister Sofia Andreevna - Tatyana Bers. But Sergei’s unofficial marriage to a gypsy woman made the marriage of Sergei and Tatyana impossible.

In addition, Sofia Andreevna’s father, physician Andrei Gustav (Evstafievich) Bers, even before his marriage to Islavina, had a daughter, Varvara, from V.P. Turgeneva, the mother of I.S. Turgenev. On her mother’s side, Varya was the sister of I. S. Turgenev, and on her father’s side, S. A. Tolstoy, thus, together with marriage, Leo Tolstoy acquired a relationship with I. S. Turgenev.

From the marriage of Lev Nikolaevich with Sofia Andreevna, a total of 13 children were born, five of whom died in childhood. Children:
- Sergei (July 10, 1863 - December 23, 1947), composer, musicologist.
- Tatiana (October 4, 1864 - September 21, 1950). Since 1899 she has been married to Mikhail Sergeevich Sukhotin. In 1917-1923 she was the curator of the Yasnaya Polyana museum-estate. In 1925 she emigrated with her daughter. Daughter Tatyana Mikhailovna Sukhotina-Albertini (1905-1996).
- Ilya (May 22, 1866 - December 11, 1933), writer, memoirist
- Lev (1869-1945), writer, sculptor.
- Maria (1871-1906) Buried in the village. Kochaki of Krapivensky district (modern Tula region, Shchekinsky district, village Kochaki). Since 1897 she has been married to Nikolai Leonidovich Obolensky (1872-1934).
- Peter (1872-1873).
- Nikolai (1874-1875).
- Varvara (1875-1875).
- Andrey (1877-1916), official for special assignments under the Tula governor. Participant Russo-Japanese War.
- Mikhail (1879-1944).
- Alexey (1881-1886).
- Alexandra (1884-1979).
- Ivan (1888-1895).

As of 2010, there were a total of more than 350 descendants of Leo Tolstoy (including both living and deceased), living in 25 countries around the world. Most of them are descendants of Lev Lvovich Tolstoy, who had 10 children, the third son of Lev Nikolaevich. Since 2000, once every two years, meetings of the writer’s descendants have been held in Yasnaya Polyana.

Creativity flourishes

During the first 12 years after his marriage, he created War and Peace and Anna Karenina. At the turn of this second era literary life Tolstoy are conceived back in 1852 and completed in 1861-1862. “Cossacks” is the first of the works in which Tolstoy’s talent was most realized.

"War and Peace"

Unprecedented success befell War and Peace. An excerpt from the novel entitled "1805" appeared in the Russian Messenger of 1865; in 1868 three of its parts were published, soon followed by the remaining two. The release of War and Peace was preceded by the novel The Decembrists (1860-1861), to which the author returned several times, but which remained unfinished.

In Tolstoy's novel all classes of society are represented, from emperors and kings to the last soldier, all ages and all temperaments throughout the entire reign of Alexander I.

"Anna Karenina"

The endlessly happy rapture of the bliss of existence is no longer present in Anna Karenina, dating back to 1873-1876. There is still a lot of joyful experience in the almost autobiographical novel of Levin and Kitty, but there is already so much bitterness in the depiction of Dolly’s family life, in the unhappy ending of the love of Anna Karenina and Vronsky, so much anxiety in Levin’s mental life that in general this novel is already a transition to the third period Tolstoy's literary activity.

In January 1871, Tolstoy sent a letter to A. A. Fet: “ How happy I am... that I will never write verbose rubbish like “War” again» .

On December 6, 1908, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: “ People love me for those trifles - “War and Peace”, etc., which seem very important to them»

In the summer of 1909, one of the visitors to Yasnaya Polyana expressed his delight and gratitude for the creation of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Tolstoy replied: “ It’s the same as if someone came to Edison and said: “I really respect you because you dance the mazurka well.” I attribute meaning to completely different books of mine (religious!)».

In the sphere of material interests, he began to say to himself: “ Well, okay, you will have 6,000 acres in the Samara province - 300 heads of horses, and then?"; in the literary field: " Well, okay, you will be more famous than Gogol, Pushkin, Shakespeare, Moliere, all the writers in the world - so what!" As he began to think about raising children, he asked himself: “ For what?"; discussing “how the people can achieve prosperity,” he “ suddenly he said to himself: what does it matter to me?"In general, he " felt that what he stood on had given way, that what he had lived on was no longer there.” The natural result was thoughts of suicide.

« I, happy man, hid the cord from myself so as not to hang myself on the crossbar between the closets in my room, where I was alone every day, undressing, and stopped going hunting with a gun so as not to be tempted by too easy a way to rid myself of life. I myself didn’t know what I wanted: I was afraid of life, I wanted to get away from it and, meanwhile, I hoped for something else from it.».

Other works

In March 1879, in the city of Moscow, Leo Tolstoy met Vasily Petrovich Shchegolenok and in the same year, at his invitation, he came to Yasnaya Polyana, where he stayed for about a month and a half. The little goldfinch told Tolstoy many folk tales and epics, of which more than twenty were written down by Tolstoy, and the plots of some, Tolstoy, if he did not write down on paper, then remembered (these notes are published in volume XLVIII Anniversary edition works of Tolstoy). Six works written by Tolstoy are sourced from legends and stories of Shchegolenok (1881 - “How People Live”, 1885 - “Two Old Men” and “Three Elders”, 1905 - “Korney Vasiliev” and “Prayer”, 1907 - “Old Man in the Church”) . In addition, Count Tolstoy diligently wrote down many sayings, proverbs, individual expressions and words told by the Goldfinch.

Last journey, death and funeral

On the night of October 28 (November 10), 1910, L.N. Tolstoy, fulfilling his decision to live his last years in accordance with his views, secretly left Yasnaya Polyana, accompanied by his doctor D.P. Makovitsky. He began his last journey at Shchekino station. On the same day, having transferred to another train at the Gorbachevo station, he reached the Kozelsk station, hired a coachman and headed to Optina Pustyn, and from there the next day to the Shamordino Monastery, where Tolstoy met his sister, Maria Nikolaevna Tolstoy. Later, Tolstoy’s daughter, Alexandra Lvovna, came to Shamordino with her friend.

On the morning of October 31 (November 13) L.N. Tolstoy and his entourage went from Shamordino to Kozelsk, where they boarded train No. 12, which had already arrived at the station, heading south. There was no time to buy tickets upon boarding; Having reached Belyov, we purchased tickets to Volovo station. According to the testimony of those accompanying Tolstoy, the trip had no specific purpose. After the meeting, we decided to go to Novocherkassk, where we would try to get foreign passports and then go to Bulgaria; if this fails, go to the Caucasus. However, on the way, L.N. Tolstoy fell ill with pneumonia and was forced to get off the train that same day at the first large station near the settlement. This station turned out to be Astapovo (now Leo Tolstoy, Lipetsk region), where on November 7 (20) L. N. Tolstoy died in the house of the station chief I. I. Ozolin.

On November 10 (23), 1910, he was buried in Yasnaya Polyana, on the edge of a ravine in the forest, where as a child he and his brother were looking for a “green stick” that held the “secret” of how to make all people happy.

In January 1913, a letter from Countess Sophia Tolstoy dated December 22, 1912 was published, in which she confirms the news in the press that his funeral service was performed at the grave of her husband by a certain priest (she refutes rumors that he was not real) in her presence. In particular, the countess wrote: “I also declare that Lev Nikolaevich never once before his death expressed a desire not to be buried, and earlier he wrote in his diary in 1895, as if a will: “If possible, then (bury) without priests and funeral services. But if this will be unpleasant for those who will bury, then let them bury as usual, but as cheaply and simply as possible."

Report of the head of the St. Petersburg security department, Colonel von Kotten, to the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire:

« In addition to the reports of November 8th, I am reporting to Your Excellency information about the unrest of student youth that took place on November 9th... on the occasion of the burial day of the deceased L.N. Tolstoy. At 12 o'clock in the afternoon it was served in Armenian Church a memorial service for the late L.N. Tolstoy, which was attended by about 200 people praying, mostly Armenians, and a small part of students. At the end of the funeral service, the worshipers dispersed, but a few minutes later students and female students began to arrive at the church. It turned out that on entrance doors University and Higher Women's Courses posted announcements that a memorial service for L.N. Tolstoy would take place on November 9 at one o'clock in the afternoon in the above-mentioned church. The Armenian clergy performed a requiem service for the second time, by the end of which the church could no longer accommodate all the worshipers, a significant part of whom stood on the porch and in the courtyard of the Armenian Church. At the end of the funeral service, everyone on the porch and in the church yard sang “Eternal Memory”...»

There is also an unofficial version of the death of Leo Tolstoy, stated in emigration by I.K. Sursky from the words of a Russian police official. According to it, the writer, before his death, wanted to reconcile with the church and came to Optina Pustyn for this. Here he awaited the order of the Synod, but, feeling unwell, was taken away by his arriving daughter and died at the Astapovo post station.