Ln Tolstoy stages of creativity. Death and legacy
Classic Russian literature Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 into the noble family of Nikolai Tolstoy and his wife Maria Nikolaevna. The father and mother of the future writer were nobles and belonged to revered families, so the family lived comfortably in their own Yasnaya Polyana estate, located in Tula region.
Leo Tolstoy spent his childhood in the family estate. In these places he first saw the course of life of the working people, heard an abundance of old legends, parables, fairy tales, and here his first attraction to literature arose. Yasnaya Polyana is a place to which the writer returned at all stages of his life, drawing wisdom, beauty, and inspiration.
Despite noble birth, From childhood, Tolstoy had to learn the bitterness of orphanhood, because the mother of the future writer died when the boy was only two years old. His father passed away not much later, when Leo was seven years old. The grandmother first took custody of the children, and after her death, Aunt Palageya Yushkova, who took the four children of the Tolstoy family with her to Kazan.
Growing up
The six years of living in Kazan became the informal years of the writer’s growing up, because during this time his character and worldview were formed. In 1844, Leo Tolstoy entered Kazan University, first in the eastern department, then, not finding himself in the study of Arabic and Turkish languages, to the Faculty of Law.
The writer did not show significant interest in studying law, but he understood the need to obtain a diploma. After passing the external exams, in 1847 Lev Nikolaevich received the long-awaited document and returned to Yasnaya Polyana, and then to Moscow, where he began studying literary creativity.
Military service
Not having time to finish two planned stories, in the spring of 1851 Tolstoy went to the Caucasus with his brother Nikolai and began military service. The young writer takes part in military operations of the Russian army, acts as one of the defenders of the Crimean peninsula, liberates native land from Turkish and Anglo-French troops. Years of service gave Leo Tolstoy invaluable experience, knowledge of the life of ordinary soldiers and citizens, their characters, heroism, and aspirations.
The years of service are vividly reflected in Tolstoy’s stories “Cossacks”, “Hadji Murat”, as well as in the stories “Demoted”, “Cutting Wood”, “Raid”.
Literary and social activities
Returning to St. Petersburg in 1855, Leo Tolstoy was already famous in literary circles. Remembering the respectful attitude towards serfs in his father’s house, the writer strongly supports the abolition of serfdom, clarifying this question in the stories “Polikushka”, “Morning of the Landowner”, etc.
In an effort to see the world, in 1857 Lev Nikolaevich went on a trip abroad, visiting countries Western Europe. Getting acquainted with the cultural traditions of peoples, the master of words records information in his memory in order to later display the most important moments in his work.
Actively engaged in social activities, Tolstoy opens a school in Yasnaya Polyana. The writer strongly criticizes corporal punishment, which was widely practiced at that time in educational institutions Europe and Russia. In order to improve educational system, Lev Nikolaevich publishes a pedagogical magazine called “Yasnaya Polyana”, and in the early 70s he compiled several textbooks for junior schoolchildren, including “Arithmetic”, “ABC”, “Books to Read”. These developments were effectively used in teaching several more generations of children.
Personal life and creativity
In 1862, the writer cast his lot with the daughter of doctor Andrei Bers, Sophia. The young family settled in Yasnaya Polyana, where Sofya Andreevna diligently tried to provide an atmosphere for literary work husband At this time, Leo Tolstoy was actively working on the creation of the epic “War and Peace”, and also, reflecting life in Russia after the reform, wrote the novel “Anna Karenina”.
In the 80s, Tolstoy moved with his family to Moscow, seeking to educate his growing children. Watching the hungry life ordinary people, Lev Nikolaevich contributes to the opening of about 200 free tables for those in need. Also at this time, the writer published a number of topical articles about the famine, strongly condemning the policies of the rulers.
The period of literature of the 80-90s includes: the story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, the drama “The Power of Darkness”, the comedy “Fruits of Enlightenment”, the novel “Sunday”. For his strong attitude against religion and autocracy, Leo Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church.
last years of life
In 1901 - 1902 the writer became seriously ill. For the purpose of a speedy recovery, the doctor strongly recommends a trip to Crimea, where Leo Tolstoy spends six months. The prose writer's last trip to Moscow took place in 1909.
Since 1881, the writer has been trying to leave Yasnaya Polyana and retire, but remains, not wanting to hurt his wife and children. On October 28, 1910, Leo Tolstoy nevertheless decided to take a conscious step and live the rest of his years in a simple hut, refusing all honors.
An unexpected illness on the road becomes an obstacle to the writer’s plans and he spends his last seven days of life in the house of the station master. The day of death of the outstanding literary and public figure was November 20, 1910.
"Tolstoy is the whole world» (M. Gorky) Life and creative path
L. N. Tolstoy.
Goals : arouse interest in the life and personality of the great Tolstoy, his social and pedagogical activities; help students understand the writer’s artistic worldview, complex and contradictory, changing throughout his long life; give a brief description of creativity (with a generalization of what has been studied).
Count Leo Tolstoy - genius artist... This is the most amazing person I have had the pleasure of seeing. I listened to him a lot, and now, when I write this, he stands before me wonderfully, beyond comparison.
M. Gorky
What a miracle of creativity, mind, soul, passion of a genius!!! What a blessing that there are such people in the world and that I happened to be his (Tolstoy’s) contemporary...
V. Stasov
life and work of L. N. Tolstoy (1828–1910)
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828 – 1910) - a writer of enormous talent and hard work, the author of brilliant works known throughout the world.
Those contemporaries who had the pleasure of seeing, communicating and listening to Tolstoy considered themselves happy people.
The writer saw the meaning of his life in serving people. (“The only happy periods of my life were those when I devoted my whole life to serving people” (L. Tolstoy) . And his life was filled writing work. Every day, every hour he worked, not knowing laziness; was mercilessly strict and demanding of himself as an artist of words.
Literary heritage Tolstoy is 90 volumes Anniversary edition essays! Literature was for him a matter into which he poured his whole soul. In his books, the brilliant Tolstoy expressed the thoughts and feelings of the Russian people, showed all the strength and greatness of the people's spirit, people's patriotism and people's love for their homeland.
But the writer was also denouncer of evil , refused to put up with any manifestations of hypocrisy or falsehood. He did not like people who were complacent and indifferent. “Calmness is spiritual meanness,” - he thought. According to Tolstoy, a person should constantly be in search, “tear, get confused, struggle, make mistakes, start and quit, and start again, and quit again, and always struggle and lose.”
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy saw the main path to transforming the world, the path to happiness, in moral self-improvement, in non-resistance to evil through violence and in forgiveness. This doctrine was called - "Tolstoyanism".
The Greatest Discovery writer's method "dialectics of the soul". What's the point of this? Tolstoy depicts the inner world of his hero in constant development. “Dialectics of the soul” is a depiction of the process of mental movements through the struggle of opposites in a person’s character.” (N. N. Naumova)
1. Childhood, adolescence and youth of the writer
Born August 28, 1828 in noble estate Yasnaya Polyana Tula province and was the fourth son of Count Tolstoy. Origin seemed to predetermine life path future writer: upbringing and education typical of wealthy nobles, studies at Kazan University, disappointment in university studies (“This life I lead here is not for me”), passion for social life.
1847 Tolstoy, without finishing his studies, leaves for Yasnaya Polyana to devote himself economic activity, as well as improve the life of their peasants.
Autobiographical trilogy - stories “Childhood”, “Adolescence”, “Youth” (1852–1856). Main character- Nikolenka Irtenev. The author "traces" story of three periods in a person's life. Using the “dialectics of the soul” method, he shows the development of the hero’s character.
2. L. N. TOLSTOY IN THE CAUCASUS. THE BEGINNING OF LITERARY ACTIVITY.
In 1851, together with his brother Nikolai L.N. Tolstoy went to the Caucasus. Episodes Caucasian War he described in the works “Raid”, “Demoted”, “Cossacks”. Since January 1854, Tolstoy served first in the Danube Army, then in Sevastopol. For his rare fearlessness he was awarded the Order of Anna with the inscription "For bravery" and medals. Serving on the terrible fourth bastion, he does not stop literary work, drawing on "live war situation" rich material for « Sevastopol stories».
“A military career is not mine...” - Tolstoy writes in his diary (1855) and goes on a trip abroad.
3. PEDAGOGICAL ACTIVITY OF L. N. TOLSTOY
1859 Tolstoy opens a school for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana, and then 20 more in the surrounding villages. In the Yasnaya Polyana magazine he describes his experience of working with students. At the center of the pedagogical process - student personality, training is conducted using the method of free conversation.
“Tolstoy’s school activities were varied in nature, but the literary direction was still more noticeable than others.” (E. Maimin).
4. Literary activity of L.N. Tolstoy before and after the ideological turning point. Religious and ethical views of the writer
1862 Tolstoy married the daughter of a Moscow doctor, Sofya Andreevna Bers.
I. A. Goncharov: “He, that is, Count (Tolstoy), became a real lion of literature,” he worked quickly, passionately, with enthusiasm.
Better e works L. N. Tolstoy:
"War and Peace" (1864–1869).
"Anna Karenina" (1870–1877).
"The Power of Darkness" (1866).
"Kreutzer Sonata" (1887–1889).
"Resurrection" (1889–1899).
"Hadji Murat" (1896–1905).
Comedy “The Fruits of Enlightenment” (1900).
Journalistic articles “I Can’t Be Silent”, “Thou Shalt Not Kill”, etc. (1908).
"After the Ball" (1903).
The religious and ethical views of L. N. Tolstoy are based, as Yu. V. Lebedev explains, on teaching about true life. What is its meaning? In spiritual love for the world and for one’s neighbor as for oneself. A person’s path to true life is concretized in the doctrine of moral self-improvement of a person, which includes the five commandments of Christ:
1) The commandment of non-resistance to evil through violence. (Evil cannot destroy evil; to fight violence means that it is necessary to refrain from violence; only good is capable of defeating it in active spiritual opposition to evil.)
2) Do not commit adultery, maintain a clean family life.
3) Never take revenge on anyone, do not justify your feelings of revenge by saying that you were offended, tolerate insults.
4) Do not swear or swear anything to anyone.
5) Remember that all people are brothers - and learn to see the good in your enemies.
5. “The whole world, the whole earth is looking at him...” ( M. Gorky )
L.N. Tolstoy eventually comes to a break with the noble class, and then to a denial of his previous literary activity. In subsequent works he “teaches the people morality.”
1896 “And again I pray, screaming in pain. I’m confused, stuck, I can’t do it myself, but I hate myself and my life.”
(L. Tolstoy).
Homework.
- Read "Sevastopol Stories".
- Read "War and Peace" .
Love the book, it will make your life easier, it will help you sort out the colorful and stormy confusion of thoughts, feelings, events, it will teach you to respect people and yourself, it inspires your mind and heart with a feeling of love for the world, for people.
Maxim Gorky
The literary career began in 1850 with the move to Moscow from his parental home Yasnaya Polyana. It was then that the writer began his first work - the autobiographical story “Childhood” - a work about the life of gypsies that remained unfinished.
And in the same year, “The History of Yesterday” was written - a story about the experiences of one day.
In 1851, Tolstoy went to serve as a cadet in the Caucasus. This happened under the influence of one of the most authoritative men for young Lev Nikolaevich - brother Nikolai, who then served as an artillery officer. In the Caucasus, Tolstoy completed the story “Childhood” - his literary debut, which in 1852 was published in the magazine “Sovremennik”. This story, together with the following “Adolescence” and “Youth”, became part of the famous autobiographical trilogy about the inner world of a child, teenager and young man Irtenyev.
In 1851-1853 once a student, and now an aspiring writer, he took part in the Crimean War. Army life and participation in hostilities left indelible impressions in the writer’s memory and provided enormous material for military stories of 1852-1855: “Cutting Wood,” “Raid,” and “Sevastopol Stories.”
It was first described here back side wars are the complex life and experiences of a person during war. Participation in the bloodiest war of the 19th century. And artistic experience, acquired in military stories of 1852-1855, the writer used a decade later in work on his main work - the novel “
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy- 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 ancient family Even under Ivan the Terrible, the Tolstoys served as governors in many cities of Rus'.
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 member 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 participated in Patriotic War 1812, was captured by the French and was liberated 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 there was a 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 him he heard a lot folk tales, epics, songs, legends. The life of the people, their work, interests and views, oral creativity- everything living and wise - Yasnaya Polyana revealed to Tolstoy.
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 languages, played the piano, was engaged in 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 the children for humane treatment to the 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 inclination youngest son to a living 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 open side big city life, but also some hidden, shadow sides. With his first stay in Moscow, the writer associated the end of the early time your 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. Sudden death her son was a terrible blow for her and less than a year later carried 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, Special attention he devoted himself 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 on 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 training sessions 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 military service Tolstoy. 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 around different cities, writer with great interest got acquainted with the culture and social system of Western European countries. 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 school: “ABC”, “Arithmetic”, four “Books to read”. 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 historical novel and began to create a new work, 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 famine date back to the same period, in which the writer truthfully depicted difficult situation 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 true position 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. 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 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 last time made a 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 peasant hut, among the ordinary Russian people. However, on the way, Tolstoy became seriously ill and was forced to get off the train at the small Astapovo station. The last seven days of my life great writer spent in the station master's house. The news of the death of one of the outstanding thinkers, a wonderful writer, a great humanist deeply struck the hearts of everyone advanced people this time. Creative heritage Tolstoy 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!”
Count L.N. Tolstoy - a descendant of two noble noble families: Count Tolstoy and Prince Volkonsky (on his mother's side) - was born on August 28 (September 9), 1828 in the Yasnaya Polyana estate. This is where he lived most life, wrote most of his works, including novels included in the golden fund of world literature: “War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina” and “Resurrection”.
The most important events of Tolstoy’s “pre-writing” biography are early orphanhood, moving with his brothers from Moscow to Kazan to live with his father’s sister, who was appointed their guardian, short and not very successful studies at Kazan University, first at the Eastern and then at the Faculty of Law (from 1844 . to 1847). After leaving the university, Tolstoy went to Yasnaya Polyana, inherited from his father.
Since childhood future writer was fascinated by the idea of self-knowledge and moral self-determination. From 1847 until the end of his life, he kept a diary, which reflected his intense moral quest, painful doubts about the correctness of his life decisions, joyful moments of finding the meaning of existence and a bitter parting with what until recently seemed an unshakable truth... Entries in Tolstoy! The diary became “human documents” that prepared the appearance of his autobiographical books. Cognition human soul Tolstoy began with himself, which lasted his entire life.
First literary experiments Tolstoy dates back to 1850. Having arrived from Yasnaya Polyana to Moscow, he began work on autobiographical story“Childhood”, a story from the life of gypsies (remained unfinished), wrote “The History of Yesterday” - a psychological “report” about one of the days lived. Soon Tolstoy's life changed dramatically: in 1851 he decided to go to the Caucasus and join one of the army units as a cadet. Important role This decision was played by one of the most authoritative people for young Tolstoy - his older brother Nikolai, an artillery officer who served in the army.
In the Caucasus, the story “Childhood” was completed, which became Tolstoy’s literary debut (published in Nekrasov’s Sovremennik in 1852). This work, together with the later stories “Adolescence” (1852-1854) and “Youth” (1855-1857), became part of the famous autobiographical trilogy, in which Tolstoy, who was still interested in pedagogical ideas French educator J.-J. Rousseau, explores the psychology of children, teenagers and young men Nikolai Irtenev.
In 1851-1853 a former student and aspiring writer took part in the war with the highlanders. During Crimean War he was transferred to the Danube Army, which fought the Turks, and then to Sevastopol, besieged by Allied troops. Army life and episodes of the Crimean War served as a source of unforgettable impressions and provided abundant material for military works—the stories “Raid” (1852), “Cutting Wood” (1853-1855), “Sevastopol Stories” (1855). They show for the first time the “undressy” side of the war. “Trench” truth and the inner world of a person in war - that’s what interested the warrior writer. For the courage and courage shown during the defense of Sevastopol, he was awarded the Order of Anna and the medals “For the Defense of Sevastopol” and “In Memory of the War of 1853-1856.” Experience of a participant in the bloodiest war mid-19th V. and the artistic discoveries made in war stories of the 1850s were used by Tolstoy a decade later in his work on his main “military” work, the novel “War and Peace.”
Tolstoy's first publications evoked sympathetic responses from critics and readers. Perhaps the most insightful characteristic of creativity young writer belongs to the pen of N.G. Chernyshevsky. In the article “Childhood and adolescence. War stories gr. Tolstoy" (1856), the critic was the first to define with classical clarity the most important features creativity of Tolstoy: “purity moral sense"and psychologism - attention to the most complex side of human existence, which Chernyshevsky called the "dialectics of the soul."
In 1855, Tolstoy came to St. Petersburg, and in the fall of 1856 he retired, disappointed in military career. Work began on the previously planned “Novel of a Russian Landowner.” This work remained unfinished; only one of its fragments has survived - the story “The Morning of the Landowner,” the “echo” of which can be felt in all of Tolstoy’s novels.
In 1857, during his first trip to Europe (France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany), Tolstoy wrote the story “Lucerne”. Having created in it the image of Western “civilization”, he raised serious moral and philosophical problems. For the first time, the theme of human alienation was touched upon, which was continued in the late work of the writer and in the works of his followers - writers of the 20th century. Tolstoy wrote with bitterness about how people, generally kind and humane, showed extraordinary spiritual callousness towards a specific person, but ended the story with an abstract philosophical conclusion about the “reasonableness” of the universe: “Infinite is the goodness and wisdom of the One who allowed and commanded exist for all these contradictions.”
In works of the 1850s. Tolstoy the artist avoided criticism of reality, coming into contact with, but not merging with, the critical trend in Russian realistic literature. The writer consciously went against the grain, believing that “the tendency to pay attention only to what outrages is a great vice, and specifically of our time.” He followed a moral maxim, which he formulated as follows: “Intentionally seek all that is good, kind, and turn away from what is bad.” Tolstoy sought to combine the accuracy of the realistic characteristics of the heroes, a deep analysis of their psychology with the search for philosophical and moral principles life. Moral truth, according to Tolstoy, is concrete and achievable - it can be revealed to a person who is seeking, restless, and dissatisfied with himself.
The story “Cossacks” (1853-1863) is an artistic “manifesto” of Tolstoy’s “Rousseauism”. Despite the “literary” nature of the plot, which goes back to the “Caucasian” works of Pushkin (“Gypsies”) and Lermontov (“Hero of Our Time”), the story became the result of the writer’s creative development over ten years. There was a significant convergence of three themes, important for subsequent work on the novel “War and Peace”: “natural man”, folk life and the traditional theme for Tolstoy moral quest nobleman (the image of Olenin). In "Cossacks" it's "fake" secular society contrasted with a harmonious community of people close to nature. “Naturality” for Tolstoy is the main criterion for assessing the moral qualities and behavior of people. “True” life, in his opinion, can only be a “free” life based on an understanding of the wise laws of nature.
At the end of the 1850s, Tolstoy experienced an acute spiritual crisis. Dissatisfied with his work, disappointed in his secular and literary surroundings, he abandoned active participation V literary life and settled on the Yasnaya Polyana estate, where he took up farming, teaching and family (in 1862 Tolstoy married the daughter of a Moscow doctor S.A. Bers).
A new turn in the writer’s life significantly adjusted his literary plans. However, having retired from the literary “fuss,” he did not stop working on new works. Since 1860, when the novel “The Decembrists” was conceived, the plan for Tolstoy’s largest work of the 1860s gradually took shape. - epic novel "War and Peace". This work accumulated not only the life and artistic experience accumulated by Tolstoy in the 1850s, but also reflected his new interests. In particular, pedagogical activity, marriage and construction own family led to the writer's close attention to the problems of family and education. “Family Thought” in the work, dedicated to events half a century ago, turned out to be just as important as “popular thought”, philosophical, historical and moral problems.
His ascetic work—the creation of “War and Peace”—ended in 1869. For several years, Tolstoy hatched the idea of a new work on the “central”, in his opinion, historical topic- the theme of Peter I. However, work on the novel about the Peter I era did not progress beyond a few chapters. Only in 1873, having gone through a new passion for pedagogy (the ABCs and Books for Reading were written), he began to seriously begin to implement a new idea - a novel about modernity.
The novel "Anna Karenina" (1873-1877), central work 1870s, - new stage V creative development Tolstoy. Unlike the epic novel “War and Peace,” dedicated to depicting the “heroic” era in the life of Russia, in the problems of “Anna Karenina” the “family thought” was in the foreground. The novel became a real “family epic”: Tolstoy believed that it was in the family that one should look for the knot of modern social and moral problems. The family in his portrayal is a sensitive barometer, reflecting changes in public morality caused by changes in the entire post-reform way of life. Anxiety for the fate of Russia dictated famous words Konstantin Levin: “Now, ... when all this has turned upside down and is just settling down, the question of how these conditions will fit in is only one important question in Russia.” The hero understands that his fragile family happiness depends on the well-being of the country.
Love and marriage, according to Tolstoy, cannot be considered only as a source of sensual pleasure. The most important thing is moral responsibilities to family and loved ones. The love of Anna Karenina and Vronsky is based only on the need for pleasure, and therefore leads to the spiritual separation of the heroes, making them unhappy. The tragedy of Anna's fate is predetermined not only by the callousness of the man whom she married not out of love, but out of calculation, by the cruelty and hypocrisy of the world, by Vronsky's frivolity, but also by the very nature of her feelings. The conflict between pleasure, obtained at the cost of destroying the family, and duty to the son turned out to be insoluble. The highest judge for Anna Karenina is not “the empty world,” but her son Seryozha: “he understood, he loved, he judged her.” The meaning of the relationship between Kitty and Levin is different: the creation of a family understood as a spiritual union loving people. The love of Kitty and Levin not only connects them with each other, but also connects them with the world around them and brings them true happiness.
Each change in Tolstoy’s worldview was reflected in his everyday life and in his work. Submitting to new moral imperatives, he began to follow them in practice: he abandoned literary activity, losing interest in it, and even “renounced” works written earlier. But after some time, Tolstoy returned to literature - a new turn took place in his work. This was the case in the late 1870s.
Tolstoy came to the conclusion that the life of the society to which he belonged by birth and upbringing was deceitful and empty. The severity of social criticism was combined in his works with the desire to find simple and clear answers to the “eternal” philosophical and moral issues. A keen sense of transience human life, the defenselessness of man in the face of inevitable death pushed Tolstoy to search for new foundations of life, a meaning that would not be destroyed by death. These quests were reflected in the “Confession” (1879-1882) and in the religious and philosophical treatise “What is my faith?” (1882-1884). In “Confession” Tolstoy concluded that it is faith that gives meaning to life, helping to get rid of a false, meaningless existence, and in the treatise “What is my faith?” outlined in detail his religious and moral teachings, called “Tolstoyism” by his contemporaries.
A change in moral and aesthetic guidelines led to the appearance of the treatise “What is Art?” (started in 1892, completed in 1897-1898). In the work, with the directness and categoricalness characteristic of the late Tolstoy, two problems are posed and solved: the author sharply criticizes modern Art, considering it not just useless, but destructive for people, and expresses his ideas about what it should be true art. main idea Tolstoy: art should be useful, the task of the writer is to form moral character people, to help them search for the truths of life.
The story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” (1884-1886) is Tolstoy’s masterpiece, which influenced several generations of Russians and foreign writers, - first piece of art, written after a turning point in his worldview. Tolstoy placed his hero, a successful St. Petersburg official, in the face of death, that is, in a “borderline situation” when a person must reconsider his previous attitude to service, career, family, and think about the meaning of his life.
The life of the main character of the story, Ivan Ilyich, is “the most ordinary and the most terrible,” although everything he wanted came true in it. A reassessment of the past, which was revealed to him from a new perspective, moral self-criticism and a mercilessly sober look at the lies and hypocrisy of those around him helped Ivan Ilyich overcome the fear of death. In the moral enlightenment of the hero, Tolstoy showed the victory of true spirituality. Unlike the works of the 1850s - 1870s, Ivan Ilyich’s insight was not the result of a long search for truth. The story clearly revealed a feature of Tolstoy’s late prose: the writer was no longer interested in the process moral development heroes, but a sudden spiritual transformation, the “resurrection” of a person.
The story “The Kreutzer Sonata,” written in 1887-1889, reflected the ideas of the late Tolstoy about the destructive power of sensual love, “lust.” Family drama Pozdnysheva, in the author’s interpretation, is a consequence of the “power of darkness,” that is, unhealthy, inflamed passions that crowd out the true basis family and marital relations- spiritual intimacy. In the afterword to The Kreutzer Sonata, Tolstoy declared chastity and celibacy as the ideal of life.
For ten years (1889-1899) Tolstoy worked on last novel"Resurrection", the plot of which was based on a real court case. The main idea of this novel, unprecedented in its power of social criticism, is the spiritual “resurrection” of man. Social institutions, religion, morality and law - the writer showed all modern life that disfigures people from the standpoint of his religious and moral philosophy. Reflecting on the “end of the century,” Tolstoy summed up disappointing results XIX century, in which material civilization has taken over spirituality, forcing people to worship false values. However, the writer is convinced that, just as the unrighteous, meaningless life of Prince Nekhlyudov ended with his insight and moral “resurrection,” the true prospect of the existence of all people should be overcoming lies, falsehood and hypocrisy. On the eve of the 20th century. Tolstoy thought about the coming “spring” of humanity, about the triumph of life, which will break through the “slabs of stones” like the first spring grass.
While working on “Resurrection,” Tolstoy simultaneously wrote the stories “Father Sergius” (1890-1898) and “Hadji Murat” (1896-1904). Both works were first published (with censored notes) only in 1912. In 1903, the story “After the Ball” was written (published in 1911). A striking phenomenon in Tolstoy’s late work were the plays “The Power of Darkness”, “The Fruits of Enlightenment” and “The Living Corpse”.
Despite the fact that in the 1880s - 1890s. Tolstoy devoted a lot of time and effort to working on journalistic works, believing that writing “artistic” is “shameful”, he literary activity didn't stop. The very presence of the patriarch of Russian literature had a beneficial effect on artistic and social life Russia. His works turned out to be in tune with the ideological and creative quests of young writers of the early 20th century.
V. Many of them (I.A. Bunin, M. Gorky, A.I. Kuprin, M.P. Artsybashev, etc.), like thousands of people on different continents, went through the passion for “Tolstoyism.”
Tolstoy was not only a true artistic authority, but also a “teacher of life”, an example of an ascetic attitude towards human moral responsibilities. His religious and moral teaching, which did not coincide with Orthodox dogma (in the early 1900s, the Holy Synod excommunicated Tolstoy from the church), was perceived as a clear program of life.
Tolstoy’s departure from Yasnaya Polyana on October 27 (November 10), 1910 was not only the end of an acute family crisis. This was the result of the writer’s painful reflections, who had long ago renounced property, about the falsity of his position as a preacher in the living conditions of a master’s estate. Tolstoy's death is symbolic: he died on the way to a new life, unable to benefit from the fruits of his “liberation.” Having contracted pneumonia, Tolstoy died at the small Astapovo railway station on November 7 (20) and was buried on November 10 (23), 1910 in Yasnaya Polyana.
