History in the faces of Tolstoy Alexei. "Red Jester"

en.wikipedia.org

Biography

A. N. Tolstoy was born on December 29, 1882 (January 10, 1883). Father - Count Nikolai Alexandrovich Tolstoy (1849-1890), although some biographers attribute paternity to his unofficial stepfather - Alexei Apollonovich Bostrom (see section "Origin")

Mother - Alexandra Leontievna (1854-1906), nee Turgeneva - writer, cousin-granddaughter of the Decembrist Nikolai Turgenev, by the time of the birth of A. N. Tolstoy, she had left her husband and was cohabiting with her lover. She could not officially marry A.A. Bostrom due to the definition of spiritual consistory.

The future writer's childhood years were spent on the small estate of his mother's lover A. A. Bostrom on the Sosnovka farmstead, not far from Samara (currently the village of Pavlovka, Krasnoarmeysky district).

Tales and stories from the life of the estate nobility (cycle “Zavolzhye”, 1909-1911).

In the spring of 1905, while a student at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, Alexei Tolstoy was sent to practice in the Urals, where he lived in Nevyansk for more than a month. Later, according to the book “The Best Travels in the Middle Urals: Facts, Legends, Traditions,” Tolstoy dedicated his very first story “The Old Tower” to the Nevyansk Inclined Tower.

In 1918-1923, Alexey Tolstoy was in exile, the impressions of which he reflected in the satirical story “The Adventures of Nevzorov, or Ibicus” (1924). In 1927, he took part in the collective novel “Big Fires,” published in the magazine “Ogonyok.”

In the trilogy “Walking Through Torment” (1922-1941), he strives to present Bolshevism as having a national and popular basis, and the revolution of 1917 as the highest truth comprehended by the Russian intelligentsia.
Along Sadovaya, you know, guardsmen were walking in shiny lines, loose and self-confident: “We’ll drive this bastard back into the basements...”. - That's what they said. And this “bastard” is the entire Russian people, sir. He resists, doesn’t want to go to the basement...

Damn you! Until now I knew that Russia is a territory of one sixth part globe, inhabited by the people who lived on it great history... Maybe this is not so in the Bolshevik way... I apologize...
- No, that’s right, sir... I’m proud... And personally, I am quite satisfied reading the history of the Russian state. But a hundred million men have not read these books. And they are not proud. They wish to have own story, unfolded not in past, but in future times... A well-fed story... Nothing can be done about it.

The historical novel "Peter I" (books 1-3, 1929-1945, unfinished) is perhaps the most famous example of this genre in Soviet literature, contains an apology for the strong and cruel reformist government.

Tolstoy's works, the story "Aelita" (1922-1923) and the novel "Engineer Garin's Hyperboloid" (1925-1927), became classics of Soviet science fiction.

The story “Bread” (1937), dedicated to the defense of Tsaritsyn during the Civil War, is interesting because it tells in a fascinating artistic form the vision of the Civil War in Russian Empire, which existed in the circle of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin and his associates and served as the basis for the creation of his cult of personality. At the same time, the story pays detailed attention to the description of the warring parties, the life and psychology of the people of that time.

Among other works: the story “Russian Character” (1944), dramaturgy - “The Conspiracy of the Empress” (1925), about the disintegration of the tsarist regime; “Diary of Vyrubova” (1927). The author subjected some major works to serious revision - the novels "Sisters", "Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin", "Emigrants" ("Black Gold"), the play "Love is a Golden Book", etc.

A. N. Tolstoy - Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939), deputy of the USSR Supreme Council of the 1st convocation since 1937.

A. N. Tolstoy died on February 23, 1945. Buried in Moscow on Novodevichy Cemetery(site no. 2).

Awards and prizes
*
* 1941 - Stalin Prize of the first degree for 1-2 parts of the novel “Peter I”.
* 1943 - Stalin Prize of the first degree for the novel “Walking in Torment” (transferred to the Defense Fund for the construction of the Grozny tank).
* 1946 - Stalin Prize of the first degree for the play “Ivan the Terrible” (posthumously).
* Order of Lenin (1938)
* Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1943)
* Order of the Badge of Honor (1939)

Creativity of the war period

The Great Patriotic War found Alexei Tolstoy already a famous writer (in 1941, at the age of 58, he finished the third book of his novel “Walking Through Torment”).

During the war years, Alexei Tolstoy wrote about 60 journalistic materials (essays, articles, appeals, sketches about heroes, military operations), starting from the first days of the war (June 27, 1941 - “What we defend”) until his death at the end of winter 1945. The most famous work Alexei Tolstoy's essay on the war is considered to be "Motherland".

In these articles, the writer often turns to folklore and episodes of Russian history. Russians are often mentioned in articles folk tales(in Army of Heroes, Alexey Tolstoy compares Hitler to fairy wolf). In “Russian Warriors,” the writer quotes “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” Other articles mention the struggle with Khan Mamai, the victories of Alexander Nevsky and Mikhail Kutuzov. Alexei Tolstoy consistently deduces a certain “Russian character”, noting certain features characteristic of the Russian people: “detachment from the familiar in difficult moments life" ("What we defend"), "Russian intelligence" ("Army of Heroes"), "the aspiration of the Russian people for moral improvement" ("To the Writers North America"), "disregard for one's life and anger, intelligence and tenacity in a fight" ("Why Hitler must be defeated").

Alexey Tolstoy laughs psychological methods fighting the war of the fascists (“Braves”), comparing “skull and bones ... in buttonholes, black tanks, howling bombs” with the horned masks of savages. Thus, Tolstoy tried to combat various myths about the enemy that circulated among the soldiers.

Addresses in St. Petersburg

* 1907-1910 - apartment building of I. I. Dernov (Tavricheskaya street, 35);
* 1910-1912 - apartment building of I. I. Kruglov (Nevsky Prospekt, 147);
* 1925-05.1928 - apartment building on the embankment. Zhdanovka River, 3;
* 05.1928-05.1930 - Detskoe Selo, Moskovskaya street, 8;
* 05.1930 - beginning of 1938 - House of Writers' Creativity (Detskoe Selo, Proletarskaya Street, 6).

A. N. Tolstoy in the Moscow region

Several places near Moscow are associated with the name of A. N. Tolstoy: he visited the House of Writers in Maleevka (now Ruzsky district), at the end of the 30s he visited Maxim Gorky at his dacha in Gorki (now Odintsovo district), together with Gorky he visited in 1932 the Bolshevo labor commune (now the territory of the city of Korolev).

For a long time he lived in a dacha in Barvikha (now Odintsovo district). In 1942, he wrote his war stories here: “Mother and Daughter”, “Katya”, “Stories of Ivan Sudarev”. Here he began the third book of the novel “Walking Through Torment”, and at the end of 1943 he worked on the third part of the novel “Peter I”. Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy died on February 23, 1945 in the Barvikha sanatorium.

Family

Origin

Tolstoy's origins raise questions. Roman Borisovich Gul in his memoirs cites one of the prevailing versions that A. N. Tolstoy was not the biological son of Count Nikolai Tolstoy, referring to the other sons of the count, who, according to the version he cited, had a negative attitude towards him, since he participated in the division father's inheritance.

In the latest biography of Tolstoy, published in the ZhZL series (2006), biographer Alexey Varlamov provides evidence that Gul’s testimony is just one of the versions, there was a negative attitude of the memoirist towards Tolstoy and Alexey Nikolaevich had the right to a surname and patronymic and title, although the same author provides written evidence that his mother swore to the priest that his father was A. A. Bostrom. Apparently, after some time, she decided that it was much better for her son to be a legitimate count, and began a long-term lawsuit about the legality of his birth, surname, patronymic and title.

The opinion of biographer Alexei Varlamov about the right to the surname, patronymic and title of A. N. Tolstoy has not yet been challenged by anyone, since there was official recognition of his surname and title, which occurred in 1901, when A. N. Tolstoy was already 17 years old .

Sergei Golitsyn in his book “Notes of a Survivor” mentions: “I remember one story from Uncle Alda from his archival searches. Somewhere he unearthed a copy of an appeal from the mother of the writer A.N. Tolstoy in the royal name: she asks to give her young son the surname and title of her husband, with whom she had not lived for many years. It turned out that the classic of Soviet literature was not at all the third Tolstoy. The uncle showed this document to Bonch. He gasped and said: “Hide the paper and don’t tell anyone about it, it’s a state secret...”

Wives and children

1. Yulia Vasilievna Rozhanskaya, native of Samara
son Yuri, died in childhood

2. Sofya Isaakovna Dymshits, an artist, a Jew, after several years of cohabitation with Tolstoy, converted to Orthodoxy in order to enter into a legal marriage with him, but the wedding did not take place.
daughter Maryana (Marianna) (b. 1911 - 1988), husband E.A. Shilovsky (1889-1952).

3. Krandievskaya, Natalya Vasilievna (1888-1963), poetess in her youth - in 1914-1945. Prototype of Katya Roshchina from “Walking in Torment”
Dmitry, composer, three wives (one of them Tatyana Nikolaevna), a child from each marriage
Nikita (1917-1994), physicist, the story “Nikita’s Childhood” is dedicated to him, wife Natalya Mikhailovna Lozinskaya (daughter of translator Lozinsky), seven children (including Tatyana Tolstaya), fourteen grandchildren (including Artemy Lebedev)
(adopted) Fyodor Krandievsky - Krandievskaya’s son from his first marriage, grew up in Tolstoy’s family

4. Love (in other sources Lyudmila) Ilyinichna Krestinskaya-Barshcheva. There were no children.

Interesting Facts

Is the bread yours too?

Young literary critic Mark Polyakov visited Alexei Tolstoy in Barvikha. The master was supportive and invited the guest to dine. At dinner Tolstoy boasted:
- The salad is from my garden. Carrots - I grew them myself. Potatoes, cabbage - all your own.
- Is the bread yours too? - Polyakov sarcastically.
- Bread?! Go away! - Tolstoy became furious, rightly seeing in Polyakov’s question a hint of the novel “Bread,” written for a social order and extolling Stalin.

A. Tolstoy about Stalin

“A great man!” Tolstoy grinned, “cultured, well-read!”
I once started talking to him about French literature, about The Three Musketeers.
"Dumas, father or son, was the only French writer, which I read,” Joseph told me proudly.
"And Victor Hugo?" - I asked.
“I didn’t read that. I preferred Engels to him,” answered the father of nations.
“But I’m not sure whether he read Engels,” Tolstoy added.

Theft is a relic of the past

In 1937, the “Soviet count” A. Tolstoy was in Paris as a distinguished tourist. He met Yu. Annenkov several times and rode with him around Paris in the latter’s car. During one of the trips, the following conversation took place between them.
Tolstoy:
“Your car is good, there are no words; but mine is still much more luxurious than yours. And I even have two of them.”
Annenkov:
“I bought a car with the money I earned, and you?”
Tolstoy:
“To tell the truth, cars were provided to me: one by the central committee of the party, the other by the Leningrad council. But, in general, I only use one of them, because I have only one driver.”
Annenkov:
“What explains that in the Soviet Union, everyone who has a car must also have a driver? In Europe, we ourselves sit behind the wheel. Drivers work either for the sick or for some snobs. Aren’t drivers in the Soviet Union seconded security officers?
Tolstoy:
“Nonsense! We are all our own security officers. But if I go, say, to a friend’s place on Kuznetsky Most for tea, and sit there for an hour and a half or two, then, after all, I won’t be able to find tires on the wheels: they’ll fly away! If I come to someone for dinner and sit until three in the morning, then when I go out into the street I will find only the skeleton of a car: no wheels, no windows, and even the seat mattresses have been taken out. And if a driver is waiting in the car, then everything will be fine. okay. Do you understand?"
Annenkov:
“I understand, but not everything. In the Soviet Union there is no private trade, no private shops, so why the hell are car tires, wheels, and mattresses stolen?”
Tolstoy (with surprise):
“Don’t be naive! You know very well that these are remnants of the capitalist system! Atavism!”

http://www.peoples.ru/art/literature/prose/roman/tolstoy/facts.html

"Genuine Count"

“Genuine Count” calls the writer Yu.P. Annenkov, claiming that A.N. Tolstoy is the grandnephew of Count A.K. Tolstoy (Annenkov Yu.P. Diary of my meetings. Cycle of tragedies. T. 2. M., 1991. P. 122). It is unclear where this information came from. After all, if they are true, then A.N. Tolstoy is a relative of the Romanovs, since it is known that the great-grandmother of A.K. Tolstoy - E.I. Naryshkina is the second cousin of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. It’s strange that the writer never mentioned this anywhere. One of the biographical reference books carefully states (without reference to the source) the following: “With predecessors and namesakes L.N. Tolstoy and A.K. Tolstoy has a common ancestor - an associate of Peter I, Count P.A. Tolstoy" (Famous Russians. M., 1996. P. 247).

http://www.hrono.ru/biograf/tolstoy_an.html

Mandelstam

In 1932, the poet Osip Mandelstam publicly slapped Alexei Tolstoy. Some time after this, Mandelstam was arrested and exiled. The question of whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship between these two events is still a matter of debate.

Works

Works about war

* Army of heroes
* "Blitzkrieg" and "blitzcrash"
*To the Writers of North America
* Moscow is threatened by an enemy
* You can't defeat us!
* Why Hitler must be defeated
* Homeland
* Russian character
* Cycle “Stories of Ivan Sudarev”
* Dark days of Hitler's army
*What we protect
*I call for hatred

Novels

* The Adventures of Nevzorov, or Ibicus (1924)
* Hyperboloid of engineer Garin (1927)
* Emigrants (1931)
* The Road to Calvary. Book 1: Sisters (1922)
* The Road to Calvary. Book 2: The Eighteenth Year (1928)
* The Road to Calvary. Book 3: Gloomy Morning (1941)
* Peter the First

Novels and stories

* Old Tower (1908)
* Arkhip (1909)
* Cockerel [= A Week in Turenev] (1910)
* Matchmaking (1910)
* Mishuka Nalymov (Trans-Volga region) (1910)
* Actress (Two Friends) (1910)
* The Dreamer (Haggai Korovin) (1910)
* The Adventures of Rastegin (1910)
* Kharitonov's gold (1911)
* Love (1916)
* Fair Lady (1916)
* Peter's Day (1918)
* Ordinary person (1917)
* A Simple Soul (1919)
* Four Centuries (1920)
* In Paris (1921)
* Count Cagliostro (1921)
* Nikita's childhood (1922)
* Tale of the Time of Troubles (1922)
* Aelita (1923)
* The Seven Days in Which the World Was Robbed, another title: The Union of Five (1924)
* Experienced Man (1927)
* Frosty night (1928)
* Viper (1928)
* Bread (1937)
* Ivan the Terrible (The Eagle and the Eaglet, 1942; Difficult Years, 1943)
* Russian character (1944)
* Strange Story (1944)
* Ancient path
* Black Friday
* On the island of Halki
*Manuscript found under the bed
* In the snow
* Mirage
* Murder of Antoine Rivo
* When fishing

Unfinished works

* Egor Abozov (1915)

Fairy tales

* Mermaid Tales
* Magpie Tales
* The Golden Key, or The Adventures of Pinocchio (1936)
* Gluttonous Shoe
* The sorcerer's daughter and the enchanted prince

Plays

* Death of Danton
* Death of Fyodor Ivanovich
* Rapists (Lazy)
* Orca
* The Empress's Conspiracy
* Miracles in a sieve...
* Love is a golden book
* Peter the First
* Ivan groznyj
* Evil spirits (another name: Uncle Mardykin) The play is included in the author’s collections: “Comedies about Love” (1918) and “Bitter Color” (1922)
* Riot of machines

Film adaptations of works

* 1924 - Aelita
* 1928 - Lame gentleman
* 1937-1938 - Peter the Great
* 1939 - Golden Key
* 1944 - Ivan the Terrible
* 1957 - Walking through torment: Sisters (1 episode) 1
* 1958 - Walking through torment: The Eighteenth Year (Episode 2) 2
* 1958 - The Adventures of Pinocchio (cartoon)
* 1959 - Walking through torment: Gloomy morning (episode 3) 3
* 1965 - Hyperboloid of engineer Garin
* 1965 - Viper
* 1971 - Aktorka 4
* 1973 - The collapse of engineer Garin
* 1975 - The Adventures of Buratino (“The Golden Key, or The Adventures of Buratino”)
* 1977 - Walking through torment (TV series)
* 1980 - Youth of Peter
* 1980 - At the beginning of glorious deeds
* 1982 - The Adventures of Count Nevzorov 4
* 1984 - Formula of Love (“Count Cagliostro”)
* 1986 - Ancient Pranks 4
* 1992 - Nikita’s childhood
* 1992 - Beautiful Stranger 4
* 1996 - Dear friend of long-forgotten years 4
* 1997 - The newest adventures of Pinocchio 4

Notes

1. 1 2 Topos. Alexey Varlamov. Count Alexey Tolstoy: certificate of origin
2. Telegram to I.V. Stalin, Izvestia newspaper, March 30, 1943
3. Roman Gul. “I took Russia away...” Apology for emigration. T. 1. M. ... S. 299-300.
4. Topos. Alexey Varlamov. Count Alexey Tolstoy: certificate of origin
5. Danton's death. According to the publication: A. N. Tolstoy. Essays. M.: Pravda, 1980

Biography

Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1882/83-1945) - Russian writer, an extremely versatile and prolific writer who wrote in all kinds and genres (two collections of poems, more than forty plays, scripts, adaptations of fairy tales, journalistic and other articles, etc.) , first of all, a prose writer, a master of captivating storytelling. Count, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939). In 1918-23 in exile. Tales and stories from the life of the estate nobility (cycle “Zavolzhye”, 1909-11). Satirical novel “The Adventures of Nevzorov, or Ibicus” (1924). In the trilogy “Walking through Torment” (1922-41), A. Tolstoy seeks to present Bolshevism as having a national and popular basis, and the Revolution of 1917 as the highest truth, comprehended by the Russian intelligentsia; in the historical novel “Peter I” (books 1-3, 1929-45, unfinished) - an apology for the strong and cruel reformist government. Science fiction novels “Aelita” (1922-23), “Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin” (1925-27), stories, plays. USSR State Prize (1941, 1943, 1946, posthumously). Alexey Tolstoy was born on December 29, 1882 (January 10, 1883) Nikolaevsk (now Pugachevsk) Saratov province. Died on February 23, 1945, in Moscow.

Childhood. First steps in literature

Alyosha Tolstoy grew up on the Sosnovka farm near Samara, on the estate of his stepfather, zemstvo employee A. A. Bostrom (the writer’s mother, being pregnant, left her husband, Count N. A. Tolstoy, for her loved one). Happy rural childhood determined by Tolstoy's love of life, which always remained the only unshakable basis of his worldview. Alexey studied at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology and graduated without defending his diploma (1907). I tried painting. He published poetry from 1905 and prose from 1908.

Alexei Tolstoy gained fame as the author of short stories and tales of the “Trans-Volga” cycle (1909-1911) and the accompanying small novels “Eccentrics” (originally “Two Lives”, 1911), “The Lame Master” (1912) - mainly about the landowners of his native Samara province, prone to various eccentricities, about all sorts of extraordinary, sometimes anecdotal incidents. Many characters are portrayed humorously, with slight mockery. Only the nouveau riche Rastegin with his claims to a “stylish life” (“Behind the Style,” 1913, later renamed “The Adventures of Rastegin”) is depicted quite satirically (but without sarcasm). Accustomed to serious issues, criticism constantly approved of Tolstoy’s talent, condemning his “frivolity.”

War. Emigration

During World War I, Alexei Tolstoy was a war correspondent. The impressions from what he saw turned him against the decadence that had influenced him from a young age, which was reflected in the unfinished autobiographical novel “Yegor Abozov” (1915). The writer greeted the February Revolution with enthusiasm. “Citizen Count A.N. Tolstoy,” who was then living in Moscow, was appointed “Commissioner for Press Registration” on behalf of the Provisional Government. The diary, journalism and stories of the end of 1917-1918 reflect the anxiety and depression of the apolitical writer by the events that followed October. In July 1918, Tolstoy and his family went on a literary tour to Ukraine, and in April 1919 he was evacuated from Odessa to Istanbul.

Two emigrant years were spent in Paris. In 1921, Alexei Tolstoy moved to Berlin, where more intensive connections were established with writers who remained in their homeland. But the writer was unable to settle down abroad and get along with the emigrants. During the NEP period, Tolstoy returned to Russia (1923). However, the years of living abroad turned out to be very fruitful. Then, among other works, such wonderful ones appeared as autobiographical story“Nikita’s Childhood” (1920-1922) and the first edition of the novel “Walking Through Torment” (1921). The novel, covering the time from the pre-war months of 1914 to November 1917, included the events of two revolutions, but was dedicated to the fate of individual - good, although not outstanding - people in a catastrophic era; the main characters, sisters Katya and Dasha, were depicted with a convincingness rare among male authors, so that this Soviet publications The title of the novel “Sisters” corresponds to the text.

In a separate Berlin edition of “Walking Through Torment” (1922), Alexei Tolstoy announced that it would be a trilogy. In essence, the anti-Bolshevik content of the novel was “corrected” by shortening the text. Tolstoy was always inclined to rework, sometimes repeatedly, his works, changing titles, names of characters, adding or removing entire storylines, sometimes fluctuating between the poles in the author’s assessments. But in the USSR this quality of his too often began to be determined by the political situation. The writer always remembered the “sin” of his count-landowner origin and the “mistakes” of emigration; he sought justification for himself in the fact that he became popular with the widest reader, the like of which had not existed before the revolution.

Back in Russia. New and old topics

In 1922-1923, the first Soviet science fiction novel was published in Moscow - “Aelita”, in which the Red Army soldier Gusev organizes a revolution on Mars, albeit an unsuccessful one. In the second science fiction novel by Alexei Tolstoy, “Engineer Garin's Hyperboloid” (1925-1926, later remade more than once) and the story “Union of Five” (1925), maniacal power seekers try to conquer the whole world and exterminate most people using unprecedented technical means, but also unsuccessfully. The social aspect is everywhere simplified and coarsened in the Soviet way, but Tolstoy predicted space flights, capturing voices from space, the “parachute brake,” the laser, and fission of the atomic nucleus.

“The Adventures of Nevzorov, or Ibicus” (1924-1925) - real picaresque novel 20th century with mass incredible adventures adventurer in those places where Tolstoy himself visited before emigration and at its beginning (in Istanbul). The influence of “Ibicus” on I. Ilf and E. Petrov, Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov is obvious (although the latter despised Tolstoy). A number of works by Alexei Tolstoy, much less interesting than Ibicus, have an anti-emigrant orientation.

The stories “The Viper” (1925) and “Blue Cities” (1928), perceived by readers as “anti-NEP”, actually record the process of the philistinization of Soviet society, which is destructive for former and current enthusiasts Civil War and socialist construction.

Speaking as a politicized writer, A. Tolstoy, who was a spontaneous, organic artist, a master of depiction, and not of philosophizing and propaganda, showed himself much worse. With the plays “The Conspiracy of the Empress” and “Azef” (1925, 1926, together with the historian P.E. Shchegolev), he “legitimized” the openly tendentious, caricatured depiction of the last pre-revolutionary years and the family of Nicholas II. The novel “The Eighteenth Year” (1927-1928), the second book of “Walking Through Torment,” Tolstoy oversaturated with tendentiously selected and interpreted historical materials, brought together fictional characters with real-life persons and densely equipped the plot with adventurousness, including motives for cross-dressing and meetings “arranged” by the author (which could not but weaken the novel).

In line with the official ideology In the 1930s By direct order from the authorities, Alexey Tolstoy wrote the first work about Stalin - the story “Bread (Defense of Tsaritsyn)” (published in 1937), entirely subordinated to Stalin’s myths about the Civil War. It was like an “addition” to “The Eighteenth Year,” where Tolstoy “overlooked” the outstanding role of Stalin and Voroshilov in the events of that time. Some characters from the story migrated to “Gloomy Morning” (finished in 1941), the last book of the trilogy, a work that is still more lively than “Bread,” but in its adventurousness it competes with the second book, and far surpasses it in opportunism. With Roshchin’s pathetic speeches in the unsuccessful, as usual with Tolstoy, fabulously happy ending, he indirectly but definitely justified the repressions of 1937. However, bright characters, fascinating story, Tolstoy’s masterful language made the trilogy one of the most popular works of Soviet literature for a long time.

Among the best stories in world literature by Alexei Tolstoy for children is “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio” (1935), a very thorough and successful adaptation of the fairy tale by the Italian writer of the 19th century. Collodi "Pinocchio".

Historical prose

After the October Revolution, Alexei Tolstoy became interested in historical topics. Based on the material of the 17th-18th centuries. written stories and tales “Obsession” (1918), “The Day of Peter” (1918), “Count Cagliostro” (1921), “The Tale of Troubled Times” (1922), etc. In addition to the story about Peter the Great, who builds St. Petersburg, showing monstrous cruelty to people and remaining in tragic loneliness, all these works are more or less full of adventures, although in the depiction of the turmoil of the early 17th century. one can feel the gaze of a person who has seen the turmoil of the 20th century. After the play “On the Rack,” written in 1928 largely based on “The Day of Peter” and under the influence of the concept of D. S. Merezhkovsky, in the novel “Antichrist (Peter and Alexei)” Tolstoy sharply changes his view of the reformer tsar, feeling that in the next decade the criterion of “classism” may be replaced by the criteria of “nationality” and historical progressiveness, and the figure of a statesman of this level will evoke positive associations.

In 1930 and 1934, two books of a large narrative about Peter the Great and his era were published. For the sake of contrasting the old and new worlds, Alexey Tolstoy exaggerated the backwardness, poverty and lack of culture of pre-Petrine Russia, paid tribute to the vulgar sociological concept of Peter’s reforms as “bourgeois” (hence the exaggeration of the role of merchants, entrepreneurs), and did not fully represent different social circles (for example, almost no attention was paid to church figures), but the objective-historical necessity of the then transformations, as if they were a precedent for socialist transformations, and the means of their implementation were generally shown correctly. Russia in the writer’s depiction is changing, and the heroes of the novel, especially Peter himself, “grow” with it. The first chapter is oversaturated with events, it covers events from 1682 to 1698, which are often given in the briefest summary. The second book ends with the initial period of construction of St. Petersburg, founded in 1703: serious transformations are underway that require closer attention. The action of the unfinished third book is measured in months. Tolstoy's attention turns to people; long scenes with detailed conversations predominate.

A novel without novelistic intrigue, without a coherent fictional plot, without adventurism, at the same time it is extremely exciting and colorful. Descriptions of everyday life and customs, the behavior of a variety of characters (there are a lot of them, but they are not lost in the crowd, which is also depicted more than once), the subtly stylized colloquial language constitutes a very strengths novel, the best in Soviet historical prose.

The terminally ill Alexei Tolstoy wrote the third book of Peter the Great in 1943-1944. It ends with the episode of the capture of Narva, under which Peter’s troops suffered their first heavy defeat at the beginning of the Northern War. This gives the impression of completeness of an unfinished novel. Peter is already clearly idealized, he even stands up for the common people; the entire tone of the book is influenced by the national-patriotic sentiments of the Great Patriotic War. But the main images of the novel have not faded, the interest of the events has not disappeared, although in general the third book is weaker than the first two.

Analysis of "Peter the Great"

The characters and depiction of historical events, the conveyed atmosphere of the time make “Peter the Great” an exceptionally exciting read, despite the fact that there are no such elements of adventurism, “set up” by the author of meetings of the same characters with each other or with their acquaintances who know about them, as in “Walking Through Torment,” “Ibicus,” or especially “The Tale of Troubled Times,” the novel does not contain anything about Peter. The time depicted was not distinguished by sophistication, which allowed the writer to do without detailed psychologism, in which he was not strong. “Stream of consciousness” is given the only time when a woman murderer is shown buried up to her neck, whom Peter, ashamed of the barbaric custom in front of foreigners, orders to shoot. But Alexey Tolstoy makes it possible to guess what his characters feel and experience.

Vasily Volkov after the seditious speeches of Mikhaila Tyrtov, who is spending the night with him, and the question: “Are you going to inform on my conversation?” - turns to the wall, “where the resin appeared” /slowdown/, and “long later” answers: “No, I won’t tell.” Menshikov tells the tsar after Anna Mons's betrayal with Koenigsek about Catherine living in his palace. “Peter,” I don’t understand, “listening or not... At the end of the story he coughed. Alexashka knew all his coughs by heart. “I understand,” Pyotr Alekseevich listened attentively.”

Twice in the novel physiological signs of fear are shown in the danger of death from enemy weapons. During the Azov campaign, when you can get a Tatar arrow from the darkness: “Your toes were curling.” At the end of the novel, near Narva, Lieutenant Colonel Karpov is glad that he remained alive after the salvo: “And the overcoming fear, from which his shoulders rose, fell away...” In general, Alexei Tolstoy did not strive to be a battle painter in Peter the Great; his descriptions of battles are usually short; the confusion and turmoil of a mass deadly fight is best conveyed.

The novel has many characters, but none cameo character does not get lost among others. A. Tolstoy is inventive in anthropomimicry. So, satirical image Boyar Buinosov is created, in particular, by an absurd, comic surname (the character is “buen”, but only with his nose). The loving character is given the nickname Varena Madamkin. And Fedka’s colorful nickname, Wash Yourself with Mud, forcing the reader to imagine a face that can be washed even with mud, could hardly have been invented by anyone other than Tolstoy. The writer was not afraid to thereby belittle a strong, talented man from the people with an extremely dramatic fate.

During the Patriotic War

During the war, Alexei Tolstoy also wrote many journalistic articles, a number of stories on current topics, including “Russian Character” (the prototype of the hero was actually a Caucasian) and the dramatic duology (low-scene and designated as a story) “Ivan the Terrible” with the Stalinist concept of the depicted time and hero. There are far fewer artistically perfect moments in the “story” than those hopelessly spoiled by the author’s opportunistic position, which in many ways was directly dictated to him. The long-suffering progressive tsar in the fight against the boyars - retrogrades, traitors and poisoners, who, naturally, must be executed - is supported by the people in the person of Vasily Buslaev, whom the epics settled in much earlier times, Lermontov's merchant Kalashnikov (Tolstoy returned his severed head), Vasily Blessed, who collects money for the great undertakings of the tsar, and then with his body shields him from the arrow of a medieval terrorist, and others. The oprichniki (Malyuta Skuratov, Vasily Gryaznoy, etc.) are nobility incarnate. Frail foreigners in armor are nothing in front of the Russian heroes; the Polish gentleman faints when Malyuta shakes his finger at him. At the same time, the dilogy is distinguished by bright characters, expressive Speaking, conveying historical flavor. For example, to the unrecognized Ivan, who is in love with Anna Vyazemskaya, after his words, Anna’s “mother” says: “You are a shameless person, and you are also dressed cleanly...”.

There are also traces of the author’s far from simple thoughts in the “story,” especially in the scene of Andrei Kurbsky’s farewell to his wife Avdotya: “Take care of your sons more than your soul... If they force them to renounce me, curse their father, let them curse them. This sin will be forgiven them, as long as they are alive...” Alexei Tolstoy gave his second Stalin Prize, received for “Walking in Torment,” for a tank named “Grozny,” which, however, burned down. The writer was awarded the third Stalin Prize posthumously for his dramatic dilogy in 1946.

Tolstoy's inconsistency

The personality of Alexei Tolstoy is extremely controversial, just like his work. In the USSR, he was perceived as the “number two writer” (after Gorky) and was a symbol of the “reforging” of the master, the count, into a Soviet citizen, whose works were considered artistically and ideologically impeccable. With the exception of the period 1923-1927, when Tolstoy more than once complained of material need, he lived his life as a great gentleman even under Soviet rule. At the same time, he was a tireless worker: on the crowded ship that took him to emigration, he did not stop working on the typewriter.

Tolstoy certainly wrote every day, even in the morning after his magnificent and intemperate lordly receptions. More than once he worked for disgraced and even arrested acquaintances, but he could also avoid providing assistance. A loving family man, Tolstoy was married four times; one of his wives, N.V. Krandievskaya, and her sister partly served as prototypes for the heroines of “Walking Through Torment.”

Alexey Tolstoy is a very national, Russian writer (patriot-statesman), but more than many wrote on foreign material, practically not knowing and not wanting to know foreign languages ​​in the name of a better sense of his native language. He considered it necessary to respond to the questions of the present time, but gained fame as a classic of artistic and historical literature.

Tolstoy worked with genuine facts, recognized only the realistic style, but was a fantasy inventor (he willingly processed folk tales), and his “realism” turned out to be so elastic that it reached the point of grossly tendentious normativity. The soul of any society, he evoked the contemptuous attitude of people like A. A. Akhmatova or M. A. Bulgakov, and received a slap in the face from O. E. Mandelstam.

Back in the mid-1920s. D. P. Svyatopolk-Mirsky gave Alexei Tolstoy an original description: “The most outstanding personality trait of A. N. Tolstoy is an amazing combination of enormous talents with a complete lack of brains” (S. Mirsky D. History of Russian literature from ancient times to 1925. London , 1992. P. 794).

Indeed, Alexey Tolstoy took part in many unsightly official campaigns of the authorities. Sometimes he was forced to do this, but more often he willingly became involved in such events (in 1944, for example, he actively participated in the work of a special commission led by Academician N.N. Burdenko, which came to the conclusion that Polish officers in Katyn were shot by the Germans).

The legacy of Alexei Tolstoy is enormous (“ Complete collection works” actually covers a small part of what he wrote) and is extremely unequal. He made very significant contributions to several genres and thematic layers of literature, he has masterpieces (in one field or another) and works that are below all criticism. Strengths and weaknesses are often intertwined within the same work.

(S.I. Kormilov)

Biography

Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy is an amazing and capable writer of rare talent; he created numerous novels, plays and stories, wrote scripts, and fairy tales for children. Due to the fact that A.N. Tolstoy took the most effective and Active participation in the sphere of creating (at that time) Soviet literature for children, could not escape the close attention of the writer and works of Russian folklore, oral folk art, namely Russian folk tales, which on his behalf underwent some processing and retelling.

Alexey Nikolaevich sought to reveal to young readers, to show them the enormous ideological, moral and aesthetic wealth that permeates the works of Russian oral folk art. Carefully selecting and sifting through a host of folklore works, he eventually included 50 tales about animals and about seven children's fairy tales in his collection of Russian folk tales. http://hyaenidae.narod.ru/pisatel/tolstoy-a-n/tolstoy-a-n.html

According to Alexei Tolstoy, the reworking of folk tales was a long and difficult task. If you believe his words, then from the numerous variations of Russian and folk tales, he selected the most interesting ones, enriched with truly folk language turns and amazing plot details of the tale, which could be useful for children and parents in mastering Russian folk culture, her stories.

To children's literature Tolstoy A.N. contributed his book, affectionately called “Magpie Tales,” which was prepared in 1910. Fairy tales from this book, thanks to Tolstoy’s diligence and perseverance, were often published in children’s anti-corruption magazines of that time, such as “Galchonok”, “Path” and many others. Works from his book are also widely used today.

Lesha Tolstoy was born on a cold winter day on January 10, 1883, on this day white and fluffy snow was falling on the street. Lyoshenka grew up and was brought up in extremely difficult (according to him) conditions, in the environment and environment of practically bankrupt Trans-Volga landowners. The writer subsequently colorfully described this difficult life in several of his works, Mishutka Nalymov; Lame gentleman; Weirdos and others. These works were written between 1909-1912 by the already matured Alexei Nikolaevich.

At a dangerous and turning point for the country: the Great October Revolution socialist revolution, future famous writer A.N. Tolstoy was a little afraid, wisely deciding to wait for its completion outside the borders of his homeland, leaving the country in a hurry, he honestly emigrated abroad.

As Tolstoy himself wrote later, having already returned to his homeland: “Life in exile was the most difficult period of my life.” It was abroad that he understood what it meant to be a person without a homeland, without titles and titles, he realized how hard and difficult it is to be anyone not necessary. The fact is that in those years, partially bankrupt landowners were probably not respected abroad and treated them with contempt and some caution. And as one would expect, after long and painful reflection, overcoming some hesitations, he finally returned to his historical homeland.

However, the following should be noted biographical fact: Abroad, Tolstoy, remembering his childhood and yearning for his homeland, wrote from memory “A Tale of Many Excellent Things,” which was later renamed “Nikita’s Childhood.” In France, in the city of Paris, he wrote a novel with a science-fiction slant, “Aelita.”

One day, after many years of living abroad, finally tired of the humiliations of the bourgeois landowners, Alexei Nikolaevich could not stand it and was still able to overcome his fear. He returned to his homeland. This happened significant event in 1923. At that time, he desperately wrote: “I have become a participant in a new life on earth. I see the tasks of the era." He invented and wrote down the science fiction novel “Engineer Garin’s Hyperboloid”, the trilogy “Walking Through Torment”, summing them up with the historical novel “Peter 1”. The trilogy “Walking through Torment” was written by Tolstoy over the course of 22 years. It absorbed such works as “Sisters”, “The Eighteenth Year” and “Gloomy Morning”.

Tolstoy wrote in the book a story about the life of Russia during the period of revolution and civil war, about the thorny, dangerous path to the people of the Russian intellectuals Katya, Roshchin, Telegin and Dasha. The Russian people, as expected, appear in the epic as the true creators of history. The image of the people is captured by the writer in the heroes of Ivan Gora, Agrippina and the brave Baltic sailors.

Alexey Nikolaevich writes: “To understand the secret of the Russian people, their greatness, you need to know their past well and deeply: our history, its fundamental nodes, the tragic and creative eras in which the Russian character was born.”

The historical novel “Peter the Great” reveals to the reader the atmosphere of Russian life at the end of the 17th century, showing images of peasants, boyars, court nobles and even ordinary soldiers. "Peter 1" is a novel about the fate of the people, about their courage and selfless love to the Motherland. The most venerable representatives of the people become statesmen, scientists and even military leaders of the navy and army in the work. All these people, people from the people, help Tsar Peter in the struggle for the independence of the country in the name of its greatness, unlimited power and influence.

And of course, it is necessary to note Tolstoy’s inexhaustible contribution to Russian children’s literature. It was Alexei Nikolaevich who translated, expanded and wrote the wonderful fairy tale in Russian “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio.” Subsequently, he used the text of this wonderful fairy tale to create a film script and play of the same name for children's puppet theater. The history of this tale is very interesting, it began shortly before A.N. Tolstoy returned from emigration, then in Berlin magazine The initial translation of the story “The Adventures of Pinocchio” by the Italian writer (C. Lorenzini) C. Collodi was published; in essence, this was the first adaptation of a well-known literary work. From this time on, Tolstoy began a long, painstaking work that lasted more than ten years on a fairy tale for children, which later became known as “The Golden Key, or The Adventures of Pinocchio.” The long and thorny work on this wonderful children's work was finally completed only in 1936.

Russian folk tales did not escape the attention of the writer (as already noted above). Tolstoy retelled and processed the texts of the most memorable folklore works that he loved. Already from his first steps in domestic and world literature, Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy set himself a goal: to be a passionate adherent of his native folklore, Russian folklore, close to him from childhood. oral creativity; late period The writer’s creativity is marked by grandiose folkloristic ideas. Tolstoy’s interest in folklore was genuinely broad, but at that time, in literature and pedagogy in general, the following phenomenon was observed as a “fierce struggle with fairy tales” and this may probably be the reason for the forced emigration of A.N. Tolstoy abroad, and at the same time his original Russian patriotism. After all, the fairy tale, in those days, was categorically denied as a genre of children's literature; fairy tales were persecuted and destroyed by, for example, the Kharkov Pedagogical School, which even allowed itself to release and popularize in every possible way a collection of articles called “We are against the fairy tale.” Pedagogical and Rappian criticism not only of the Russian fairy tale, but also of folk tales in general, were very strong and fully supported by numerous corrupt officials, who pictured the future of literature as completely sterilized from fairy tales, cleansed of cultural heritage past and its historical roots. Even after many decades, we can observe this picture of adherents of this ideology who continue to persecute and desecrate fairy tales in our days. These individuals are easy to find and read their “works”, which are written (or retold) today, in our days, for example, on behalf of the journalist Panyushkin and some others. http://hyaenidae.narod.ru/pisatel/tolstoy-a-n/tolstoy-a-n.html

The attitude towards fairy tales was changed on September 9, 1933 by the Decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, where the fairy tale was still included in the genres that are necessary for Soviet literature for children, and this decree put an end to the confrontation between the heritage of Russian folklore and its desecrators and persecutors of fairy tales for several decades. from the literary environment.

A capable, very hardworking writer: Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy was noted by the authorities and repeatedly rewarded for his contribution to the creation of domestic literature, and was repeatedly awarded the honor of having the mandate of a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. At the same time, the writer was a full member of the Academy of Sciences.

A.N. Tolstoy worked tirelessly throughout the four decades of his working life. He tirelessly wrote stories, composed poetry, created novels and plays, directed film scripts, and wrote numerous essays and articles for media mass media, retold Russian folk tales and was the author of numerous books for readers of different ages.

Russian-Soviet writer Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy died on Defenders of the Fatherland Day, February 23, 1945.

(M.V. Tolstikov)

Biography

Brief biography of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy

1828, August 28 (September 9) - Birth of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in the Yasnaya Polyana estate, Krapivensky district Tula province.

1830 - death of Tolstoy's mother Maria Nikolaevna (nee Volkonskaya).

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

1840 - Tolstoy’s first literary work - congratulatory poems by T.A. Ergolskaya: “Dear auntie.”

1841 - Death in Optina Pustyn of the guardian of the children of Tolstykh A.I. Osten-Sacken. The fat people move from Moscow to Kazan, to a new guardian - P.I. Yushkova.

1844 - Tolstoy was admitted to the Kazan University at the Oriental Faculty in the category of Arabic-Turkish literature, passing exams in mathematics, Russian literature, French, German, English, Arabic, Turkish and Tatar languages.

1845 - Tolstoy transfers to the Faculty of Law.

1847 - Tolstoy leaves the university and leaves Kazan for Yasnaya Polyana.

1848, October - 1849, January - lives in Moscow, “very carelessly, without service, without classes, without purpose.”

1849 - Examinations for the candidate's degree at St. Petersburg University. (Discontinued after successful passing in two subjects). Tolstoy begins to write a diary.

1850 - The idea of ​​“Tales from Gypsy Life.”

1851 - The story “The History of Yesterday” was written. The story “Childhood” began (finished in July 1852). Departure for the Caucasus.

1852 - Examination for the rank of cadet, order to enlist in military service as a 4th class fireworksman. The story “The Raid” was written. No. 9 of Sovremennik published “Childhood,” Tolstoy’s first published work. “The Novel of a Russian Landowner” began (the work continued until 1856, remaining unfinished. A fragment of the novel, ready for printing, was published in 1856 under the title “Morning of the Landowner”).

1853 - Participation in the campaign against the Chechens. Start of work on "Cossacks" (completed in 1862). The story “Notes of a Marker” has been written.

1854 - Tolstoy was promoted to ensign. Departure from the Caucasus. Report on transfer to the Crimean Army. Project of the magazine “Soldier's Bulletin” (“Military leaflet”). The stories “Uncle Zhdanov and Cavalier Chernov” and “How Russian Soldiers Die” were written for the soldiers’ journal. Arrival in Sevastopol.

1855 - The work of “Youth” began (finished in September 1856). The stories “Sevastopol in December”, “Sevastopol in May” and “Sevastopol in August 1855” were written. Arrival in St. Petersburg. Acquaintance with Turgenev, Nekrasov, Goncharov, Fet, Tyutchev, Chernyshevsky, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Ostrovsky and other writers.

1856 - The stories “Blizzard”, “Demoted”, and the story “The Two Hussars” were written. Tolstoy was promoted to lieutenant. Resignation. IN Yasnaya Polyana an attempt to free peasants from serfdom. The story “The Tezzhe Field” was begun (the work continued until 1865, remaining unfinished). The magazine Sovremennik published an article by Chernyshevsky about “Childhood” and “Adolescence” and “War Stories” by Tolstoy.

1857 - The story "Albert" began (finished in March 1858). First trip abroad in France, Switzerland, Germany. Story "Lucerne".

1858 - The story “Three Deaths” was written.

1859 - Work on the story “Family Happiness.”

1859 - 1862 - Classes at the Yasnaya Polyana school with peasant children (“lovely, poetic feast”). Tolstoy outlined his pedagogical ideas in articles in the Yasnaya Polyana magazine he created in 1862.

1860 - Work on stories from peasant life- “Idyll”, “Tikhon and Malanya” (remained unfinished).

1860 - 1861 - Second trip abroad - through Germany, Switzerland, France, England, Belgium. Meeting Herzen in London. Listening to lectures on art history at the Sorbonne. Attendance at the death penalty in Paris. The beginning of the novel “The Decembrists” (remained unfinished) and the story “Polikushka” (finished in December 1862). Quarrel with Turgenev.

1860 - 1863 - Work on the story “Kholstomer” (completed in 1885).

1861 - 1862 - Tolstoy’s activities as a peace mediator for the 4th section of the Krapivensky district. Publication of the pedagogical magazine "Yasnaya Polyana".

1862 - Gendarmerie search in YP. Marriage to Sofya Andreevna Bers, daughter of a doctor in the court department.

1863 - Work began on War and Peace (finished in 1869).

1864 - 1865 - The first Collected Works of L.N. is published. Tolstoy in two volumes (from F. Stellovsky, St. Petersburg).

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

1866 - Meeting the artist M.S. Bashilov, to whom Tolstoy entrusts the illustration of War and Peace.

1867 - Trip to Borodino in connection with work on “War and Peace.”

1867 - 1869 - Publication of two separate editions of War and Peace.

1868 - Tolstoy’s article “A few words about the book “War and Peace”” was published in the magazine “Russian Archive”.

1870 - The idea of ​​"Anna Karenina".

1870 - 1872 - Work on a novel about the time of Peter I (remained unfinished).

1871 - 1872 - Publication of the ABC.

1873 - The novel Anna Karenina began (completed 1877). Letter to Moskovskie Vedomosti about the Samara famine. I.N. Kramskoy paints a portrait of Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana.

1874 - Pedagogical activity, article “On public education”, compilation of “ New alphabet" and "Russian books for reading" (published in 1875).

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

1876 ​​- Meeting P.I. Tchaikovsky.

1877 - Separate edition the last, 8th part of “Anna Karenina” - due to disagreements that arose with the publisher of “Russian Messenger” M.N. Katkov on the issue of the Serbian war.

1878 - Separate edition of the novel “Anna Karenina”.

1878 - 1879 -Work on a historical novel about the time of Nicholas I and the Decbrists

1878 - Meeting the Decembrists P.N. Svistunov, M.I. Muravyov Apostol, A.P. Belyaev. "First Memories" written.

1879 - Tolstoy collects historical materials and tries to write a novel from the era of the late 17th - early 19th centuries. Visited Tolstoy N.I. Strakhov found him in a “new phase” - anti-state and anti-church. In Yasnaya Polyana the guest storyteller V.P. Dapper. Tolstoy writes down folk legends from his words.

1879 - 1880 - Work on the “Confession” and “Study of Dogmatic Theology.” Meeting V.M. Garshin and I.E. Repin.

1881 - The story “How People Live” was written. A letter to Alexander III with an admonition not to execute the revolutionaries who killed Alexander II. Moving of the Tolstoy family to Moscow.

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

1883 - Meeting V.G. Chertkov.

1883 - 1884 - Tolstoy writes the treatise “What is my faith?”

1884 - Portrait of Tolstoy by N.N. Ge. “Notes of a Madman” started (remained unfinished). The first attempt to leave Yasnaya Polyana. A publishing house of books for public reading, “Posrednik”, was founded.

1885 - 1886 - Written for “The Mediator” folk stories: “Two brothers and gold”, “Ilyas”, “Where there is love, there is God”, If you let the fire go, you can’t put it out”, “Candle”, “Two old men”, “The Tale of Ivan the Fool”, “How much land does a man have necessary”, etc.

1886 - Meeting V.G. Korolnko. A drama for the folk theater has been started - “The Power of Darkness” (banned for production). The comedy “Fruits of Enlightenment” began (finished in 1890).

1887 - Meeting N.S. Leskov. The Kreutzer Sonata began (finished in 1889).

1888 - The story “The False Coupon” began (work was discontinued in 1904).

1889 - Work on the story “The Devil” (the second version of the ending of the story dates back to 1890). The “Konevskaya Tale” (based on the story of the judicial figure A.F. Koni) was begun - the future “Resurrection” (finished in 1899).

1890 - Censorship prohibition of the “Kreutzer Sonata” (in 1891 Alexander III allowed printing only in the Collected Works). In a letter to V.G. Chertkov, the first version of the story “Father Sergius” (finished in 1898).

1891 - Letter to the editors of “Russian Gazette” and “Novoe Vremya” with a waiver of copyright for works written after 1881.

1891 - 1893 - Organization of assistance to starving peasants of the Ryazan province. Articles about hunger.

1892 - Production of “The Fruits of Enlightenment” at the Maly Theater.

1893 - A preface to the works of Guy de Maupassant was written. Meeting K.S. Stanislavsky.

1894 - 1895 - The story “The Master and the Worker” was written.

1895 - Meeting A.P. Chekhov. Performance of "The Power of Darkness" at the Maly Theater. The article “Shame” was written - a protest against corporal punishment of peasants.

1896 - The story “Hadji Murat” was begun (work continued until 1904; the story was not published during Tolstoy’s lifetime).

1897 - 1898 - Organization of assistance to starving peasants of the Tula province. Article “Hunger or not hunger?” The decision to print “Ttsa Sergius” and “Resurrection” in favor of the Doukhobors moving to Canada. In Yasnaya Polyana L.O. Pasternak illustrating "Resurrection".

1898 - 1899 - Inspection of prisons, conversations with prison guards in connection with work on “Resurrection”.

1899 - The novel “Resurrection” is published in the Niva magazine.

1899 - 1900 - The article “Slavery of Our Time” was written.

1900 - meeting with A.M. Gorky. Work on the drama “The Living Corpse” (after watching the play “Uncle Vanya” at the Art Theater).

1901 - “The definition of the Holy Synod of February 20 - 22, 1901... about Count Leo Tolstoy” is published in the newspapers “Tserkovnye Vedomosti”, “Russkiy Vestnik”, etc. The definition spoke of the writer’s “falling away” from Orthodoxy. In his “Response to the Synod,” Tolstoy stated: “I began by loving my Orthodox faith more than my peace of mind, then I loved Christianity more than my church, and now I love the truth more than anything in the world. And to this day the truth coincides for me with Christianity, as I understand it.” Due to illness, departure to Crimea, to Gaspra.

1901 - 1902 - Letter to Nicholas II calling for the abolition of private ownership of land and the destruction of “that oppression that prevents the people from expressing their desires and needs.”

1902 - return to Yasnaya Polyana.

1903 - “Memoirs” began (work continued until 1906). The story “After the Ball” was written.

1903 - 1904 - Work on the article “About Shakespeare and the Lady.”

1904 - Article about the Russian-Japanese War “Remember!”

1905 - An afterword to Chekhov’s story “Darling”, articles “On the Social Movement in Russia” and The Green Stick”, stories “Korney Vasiliev”, “Alyosha Pot”, “Berry”, and the story “Posthumous Notes of Elder Fyodor Kuzmich” were written. Reading the notes of the Decembrists and the works of Herzen. Entry about the October 17 manifesto: “There is nothing in it for the people.”

1906 - The story “For What?” and the article “The Significance of the Russian Revolution” were written, the story “Combat and Humanity”, begun in 1903, was completed.

1907 - Letter to P.A. Stolypin about the situation of the Russian people and the need to destroy private ownership of land. In Yasnaya Polyana M.V. Neterov paints a portrait of Tolstoy.

1908 - Tolstoy’s article against the death penalty - “I can’t remain silent!” No. 35 of the Proletary newspaper published an article by V.I. Lenin "Leo Tolstoy, as a mirror of the Russian revolution."

1908 - 1910 - Work on the story “There are no guilty people in the world.”

1909 - Tolstoy writes the story “Who are the killers? Pavel Kudryash”, a sharply critical article about the Kaetsky collection “Milestones”, essays “Conversation with a passer-by” and “Songs in the Village”.

1900 - 1910 - Work on the essays “Three days in the village.”

1910 - The story “Khodynka” was written.

In a letter to V.G. Korolenko received an enthusiastic review of his article against the death penalty - “The Change House Phenomenon.”

Tolstoy is preparing a report for the Peace Congress in Stockholm.

Work on the last article - “A valid remedy” (against the death penalty).

Biography

Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born on December 29 (January 10 n.s.) in the city of Nikolaevsk (now Pugachev), Samara province, into the family of a landowner. His childhood years were spent on the Sosnovka farm, which belonged to the writer’s stepfather, Alexei Bostrom, who served in the zemstvo government of the city of Nikolaevsk. Tolstoy considered this man his father and bore his last name until he was thirteen.

Little Alyosha hardly knew his own father, Count Nikolai Alexandrovich Tolstoy, an officer in the Life Guards Hussar Regiment and a noble Samara landowner. His mother, Alexandra Leontievna, contrary to all the laws of that time, left her husband and three children, and, pregnant with her son Alexei, went to her lover. As a girl, Turgenev, Alexandra Leontievna was no stranger to writing. Her works - the novel "Restless Heart", the story "The Outback", as well as books for children, which she published under the pseudonym Alexandra Bostrom - had significant success and were quite popular at that time. Alexei owed his mother a sincere love of reading, which she was able to instill in him. Alexandra Leontyevna tried to persuade him to write.

Alyosha received his initial education at home under the guidance of a visiting teacher. In 1897, the family moved to Samara, where the future writer entered a real school. After graduating in 1901, he went to St. Petersburg to continue his education. Enters the Mechanics Department of the Technological Institute. His first poems date back to this time, not free from the influence of the works of Nekrasov and Nadson. Tolstoy began by imitation, as evidenced by his first collection of poems, Lyrics, published in 1907, which he was later extremely ashamed of, so much so that he tried never to even mention it.

In 1907, shortly before defending his diploma, he left the institute, deciding to devote himself literary work. Soon he “attacked his own theme”: “These were the stories of my mother, my relatives about the passing and departing world of the ruined nobility. A world of eccentrics, colorful and absurd... It was an artistic find.”

After the stories and short stories that later made up the book “Trans-Volga Region,” they began to write a lot about him (there was an approving review from A. M. Gorky), but Tolstoy himself was dissatisfied with himself: “I decided that I was a writer. But I was ignorant and an amateur..."

While still in St. Petersburg, under the influence of A.M. Remizov, he took up the study of the folk Russian language “from fairy tales, songs, from the records of “Words and Deeds,” that is, judicial acts of the 17th century, from the writings of Avvakum.. His passion for folklore gave richest material for “Magpie Tales” and the poetry collection “Beyond the Blue Rivers”, permeated with fairy-tale and mythological motifs, after publishing which Tolstoy decided not to write any more poetry.

In those first years, the years of accumulation of mastery, which cost Tolstoy incredible efforts, he wrote everything - stories, fairy tales, poems, novellas, and all this in huge quantities! - and published everywhere. He worked without straightening his back. The novels “Two Lives” (“Cranks” - 1911), “The Lame Master” (1912), short stories and stories “Behind the Style” (1913), plays that were performed at the Maly Theater and not only in it, and much more - all was the result of sitting tirelessly at a desk. Even Tolstoy’s friends were amazed at his ability to work, because, among other things, he was a regular at many literary gatherings, parties, salons, opening days, anniversaries, and theater premieres.

After the outbreak of the First World War, he, as a war correspondent for Russian Vedomosti, was at the fronts and visited England and France. He wrote a number of essays and stories about the war (stories “On the Mountain”, 1915; “Under Water”, “Beautiful Lady”, 1916). During the war years he turned to drama - the comedies “Evil Spirit” and “Killer Whale” (1916).

Tolstoy perceived the October Revolution with hostility. In July 1918, fleeing the Bolsheviks, Tolstoy and his family moved to Odessa. It seems that what happened in Russia revolutionary events They did not at all affect the story “Count Cagliostro” written in Odessa - a charming fantasy about the revival of antique portrait and other miracles - and the cheerful comedy “Love is a Golden Book.”

From Odessa, the Tolstoys went first to Constantinople, and then to Paris, to emigrate. Alexey Nikolaevich did not stop writing there either: during these years, the nostalgic story “Nikita’s Childhood” was published, as well as the novel “Walking Through Torment” - the first part future trilogy. In Paris, Tolstoy felt sad and uncomfortable. He loved not so much luxury, but, so to speak, proper comfort. But there was no way to achieve it. In October 1921, he moved again, this time to Berlin. But even in Germany, life was not the best: “Life here is approximately the same as in Kharkov under the hetman, the mark is falling, prices are rising, goods are being hidden,” Aleksey Nikolaevich complained in a letter to I.A. Bunin.

Relations with emigration deteriorated. For his collaboration in the newspaper Nakanune, Tolstoy was expelled from the emigrant Union of Russian Writers and Journalists: only A.I. voted against. Kuprin, I.A. Bunin abstained... Thoughts about a possible return to his homeland increasingly took hold of Tolstoy.

In August 1923, Alexei Tolstoy returned to Russia. More precisely, in the USSR. Forever.

“And he immediately threw himself into work, without giving himself any respite”: his plays were endlessly staged in theaters; V Soviet Russia Tolstoy also wrote one of his best stories, “The Adventures of Nevzorov, or Ibicus,” and completed the fantasy novel “Aelita,” which he began in Berlin, which caused a lot of noise. Tolstoy's fiction was viewed with suspicion in literary circles. “Aelita,” as well as the later utopian story “Blue Cities” and the adventure-fantasy novel “Engineer Garin’s Hyperboloid,” written in the spirit of the then popular “red Pinkerton,” were not appreciated by either I.A. Bunin, nor V.B. Shklovsky, nor Yu.N. Tynyanov, not even the friendly K.I. Chukovsky.

And Tolstoy shared with his wife, Natalya Krandievskaya, with a smile: “It will end with the fact that someday I will write a novel with ghosts, with a dungeon, with buried treasures, with all sorts of devilry. This dream has not been satisfied since childhood... As for ghosts, this is, of course, nonsense. But, you know, without fiction, an artist is still bored, it’s somehow prudent... An artist by nature is a liar, that’s the thing!” A.M. turned out to be right. Gorky, who said that “Aelita is written very well and, I am sure, will be a success.” And so it happened.

Tolstoy's return to Russia caused a variety of rumors. The emigrants considered this act a betrayal and showered terrible curses on the “Soviet count”. The writer was favored by the Bolsheviks: over time, he became a personal friend of I.V. Stalin, a regular guest at lavish Kremlin receptions, was awarded numerous orders, prizes, elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and a full member of the Academy of Sciences. But he did not accept the socialist system; rather, he adapted to it, came to terms with it, and therefore, like many, he often said one thing, thought another, and wrote something completely different. The new authorities did not skimp on gifts: Tolstoy had an entire estate in Detskoe Selo (as well as in Barvikha) with luxuriously furnished rooms, two or three cars with a personal driver. He still wrote a lot and in different ways: he endlessly refined and reworked the trilogy “Walking in Torment” and then suddenly he gave the children the wooden doll Pinocchio that they loved so much - he retold it in his own way famous fairy tale Carlo Collodi about the adventures of Pinocchio. In 1937, he composed a “pro-Stalinist” story “Bread,” in which he spoke about the outstanding role of the “father of nations” in the defense of Tsaritsyn during the Civil War. And up to last days worked on his main book - a large historical novel about the era of Peter the Great, the idea of ​​which arose, perhaps, even before the revolution, in any case, already at the end of 1916, and in 1918 such stories as “Obsession”, “ The first terrorists" and, finally, "Peter's Day". Having read “Peter the Great,” even the gloomy and bilious Bunin, who strictly judged Tolstoy for his understandable human weaknesses, was delighted.

The Great Patriotic War found Alexei Tolstoy already a famous writer at the age of 58. During this time, he often published articles, essays, stories, the heroes of which were people who proved themselves in the difficult trials of the war. And all this - despite the progressive illness and the truly hellish torments associated with it: in June 1944, doctors discovered a malignant lung tumor in Tolstoy. A serious illness did not allow him to live to see the end of the war. He died on February 23, 1945 in Moscow.

Where does Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy begin for us? For most, probably from “The Golden Key” and “Three Fat Men”. But it so happened that for me it started with “Aelita”...

No, as a child, of course, I read Tolstoy’s fairy tales and watched films based on them, but it was “Aelita” that touched me to the core and made me worry... And it seemed to answer the question - is there life on Mars...

Alexei Tolstoy was born on January 10 in Nikolaevsk, Saratov province. The boy’s mother, Alexandra Leontyevna, nee Turgenev, was quite famous. And she was the cousin-granddaughter of the Decembrist Nikolai Turgenev.

Alexei's official father was Count Nikolai Alexandrovich Tolstoy, an officer in the Life Guards Hussar Regiment, a wealthy Samara landowner, although there is a version that biological father The boy was his stepfather Alexei Apollonovich Bostrom.

The fact is that Alexandra left her husband for her loved one while pregnant and became his common-law wife.

prevented them from getting married and becoming official spouses church marriage. And public opinion was on the count’s side. This is no wonder, because it was with Nikolai Alexandrovich that their three children remained.

Living with Bostrom, Alexandra Leontievna began to publish her works under the pseudonym Alexandra Bostrom. Her novel “The Restless Heart,” the story “The Outback,” and books for children were popular and eagerly purchased by readers.

Alyosha Tolstoy spent his childhood on his stepfather's estate on the Sosnovka farm near Samara.

The family lived amicably, and Tolstoy grew up happy child, which shaped him to be resilient. The mother managed to instill in her youngest son not only a love of reading, but also of writing.

The boy received his primary education at home, studying with a guest teacher. Then, when the family moved to Samara in 1897, Alexey entered a real school, which he graduated from in 1901.

To continue his education, Alexei Tolstoy moved to St. Petersburg and entered the Institute of Technology to the mechanics department.

At the same time, reading Nadson and Nekrasov, the young man began to write imitative poems. In 1907, the first collection of his poems, Lyrics, was published, which Tolstoy subsequently tried not to mention.

In 1907, having refused to defend his diploma, Alexey left the institute, deciding to become a writer. He published poetry and prose. He also dabbled in painting.

Finally, he began to write stories about the world of bankrupt and weird landowners. It was these stories and tales from the so-called “Trans-Volga” cycle, as well as the novel “Eccentrics” and “The Lame Master” that brought him his first fame.

The heroes of these works by Tolstoy, drawn with humor and slight irony, evoke either contempt, regret, or sympathy from the reader.

She accepted the writer’s work quite favorably, although she accused him of “frivolity.”

During World War I, Alexei Tolstoy was a war correspondent. The writer welcomed the February Revolution and collaborated with the provisional government, being appointed “commissioner for press registration.” But October 1917 no longer aroused enthusiasm in Alexei Tolstoy.

In July 1918, Tolstoy first went to Ukraine.

In Odessa, he wrote the story “Count Cagliostro” about the revival of an ancient portrait and the comedy “Love is a Golden Book.” Then, in 1919, he and his family were evacuated from Odessa to Istanbul, and then to Paris.

All this time, Alexei Tolstoy continued to write. From his pen came the nostalgic story “Nikita’s Childhood”, and famous novel“Walking in Torment”, which became the first part of a trilogy.

Tolstoy did not take root in Paris and 2 years later, in October 1921, he moved to Berlin. However, even in Germany, the writer did not feel happy and wrote about his unsettlement to I. A. Bunin: “Life here is approximately like in Kharkov under the hetman, the mark is falling, prices are rising, goods are being hidden.

Alexei Tolstoy did not get along with Russian emigrants either. For his collaboration in the newspaper Nakanune, he was expelled from the emigrant Union of Russian Writers and Journalists. Only A.I. voted against his expulsion. Kuprin and I.A. Bunin.

Alexei Tolstoy became increasingly homesick for his homeland, and in August 1923 he returned forever to Russia, which became the USSR.

The plot of this first Soviet science fiction novel is quite entertaining, in which the Red Army soldier Gusev organizes a revolution on Mars, which brings nothing but trouble.

The second science fiction novel by Alexei Tolstoy, “The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin,” also ends with the collapse of the illusions of the main characters.

Tolstoy was also interested in the history of Russia and wrote a lot of historical things. These are stories, novellas, and novels. Such as “The Day of Peter”, “Obsession”, “Count Cagliostro”, “The Tale of Troubled Times”, the novel “Antichrist, “Peter the First”...

Of course, books about the pre-Petrine and Petrine eras cannot be called documentary. They have a lot fiction. The backwardness, poverty and darkness of pre-Petrine Rus' are exaggerated, most likely for objective reasons... We should not forget that the writer lived and worked under the ever-vigilant eye of Stalinism.

The picaresque novel “The Adventures of Nevzorov, or Ibicus,” written by Tolstoy in the early 30s, according to critics and researchers, had a great influence on I. Ilf and E. Petrov.

And at one time I was greatly impressed by the story “The Viper,” which is classified as an “anti-NEP” work. But most likely the writer simply wanted to show that the heroes of the Civil War did not always fit into the post-war era, when a huge number of people simply wanted peace and well-being and did not always strive for this in worthy ways.

The second book of the trilogy, “Walking Through Torment,” no longer carried anti-revolutionary motives, but contained a lot of adventurism, adventure and mixed real-life heroes with fictional ones. But the book still remained interesting.

Alexei Tolstoy, due to his character, did not try to fight the official ideology; he went with the flow. Creativity was more important to him than politics, and those who remained in exile could not forgive him for this. Endless curses rained down on him.

On the contrary, the Soviet government favored its count in every possible way. I.V. himself Stalin wrote him down as a personal friend, Alexei Tolstoy was present at all the magnificent Kremlin receptions, received numerous awards and prizes, was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and a full member of the Academy of Sciences. He received from the government an estate in Detskoe Selo and Barvikha with richly furnished rooms, two cars with a personal driver

In his soul, apparently, Tolstoy did not accept the socialist system, but resigned himself to the inevitable and chose to adapt to reality.

By order of the authorities, Tolstoy wrote the story “Bread (Defense of Tsaritsyn)” in the 1930s, where the role of Stalin was extolled, and in 1937 another book was published entirely based on Stalin’s myths about the Civil War.

But great talent Alexei Tolstoy made the books coming out from his pen attractive to the mass reader.

Fortunately, he wrote not only about the “exploits” of Stalin. Here, for example, is the book “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio,” which is a successful adaptation of the Italian fairy tale writer XIX century. Collodi's "Pinocchio" is included in the golden fund of world children's literature.

The personality of Alexei Tolstoy, as well as his work, according to his contemporaries, was quite controversial.

For example, Tolstoy often complained about poverty, although under Soviet rule he was rolling around like cheese in butter. He loved to give lordly, lavish receptions.

But at the same time, he was a great worker and worked every day.

More than once he asked the authorities for disgraced and arrested acquaintances.

He was a loving man, he loved women and children. Was married four times.

Probably the most famous of his wives is N.V. Krandievskaya, who, together with her sister, to some extent became the prototypes of the heroines of “Walking Through Torment.”

In 1941, A.N. Tolstoy received the Stalin Prize of the first degree for 1-2 parts of the novel “Peter I”.

In 1943, the Stalin Prize of the first degree for the novel “Walking in Torment” The writer gave this prize to the Defense Fund for the construction of the Grozny tank.

In 1946, he received posthumously the Stalin Prize of the first degree for the play “Ivan the Terrible.”

In 1941, A.N. Tolstoy completed the third book of his novel “Walking Through Torment.” He was 58 years old.
During the Great Patriotic War, Alexei Tolstoy wrote appeals, essays, and articles about military operations and heroes. The writer’s most famous works about the war are considered to be the essay “Motherland” and the story “Russian Character”.

Last years A.N. Tolstoy lived in a dacha in Barvikha, where he wrote his war stories: “Mother and Daughter”, “Katya”, “Stories of Ivan Sudarev”.

Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy died on February 23, 1945 in the Barvikha sanatorium. The writer was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery.

And we are left with, one might say, the boundless creativity of Alexei Tolstoy. In his stories, novels, plays, fairy tales, poems, everyone can find not only something excitingly interesting, but also something close to their spirit and state of mind.

In 2015, on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the birth of the writer Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy, a sculptural composition"Pinocchio".

Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born on December 29 (January 10, n.s.) in the city of Nikolaevsk (now Pugachev), Samara province, into the family of a landowner. His childhood years were spent on the Sosnovka farm, which belonged to the writer’s stepfather, Alexei Bostrom, who served in the zemstvo government of the city of Nikolaevsk - Tolstoy considered this man his father and bore his last name until the age of thirteen.
Little Alyosha hardly knew his own father, Count Nikolai Alexandrovich Tolstoy, an officer in the Life Guards Hussar Regiment and a noble Samara landowner. His mother, Alexandra Leontievna, contrary to all the laws of that time, left her husband and three children, and, pregnant with her son Alexei, went to her lover. As a girl, Turgenev, Alexandra Leontievna was no stranger to writing. Her works - the novel "Restless Heart", the story "The Outback", as well as books for children, which she published under the pseudonym Alexandra Bostrom - had significant success and were quite popular at that time. Alexei owed his mother a sincere love of reading, which she was able to instill in him. Alexandra Leontyevna tried to persuade him to write.
Alyosha received his initial education at home under the guidance of a visiting teacher. In 1897, the family moved to Samara, where the future writer entered a real school. After graduating in 1901, he went to St. Petersburg to continue his education. Enters the Mechanics Department of the Technological Institute. His first poems date back to this time, not free from the influence of the works of Nekrasov and Nadson. Tolstoy began by imitation, as evidenced by his first collection of poems, Lyrics, published in 1907, which he was later extremely ashamed of, so much so that he tried never to even mention it.
In 1907, shortly before defending his diploma, he left the institute, deciding to devote himself to literary work. Soon he “attacked his own theme”: “These were the stories of my mother, my relatives about the passing and departing world of the ruined nobility. A world of eccentrics, colorful and absurd... It was an artistic find.” Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy
After the stories and short stories that later made up the book “Trans-Volga Region,” they began to write a lot about him (there was an approving review from A. M. Gorky), but Tolstoy himself was dissatisfied with himself: “I decided that I was a writer. But I was ignorant and an amateur..."
While still in St. Petersburg, under the influence of A.M. Remizov, he took up the study of the folk Russian language “from fairy tales, songs, from the records of “Words and Deeds,” that is, judicial acts of the 17th century, from the writings of Avvakum.. His passion for folklore gave the richest material for “Magpie Tales” and the poetic collection “Beyond the Blue Rivers”, permeated with fairy-tale and mythological motifs, after publishing which Tolstoy decided not to write any more poetry.
...In those first years, the years of accumulation of mastery, which cost Tolstoy incredible efforts, he wrote everything - stories, fairy tales, poems, novellas, and all this in huge quantities! - and published everywhere. He worked without straightening his back. The novels “Two Lives” (“Cranks” - 1911), “The Lame Master” (1912), short stories and stories “Behind the Style” (1913), plays that were performed at the Maly Theater and not only in it, and much more - all was the result of sitting tirelessly at a desk. Even Tolstoy’s friends were amazed at his ability to work, because, among other things, he was a regular at many literary gatherings, parties, salons, opening days, anniversaries, and theater premieres.
After the outbreak of the First World War, he, as a war correspondent for Russian Vedomosti, was at the fronts and visited England and France. He wrote a number of essays and stories about the war (stories “On the Mountain”, 1915; “Under Water”, “Beautiful Lady”, 1916). During the war years he turned to drama - the comedies “Evil Spirit” and “Killer Whale” (1916).
Tolstoy perceived the October Revolution with hostility. In July 1918, fleeing the Bolsheviks, Tolstoy and his family moved to Odessa. It seems that the revolutionary events taking place in Russia did not at all affect the story “Count Cagliostro” written in Odessa - a charming fantasy about the revival of an ancient portrait and other miracles - and the cheerful comedy “Love is a Golden Book”.
From Odessa, the Tolstoys went first to Constantinople, and then to Paris, to emigrate. Alexey Nikolaevich did not stop writing there either: during these years, the nostalgic story “Nikita’s Childhood” was published, as well as the novel “Walking Through Torment” - the first part of the future trilogy. In Paris, Tolstoy felt sad and uncomfortable. He loved not so much luxury, but, so to speak, proper comfort. But there was no way to achieve it. In October 1921, he moved again, this time to Berlin. But even in Germany, life was not the best: “Life here is approximately the same as in Kharkov under the hetman, the mark is falling, prices are rising, goods are being hidden,” Aleksey Nikolaevich complained in a letter to I.A. Bunin.
Relations with emigration deteriorated. For his collaboration in the newspaper Nakanune, Tolstoy was expelled from the emigrant Union of Russian Writers and Journalists: only A.I. voted against. Kuprin, I.A. Bunin abstained... Thoughts about a possible return to his homeland increasingly took hold of Tolstoy.
In August 1923, Alexei Tolstoy returned to Russia. More precisely, in the USSR. Forever.
“And he immediately threw himself into work, without giving himself any respite”: his plays were endlessly staged in theaters; In Soviet Russia, Tolstoy wrote one of his best stories, “The Adventures of Nevzorov, or Ibicus,” and completed the fantasy novel “Aelita,” which he began in Berlin, which caused a lot of noise. Tolstoy's fiction was viewed with suspicion in literary circles. “Aelita,” as well as the later utopian story “Blue Cities” and the adventure-fantasy novel “Engineer Garin’s Hyperboloid,” written in the spirit of the then popular “red Pinkerton,” were not appreciated by either I.A. Bunin, nor V.B. Shklovsky, nor Yu.N. Tynyanov, not even the friendly K.I. Chukovsky.
And Tolstoy shared with his wife, Natalya Krandievskaya, with a smile: “It will end with the fact that someday I will write a novel with ghosts, with a dungeon, with buried treasures, with all sorts of devilry. This dream has not been satisfied since childhood... As for ghosts, this is, of course, nonsense. But, you know, without fiction, an artist is still bored, it’s somehow prudent... An artist by nature is a liar, that’s the thing!” A.M. turned out to be right. Gorky, who said that “Aelita is written very well and, I am sure, will be a success.” And so it happened. Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy
Tolstoy's return to Russia caused a variety of rumors. The emigrants considered this act a betrayal and showered terrible curses on the “Soviet count”. The writer was favored by the Bolsheviks: over time, he became a personal friend of I.V. Stalin, a regular guest at lavish Kremlin receptions, was awarded numerous orders, prizes, elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and a full member of the Academy of Sciences. But he did not accept the socialist system; rather, he adapted to it, came to terms with it, and therefore, like many, he often said one thing, thought another, and wrote something completely different. The new authorities did not skimp on gifts: Tolstoy had an entire estate in Detskoe Selo (as well as in Barvikha) with luxuriously furnished rooms, two or three cars with a personal driver. He still wrote a lot and in different ways: he endlessly refined and reworked the trilogy “Walking in Torment” and then suddenly he gave the children the wooden doll Pinocchio that they loved so much - he retold in his own way the famous fairy tale by Carlo Collodi about the adventures of Pinocchio. In 1937, he composed a “pro-Stalinist” story “Bread,” in which he spoke about the outstanding role of the “father of nations” in the defense of Tsaritsyn during the Civil War. And until his last days he worked on his main book - a large historical novel about the era of Peter the Great, the idea of ​​which arose, perhaps, even before the revolution, in any case, already at the end of 1916, and in 1918 such stories as “ Obsession", "The First Terrorists" and, finally, "The Day of Peter". Having read “Peter the Great,” even the gloomy and bilious Bunin, who strictly judged Tolstoy for his understandable human weaknesses, was delighted.
The Great Patriotic War found Alexei Tolstoy already a famous writer at the age of 58. During this time, he often published articles, essays, stories, the heroes of which were people who proved themselves in the difficult trials of the war. And all this - despite the progressive illness and the truly hellish torments associated with it: in June 1944, doctors discovered a malignant lung tumor in Tolstoy. A serious illness did not allow him to live to see the end of the war. He died on February 23, 1945 in Moscow.

In our minds, the surname Tolstoy is closely associated with literary creativity, and this is no coincidence. In Russian prose and poetry there were three famous authors who wore it: Lev Nikolaevich, Alexey Konstantinovich and Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy. The works written by them are not connected in any way, but the authors themselves are united by blood, albeit distant. All of them are representatives of a large noble branch. Tatiana Tolstaya, modern writer, by the way, also belongs to this genus. Although the most famous representative of this noble branch is, of course, Lev Nikolaevich, today we invite you to get acquainted with the work of Alexei Konstantinovich. The works of Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy also deserve close attention. However, this is a topic for a completely different article. For example, the namesake of the poet and writer we are interested in, Alexei Tolstoy, created works for children that are still very popular and fascinating to this day.

Biography of Tolstoy Alexey Konstantinovich

Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (life - 1817-1875) - poet, writer, playwright. He was born in St. Petersburg. He came from the Razumovsky family on his mother’s side (his great-grandfather was the last hetman of Little Russia and his grandfather, A.K. Razumovsky, was the Minister of Public Education under Tsar Alexander I). The father of the future writer is Count K.P. Tolstoy, with whom the mother broke up immediately after the birth of the boy. Alexey Konstantinovich was brought up under the guidance of his mother and her brother, A. A. Perovsky, a writer who encouraged the poetic experiments of young Tolstoy.

In 1834, he was hired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Moscow Archive. After that he was in the diplomatic service. Alexey Tolstoy, whose works we will present to you below, received the title of chamber cadet in 1843.

Fantastic stories and romantic prose

In the late 1830s - early 1840s, he created fantastic stories gravitating towards the Gothic novel, as well as romantic prose: “Meeting after Three Hundred Years”, “The Family of the Ghoul”. His first published work was the story “The Ghoul” written in 1841, created under the pseudonym Krasnorogsky. Also in the 1840s, Alexei Konstantinovich began work on a historical novel called (finished in 1861), at the same time a whole series of lyrical ballads and poems were created, which were published somewhat later (in the 1850-60s). Many works of Alexei Tolstoy have gained great popularity. Their list is as follows: “Kurgan”, “My Bells”, “Prince Mikhailo Repnin”, as well as “Vasily Shibanov”, etc.

Collaboration in Sovremennik

In the early 1850s, Tolstoy became close to N. A. Nekrasov, I. S. Turgenev and other writers. Since 1854, Sovremennik has published his literary parodies and poems. In collaboration with V. M. and A. M. Zhemchuzhnikov (their cousins) in the department of this magazine "Literary Jumble" satirical and parody works were published under the pseudonym Kozma Prutkov. The work of this fictional author became a mirror of obsolete phenomena in literature and at the same time created satirical picture a bureaucrat who claims to be a legislator of artistic taste.

Alexey Tolstoy, whose works by that time were already numerous, having moved away from his participation in Sovremennik, in 1857 he began to publish in Russian Conversation, and later, in the 1860-70s, mainly in Vestnik Evropy, as well as "Russian Bulletin". At this time, he defended the principles of so-called “pure art,” that is, independent of any political ideas, including “progressive ones.”

In 1861, Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, whose works are discussed in this article, finally quit the service, which was very burdensome for him, and completely focused on literary creativity.

In 1862, his poem “Don Juan” was published, and the following year, “Prince Silver” (novel). In 1866, the first part of a large work was published - the historical trilogy "The Death of Ivan the Terrible", two years later - the second - "Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich", and in 1870 - the final one - "Tsar Boris".

Lyrical legacy

Answering the question about what works Alexei Tolstoy wrote, one cannot fail to note his lyrics. In 1867, the first collection of poetry by this author appeared. In the last ten years of his life, he wrote ballads (1868 - “The Serpent Tugarin”, 1869 - “Song of Harald and Yaroslavna”, 1870 - “Roman Galitsky”, 1871 - “Ilya Muromets”, etc.). Political satires in verse also appeared ("History of the Russian State...", published in 1883, "Popov's Dream" - in 1882, etc.), lyric poetry and poems (1874 - "Portrait", 1875 - "Dragon" ).

General characteristics of creativity

The work of Alexei Konstantinovich is imbued with the unity of philosophical ideas, motives, and lyrical emotions. One can note an interest in such problems as the philosophy of history, national antiquity, rejection of tsarist tyranny - these features of Tolstoy’s work are reflected in many of his works belonging to various genres. The ideal of the country's structure, corresponding to the Russian national character, Alexey Konstantinovich considered ancient Novgorod and Kievan Rus. The way of life in Rus' at that time seemed to him as follows: high level development various arts, the importance of such a cultural layer as the aristocracy, the prince’s respect for the freedom and personal dignity of citizens, simplicity of morals, diversity and breadth of international relations, especially with Europe.

Ballads

Depicting images Ancient Rus' the ballads are imbued with lyricism, they reflect their creator’s passionate dream of spiritual independence, as well as admiration for the heroic, integral natures that Alexey Tolstoy portrayed in folk epic poetry. The works, the list of which is offered to you ("Matchmaking", "Ilya Muromets", "Kanut", "Alyosha Popovich" and other ballads) are marked by the fact that the images legendary heroes in them, plots of historical events illustrate the author’s thoughts and embody his ideals (for example, Prince Vladimir of Kiev). In their artistic means, they are close to some other lyrical poems of Alexei Konstantinovich (“You are my land...”, “If you love, so without reason,” “Blagovest”, etc.).

Tolstoy's ballads, depicting the era of strengthening statehood in Rus', are permeated through and through with a dramatic beginning. Their subjects are the events of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, whom the poet considered the most striking exponent of the principle of absorption of the individual by the state and unlimited autocracy.

"Dramatic" ballads are more traditional in form than "lyrical" ballads, which mainly date back to the late 1860s and early 1870s. However, these works of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy are marked by the fact that he acted as an original poet, capable of modifying the structure of the genre.

For example, in one of the ballads, “Vasily Shibanov,” he reconsiders the classic situation of a dispute with the king of a freedom-loving subject, which became widespread under the influence of the works of F. Schiller. Conveying how Kurbsky exposes Ivan the Terrible, Tolstoy among the participants in this dramatic conflict- the rebellious boyar and the tsar - emphasizes the common features: ingratitude, inhumanity, pride. Alexey Konstantinovich finds his readiness to suffer for the truth, the ability for self-sacrifice in common man, which is sacrificed to this dispute by the powers that be. Thus, the slave wins a moral victory over the king and with his feat restores the triumph of man’s true greatness over the imaginary. Like other “dramatic” ballads by this author, “Vasily Shibanov”, in its themes and the psychological complexity of the characters’ images, as well as in the creator’s ethical approach to historical events, is close to the works of major genres written by Alexey Tolstoy. We will now look at these works.

Tolstoy's novels

Alexey Konstantinovich in his novel “Prince Silver” depicts brutal clashes in an atmosphere of unbridled tyranny of strong people and shows that arbitrariness has a detrimental effect on the personality of the monarch, as well as on his entourage. This work notes that, moving away from the already corrupted court circle, sometimes even forced to hide from social oppression and persecution, gifted people belonging to various strata of society, nevertheless “make history”, protect the country from attacks by external enemies, develop and discover new lands (Ermak Timofeevich, Mitka, Ivan Ring, Prince Serebryany, etc.). The style of this work is associated with the traditions of the story and historical novel 1830s, including those coming from such stories by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol as “Taras Bulba” and “Terrible Vengeance”.

Dramatic creativity

In the above dramatic trilogy the author depicted Russian life at the end of the 16th century - beginning of the 17th. And in these plays, the solution of various historical and philosophical problems is more important for him than the exact following historical facts. Alexey Konstantinovich depicts the tragedy of three reigns, three autocrats: Ivan the Terrible, obsessed with the idea that his power is of divine origin, the kind-hearted ruler Fedor and the wise Boris Godunov, a “brilliant ambitious man.”

Alexei Tolstoy, whose works often depicted bygone eras, paid great attention to the creation of original, individual and vivid portraits of historical figures. His great achievement is the image of Sovereign Fyodor, which indicates that in the 1860s the writer adopted the principles of psychological realism. In 1898, the Moscow Art Theater was opened by staging the tragedy of this author - “The Tsar These are the main dramatic works Alexei Tolstoy. The list can be continued, since we have listed only the main ones.

Political satire

The peculiarities of Alexei Konstantinovich’s historical worldview are also reflected in his For example, behind such an anecdotal plot as the work “Popov’s Dream” was, the author’s mockery of liberals was hidden. The poems “Against the Current” or, for example, “Sometimes Merry May...” and others reflected polemics with nihilists. In “History of the State...” Alexey Konstantinovich subjected historical phenomena to merciless ridicule; he believed that they interfered with the life of Russia.

Intimate lyrics

Unlike ballads and drama, the intimate lyrics of this author were alien to elevated tone. The lyrical works of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy are sincere and simple. Many of them are, as it were, psychological poetic short stories (“That was in early spring”, “Among the noisy ball, by chance...”).

Music created based on the works of Alexei Konstantinovich

Alexey Konstantinovich introduced elements of folk poetic style into his work; his poems are often close to songs. Many of the works created by Alexei Tolstoy were set to music. The works (the list includes more than 70 poems) became the basis for romances that were written based on his words by P. I. Tchaikovsky, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, S. I. Taneyev, M. P. Mussorgsky and others.

1882 (1883) , December 29 (January 10) - born into the family of Count Nikolai Alexandrovich Tolstoy (1849–1900). Mother - Alexandra Leontyevna (1854–1906), née Turgeneva - writer, great-niece Decembrist Nikolai Turgenev.
His childhood years were spent on the small estate of A. A. Bostrom on the Sosnovka farm, not far from Samara (currently the village of Pavlovka in the Krasnoarmeysky district).

1897–1898 - lives with his mother in the city of Syzran, where he studies at a real school.

1898 – moving to Samara. Start of studies at the Samara Real School.

1901 , May - graduated from the Samara Real School and leaves for St. Petersburg, where he enters the Technological Institute.

1905 - as a student of the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology, he was sent to practice in the Urals, where he lived in Nevyansk for more than a month. Later, in the book “The Best Travels in the Middle Urals: Facts, Legends, Stories,” Tolstoy dedicated his very first story “The Old Tower” to the Nevyansk Inclined Tower (published in 1908 in Niva).

1906 , January - three poems by Alexei Tolstoy were published in the Kazan newspaper "Volzhsky Listok".
February - leaves for Dresden, where he lived and studied until July.

1907 , March - the book of poems "Lyrics" is published. The magazines "Luch" and "Education" publish poems and articles.
Lives in Paris and is working on preparing a book of poetry for publication.

1908 - return from Paris to St. Petersburg, where Tolstoy becomes close with the staff of the Apollo magazine.

1909 , autumn – the story “A Week in Turenev” was written; published in the magazine "Apollo" (with illustrations by V.P. Belkin in 1910, No. 4, January).
The book "Magpie Tales" was published by the publishing house "Public Benefit". The publishing house "Rosehip" is publishing the first volume of his novels and short stories, about which Gorky speaks approvingly.

1911 – the novel “Two Lives” (“Cranks”) was published in the literary and artistic anthology “Rosehip” (No. 14–15). Collection of poems "Beyond the Blue Rivers" in the publishing house "Grif".

1912 , autumn - moves from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
The novel "The Lame Master" has been published.

1914 , January - the newspaper "Pravda" positively evaluates creative work Alexei Tolstoy. August - as a war correspondent for Russian Vedomosti, he travels to the South-Western Front.

1915 , February - as a war correspondent, he travels to the Caucasus, where the war with Turkey began.

1916 , January – the premiere of the play “Evil Spirit” took place.
February-March - as part of a delegation of Russian writers and journalists, he visited England, France, and visited the Western Front. Summer - working on the plays "Rocket" and "Killer Whale", on the stories "Beautiful Lady", "In July".

1917 , September 2 – premiere of the play “Bitter Color”.
October – “The Story of a Passing Man” was published in the journal “Narodopravostvo”.
November – the newspaper “Ray of Truth” published articles “At the stake”, “The power of the three-inchers”, “Night shift”.

1918 , January - premiere of the play "Cuckoo's Tears".
Publication of stories about the time of Peter the Great - “Obsession”, “The First Terrorists”, working on the story “The Day of Peter”.
July - leaves Moscow for Odessa.

1919 , April - on the steamer "Caucasus" sails from Odessa to Constantinople, and then to Paris, where he begins to work on the novel "Walking Through Torment".

1920 – the first chapters of the novel “Walking Through Torment” were published in the magazine “Coming Russia”.

1921 – the novel “Walking in Torment” was published in its entirety in the journal “Modern Notes”. The novels “The Lame Master” and “Cranks” are being republished.
October – moves with his family to Berlin.

1923 , August - returned to the USSR.

1925 , March – the premiere of the play “The Empress’s Conspiracy” took place. Publication of the story "Blue Cities" and the novel "Engineer Garin's Hyperboloid".

1928 , April – the play “Factory of Youth” is published.
May and his family moved to Detskoe Selo near Leningrad.
In the July issue of Novy Mir, the publication of the second book of the novel “Walking Through Torment” - “The Eighteenth Year” - has been completed.
August the story "The Viper" was published.

1929 , February – start of work on the novel “Peter the Great”.
July – magazine " New world"began publication of the novel "Peter the Great".

1932 , March - goes to Gorky in Sorrento.

1937 - Elected deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

1939 , January - elected to full membership of the USSR Academy of Sciences and awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.
February – working on the second part of a dramatic play about Ivan the Terrible (“Difficult Years”).

1941 – completes work on the trilogy “Walking in Torment”.
In the first months of the war he writes dozens of journalistic articles. In them, the writer often turns to folklore and episodes of Russian history.

1942 , February – finished the first part of the dramatic duology “Ivan the Terrible”.

1943 , March 19 – the Stalin Prize of the first degree was awarded for the novel “Walking but torment”.
March 30 - newspaper reports that Alexey Tolstoy is donating the prize of one hundred thousand rubles awarded to him for the construction of the Grozny tank.
December 31 – in Barvikha he begins work on the third part of the novel “Peter the Great”.

1944 , May 7 – the story “Russian Character” was published in “Red Star” (see the story on the “Literature for Schoolchildren” website).
August - finishes the fifth chapter of the third book of Peter the Great.

1945 , February 23 – died in Moscow. In connection with his death, state mourning was declared.

Addresses in St. Petersburg:
1901 – apartment building of Nikolai and Elena Brusnitsyn (9 line V.O., no. 42), here in the summer of 1901 18-year-old A. Tolstoy settled in the apartment of his mother’s sister. After graduating from the Samara Real School, he came to the capital to enter the Technological Institute. Having successfully passed the exams, he moved to 3rd line, 16, where he rented a room;
1907–1910 – apartment building of I. I. Dernov (Tavricheskaya street, 35);
1910–1912 – apartment building of I. I. Kruglov (Nevsky Prospekt, 147);
1925 – May 1928 – apartment building on the embankment. Zhdanovka River, 3;
May 1928 – May 1930 – Detskoe Selo (Pushkin), Moskovskaya street, 8;
May 1930 – beginning of 1938 – House of Writers’ Creativity (Detskoe Selo (Pushkin), Proletarskaya (Tserkovnaya) street, 6).