Leo Tolstoy biography 1908. Full biography of L.N

Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich(August 28, 1828, the estate of Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province - November 7, 1910, Astapovo station (now Lev Tolstoy station) of the Ryazan-Ural railway) - count, Russian writer.

Tolstoy was the fourth child in a large noble family. His mother, nee Princess Volkonskaya, died when Tolstoy was not yet two years old, but according to the stories of family members, he had a good idea of ​​\u200b\u200b"her spiritual appearance": some features of the mother (brilliant education, sensitivity to art, a penchant for reflection and even a portrait resemblance Tolstoy gave Princess Marya Nikolaevna Bolkonskaya ("War and Peace") Tolstoy's father, a participant in the Patriotic War, remembered by the writer for his good-natured and mocking character, love of reading, hunting (served as the prototype for Nikolai Rostov), ​​also died early (1837). was engaged in a distant relative T. A. Ergolskaya, who had a huge impact Tolstoy: "she taught me the spiritual pleasure of love." Childhood memories have always remained the most joyful for Tolstoy: family traditions, first impressions of life noble estate served as rich material for his works, reflected in the autobiographical story "Childhood".

Kazan University

When Tolstoy was 13 years old, the family moved to Kazan, to the house of P. I. Yushkova, a relative and guardian of the children. In 1844 Tolstoy entered the Kazan University at the department Oriental languages Faculty of Philosophy, then transferred to the Faculty of Law, where he studied for less than two years: classes did not arouse a keen interest in him and he devoted himself with passion social entertainment. In the spring of 1847, having submitted a letter of resignation from the university “due to poor health and domestic circumstances”, Tolstoy left for Yasnaya Polyana with the firm intention of studying the entire course of legal sciences (in order to pass the exam as an external student), “practical medicine”, languages, Agriculture, history, geographical statistics, write a dissertation and "achieve the highest degree excellence in music and painting.

"The turbulent life of adolescence"

After a summer in the countryside, disappointed by the unsuccessful experience of managing on new, favorable conditions for serfdom (this attempt is captured in the story "Morning of the Landowner", 1857), in the fall of 1847 Tolstoy went first to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg, to take the candidate's exams at the university. His way of life during this period often changed: either he prepared for days and passed exams, then he passionately devoted himself to music, then he intended to start a bureaucratic career, then he dreamed of becoming a cadet in a horse guard regiment. Religious moods, reaching asceticism, alternated with revelry, cards, trips to the gypsies. In the family, he was considered "the most trifling fellow", and he managed to repay the debts he had made then only many years later. However, it was these years that were colored by intense introspection and struggle with oneself, which is reflected in the diary that Tolstoy kept throughout his life. At the same time, he had a serious desire to write and the first unfinished artistic sketches appeared.

"War and Freedom"

In 1851, elder brother Nikolai, an officer active army, persuaded Tolstoy to go together to the Caucasus. For almost three years Tolstoy lived in Cossack village on the banks of the Terek, leaving for Kizlyar, Tiflis, Vladikavkaz and participating in hostilities (at first voluntarily, then he was recruited). The Caucasian nature and the patriarchal simplicity of the Cossack life, which struck Tolstoy in contrast with the life of the noble circle and with the painful reflection of a man of an educated society, provided material for the autobiographical story The Cossacks (1852-63). Caucasian impressions were also reflected in the stories "Raid" (1853), "Cutting the Forest" (1855), as well as in the late story "Hadji Murad" (1896-1904, published in 1912). Returning to Russia, Tolstoy wrote in his diary that he fell in love with this "wild land, in which two most opposite things - war and freedom - are so strangely and poetically combined." In the Caucasus, Tolstoy wrote the story "Childhood" and sent it to the journal "Sovremennik" without revealing his name (published in 1852 under the initials L. N .; together with the later stories "Boyhood", 1852-54, and "Youth", 1855 -57, amounted to autobiographical trilogy). The literary debut immediately brought real recognition to Tolstoy.

Crimean campaign

In 1854 Tolstoy was assigned to the Danube army, in Bucharest. Boring staff life soon forced him to transfer to the Crimean army, to the besieged Sevastopol, where he commanded a battery on the 4th bastion, showing rare personal courage (he was awarded the Order of St. Anne and medals). In the Crimea, Tolstoy was captured by new impressions and literary plans(I was going to publish a magazine for soldiers), here he began to write the cycle “ Sevastopol stories”, which were soon published and had a huge success (even Alexander II read the essay “Sevastopol in the month of December”). The first works of Tolstoy struck literary critics the courage of psychological analysis and a detailed picture of the “dialectic of the soul” (N. G. Chernyshevsky). Some of the ideas that appeared during these years allow us to guess in the young artillery officer of the late Tolstoy the preacher: he dreamed of "founding new religion- "the religion of Christ, but purified from faith and mystery, a practical religion."

In the circle of writers and abroad

In November 1855, Tolstoy arrived in St. Petersburg and immediately entered the Sovremennik circle (N. A. Nekrasov, I. S. Turgenev, A. N. Ostrovsky, I. A. Goncharov, etc.), where he was greeted as a “great hope of Russian literature" (Nekrasov). Tolstoy took part in dinners and readings, in the establishment of the Literary Fund, was involved in disputes and conflicts of writers, but he felt like a stranger in this environment, which he described in detail later in Confession (1879-82): “These people disgusted me, and I disgusted myself." In the autumn of 1856, after retiring, Tolstoy went to Yasnaya Polyana, and at the beginning of 1857 went abroad. He visited France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany (Swiss impressions are reflected in the story "Lucerne"), returned to Moscow in the fall, then to Yasnaya Polyana.

folk school

In 1859, Tolstoy opened a school for peasant children in the village, helped set up more than 20 schools in the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana, and Tolstoy was so fascinated by this occupation that in 1860 he went abroad for the second time to get acquainted with the schools of Europe. Tolstoy traveled a lot, spent a month and a half in London (where he often saw A. I. Herzen), was in Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, studied popular pedagogical systems, which basically did not satisfy the writer. Tolstoy outlined his own ideas in special articles, arguing that the basis of education should be the "student's freedom" and the rejection of violence in teaching. In 1862 he published the pedagogical journal Yasnaya Polyana with books for reading as an appendix, which became the same in Russia. classic examples children's and folk literature, as well as compiled by him in the early 1870s. Alphabet and New Alphabet. In 1862, in the absence of Tolstoy, a search was conducted in Yasnaya Polyana (they were looking for a secret printing house).

"War and Peace" (1863-69)

In September 1862, Tolstoy married the eighteen-year-old daughter of a doctor, Sofya Andreevna Bers, and immediately after the wedding, he took his wife from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana, where he devoted himself completely to family life and household chores. However, already in the autumn of 1863, he was captured by a new literary idea, which for a long time bore the name "Year 1805". The time of the creation of the novel was a period of spiritual uplift, family happiness and quiet solitary work. Tolstoy read the memoirs and correspondence of people of the Alexander era (including the materials of Tolstoy and Volkonsky), worked in the archives, studied Masonic manuscripts, traveled to the Borodino field, moving slowly through many editions (his wife helped him a lot in copying the manuscripts, refuting the fact the very jokes of friends that she is still so young, as if playing with dolls), and only at the beginning of 1865 he published the first part of War and Peace in the Russkiy Vestnik. The novel was read avidly, caused a lot of responses, striking with a combination of a wide epic canvas with a thin psychological analysis, with live picture privacy organically inscribed in history. Heated debate provoked the subsequent parts of the novel, in which Tolstoy developed a fatalistic philosophy of history. There were reproaches that the writer "entrusted" to the people of the beginning of the century the intellectual demands of his era: the idea of ​​a novel about Patriotic War really was a response to the problems that worried the Russian post-reform society. Tolstoy himself characterized his plan as an attempt to “write the history of the people” and considered it impossible to determine its genre nature (“it will not fit into any form, neither a novel, nor a short story, nor a poem, nor a history”).

"Anna Karenina" (1873-77)

In the 1870s, still living in Yasnaya Polyana, continuing to teach peasant children and develop his pedagogical views in print, Tolstoy worked on a novel about the life of his contemporary society, building a composition on the opposition of two storylines: family drama Anna Karenina is drawn in contrast with the life and domestic idyll of the young landowner Konstantin Levin, who is close to the writer himself in terms of lifestyle, convictions, and psychological drawing. The beginning of work coincided with the enthusiasm for Pushkin's prose: Tolstoy strove for simplicity of style, for outward nonjudgmental tone, paving his way to the new style of the 1880s, in particular to folk tales. Only tendentious criticism interpreted the novel as a love story. The meaning of the existence of the "educated class" and deep truth peasant life - this circle of questions, close to Levin and alien to most of the characters even sympathetic to the author (including Anna), sounded acutely publicistic for many contemporaries, primarily for F. M. Dostoevsky, who highly appreciated Anna Karenina in The Writer's Diary. “Family thought” (the main one in the novel, according to Tolstoy) is translated into a social channel, Levin’s merciless self-disclosures, his thoughts about suicide are read as a figurative illustration spiritual crisis, experienced by Tolstoy himself in the 1880s, but matured in the course of work on the novel.

Fracture (1880s)

The course of the revolution that took place in Tolstoy's mind was reflected in artistic creativity, primarily in the experiences of the characters, in that spiritual insight that refracts their lives. These heroes occupy a central place in the stories "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" (1884-86), "Kreutzer Sonata" (1887-89, published in Russia in 1891), "Father Sergius" (1890-98, published in 1912), drama " Living Corpse" (1900, unfinished, published 1911), in the story "After the Ball" (1903, published 1911). Tolstoy's confessional journalism gives a detailed idea of ​​his emotional drama: drawing pictures of social inequality and idleness of the educated strata, Tolstoy in a pointed form posed before himself and before society questions of the meaning of life and faith, criticized all state institutions, reaching the denial of science, art, court, marriage, achievements of civilization. The writer's new worldview is reflected in Confession (published in 1884 in Geneva, in 1906 in Russia), in the articles On the Census in Moscow (1882), and So What Should We Do? (1882-86, published in full 1906), "On the Famine" (1891, published on English language in 1892, in Russian - in 1954), "What is art?" (1897-98), Slavery of Our Time (1900, published in full in Russia in 1917), On Shakespeare and Drama (1906), I Cannot Be Silent (1908).

Tolstoy's social declaration is based on the idea of ​​Christianity as a moral doctrine, and the ethical ideas of Christianity are interpreted by him in a humanistic key as the basis of the worldwide brotherhood of people. This set of problems involved an analysis of the Gospel and critical studies of theological writings, which are devoted to Tolstoy's religious and philosophical treatises "Study of dogmatic theology" (1879-80), "Combining and translating the four Gospels" (1880-81), "What is my faith" ( 1884), "The kingdom of God is within you" (1893). A stormy reaction in society was accompanied by Tolstoy's calls for direct and immediate adherence to Christian commandments.

In particular, his preaching of non-resistance to evil by violence was widely discussed, which became the impetus for the creation of a number of works of art- the drama "The Power of Darkness, or the Claw is bogged down, the whole bird is abyss" (1887) and folk stories, written in a deliberately simplified, "artless" manner. Along with the congenial works of V. M. Garshin, N. S. Leskov and other writers, these stories were published by the Posrednik publishing house, founded by V. G. Chertkov on the initiative and with the close participation of Tolstoy, who defined the task of the Intermediary as "expression in artistic images teachings of Christ", "so that you can read this book to an old man, a woman, a child, and so that both of them become interested, touched and feel kinder."

Within the framework of the new worldview and ideas about Christianity, Tolstoy opposed Christian dogma and criticized the rapprochement of the church with the state, which led him to complete separation from the Orthodox Church. In 1901, the reaction of the Synod followed: the world-renowned writer and preacher was officially excommunicated, which caused a huge public outcry.

"Resurrection" (1889-99)

Tolstoy's last novel embodied the whole range of problems that worried him during the years of the turning point. The protagonist, Dmitry Nekhlyudov, who is spiritually close to the author, goes through the path of moral purification, leading him to active goodness. The narrative is built on a system of emphatically evaluative oppositions, exposing the unreasonableness of the social structure (the beauty of nature and the deceitfulness of social peace, the truth of peasant life and the falsehood that prevails in the life of the educated strata of society). Character traits late Tolstoy - a frank, highlighted "trend" (in these years Tolstoy was a supporter of deliberately tendentious, didactic art), sharp criticism, satirical beginning- manifested themselves in the novel with all clarity.

Departure and death

The years of change abruptly changed the personal biography of the writer, turning into a break with the social environment and leading to family discord (the refusal to own private property proclaimed by Tolstoy caused sharp discontent among family members, especially his wife). The personal drama experienced by Tolstoy is reflected in his diary entries.

Late autumn 1910, at night, secretly from the family, 82-year-old Tolstoy, accompanied only by the personal doctor D.P. Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana. The road turned out to be unbearable for him: on the way, Tolstoy fell ill and had to get off the train at the small Astapovo railway station. Here, in the stationmaster's house, he spent the last seven days of his life. Behind reports about the health of Tolstoy, who by this time had already acquired world fame not only as a writer, but as religious thinker, preacher new faith, watched the whole of Russia. Tolstoy's funeral in Yasnaya Polyana became an event of all-Russian scale.

Classic Russian literature Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 into the noble family of Nikolai Tolstoy and his wife Maria Nikolaevna. The father and mother of the future writer were nobles and belonged to revered families, so the family lived comfortably in their own estate, Yasnaya Polyana, located in the Tula region.

Leo Tolstoy spent his childhood in the family estate. In these places, for the first time, he saw the course of life of the working people, heard the abundance of old legends, parables, fairy tales, and here his first attraction to literature arose. Yasnaya Polyana is a place to which the writer returned at all stages of his life, drawing wisdom, beauty, and inspiration.

Despite his noble origin, Tolstoy had to learn the bitterness of orphanhood since childhood, because the mother of the future writer died when the boy was only two years old. The father passed away not much later, when Leo was seven years old. First, the grandmother took custody of the children, and after her death - aunt Palageya Yushkova, who took the four children of the Tolstoy family with her to Kazan.

growing up

Six years of living in Kazan became the informal years of the writer's growing up, because at this time his character and worldview are formed. In 1844, Leo Tolstoy entered Kazan University, first to the eastern department, then, not finding himself in the study of Arabic and Turkish, at the Faculty of Law.

The writer did not show significant interest in studying law, but he understood the need for a diploma. After passing the exams externally, in 1847 Lev Nikolayevich received the long-awaited document and returned to Yasnaya Polyana, and then to Moscow, where he began to engage in literary work.

Military service

Not having time to finish the two conceived stories, in the spring of 1851 Tolstoy went to the Caucasus with his brother Nikolai and began military service. The young writer is involved in combat operations Russian army, acts as a defender Crimean peninsula, frees native land from Turkish and Anglo-French troops. Years of service gave Leo Tolstoy invaluable experience, knowledge of the life of ordinary soldiers and citizens, their characters, heroism, aspirations.

The years of service are vividly reflected in Tolstoy's stories "The Cossacks", "Hadji Murad", as well as in the stories "Degraded", "Cutting the Forest", "Raid".

Literary and social activities

Returning to St. Petersburg in 1855, Leo Tolstoy was already well-known in literary circles. Remembering the respectful attitude towards serfs in his father's house, the writer strongly supports the abolition of serfdom, clarifying this question in the stories "Polikushka", "Morning of the landowner", etc.

In an effort to see the world, in 1857 Lev Nikolayevich went on a trip abroad, visiting countries Western Europe. Familiarizing yourself with cultural traditions peoples, the master of the word fixes the information in his memory in order to display the most important points in your creativity.

Actively engaged social activities, Tolstoy opens a school in Yasnaya Polyana. The writer strongly criticizes corporal punishment, which was widely practiced at that time in educational institutions Europe and Russia. In order to improve educational system, Lev Nikolaevich publishes a pedagogical magazine called Yasnaya Polyana, and in the early 70s he compiled several textbooks for junior schoolchildren, including "Arithmetic", "ABC", "Books for reading". These developments were effectively used in the education of several more generations of children.

Personal life and creativity

In 1862, the writer connected his fate with the daughter of the doctor Andrei Bers, Sophia. The young family settled in Yasnaya Polyana, where Sofya Andreevna diligently tried to provide an atmosphere for literary work husband. At this time, Leo Tolstoy is actively working on the creation of the epic "War and Peace", and also, reflecting life in Russia after the reform, writes the novel "Anna Karenina".

In the 1980s, Tolstoy moved with his family to Moscow, seeking to educate his growing children. Watching a hungry life ordinary people, Lev Nikolaevich contributes to the opening of about 200 free tables for those in need. Also at this time, the writer publishes a number of topical articles about the famine, vividly condemning the policies of the rulers.

The period of literature of the 80-90s includes: the story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", the drama "The Power of Darkness", the comedy "The Fruits of Enlightenment", the novel "Sunday". For a bright attitude against religion and autocracy, Leo Tolstoy is excommunicated from the church.

last years of life

In 1901-1902 the writer was seriously ill. For the purpose of a speedy recovery, the doctor strongly recommends a trip to the Crimea, where Leo Tolstoy spends six months. Last Journey prose came to Moscow in 1909.

Beginning in 1881, the writer seeks to leave Yasnaya Polyana and retire, but remains, not wanting to hurt his wife and children. On October 28, 1910, Leo Tolstoy still decides to take a conscious step and live the rest of the years in a simple hut, refusing all honors.

An unexpected illness on the road becomes an obstacle to the writer's plans and he spends his last seven days of his life in the house of the head of the station. Happy death of an outstanding literary and public figure became November 20, 1910.

The outstanding Russian writer, philosopher and thinker Count is known all over the world. Even in the farthest corners of the world, as soon as it comes to Russia, they certainly remember Peter the Great, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and a few more from Russian history.

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

So let's get started!

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

   Leo Tolstoy with his wife and children

2. Before the wedding, the count gave his future wife to re-read his diaries, which described his many fornications. He considered it fair and just. According to the writer's wife, she remembered their content for the rest of her life.
3. At the very beginning of family life, the young couple had complete harmony and mutual understanding, but over time, relations began to deteriorate more and more, reaching a peak shortly before the death of the thinker.
4. Tolstoy's wife was a real housewife and exemplary conducted the household affairs.
5. An interesting fact is that Sofya Andreevna (Tolstoy's wife) rewrote almost all the works of her husband in order to send manuscripts to the publishing house. This was necessary because no editor would have made out the handwriting of the great writer.

   Diary of Tolstoy L.N.

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

   Tolstoy in his youth

8. The creative heritage of Lev Nikolaevich is 165 thousand sheets of manuscripts and ten thousand letters. complete collection works published in 90 volumes.
9. An interesting fact is that in life Tolstoy could not stand when dogs bark, and also did not like cherries.
10. Despite the fact that he was a count from birth, he always gravitated towards the people. Often the peasants saw him plowing the field on his own. On this occasion, there funny anecdote: “Leo Tolstoy is sitting in a canvas shirt and writing a novel. A footman in livery and white gloves enters. “Your Excellency, it’s time to plow!”
11. From childhood it was incredible gambler and a gambler. However, like the other great writer – .
12. Interestingly, once Count Tolstoy lost one of the buildings of his estate Yasnaya Polyana in cards. His partner dismantled the property that had passed to him to the carnation and took everything out. The writer himself dreamed of buying back this extension, but never did it.
13. Excellent command of English, French and German. Read in Italian, Polish, Serbian and Czech. He studied Greek and Church Slavonic, Latin, Ukrainian and Tatar, Hebrew and Turkish, Dutch and Bulgarian.

    Portrait of the writer Tolstoy

14. Anna Akhmatova as a child taught letters from the primer, which L.N. Tolstoy wrote for peasant children.
15. All his life he tried to help the peasants in everything he had the strength to do.

    Tolstoy with assistants makes lists of peasants in need of help

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

    Tolstoy in the family circle in the park

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

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

That is, the Synod simply testified that Tolstoy "self-excommunicated" from the Church. In fact, it was so, if we analyze the writer's numerous statements addressed to the Church.

1. In fact, by the end of his life, Lev Nikolayevich really expressed his convictions that were very far from Christianity. Quote:

“I don’t want to be a Christian, just as I didn’t advise and wouldn’t want there to be Buddhists, Confucianists, Taoists, Mohammedans and others.”



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

And, meanwhile, the poet, obviously, worked a lot and for a long time on the verse. "Winter. Peasant, triumphant ... ". Why "celebrating"? “Perhaps he is going to the city to buy himself salt or shag.

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

This was written by the great Pushkin, no doubt smart man, wrote because he was young and, like a Kyrgyz, sang instead of talking.

To this Tolstoy was asked a question: But what, Lev Nikolaevich, to do? Should you quit writing?

Tolstoy A: Of course quit! I say this to all beginners. This is my usual advice. Now is not the time to write. You need to do business, live exemplarily and teach others to live by your own example. Drop literature if you want to obey the old man. What do I do! I will die soon…"




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

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

- The man walked alone - five pounds were tied to his shoulders, and he rejoices. What is there to say, that if I walk alone, then I am free, and if my foot is tied with the foot of a woman, then she will follow me and interfere with me.

- Why did you get married? the countess asked.

“But I didn’t know that then.”

Leo Tolstoy with his wife

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




“Indeed, Paris is not at all in harmony with its spiritual system; he is a strange man, I have never met such and do not quite understand him. A mixture of a poet, a Calvinist, a fanatic, a baric - something reminiscent of Rousseau, but more honest than Rousseau - a highly moral and at the same time unsympathetic creature.




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

Leo Tolstoy is one of the most famous and great writers in the world. Even during his lifetime, he was recognized as a classic of Russian literature, his work paved the bridge between the currents of two centuries.

Tolstoy showed himself not just as a writer, he was an educator and humanist, thought about religion, took a direct part in the defense of Sevastopol. The writer's legacy is so great, and his life itself is so ambiguous that they continue to study and try to understand him.

Tolstoy himself was difficult person, which evidence at least it family relationships. So numerous myths appear, both about Tolstoy's personal qualities, his actions, and about creativity and the ideas invested in it. Many books have been written about the writer, but we will try to debunk at least the most popular myths about him.

Flight of Tolstoy. A well-known fact - 10 days before his death, Tolstoy ran away from his home, which was in Yasnaya Polyana. There are several versions of why the writer did this. They immediately began to say that the already elderly man tried to commit suicide. The communists developed the theory that Tolstoy expressed his protest against the tsarist regime in this way. In fact, the reasons for the writer's flight from his native and beloved home were quite mundane. Three months before that, he wrote a secret will, according to which he transferred all copyrights to his works not to his wife, Sofya Andreevna, but to his daughter Alexandra and his friend Chertkov. But the secret became clear - the wife learned about everything from the stolen diary. A scandal erupted immediately, and Tolstoy's own life became a real hell. His wife's tantrums prompted the writer to do what he had planned 25 years ago - to escape. During these difficult days, Tolstoy wrote in his diary that he could no longer endure this and hated his wife. Sofya Andreevna herself, having learned about the flight of Lev Nikolaevich, became even more furious - she ran to drown herself in the pond, beat herself in the chest with thick objects, tried to run away somewhere and threatened to never let Tolstoy go anywhere again.

Tolstoy had a very angry wife. From the previous myth, it becomes clear to many that only his evil and eccentric wife is to blame for the death of a genius. Actually family life Tolstoy was so complex that numerous studies are still trying to figure it out today. And the wife herself felt unhappy in her. One of the chapters of her autobiography is called “The Martyr and the Martyr”. In general, little was known about Sofya Andreevna's talents; she was completely in the shadow of her powerful husband. But the recent publication of her stories made it possible to understand the full depth of her sacrifice. And Natasha Rostova from "War and Peace" came to Tolstoy straight from his wife's youthful manuscript. In addition, Sofya Andreevna received an excellent education, she knew a couple foreign languages and even translated the complicated works of her husband herself. The energetic woman still had time to manage the entire household, the accounting of the estate, as well as sheathe and tie up the entire considerable family. Despite all the hardships, Tolstoy's wife understood that she was living with a genius. After his death, she noted that for almost half a century living together she never understood what kind of person he was.

Tolstoy was excommunicated and anathematized. Indeed, in 1910 Tolstoy was buried without a funeral, which gave rise to the myth of excommunication. But in the memorable act of the Synod of 1901, the word "excommunication" is absent in principle. Officials from the church wrote that with his views and false teachings, the writer had long placed himself outside the church and was no longer perceived by it as a member. But society understood the complex bureaucratic document with a florid language in its own way - everyone decided that it was the church that abandoned Tolstoy. And this story with the definition of the Synod was actually a political order. So the chief prosecutor Pobedonostsev took revenge on the writer for his image of a man-machine in Resurrection.

Leo Tolstoy founded the Tolstoyan movement. The writer himself was very cautious, and sometimes even with disgust, about those numerous associations of his followers and admirers. Even after escaping from Yasnaya Polyana, the Tolstoy community turned out to be not the place where Tolstoy wanted to find shelter.

Tolstoy was a teetotaller. As you know, in adulthood, the writer refused alcohol. But he did not understand the creation of temperance societies throughout the country. Why do people gather if they are not going to drink? After all, big companies mean drinking.

Tolstoy adhered fanatically to his own principles. Ivan Bunin, in his book on Tolstoy, wrote that the genius himself was sometimes very cool about the provisions of his own teaching. One day the writer with his family and close family friend Vladimir Chertkov (he was also the main follower of Tolstoy's ideas) ate on the terrace. It was a hot summer, mosquitoes were flying everywhere. One particularly annoying one sat down on Chertkov's bald head, where the writer killed him with the palm of his hand. Everyone laughed, and only the offended victim noted that Lev Nikolaevich took the life of a living creature, shaming him.

Tolstoy was a big womanizer. The sexual adventures of the writer are known from his own notes. Tolstoy said that in his youth he led a very bad life. But most of all he is confused by two events since that time. The first is a connection with a peasant woman even before marriage, and the second is a crime with her aunt's maid. Tolstoy seduced an innocent girl, who was then driven out of the yard. That peasant woman was Aksinya Bazykina. Tolstoy wrote that he loved her like never before in his life. Two years before his marriage, the writer had a son, Timothy, who over the years became a huge man, like his father. Everyone in Yasnaya Polyana knew about the master's illegitimate son, that he was a drunkard, and about his mother. Sofya Andreevna even went to look at her husband's former passion, not finding anything interesting in her. And Tolstoy's intimate stories are part of his diaries of his youth. He wrote about the voluptuousness that tormented him, about the desire of women. But something like this was common for Russian nobles of that time. And repentance for past ties never tormented them. For Sofia Andreevna physical aspect love was not at all important, unlike her husband. But she managed to give birth to Tolstoy 13 children, losing five. Lev Nikolaevich was her first and the only man. And he was faithful to her throughout the 48 years of their marriage.

Tolstoy preached asceticism. This myth appeared thanks to the thesis of the writer that a person needs a little for life. But Tolstoy himself was not an ascetic - he simply welcomed the sense of proportion. Lev Nikolayevich himself fully enjoyed life, he simply saw joy and light in simple and accessible things.

Tolstoy was an opponent of medicine and science. The writer was not at all obscurantist. He, on the contrary, spoke about the fact that it is impossible to return to the plow, about the inevitability of progress. At home, Tolstoy had one of their first Edison phonographs, an electric pencil. And the writer rejoiced, like a child, at such scientific achievements. Tolstoy was a very civilized person, realizing that humanity pays for progress in hundreds of thousands of lives. And this development, associated with violence and blood, the writer did not accept in principle. Tolstoy was not cruel to human weaknesses, he was outraged that the vices were justified by the doctors themselves.

Tolstoy hated art. Tolstoy understood art, he simply used his own criteria to evaluate it. And didn't he have a right to? It is difficult to disagree with the writer that a simple man is unlikely to understand Beethoven's symphonies. For unprepared listeners, many of classical music sounds like torture. But there is also such an art that is perceived as excellent by both simple villagers and sophisticated gourmets.

Tolstoy was driven by pride. They say that this is internal quality manifested itself in the philosophy of the author, and even in everyday life. But is it worth considering the non-stop search for truth as pride? Many people believe that it is much easier to join some teaching and serve it already. But Tolstoy could not change himself. And in everyday life, the writer was very attentive - he taught his children mathematics, astronomy, and conducted physical education classes. Little Tolstoy took the children to the Samara province, that they knew better and fell in love with nature. It's just that in the second half of his life, the genius was preoccupied with a lot of things. This is creativity, philosophy, work with letters. So Tolstoy could not give himself, as before, to his family. But it was a conflict between creativity and family, and not a manifestation of pride.

There was a revolution in Russia because of Tolstoy. This statement appeared thanks to Lenin's article "Leo Tolstoy, as a mirror of the Russian revolution." In fact, one person, be it Tolstoy or Lenin, is simply not to blame for the revolution. There were many reasons - the behavior of the intelligentsia, the church, the king and court, the nobility. It was all of them who gave old Russia to the Bolsheviks, including Tolstoy. His opinion, as a thinker, was listened to. But he denied both the state and the army. True, he was opposed to the revolution. The writer generally did a lot to soften morals, urging people to be kinder, to serve Christian values.

Tolstoy was an unbeliever, he denied faith and taught this to others. Statements that Tolstoy turns people away from the faith irritated and offended him greatly. On the contrary, he stated that the main thing in his works is the understanding that there is no life without faith in God. Tolstoy did not accept the form of faith that the church imposed. And there are many people who believe in God, but do not accept modern religious institutions. For them, Tolstoy's searches are understood and not at all terrible. Many people generally come to church after being immersed in the thoughts of the writer. This was especially observed in Soviet times. Even before, the Tolstoyans turned towards the church.

Tolstoy constantly taught everyone. Thanks to this rooted myth, Tolstoy appears as a self-confident preacher, telling whom and how to live. But when studying the writer's diaries, it will become clear that he dealt with himself all his life. So where was he to teach others? Tolstoy expressed his thoughts, but never imposed them on anyone. Another thing is that a community of followers, Tolstoyans, has developed around the writer, who tried to make the views of their leader absolute. But for the genius himself, his ideas were not fixed. He considered the absolute presence of God, and everything else was the result of trials, torments, searches.

Tolstoy was a fanatical vegetarian. AT certain moment In his life, the writer completely abandoned meat and fish, not wanting to eat the disfigured corpses of living beings. But his wife, taking care of him, poured meat into his mushroom broth. Seeing this, Tolstoy was not angry, but only joked that he was ready to drink every day. meat broth If only his wife didn't lie to him. Other people's beliefs, including in the choice of food, were above all for the writer. They always had those at home who ate meat, the same Sofya Andreevna. But there were no terrible quarrels because of this.

To understand Tolstoy, it is enough to read his works and not to study his personality. This myth prevents a real reading of Tolstoy's work. Without understanding what he lived, one cannot understand his work. There are writers who say everything with their texts. But Tolstoy can be understood only if you know his worldview, his personal traits, his relationship with the state, church, and relatives. Tolstoy's life is an exciting novel in itself, which sometimes spilled over into paper form. An example of this is "War and Peace", "Anna Karenina". On the other hand, the writer's work also influenced his life, including family life. So there is no escape from studying the personality of Tolstoy and the interesting aspects of his biography.

Tolstoy's novels cannot be studied at school - they are simply incomprehensible to high school students. Modern schoolchildren in general, it is difficult to read long works, and "War and Peace" is also filled with historical digressions. Give our high school students abridged versions of novels adapted to their intellect. It is difficult to say whether this is good or bad, but in any case they will at least get an idea of ​​Tolstoy's work. To think that it is better to read Tolstoy after school is dangerous. After all, if you do not start reading it at that age, then later the children will not want to immerse themselves in the writer's work. So the school works proactively, deliberately giving more complex and smart things than the child's intellect can perceive. Perhaps then there will be a desire to return to this and understand to the end. And without studying at school, such a “temptation” will not appear for sure.

Tolstoy's pedagogy has lost its relevance. Tolstoy the teacher is treated ambiguously. His teaching ideas were perceived as the fun of a gentleman who decided to teach children in his own way. original methodology. Actually spiritual development child directly affects his intelligence. The soul develops the mind, and not vice versa. And Tolstoy's pedagogy works in modern conditions. This is evidenced by the results of the experiment, during which 90% of children achieved excellent results. Children learn to read according to the "ABC of Tolstoy", which is built on many parables with their secrets and archetypes of behavior that reveal the nature of man. Gradually, the program becomes more complex. Out of the walls of the school harmonious person with strong moral principles. And according to this method, about a hundred schools are engaged in today in Russia.

Lev Tolstoy- the most famous Russian writer, famous throughout the world for his works.

short biography

Born in 1828 in the Tula province in a noble family. He spent his childhood at the Yasnaya Polyana estate, where he received his primary home education. He had three brothers and a sister. He was brought up by his guardians, so in early childhood at the birth of her sister, her mother died, and later, in 1840, her father, because of which the whole family moved to relatives in Kazan. There he studied at Kazan University at two faculties, but decided to quit his studies and return to his native places.

Tolstoy spent two years in the army in the Caucasus. Bravely participated in several battles and even received an order for the defense of Sevastopol. He could be good military career, but he wrote several songs that made fun of the military command, as a result of which he had to leave the army.

At the end of the 50s, Lev Nikolaevich set off to travel around Europe and returned to Russia after the abolition of serfdom. Even during his travels, he was disappointed with the European way of life, as he saw a very large contrast between rich and poor. That is why, when he returned to Russia, he was glad that the peasants had now risen.

He married, 13 children were born in marriage, 5 of whom died in childhood. His wife, Sophia, helped her husband by rewriting all the creations of her husband in neat handwriting.

He opened several schools, in which he furnished everything according to his desire. Himself compiled school curriculum Or rather, the lack of it. Discipline did not play a key role for him, he wanted the children themselves to be drawn to knowledge, so the main task of the teacher was to interest the students so that they wanted to learn.

He was excommunicated because Tolstoy put forward his theories about what the church should be like. Just a month before his death, he decided to secretly leave his native estate. As a result of the trip, he became very ill and died on November 7, 1910. The writer was buried in Yasnaya Polyana by the ravine where he liked to play as a child with his brothers.

Literary contribution

Lev Nikolaevich began to write while still studying at the University - basically these were homework assignments compared to various literary works. It is believed that it was because of literature that he dropped out - he wanted to devote all his free time to reading.

In the army, he worked on his "Sevastopol stories", and also, as already mentioned, composed songs for his colleagues. Upon returning from the army, he took part in a literary circle in St. Petersburg, from where he went to Europe. He was well aware of the peculiarities of people and tried to reflect this in his works.

Tolstoy wrote many of the most various works, but received worldwide fame thanks to two novels - "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina", in which he accurately reflected the life of people of those times.

The contribution of this great writer to world culture huge - it was thanks to him that many people learned about Russia. His works are published to this day, performances are staged and films are made on them.

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