Literature thick biography. Tolstoy lev nikolaevich

September 23, 1862 Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy married Sofya Andreevna Bers... She at that time was 18 years old, count - 34. They lived together for 48 years, until Tolstoy's death, and this marriage cannot be called easy or cloudlessly happy. Nevertheless, Sofya Andreevna gave birth to 13 children to the count, published both the lifetime collection of his works and the posthumous edition of his letters. Tolstoy, in the last message written to his wife after a quarrel and before leaving home, on his last journey to Astapovo station, admitted that he loved her, no matter what - only he could not live with her. The story of love and life of the Count and Countess Tolstoy is recalled by AiF.ru.

Reproduction of painting by artist Ilya Repin "Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya at the table". Photo: RIA Novosti

Sofya Andreevna, both during her husband's life and after his death, was accused of not understanding her husband, not sharing his ideas, being too mundane and far from the philosophical views of the count. He himself accused her of this, this, in fact, became the cause of numerous disagreements that darkened the last 20 years of their life together. And yet Sofya Andreevna cannot be reproached for being a bad wife. Having devoted her whole life not only to the birth and upbringing of numerous children, but also to housework, household chores, solving peasant and economic problems, as well as preserving the creative heritage of the great husband, she forgot about dresses and social life.

Writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy with his wife Sophia. Gaspra. Crimea. Reproduction of a 1902 photograph. Photo: RIA Novosti Before meeting his first and only wife, Count Tolstoy - a descendant of an ancient noble family, in which the blood of several noble families was mixed at once - had already managed to make both a military and a teaching career, was a famous writer. Tolstoy was familiar with the Bersov family even before his service in the Caucasus and travel to Europe in the 50s. Sophia was the second of three daughters of a doctor at the Moscow Palace Office Andrey Bers and his wife Lyubov Bers, nee Islavina... The Bersy lived in Moscow, in an apartment in the Kremlin, but they often visited the Islavins' Tula estate in the village of Ivitsy, not far from Yasnaya Polyana. Lyubov Alexandrovna was friends with Lev Nikolaevich's sister Mary, her brother Konstantin- with the graph himself. He saw Sophia and her sisters for the first time as children, they spent time together both in Yasnaya Polyana and in Moscow, played the piano, sang and even once staged an opera house.

Writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy with his wife Sofya Andreevna, 1910. Photo: RIA Novosti

Sophia received an excellent education at home - from childhood, her mother instilled in her children a love of literature, and later a diploma as a home teacher at Moscow University and wrote short stories. In addition, the future Countess Tolstaya from her youth was fond of writing stories and kept a diary, which would later be recognized as one of the outstanding examples of the memoir genre. Returning to Moscow, Tolstoy found no longer a little girl with whom he had once staged home performances, but a charming girl. Families again began to visit each other, and the Berses clearly noticed the count's interest in one of their daughters, but for a long time they believed that Tolstoy would woo the elder Elizabeth. For some time, as you know, he himself doubted, but after another day spent with Bers in Yasnaya Polyana in August 1862, he made a final decision. Sophia conquered him with her spontaneity, simplicity and clarity of judgment. They parted for a few days, after which the count himself came to Ivica - to the ball, which was organized by the Bersa and at which Sophia danced so that there was no doubt in Tolstoy's heart. It is even believed that the writer conveyed his own feelings at that moment in War and Peace, in the scene where Prince Andrei watches Natasha Rostova at her first ball. On September 16, Lev Nikolaevich asked the Bers for the hand of their daughter, having previously sent a letter to Sophia to make sure that she agreed: “Tell me, as an honest man, do you want to be my wife? Only if from the bottom of your heart, you can boldly say: yes, or it is better to say: no, if you have a shadow of self-doubt. For God's sake, ask yourself well. I will be scared to hear: no, but I foresee it and will find the strength to take it down. But if I’m never loved by my husband as I love, it will be awful! ” Sophia immediately agreed.

Wanting to be honest with his future wife, Tolstoy gave her his diary to read - this is how the girl learned about the stormy past of the groom, about gambling, about numerous novels and passionate hobbies, including the connection with a peasant girl Aksinya who was expecting a child from him. Sofya Andreevna was shocked, but she hid her feelings as best she could, nevertheless she will carry the memory of these revelations throughout her life.

The wedding was played just a week after the engagement - the parents could not resist the pressure of the count, who wanted to get married as soon as possible. It seemed to him that after so many years he had finally found the one he had dreamed of as a child. Having lost his mother early, he grew up listening to stories about her, and thought that his future wife should also be a faithful, loving, companion who completely shares his views, mother and helper, simple and at the same time able to appreciate the beauty of literature and the gift her husband. This is exactly how he saw Sofya Andreevna - an 18-year-old girl who gave up city life, social events and beautiful outfits for the sake of living next to her husband on his country estate. The girl took care of the household, gradually getting used to rural life, so different from that to which she was accustomed.

Leo Tolstoy with his wife Sophia (center) on the porch of the Yasnaya Polyana house on Troitsin Day, 1909. Photo: RIA Novosti

Firstborn Seryozha Sofya Andreevna gave birth to in 1863. Tolstoy then set about writing War and Peace. Despite a difficult pregnancy, his wife not only continued to do household chores, but also helped her husband in his work - she copied drafts completely.

Writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and his wife Sofya Andreevna drinking tea at home in Yasnaya Polyana, 1908. Photo: RIA Novosti

For the first time, Sofya Andreevna showed her character after the birth of Seryozha. Unable to feed him herself, she demanded that the count bring a wet nurse, although he was categorically against, saying that then the children of this woman would be left without milk. For the rest, she fully followed the rules established by her husband, solved the problems of peasants in the surrounding villages, even treated them. She taught and raised all the children at home: in total, Sofya Andreevna gave birth to 13 children to Tolstoy, five of whom died at an early age.

Russian writer Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (left) with his grandchildren Sonya (right) and Ilya (center) in Krekshino, 1909. Photo: RIA Novosti The first twenty years passed almost cloudlessly, but resentments accumulated. In 1877, Tolstoy finished work on Anna Karenina and felt a deep dissatisfaction with life, which upset and even offended Sofya Andreevna. She, who sacrificed everything for him, in return received dissatisfaction with the life that she so diligently arranged for him. Tolstoy's moral quest led him to formulate the commandments by which his family now had to live. The count called, among other things, for the simplest existence, the rejection of meat, alcohol, smoking. He dressed in peasant clothes, made clothes and shoes for himself, his wife and children, he even wanted to give up all property in favor of the villagers - Sofya Andreevna had to work hard to dissuade her husband from this act. She was sincerely offended that her husband, who suddenly felt guilty before all of humanity, did not feel guilt before her and was ready to give up everything she had acquired and protected for so many years. He expected from his wife that she would share not only his material, but also his spiritual life, his philosophical views. For the first time, having had a big quarrel with Sofya Andreevna, Tolstoy left home, and when he returned, he no longer trusted her manuscript - now the responsibility to rewrite the drafts fell on his daughters, to whom Tolstaya was very jealous. The death of the last child also knocked her down, Vani born in 1888 - he did not live to be seven years old. This grief at first brought the spouses closer, but not for long - the abyss that separated them, mutual resentment and misunderstanding, all this pushed Sofya Andreevna to seek solace on the side. She took up music, began to travel to Moscow to take lessons from a teacher Alexandra Taneeva... Her romantic feelings for the musician were not a secret either for Taneev himself or for Tolstoy, but the relationship remained friendly. But the count, who was jealous, angry, could not forgive this "half-betrayal".

Sophia Tolstaya at the window of the house of the head of the Astapovo station I.M. Ozolin, where the dying Leo Tolstoy lies, 1910. Photo: RIA Novosti. In recent years, mutual suspicion and resentment grew into an almost manic obsession: Sofya Andreevna re-read Tolstoy's diaries, looking for something bad that he could write about her. He scolded his wife for being too suspicious: the last, fatal quarrel took place from October 27 to 28, 1910. Tolstoy packed his things and left home, leaving Sofya Andreevna a farewell letter: “Don't think that I left because I don't love you. I love you and I regret you from the bottom of my heart, but I cannot act differently from what I am doing. " According to the stories of the family, after reading the note, Tolstaya rushed to drown herself - she was miraculously pulled out of the pond. Soon, information came that the count, having caught a cold, was dying of pneumonia at the Astapovo station - the children and his wife, whom he did not want to see even then, came to the sick man's house of the station superintendent. The last meeting of Lev Nikolaevich and Sofya Andreevna took place just before the death of the writer, who died on November 7, 1910. The countess outlived her husband by 9 years, was engaged in publishing his diaries and until the end of her days listened to reproaches that she was a wife not worthy of a genius.

Years of life: 09.09.1828 to 11.20.1910

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

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

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

Leaving the university, Tolstoy lived in Yasnaya Polyana since the spring of 1847. In 1851, realizing the aimlessness of his existence and deeply despising himself, he went to the Caucasus in the army. In the Crimea, Tolstoy was captured by new impressions and literary plans. There he began to work on his first novel, Childhood. Adolescence. Youth". His literary debut immediately brought real recognition to Tolstoy.

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 (awarded the Order of St. Anna and medals). In the Crimea, Tolstoy was captured by new impressions and literary plans, here he began to write a series of "Sevastopol stories", which were soon published and had great success.

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

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

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

Leo Tolstoy was the founder of the Tolstoy movement, one of the fundamental theses of which is the Gospel "non-resistance to evil by force." Around this topic in the Russian émigré community in 1925, still unabated controversies flared up, in which many Russian philosophers of that time took part.

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

Information about works:

The former Yasnaya Polyana estate now houses a museum dedicated to the life and work of Leo Tolstoy. In addition to this museum, the main exposition about his life and work can be seen in the State Museum of L. N. Tolstoy, in the former house of the Lopukhins-Stanitskaya (Moscow, Prechistenka 11). Its branches also: at the Lev Tolstoy station (former Astapovo station), the memorial museum-estate of Leo Tolstoy "Khamovniki" (Lev Tolstoy street, 21), an exhibition hall on Pyatnitskaya.

Many writers and critics were surprised that it was not Leo Tolstoy who received the first Nobel Prize in Literature, because then he was already famous not only in Russia, but also abroad. Many publications were published throughout Europe. But what Tolstoy replied with the following address: “Dear and respected fellows! I was very pleased that the Nobel Prize was not awarded to me. First, it saved me from a big difficulty - to dispose of this money, which, like any money, in my opinion, can only bring evil; and secondly, it gave me the honor and great pleasure to receive an expression of sympathy from so many people, although unknown to me, but still deeply respected by me. Please accept, dear brothers, the expression of my sincere gratitude and best feelings. Lev Tolstoy".
But the story of the Nobel Prize in the life of the writer did not end there. In 1905, Tolstoy's new work "The Great Sin" was published. This, now almost forgotten, acutely publicistic book told about the hard lot of the Russian peasantry. In the Academy of Sciences of Russia the idea arose to nominate Leo Tolstoy for the Nobel Prize. Learning about this, Leo Tolstoy sent a letter to the Finnish writer and translator Arvid Jarnefelt. In it, Tolstoy asked his acquaintance through his Swedish colleagues "to try to make sure that I was not awarded this prize," because, "if this happened, it would be very unpleasant for me to refuse." Jarnefelt carried out this delicate assignment and the prize was awarded to the Italian poet Giosué Carducci.

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

Bibliography

Stories:
List of stories -

Educational literature and didactic manuals:
ABC (1872)
New Alphabet (1875)
Arithmetic (1875)
The first Russian book to read (1875)
The second Russian book for reading (1875)
The third Russian book to read (1875)
The fourth Russian reading book (1875)

Plays:
Infected Family (1864)
Nihilist (1866)
The Power of Darkness (1886)
Dramatic adaptation of the legend of Haggai (1886)
The first distiller, or How the devil deserved a edge (1886)
(1890)
Peter Khlebnik (1894)
Living Corpse (1900)
And the light shines in the dark (1900)
From her all the qualities (1910)

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

Screen adaptations of works, theatrical performances

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

Count Leo Tolstoy, a classic of Russian and world literature, is called a master of psychology, the creator of the epic novel genre, an original thinker and teacher of life. The works of the genius writer are the greatest treasure of Russia.

In August 1828, a classic of Russian literature was born on the Yasnaya Polyana estate in the Tula province. The future author of War and Peace became the fourth child in a family of eminent nobles. On the paternal side, he belonged to the old family of the Tolstoy counts, who served and. On the maternal side, Lev Nikolaevich is a descendant of the Ruriks. It is noteworthy that Leo Tolstoy has a common ancestor - Admiral Ivan Mikhailovich Golovin.

Lev Nikolaevich's mother - nee Princess Volkonskaya - died of a fever after the birth of her daughter. At that time, Leo was not even two years old. Seven years later, the head of the family, Count Nikolai Tolstoy, died.

Caring for the children fell on the shoulders of the writer's aunt, T. A. Ergolskaya. Later, the second aunt, Countess A.M. Osten-Saken, became the guardian of the orphaned children. After her death in 1840, the children moved to Kazan, to a new guardian - father's sister P.I. Yushkova. The aunt influenced her nephew, and the writer called her childhood in her house, which was considered the most cheerful and hospitable in the city, happy. Later, Lev Tolstoy described his impressions of life at the Yushkovs' estate in the story "Childhood".

Silhouette and portrait of Leo Tolstoy's parents

The classic received his primary education at home from German and French teachers. In 1843, Leo Tolstoy entered Kazan University, choosing the Faculty of Oriental Languages. Soon, due to low academic performance, he moved to another faculty - law. But he did not succeed here either: two years later he left the university without receiving a degree.

Lev Nikolaevich returned to Yasnaya Polyana, wishing to improve relations with the peasants in a new way. The venture failed, but the young man regularly kept a diary, loved secular entertainment and was carried away by music. Tolstoy listened for hours, and.

Disappointed with the life of the landowner after a summer spent in the village, 20-year-old Leo Tolstoy left the estate and moved to Moscow, and from there to St. Petersburg. The young man rushed between preparing for the candidate exams at the university, music lessons, carousing with cards and gypsies, and dreams of becoming either an official or a cadet of the Horse Guards regiment. Relatives called Leo "the most trifling fellow", and it took years to distribute the debts he had endowed.

Literature

In 1851, the writer's brother, officer Nikolai Tolstoy, persuaded Lev to go to the Caucasus. For three years Lev Nikolaevich lived in a village on the banks of the Terek. The nature of the Caucasus and the patriarchal life of the Cossack village were later reflected in the stories "Cossacks" and "Hadji Murad", stories "Raid" and "Cutting the forest".

In the Caucasus, Leo Tolstoy composed the story "Childhood", which he published in the magazine "Sovremennik" under the initials L. N. Soon he wrote the sequels "Adolescence" and "Youth", combining the stories into a trilogy. His literary debut turned out to be brilliant and brought Lev Nikolaevich his first recognition.

The creative biography of Leo Tolstoy is developing rapidly: the appointment to Bucharest, the transfer to the besieged Sevastopol, the command of the battery enriched the writer with impressions. From the pen of Lev Nikolaevich came the cycle of "Sevastopol Stories". The works of the young writer amazed critics with a bold psychological analysis. Nikolai Chernyshevsky found in them "the dialectic of the soul", and the emperor read the essay "Sevastopol in December" and expressed admiration for Tolstoy's talent.

In the winter of 1855, 28-year-old Leo Tolstoy arrived in St. Petersburg and entered the Sovremennik circle, where he was warmly greeted, calling him “the great hope of Russian literature”. But over the course of a year, the writers' environment with its disputes and conflicts, readings and literary dinners got bored. Later in the "Confession" Tolstoy admitted:

"These people are disgusted with me, and I am disgusted with myself."

In the fall of 1856, the young writer left for the Yasnaya Polyana estate, and in January 1857 - abroad. For half a year, Leo Tolstoy traveled around Europe. Visited Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland. He returned to Moscow, and from there - to Yasnaya Polyana. In the family estate he took up the arrangement of schools for peasant children. In the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana, twenty educational institutions appeared with his participation. In 1860, the writer traveled a lot: in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, he studied the pedagogical systems of European countries in order to apply what he saw in Russia.

A special niche in the work of Leo Tolstoy is occupied by fairy tales and compositions for children and adolescents. The writer has created hundreds of works for young readers, including the kind and instructive fairy tales "Kitten", "Two Brothers", "Hedgehog and Hare", "Lion and Dog".

Leo Tolstoy wrote the school manual "ABC" for teaching children to write, read and arithmetic. Literary and pedagogical work consists of four books. The writer included instructive stories, epics, fables, as well as methodological advice to teachers. The third book includes the story "Prisoner of the Caucasus".

Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina"

In the 1870s Leo Tolstoy, continuing to teach peasant children, wrote the novel Anna Karenina, in which he contrasted two plot lines: the Karenins family drama and the homely idyll of the young landowner Levin, with whom he identified himself. The novel only at first glance seemed amorous: the classic raised the problem of the meaning of the existence of the "educated class", opposing it with the truth of peasant life. I highly appreciated Anna Karenina.

The turning point in the mind of the writer was reflected in the works written in the 1880s. Life-changing spiritual insight is central to stories and novellas. The Death of Ivan Ilyich, The Kreutzer Sonata, Father Sergius and the story After the Ball appear. The classic of Russian literature paints pictures of social inequality, castigates the idleness of the nobles.

In search of an answer to the question about the meaning of life, Leo Tolstoy turned to the Russian Orthodox Church, but he did not find satisfaction there either. The writer came to the conviction that the Christian church was corrupt, and under the guise of religion, priests were promoting false doctrine. In 1883, Lev Nikolaevich founded the publication Posrednik, where he outlined spiritual beliefs with criticism of the Russian Orthodox Church. For this, Tolstoy was excommunicated, the secret police watched the writer.

In 1898, Leo Tolstoy wrote the novel Resurrection, which received critical acclaim. But the success of the work was inferior to Anna Karenina and War and Peace.

For the last 30 years of his life, Leo Tolstoy was recognized as the spiritual and religious leader of Russia with the doctrine of non-violent resistance to evil.

"War and Peace"

Leo Tolstoy disliked his novel War and Peace, calling the epic "verbose rubbish." The classic wrote the work in the 1860s, living with his family in Yasnaya Polyana. The first two chapters, entitled "Year 1805", were published by the "Russian Bulletin" in 1865. Three years later, Leo Tolstoy wrote three more chapters and completed the novel, which caused heated controversy among critics.

Leo Tolstoy writes "War and Peace"

The novelist took the features of the heroes of the work, written in the years of family happiness and elation, from life. In Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, there are recognizable features of Lev Nikolaevich's mother, her inclination to reflection, brilliant education and love of art. The traits of his father - mockery, love of reading and hunting - the writer awarded Nikolai Rostov.

While writing the novel, Leo Tolstoy worked in the archives, studied the correspondence between the Tolstoys and Volkonskys, Masonic manuscripts, and visited the Borodino field. The young wife helped him by rewriting the rough drafts.

The novel was read avidly, striking readers with the breadth of the epic canvas and subtle psychological analysis. Leo Tolstoy characterized the work as an attempt to "write the history of the people."

According to the estimates of the literary critic Lev Anninsky, by the end of the 1970s, only abroad, the works of the Russian classic were filmed 40 times. Until 1980, the epic "War and Peace" was filmed four times. Directors from Europe, America and Russia shot 16 films based on the novel "Anna Karenina", "Resurrection" was filmed 22 times.

For the first time "War and Peace" was filmed by director Pyotr Chardinin in 1913. Best known is the film made by a Soviet director in 1965.

Personal life

Leo Tolstoy married 18 years old in 1862, when he was 34 years old. The count lived with his wife for 48 years, but the life of the couple can hardly be called cloudless.

Sophia Bers is the second of three daughters of Andrei Bers, a doctor at the Moscow Palace Office. The family lived in the capital, but in the summer they rested in the Tula estate near Yasnaya Polyana. For the first time, Leo Tolstoy saw his future wife as a child. Sophia was educated at home, read a lot, understood art and graduated from Moscow University. The diary kept by Bers-Tolstaya is recognized as an example of the genre of memoirs.

At the beginning of his married life, Leo Tolstoy, wishing that there were no secrets between him and his wife, gave Sophia a diary to read. The shocked wife learned about her husband's stormy youth, passion for gambling, wild life and the peasant girl Aksinya, who was expecting a child from Lev Nikolaevich.

The firstborn Sergey was born in 1863. In the early 1860s, Tolstoy took up writing the novel War and Peace. Sofya Andreevna helped her husband, despite the pregnancy. The woman taught and raised all the children at home. Five out of 13 children died in infancy or early childhood.

Family problems began after Leo Tolstoy finished his work on Anna Karenina. The writer plunged into depression, expressed dissatisfaction with life, which Sofya Andreevna so diligently arranged in the family nest. The count's moral throws led to the fact that Lev Nikolaevich demanded that his relatives give up meat, alcohol and smoking. Tolstoy forced his wife and children to dress in peasant clothes, which he made himself, and wished to give the acquired property to the peasants.

Sofya Andreevna made great efforts to dissuade her husband from the idea of ​​distributing goodness. But the quarrel that occurred split the family: Leo Tolstoy left home. When he returned, the writer assigned the responsibility to rewrite the drafts on his daughters.

The death of the last child, seven-year-old Vanya, brought the spouses together for a short time. But soon mutual grievances and misunderstandings alienated them completely. Sofya Andreevna found solace in music. In Moscow, a woman took lessons from a teacher for whom romantic feelings appeared. Their relationship remained friendly, but the count did not forgive his wife for "half-betrayal".

The fatal quarrel between the spouses happened at the end of October 1910. Leo Tolstoy left home, leaving Sophia a farewell letter. He wrote that he loved her, but could not act otherwise.

Death

82-year-old Leo Tolstoy, accompanied by his personal doctor D. P. Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana. On the way, the writer fell ill and got off the train at the Astapovo railway station. The last 7 days of his life Lev Nikolaevich spent in the house of the station superintendent. The whole country followed the news about Tolstoy's state of health.

The children and wife arrived at the Astapovo station, but Leo Tolstoy did not want to see anyone. The classic died on November 7, 1910: he died of pneumonia. His wife survived him by 9 years. Tolstoy was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.

Leo Tolstoy Quotes

• Everyone wants to change humanity, but no one thinks about how to change themselves.
• Everything comes to the one who knows how to wait.
• All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
• Let everyone sweep in front of his door. If everyone does this, the whole street will be clean.
• It's easier to live without love. But there is no point without it.
• I don't have everything that I love. But I love everything I have.
• The world is moving forward thanks to those who suffer.
• The greatest truths are the simplest.
• Everyone is making plans, and no one knows if he will live until the evening.

Bibliography

• 1869 - "War and Peace"
• 1877 - Anna Karenina
• 1899 - "Resurrection"
• 1852-1857 - "Childhood". "Adolescence". "Youth"
• 1856 - "Two Hussars"
• 1856 - "Morning of the Landowner"
• 1863 - "Cossacks"
• 1886 - "The Death of Ivan Ilyich"
• 1903 - "Diary of a Madman"
• 1889 - "The Kreutzer Sonata"
• 1898 - "Father Sergius"
• 1904 - "Hadji Murad"

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is one of the most famous and great writers in the world. During his lifetime, he was recognized as a classic of Russian literature, his work paved a bridge between the course of two centuries.

Tolstoy proved himself not just as a writer, he was an educator and a 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 people continue to study and try to understand him.

Tolstoy himself was a complex person, as evidenced by at least his family relationship. So numerous myths appear, both about Tolstoy's personal qualities, his actions, and about creativity and the ideas embedded in him. 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. It is a well-known fact that 10 days before his death, Tolstoy ran away from his home in Yasnaya Polyana. There are several versions about why the writer did this. Immediately they 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 commonplace. 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 immediately erupted, and the life of Tolstoy himself became a real hell. His wife's tantrums prompted the writer to act that he had conceived 25 years ago - to escape. During these difficult days, Tolstoy wrote in his diary that he could no longer tolerate this and hated his wife. Sofya Andreevna herself, having learned about Lev Nikolaevich's flight, became even more furious - she ran to drown herself in the pond, beat herself in the chest with thick objects, tried to run somewhere and threatened to never let Tolstoy go anywhere.

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. In fact, Tolstoy's family life 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 “Martyr and Martyr”. Little was known about Sofya Andreevna's talents; she completely found herself in the shadow of her powerful husband. But the recent publication of her stories has made it possible to understand the depth of her sacrifice. And Natasha Rostova from War and Peace came to Tolstoy straight from the youthful manuscript of his wife. In addition, Sofya Andreevna received an excellent education, she knew a couple of foreign languages ​​and even translated her husband's complex works herself. The energetic woman still managed to manage the entire household, the bookkeeping of the estate, as well as sheathe and tie the entire large 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 of living together, she could not understand what kind of person he was.

Tolstoy was excommunicated and anathematized. Indeed, in 1910 Tolstoy was buried without a funeral service, 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 has long put himself outside the church and is no longer perceived by it as a member. But society understood the complex bureaucratic document with an ornate language in its own way - everyone decided that it was the church that had abandoned Tolstoy. And this story with the definition of the Synod was actually a political order. This is how the chief prosecutor Pobedonostsev took revenge on the writer for his image of a man-machine in "Resurrection".

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

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

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

Tolstoy was a great womanizer. The writer's sexual adventures 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 then. The first is a relationship with a peasant woman even before marriage, and the second is a crime with his aunt's maid. Tolstoy seduced an innocent girl, who was then driven out of the yard. The same peasant woman was Aksinya Bazykina. Tolstoy wrote that he loved her as never before in his life. Two years before his marriage, the writer had a son, Timofey, who over the years became a huge man, like his father. In Yasnaya Polyana, everyone knew about the master's illegitimate son, about the fact 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 plots are part of his diaries of young years. He wrote about the sensuality that tormented him, about the desire for women. But something like that was commonplace for Russian noblemen of that time. And remorse for past ties never tormented them. For Sofya Andreevna, the physical aspect of love was not at all important, unlike her husband. But she managed to give birth to 13 children to Tolstoy, having lost five. Lev Nikolaevich was her first and only man. And he was faithful to her throughout the 48 years of their marriage.

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

Tolstoy was an opponent of medicine and science. The writer was not an obscurantist at all. On the contrary, he spoke about the inevitability of progress. At home, Tolstoy had a din of their first Edison phonograph, 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 such a 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 knew about art, he just used his criteria to evaluate it. And didn't he have the right to do so? It is difficult to disagree with the writer that an ordinary man is unlikely to understand Beethoven's symphonies. For untrained listeners, a lot of classical music sounds like torture. But there is also such an art that is perceived excellent by both ordinary villagers and sophisticated gourmets.

Tolstoy was driven by pride. They say that it was this inner quality that manifested itself in the philosophy of the author, and even in everyday life. But is the relentless search for truth really worth considering as pride? Many people believe that it is much easier to join a 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, conducted physical education classes. Little Tolstoy took children to the Samara province, so that they got to know and love nature better. 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 this was a conflict between creativity and family, and not a manifestation of pride.

Because of Tolstoy, a revolution took place in Russia. 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, simply cannot be guilty of the revolution. There were many reasons - the behavior of the intelligentsia, the church, the tsar and the court, the nobility. It was all of them who gave the 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 just spoke out against the revolution. In general, the writer did a lot to soften morals, urging people to be kinder, to serve Christian values.

Tolstoy was an unbeliever, denied faith and taught this to others. The statements that Tolstoy turned people away from the faith irritated and offended him very much. On the contrary, he declared 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 quest is understood and is not at all terrible. Many people generally come to church after immersed in the writer's thoughts. This was especially often observed in Soviet times. And before the Tolstoyans turned towards the church.

Tolstoy constantly lectured everyone. Thanks to this ingrained myth, Tolstoy appears as a self-confident preacher, telling who and how to live. But when studying the writer's diaries, it becomes clear that he has 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, who tried to make the views of their leader absolute, formed around the writer. But for the genius himself, his ideas were not fixed. He considered the presence of God to be absolute, and everything else was the result of trials, torments, searches.

Tolstoy was a fanatical vegetarian. At a certain point 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 broth into the mushroom broth. Seeing this, Tolstoy was not angry, but only joked that he was ready to drink meat broth every day, if only his wife would not 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 terrible quarrels over this did not happen.

To understand Tolstoy, it is enough to read his works and not study his personality. This myth gets in the way of a true reading of Tolstoy's work. Not understanding what he lived, not understanding his work. There are writers who speak with their own texts. And Tolstoy can only be understood if you know his worldview, his personal traits, relations with the state, church, and loved ones. 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 his family. So there is no escape from studying the personality of Tolstoy and interesting aspects of his biography.

You cannot study Tolstoy's novels at school - they are simply incomprehensible to high school students. It is generally difficult for modern schoolchildren to read long works, and War and Peace is, moreover, filled with historical digressions. Give our high school students abbreviated versions of novels adapted for 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. Thinking that it is better to read Tolstoy after school is dangerous. After all, if you do not start reading it at that age, then then the children will not want to immerse themselves in the writer's work. So the school works proactively, knowingly giving more complex and clever 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 controversial. His teaching ideas were perceived as fun for the master, who decided to teach children according to his original method. In fact, the spiritual development of a child directly affects his intellect. The soul develops the mind, and not vice versa. And Tolstoy's pedagogy also works in modern conditions. This is evidenced by the results of an experiment, during which 90% of children achieved excellent results. Children learn to read Tolstoy's ABC, which is built on many parables with their own secrets and archetypes of behavior that reveal human nature. Gradually the program becomes more complicated. A harmonious person with a strong moral principle emerges from the walls of the school. And according to this method, about a hundred schools are engaged in Russia today.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Russian writer, philosopher, thinker, was born in the Tula province, in the family estate "Yasnaya Polyana" in 1828. As a child, he lost his parents and was brought up by his distant relative T.A.Yergolskaya. At the age of 16, he entered Kazan at the University of the Faculty of Philosophy, but education turned out to be boring for him, and after 3 years he dropped out. At the age of 23, he left to fight in the Caucasus, about which, subsequently, he wrote a lot, reflecting this experience in his writings "Cossacks", "Raid", "Cutting the forest", "Hadji Murat".
Continuing to fight, after the Crimean War, Tolstoy went to St. Petersburg, where he became a member of the literary circle "Sovremennik", along with the famous writers Nekrasov, Turgenev and others. Already having a certain fame as a writer, many perceived his entry into the circle with enthusiasm, Nekrasov called him "the great hope of Russian literature." There he published his "Sevastopol Stories", written under the influence of the experience of the Crimean War, after which he went on a trip to European countries, soon, however, disappointed in them.
At the end of 1856, Tolstoy retired and, returning to his native Yasnaya Polyana, became a landowner. Moving away from literary activity, Tolstoy took up educational activities. He opened a school that practiced the system of pedagogy developed by him. For these purposes, he left for Europe in 1860 to study foreign experience.
In the fall of 1862, Tolstoy married a young girl from Moscow, S. A. Bers, leaving with her to Yasnaya Polyana, choosing the quiet life of a family man. But a year later, a new idea suddenly dawned on him, as a result of the embodiment of which the famous work "War and Peace" was born. His no less famous novel "Anna Karenina" was completed already in 1877. Speaking about this period in the writer's life, we can say that his worldview at that time had already been finally formed and became known as "Tolstoyism". His novel "Sunday" was published in 1899, while the last works for Lev Nikolaevich were "Father Sergius", "Living Corpse", "After the Ball".
With worldwide fame, Tolstoy was popular with many people around the world. Being for them, in fact, a spiritual mentor and authority, he often received guests at his estate.
In accordance with his worldview, at the end of 1910, at night, Tolstoy secretly leaves his home, accompanied by his personal doctor. Intending to leave for Bulgaria or the Caucasus, they had a long journey, but due to a serious illness, Tolstoy was forced to stop at a small railway station Astapovo (now named after him), where he died of a serious illness at the age of 82.