How many years did Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy live? The meaning and influence of creativity

Count, Russian writer, Corresponding Member (1873), Honorary Academician (1900) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Beginning with autobiographical trilogy"Childhood" (1852), "Adolescence" (1852 - 54), "Youth" (1855 - 57), a study of "fluidity" inner peace, the moral foundations of personality became the main theme of the works of Tolstoy. Painful searches for the meaning of life, moral ideal, hidden general laws of being, spiritual and social criticism, revealing the "untruth" of class relations, go through all of his work. In the story "Cossacks" (1863), the hero, a young nobleman, seeks a way out in familiarizing himself with nature, with the natural and integral life of a common man. The epic "War and Peace" (1863 - 69) recreates the life of various strata of Russian society during the Patriotic War of 1812, the patriotic impulse of the people, which united all estates and caused victory in the war with Napoleon. historical events and personal interests, the ways of spiritual self-determination of the reflecting personality and the elements of Russian folk life with its "swarm" consciousness are shown as equivalent components of natural-historical life. In the novel "Anna Karenina" (1873 - 77) - about the tragedy of a woman in the grip of a destructive "criminal" passion - Tolstoy reveals false foundations secular society, shows the collapse of the patriarchal order, the destruction of family foundations. He opposes the perception of the world by an individualistic and rationalistic consciousness with the intrinsic value of life as such in its infinity, uncontrollable changeability and material concreteness ("the seer of the flesh" - D. S. Merezhkovsky). Since the end of the 1870s has been experiencing spiritual crisis, later captured by the idea of ​​moral improvement and "simplification" (which gave rise to the "Tolstoy" movement), Tolstoy comes to increasingly irreconcilable criticism of the social structure - modern bureaucratic institutions, the state, the church (in 1901 he was excommunicated Orthodox Church), civilization and culture, the entire way of life of the "educated classes": the novel "Resurrection" (1889 - 99), the story "The Kreutzer Sonata" (1887 - 89), the drama "The Living Corpse" (1900, published in 1911) and " The Power of Darkness "(1887). At the same time, attention is increasing to the themes of death, sin, repentance and moral revival (the story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", 1884 - 86; "Father Sergius", 1890 - 98, published in 1912; "Hadji Murad", 1896 - 1904, published . in 1912). Publicistic works of a moralizing nature, including "Confession" (1879 - 82), "What is my faith?" (1884), where the Christian doctrine of love and forgiveness is transformed into the preaching of non-resistance to evil by violence. the desire to reconcile the way of thinking and life leads to Tolstoy leaving home for Yasnaya Polyana; died at the Astapovo station.

Biography

Born on August 28 (September 9, NS) in the Yasnaya Polyana estate, Tula province. By origin, he belonged to the most ancient aristocratic surnames of Russia. Received home education and education.

After the death of his parents (mother died in 1830, father in 1837) future writer with three brothers and sister moved to Kazan, to the guardian P. Yushkova. As a sixteen-year-old boy, he entered Kazan University, first at the Faculty of Philosophy in the category of Arabic-Turkish literature, then studied at the Faculty of Law (1844 - 47). In 1847, without completing the course, he left the university and settled in Yasnaya Polyana, which he received as property as his father's inheritance.

The next four years, the future writer spent in searches: he tried to reorganize the life of the peasants of Yasnaya Polyana (1847), lived a high life in Moscow (1848), held exams for the degree of candidate of law at St. Petersburg University (spring 1849), deputy assembly (autumn 1849).

In 1851 he left Yasnaya Polyana for the Caucasus, the place of service of his older brother Nikolai, volunteered for military operations against the Chechens. Episodes of the Caucasian War are described by him in the stories "Raid" (1853), "Cutting the Forest" (1855), in the story "Cossacks" (1852 - 63). Passed the cadet exam, preparing to become an officer. In 1854, being an artillery officer, he transferred to the Danube Army, which was operating against the Turks.

In the Caucasus, Tolstoy began to seriously engage in literary creativity, writes the story "Childhood", which was approved by Nekrasov and published in the journal Sovremennik. Later, the story "Boyhood" (1852 - 54) was published there.

Soon after the start of the Crimean War, Tolstoy, at his personal request, was transferred to Sevastopol, where he participated in the defense of the besieged city, showing rare fearlessness. Awarded the Order of St. Anna with the inscription "For Bravery" and medals "For the Defense of Sevastopol". In "Sevastopol Stories" he created a mercilessly reliable picture of the war, which made a huge impression on Russian society. During these years he wrote last part trilogy - "Youth" (1855 - 56), in which he declared himself not just a "poet of childhood", but a researcher of human nature. This interest in man and the desire to understand the laws of mental and spiritual life will continue in future creativity.

In 1855, having arrived in St. Petersburg, Tolstoy became close with the staff of the Sovremennik magazine, met Turgenev, Goncharov, Ostrovsky, Chernyshevsky.

In the fall of 1856, he retired ("A military career is not mine ..." - he writes in his diary) and in 1857 went on a six-month trip abroad to France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany.

In 1859 he opened a school for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana, where he taught himself. He helped open more than 20 schools in the surrounding villages. In order to study the organization of school affairs abroad in 1860 - 1861, Tolstoy made a second trip to Europe, examined schools in France, Italy, Germany, England. In London he met Herzen and attended a lecture by Dickens.

In May 1861 (the year of the abolition of serfdom) he returned to Yasnaya Polyana, assumed the post of world mediator and actively defended the interests of the peasants, resolving their disputes with the landowners about the land, for which the Tula nobility, dissatisfied with his actions, demanded his removal from office. In 1862, the Senate issued a decree dismissing Tolstoy. Secret surveillance began on the side of the III department. In the summer, the gendarmes conducted a search in his absence, confident that they would find a secret printing house, which the writer allegedly acquired after meetings and long conversations with Herzen in London.

In 1862, Tolstoy's life, his life was streamlined for long years: he married the daughter of a Moscow doctor, Sofya Andreevna Bers, and began a patriarchal life on his estate as the head of an ever-growing family. Tolstoy raised nine children.

The 1860s - 1870s were marked by the appearance of two works by Tolstoy, which immortalized his name: "War and Peace" (1863 - 69), "Anna Karenina" (1873 - 77).

In the early 1880s, the Tolstoy family moved to Moscow to educate their growing children. From that time on, Tolstoy spent his winters in Moscow. Here in 1882 he took part in the census of the Moscow population, became closely acquainted with the life of the inhabitants of urban slums, which he described in the treatise "So what should we do?" (1882 - 86), and concluded: "... You can't live like that, you can't live like that, you can't!"

Tolstoy expressed his new outlook in the work "Confession" (1879 㭎), where he spoke about a revolution in his views, the meaning of which he saw in a break with the ideology of the noble class and going over to the side of the "common working people". This turning point led Tolstoy to the denial of the state, the state church and property. Awareness of the meaninglessness of life in the face of inevitable death led him to believe in God. He bases his teaching on the moral commandments of the New Testament: the requirement of love for people and the preaching of non-resistance to evil by violence constitute the meaning of the so-called "Tolstoyism", which is becoming popular not only in Russia, but also abroad.

During this period, he came to a complete denial of his previous literary activity, took up physical labor, plowed, sewed boots, and switched to vegetarian food. In 1891 he publicly renounced copyright ownership of all his works written after 1880.

Under the influence of friends and true admirers of his talent, as well as his personal need for literary activity, Tolstoy changed his negative attitude towards art in the 1890s. During these years he created the drama "The Power of Darkness" (1886), the play "The Fruits of Enlightenment" (1886 - 90), the novel "Resurrection" (1889 - 99).

In 1891, 1893, 1898 he took part in helping the peasants of the starving provinces, organized free canteens.

In the last decade, as always, he has been engaged in intense creative work. The story "Hadji Murad" (1896 - 1904), the drama "The Living Corpse" (1900), the story "After the Ball" (1903) were written.

In early 1900, wrote a series of articles exposing the entire system government controlled... The government of Nicholas II issued a decree according to which the Holy Synod (the highest church institution in Russia) excommunicated Tolstoy from the church, which caused a wave of indignation in society.

In 1901, Tolstoy lived in the Crimea, was treated after a serious illness, and often met with Chekhov and M. Gorky.

In the last years of his life, when Tolstoy was drafting his will, he found himself in the center of intrigue and discord between the “Tolstoyans,” on the one hand, and his wife, who defended the welfare of her family and children, on the other. Trying to bring their lifestyle in line with beliefs and weighed down by the lordly way of life in the estate. Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana on November 10, 1910. The 82-year-old writer's health could not stand the journey. He caught a cold and, having become ill, on November 20, died on the way to the Astapovo Ryazans station of the Ko-Ural railway.

Buried in Yasnaya Polyana.

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

short biography

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

Tolstoy spent two years in the army in the Caucasus. He bravely participated in several battles and was even awarded an order for the defense of Sevastopol. He could have had a good military career, but he wrote several songs ridiculing the military command, as a result of which he had to leave the army.

At the end of the 50s, Lev Nikolayevich went to travel across Europe and returned to Russia after the abolition of serfdom. During his travels, he was disappointed with the European way of life, as he saw a very large contrast between the rich and the poor. That is why, returning to Russia, he was glad that the peasants were now uplifted.

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

He opened several schools, in which he furnished everything as he wanted. He himself made up the school curriculum - or rather, the absence of such. Discipline did not play a key role for him, he wanted the children to strive for knowledge themselves, so the main task of the teacher was to interest the students so that they would want to learn.

He was excommunicated for the fact that Tolstoy put forward his theories about what the church should be. 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 near the ravine, where he loved to play with his brothers as a child.

Literary contributions

Lev Nikolayevich began to write while studying at the University - mostly it was homework compared to various literary works... It is believed that it was because of literature that he dropped out of school - 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 his return from the army, he took part in a literary circle in St. Petersburg, from where he went to Europe. He noticed the peculiarities of people well and tried to reflect this in his works.

Tolstoy wrote many different works, but gained 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 is enormous - it was thanks to him that many people learned about Russia. His works are published to this day, they are used for performances and films.

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Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born on August 28 (September 9), 1828 on the estate of his mother Yasnaya Polyana, Krapivensky district, Tula province. The Tolstoy family belonged to a wealthy and noble count family. By the time Leo was born, the family already had three eldest sons: - Nikolai (1823-1860), Sergei (1826-1904) and Dmitry (1827-1856), and in 1830 was born younger sister Leo Maria.

A few years later, his mother died. In Tolstoy's autobiographical Childhood, Irteniev's mother dies when the boy turns 10 - 12 years old and he is fully conscious. However, the portrait of the mother is described by the writer exclusively from the stories of his relatives. After the death of the mother, a distant relative T.A.Yergolskaya took up the bereaved children. She is represented by Sonya from War and Peace.

In 1837, the family moved to Moscow, because elder brother Nikolai needed to prepare for entering the university. But a tragedy suddenly occurred in the family - the father died, leaving things in a bad state. The three youngest children were forced to return to Yasnaya Polyana under the education of T.A. Ergolskaya and her father's aunt, Countess A.M. Osten-Saken. Lev Tolstoy remained here until 1840. This year Countess A.M. Osten-Sacken died and the children were moved to Kazan to the father's sister P.I.Yushkova. LN Tolstoy conveyed this period of his life quite accurately in his autobiography "Childhood".

At the first stage, Tolstoy received his education under the guidance of the rude French governor Saint-Thomas. He is depicted by a certain M-r Jerome from Boyhood. Later he was replaced by the good-natured German Reselman. Lev Nikolaevich lovingly portrayed him in Childhood under the name of Karl Ivanovich.

In 1843, following his brother Tolstoy, he entered Kazan University. There, until 1847, Lev Tolstoy was preparing to enter the only Russian Faculty of Oriental Studies in the category of Arabic-Turkish literature. During the year of his studies, Tolstoy showed himself as the best student of this course. However, between the family of a poet with a teacher Russian history and German, by a certain Ivanov, there was a conflict. This led to the fact that, according to the results of the year, L.N. Tolstoy had a failure in the relevant subjects and had to re-pass the first year program. To avoid a complete repetition of the course, the poet is transferred to the Faculty of Law. But even there problems with the teacher of German and Russian continue. Soon Tolstoy loses all interest in studying.

In the spring of 1847, Lev Nikolaevich left the university and settled in Yasnaya Polyana. All that Tolstoy did in the village can be found out by reading "The Landowner's Morning", where the poet presents himself in the role of Nekhlyudov. There, a lot of time was spent on revelry, games and hunting.

In the spring of 1851, on the advice of his elder brother Nikolai, in order to cut costs and pay off debts, Lev Nikolayevich left for the Caucasus.

In the fall of 1851, he became a cadet of the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade, stationed in the Cossack village of Starogladov near Kizlyar. Soon L.N. Tolstoy became an officer. When at the end of 1853 began Crimean War Lev Nikolaevich transferred to the Danube army, took part in the battles at Oltenitsa and Silistria. From November 1854 to August 1855 he took part in the defense of Sevastopol. After the assault on August 27, 1855, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was sent to St. Petersburg. A noisy life began there: drinking, cards and carousing with gypsies.

In St. Petersburg, L.N. Tolstoy met with the staff of the journal "Sovremennik" with N.A. Nekrasov, I.S. Turgenev, I.A.Goncharov, N.G. Chernyshevsky.

In early 1857, Tolstoy went abroad. On the road to Germany, Switzerland, England, Italy, France, he spends a year and a half. Travel does not bring him pleasure. He expressed his disappointment with European life in the story "Lucerne". And returning to Russia, Lev Nikolaevich took up the improvement of schools in Yasnaya Polyana.

In the late 1850s, Tolstoy got to know Sophia Andreevna Bers, born in 1844, the daughter of a Moscow doctor from the Eastsee Germans. He was almost 40 years old, and Sophia was only 17. It seemed to him that this difference was too great and sooner or later Sophia would fall in love with a young, non-obsolete guy. These experiences of Lev Nikolaevich are described in his first novel, "Family Happiness".

In September 1862, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy nevertheless married 18-year-old Sophia Andreevna Bers. For 17 years of marriage, they had 13 children. During the same period, War and Peace and Anna Karenina were created. In 1861-62. finishes his story "Cossacks", the first of the works in which the great talent of Tolstoy was recognized as a genius.

In the early 70s, Tolstoy again showed interest in pedagogy, wrote "ABC" and "New ABC", wrote fables and stories, which made up four "Russian books for reading."

To give an answer to the questions and doubts of a religious nature that tormented him, Lev Nikolaevich began to study theology. In 1891, in Geneva, the writer wrote and published A Study of Dogmatic Theology, in which he criticized Bulgakov's Orthodox Dogmatic Theology. He first began to conduct conversations with priests and monarchs, read the Bogoslav tracts, studied ancient Greek and Hebrew languages. Tolstoy meets the schismatics, joins the sectarian peasants.

At the beginning of 1900. By the Holy Synod, Lev Nikolaevich was excommunicated from the Orthodox Church. L.N. Tolstoy lost all interest in life, he was tired of taking advantage of the achieved prosperity, the thought of suicide arose. He is fond of simple physical labor, becomes a vegetarian, gives his family all his sucking, renounces literary property rights.

On November 10, 1910, Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana, but on the way he became very ill. On November 20, 1910, at the Astapovo station of the Ryazan-Ural railway, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy died.

Biography

Origin

Education

Military career

Traveling in Europe

Pedagogical activity

Family and offspring

The flowering of creativity

"War and Peace"

Anna Karenina

Other works

Religious quest

Excommunication

Philosophy

Bibliography

Tolstoy's translators

Worldwide recognition. Memory

Screen adaptations of his works

Documentary

Movies about Leo Tolstoy

Gallery of portraits

Tolstoy's translators

Graph Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy(August 28 (September 9) 1828 - November 7 (20), 1910) - one of the most widely known Russian writers and thinkers. Member of the defense of Sevastopol. Enlightener, publicist, religious thinker, whose authoritative opinion provoked the emergence of a new religious and moral trend - Tolstoyism.

The ideas of nonviolent resistance, which Leo Tolstoy expressed in his work "The Kingdom of God is within you," influenced Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

Biography

Origin

Descended from a noble family known, according to legendary sources, since 1353. His paternal ancestor, Count Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy, is known for his role in the investigation of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, for which he was placed at the head of the Secret Chancellery. The features of Pyotr Andreevich's great-grandson, Ilya Andreevich, are given in War and Peace to the good-natured, impractical old Count Rostov. The son of Ilya Andreevich, Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy (1794-1837), was the father of Lev Nikolaevich. With some character traits and biographical facts, he looked like Nikolenka's father in Childhood and Adolescence and partly like Nikolai Rostov in War and Peace. However, in real life Nikolai Ilyich differed from Nikolai Rostov not only in his good education, but also in his convictions that did not allow him to serve under Nikolai. A participant in the foreign campaign of the Russian army, including participated in the "Battle of the Nations" near Leipzig and was captured by the French, after the conclusion of peace he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Pavlograd hussar regiment. Soon after his resignation, he was forced to join the civil service, so as not to end up in a debt prison due to the debts of his father, the Kazan governor, who died under investigation for official abuse. For several years Nikolai Ilyich had to save money. Father's negative example helped Nikolai Ilyich develop his own life ideal- private independent life with family joys. To put his upset affairs in order, Nikolai Ilyich, like Nikolai Rostov, married an ugly and no longer very young princess from the Volkonsky clan; the marriage was happy. They had four sons: Nikolai, Sergey, Dmitry and Lev and a daughter, Maria.

Tolstoy's maternal grandfather, the general of Catherine, Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky, had some resemblance to the stern rigorist - the old prince Bolkonsky in War and Peace, but the version that he served as the prototype for the hero of War and Peace is rejected by many researchers of Tolstoy's work. Lev Nikolayevich's mother, similar in some respects to Princess Marya depicted in War and Peace, possessed a wonderful gift of storytelling, for which, with her shyness that passed on to her son, she had to lock herself up with those gathered around her in a large number listeners in a dark room.

In addition to the Volkonskys, L.N. Tolstoy was closely related to some other aristocratic families: the princes Gorchakov, Trubetskoy and others.

Childhood

Born on August 28, 1828 in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province, in the hereditary estate of his mother - Yasnaya Polyana. Was the 4th child; his three older brothers: Nikolai (1823-1860), Sergei (1826-1904) and Dmitry (1827-1856). Sister Maria (1830-1912) was born in 1830. His mother died when he was not yet 2 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 for entering 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. Lev Nikolayevich stayed here until 1840, when Countess Osten-Saken died and the children moved to Kazan, to a new guardian - father's sister PI Yushkova.

The Yushkovs' house, somewhat provincial, but typically secular, was one of the funniest in Kazan; all family members highly appreciated the external brilliance. "My good aunt, - says Tolstoy, - pure being, she always said that she would want nothing more for me than for me to have a connection with married woman: rien ne forme un jeune homme comme une liaison avec une femme comme il faut " (« Confession»).

He wanted to shine in society, to earn a reputation as a young man; but he did not have external data for that: he was ugly, as it seemed to him, awkward, and, moreover, his natural shyness hindered him. Everything that is told in " Adolescence" and " Adolescence"About the aspirations of Irteniev and Nekhlyudov for self-improvement, taken by Tolstoy from the history of his own ascetic attempts. The most diverse, as Tolstoy himself defines them, "speculations" about the main issues of our life - happiness, death, God, love, eternity - painfully tormented him in that era of life when his peers and brothers completely devoted themselves to the cheerful, easy and carefree pastime of the rich and noble people. All this led to the fact that Tolstoy developed a “habit of constant moral analysis”, as it seemed to him, “destroying the freshness of feeling and clarity of reason” (“ Youth»).

Education

His education went first under the guidance of the French governor Saint-Thomas? (M-r Jerome "Boyhood"), replacing the good-natured German Reselman, whom he portrayed in "Childhood" under the name of Karl Ivanovich.

At the age of 15, in 1843, following his brother Dmitry, he entered the number of students of Kazan University, where Lobachevsky was a professor at the Faculty of Mathematics, and Kovalevsky at the East Faculty. Until 1847, he was preparing here for admission to the only Faculty of Oriental Studies in Russia at that time in the category of Arabic-Turkish literature. On entrance exams he, in particular, showed excellent results in the compulsory "Turkish-Tatar language" for admission.

Due to the conflict between his family members and a teacher of Russian history and German, a certain Ivanov, according to the results of the year, he had a failure in the relevant subjects and had to re-pass the first year program. To avoid a complete repetition of the course, he transferred to the Faculty of Law, where his problems with grades in Russian history and German continued. The last was the eminent civil scientist Meyer; Tolstoy at one time became very interested in his lectures and even took a special topic for development - a comparison of "Esprit des lois" by Montesquieu and Catherine's "Order". From this, however, nothing came of it. Lev Tolstoy stayed at the Faculty of Law for less than two years: "Any education imposed by others was always difficult for him, and everything that he learned in life - he learned himself, suddenly, quickly, with hard work," Tolstaya writes in his "Materials for biographies of L. N. Tolstoy ".

It was at this time, being in the Kazan hospital, that he began to keep a diary, where, imitating Franklin, he sets himself goals and rules for self-improvement and notes successes and failures in completing these tasks, analyzes his shortcomings and train of thought and motives of his actions. In 1904 he recalled: “… for the first year… I didn’t do anything. In the second year I began to study. .. there was professor Meyer who… gave me a job - comparing Catherine's Order with Montesquieu's Esprit des lois. ... I was carried away by this work, I went to the village, began to read Montesquieu, this reading opened up endless horizons for me; I started reading Rousseau and dropped out of university precisely because I wanted to study. "

The beginning of literary activity

Leaving the university, Tolstoy settled in Yasnaya Polyana in the spring of 1847; his activities there are partly described in "The Morning of the Landowner": Tolstoy tried to establish a new relationship with the peasants.

I followed journalism very little; although his attempt to somehow smooth over the guilt of the nobility before the people dates back to the same year when Grigorovich's "Anton Goremyka" and the beginning of Turgenev's "Notes of a Hunter" appeared, but this is a simple coincidence. If there were literary influences here, it was of a much older origin: Tolstoy was very fond of Rousseau, a hater of civilization and a preacher of a return to primitive simplicity.

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

Having left for St. Petersburg, in the spring of 1848 he began to take an examination for a candidate of rights; he passed two exams, from criminal law and criminal proceedings, successfully, but he did not take the third exam and went to the village.

Later he traveled to Moscow, where he often succumbed to a passion for the game, upsetting his financial affairs a lot. During this period of his life, Tolstoy was especially passionately interested in music (he played the piano well and was very fond of classical composers). Exaggerated in relation to most people description of the action that "passionate" music produces, the author of the "Kreutzer Sonata" drew from the sensations excited by the world of sounds in his own soul.

Favorite composers of Tolstoy were Bach, Handel and Chopin. At the end of the 1840s, Tolstoy, in collaboration with his acquaintance, composed a waltz, which he performed in the early 1900s under the composer Taneyev, who made the musical notation of this piece of music(the only one composed by Tolstoy).

The development of Tolstoy's love for music was also facilitated by the fact that during a trip to St. Petersburg in 1848 he met in a very unsuitable dance-class setting with a gifted but disoriented German musician, whom he later described in Albert. Tolstoy got the idea to save him: he took him to Yasnaya Polyana and played with him a lot. Much time was also spent on revelry, play and hunting.

In the winter of 1850-1851. began to write "Childhood". In March 1851 he wrote The History of Yesterday.

This happened after leaving the university for 4 years, when Tolstoy's brother Nikolai, who served in the Caucasus, came to Yasnaya Polyana and began to call him there. Tolstoy did not give up on his brother's call for a long time, until a major loss in Moscow helped the decision. To pay off, he had to cut his expenses to a minimum - and in the spring of 1851, Tolstoy hastily left Moscow for the Caucasus, at first without any definite purpose. Soon he decided to enroll in military service, but obstacles appeared in the form of a lack of necessary papers, which were difficult to obtain, and Tolstoy lived for about 5 months in complete seclusion in Pyatigorsk, in a simple hut. He spent a significant part of his time hunting, in the company of the Cossack Epishka, the prototype of one of the heroes of the story "Cossacks", who appears there under the name of Eroshka.

In the fall of 1851, Tolstoy, having passed an exam in Tiflis, entered the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade, stationed in the Cossack village of Starogladov, on the banks of the Terek, near Kizlyar, as a cadet. With a slight change in details, she is depicted in all her semi-wild originality in "Cossacks". The same "Cossacks" will give us a picture inner life fled from the capital's pool of Tolstoy. The moods that Tolstoy-Olenin experienced are of a dual nature: here is a deep need to shake off the dust and soot of civilization and to live in a refreshing, clear bosom of nature, outside the empty conventions of urban and, especially, high society life, here is the desire to heal the wounds of pride, carried away from the pursuit of success in this "empty" life, there is also a grave consciousness of wrongdoing against the strict requirements of true morality.

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

Comparatively later, the beginning of the career is very characteristic of Tolstoy: he was never a professional writer, understanding professionalism not in the sense of a profession that provides a means of living, but in a less narrow sense of the predominance of literary interests. Purely literary interests always stood in the background of Tolstoy: he wrote when he wanted to write and the need to speak out was quite ripe, but in ordinary times he is a secular person, an officer, a landowner, a teacher, a world mediator, a preacher, a teacher of life, etc. never took the interests of literary parties to heart, he was far from willing to talk about literature, preferring to talk about questions of faith, morality, public relations... Not a single work of him, in the words of Turgenev, "stinks of literature," that is, it did not come out of a bookish mood, out of literary isolation.

Military career

Having received the manuscript of Childhood, the editor of Sovremennik Nekrasov immediately recognized its literary value and wrote the author a kind letter, which had a very encouraging effect on him. He is taken to the continuation of the trilogy, and plans for "Morning of the Landowner", "Raid", "Cossacks" are swarming in his head. Published in Sovremennik in 1852, Childhood, signed with the modest initials of L. N. T., had an extraordinary success; the author was immediately ranked among the luminaries of the young literary school along with Turgenev, Goncharov, Grigorovich, Ostrovsky, who were already well-known in literature at that time. Criticism - Apollon Grigoriev, Annenkov, Druzhinin, Chernyshevsky - appreciated the depth of psychological analysis, and the seriousness of the author's intentions, and the bright bulge of realism, with all the veracity of the vividly captured details real life alien to any vulgarity.

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

Tolstoy lived for a long time on the terrible 4th bastion, commanded a battery in the battle at Chornaya, was under a hellish bombardment during the assault on Malakhov Kurgan. Despite all the horrors of the siege, Tolstoy wrote at this time a combat story from the life of the Caucasus "Cutting the forest" and the first of three "Sevastopol stories" "Sevastopol in December 1854". This last story he sent it to Sovremennik. Immediately printed, the story was eagerly read by all of Russia and made a stunning impression with a picture of the horrors that fell to the lot of the defenders of Sevastopol. The story was noticed by Emperor Nicholas; he ordered the talented officer to be protected, which, however, was impracticable for Tolstoy, who did not want to go into the category of the "staff" he hated.

For the defense of Sevastopol, Tolstoy was awarded the Order of St. Anna with the inscription “For Bravery” and medals “For the Defense of Sevastopol 1854-1855” and “In Memory of the War of 1853-1856”. Surrounded by the glitter of fame and, using the reputation of a very brave officer, Tolstoy had every chance of a career, but he "ruined" it for himself. This is almost the only time in his life (except for the "Combining different versions of epics into one" made for children in his pedagogical compositions), he indulged in poetry: he wrote a satirical song, in the manner of soldiers, about the unfortunate case 4 (August 16, 1855, when General Read, misunderstanding the command of the commander-in-chief, unreasonably attacked the Fedyukhinsky heights. The song (As of the 4th, the mountains carried us hard to take away), which touched a number of important generals, was a huge success and, of course, damaged the author. Immediately after the assault on August 27 (8 September) Tolstoy was sent by courier to St. Petersburg, where he finished "Sevastopol in May 1855" and wrote "Sevastopol in August 1855".

« Sevastopol stories”, Finally strengthened his reputation as a representative of the new literary generation.

Traveling in Europe

In St. Petersburg he was warmly greeted both in high society salons and in literary circles; he became especially close with Turgenev, with whom he at one time lived in the same apartment. The latter introduced him to the "Contemporary" circle and other literary luminaries: he became friendly relations with Nekrasov, Goncharov, Panaev, Grigorovich, Druzhinin, Sologub.

“After the hardships of Sevastopol, life in the capital had a double charm for a rich, cheerful, impressionable and sociable young man. Tolstoy spent whole days and even nights on drinking and playing cards, binges with gypsies ”(Levenfeld).

At this time, "Snowstorm", "Two Hussars" were written, "Sevastopol in August" and "Youth" were completed, and the writing of future "Cossacks" was continued.

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

On his first trip abroad, he visited Paris, where he was horrified by the cult of Napoleon I ("The deification of a villain, terrible"), at the same time he attends balls, museums, he admires the "sense of social freedom." However, the presence at the guillotine made such a heavy impression that Tolstoy left Paris and went to places associated with Rousseau - to Lake Geneva. At this time, Albert wrote the story and the story of Lucerne.

In the interval between the first and second trips, he continues to work on "Cossacks", wrote Three Deaths and Family Happiness. It was at this time that Tolstoy almost died on a bear hunt (December 22, 1858). He is having an affair with the peasant woman Aksinya, at the same time his need for marriage is maturing.

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

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

Pedagogical activity

He returned to Russia soon after the release of the peasants and became a world mediator. At that time they looked at the people as a younger brother who needed to be lifted up; Tolstoy thought, on the contrary, that the people are infinitely higher than the cultural classes and that the masters must borrow the heights of the spirit from the peasants. He was actively engaged in the organization of schools in his Yasnaya Polyana and throughout the Krapivensky district.

The Yasnaya Polyana school is one of the original pedagogical attempts: in the era of boundless admiration for the newest German pedagogy, Tolstoy resolutely rebelled against any regulation and discipline in the school; the only method of teaching and upbringing that he recognized was that no method was needed. Everything in teaching should be individual - both teacher and student, and their mutual relationship. In the Yasnaya Polyana school, the children sat where they wanted, who how much they wanted and who how they wanted. There was no specific teaching program. The teacher's only job was to keep the class interested. The classes were going well. They were led by Tolstoy himself with the help of several permanent teachers and several random ones, from his closest acquaintances and visitors.

Since 1862, he began to publish the pedagogical journal "Yasnaya Polyana", where he himself was again the main employee. In addition to theoretical articles, Tolstoy also wrote a number of short stories, fables and transcriptions. Tied together, Tolstoy's pedagogical articles made up an entire volume of his collected works. Tucked away in a very rare special magazine, they remained little noticed at the time. No one paid attention to the sociological basis of Tolstoy's ideas about education, to the fact that Tolstoy saw only facilitated and improved methods of exploiting the people by the upper classes in education, science, art and technological success. Moreover, from Tolstoy's attacks on European education and on the notion of "progress" that was popular at that time, many drew the conclusion that Tolstoy was a "conservative."

This curious misunderstanding lasted about 15 years, bringing closer to Tolstoy, for example, a writer who was organically opposite to him, as N.N. Strakhov. It was only in 1875 that NK Mikhailovsky, in his article "The Hand and the Shuytsa of Count Tolstoy," striking with the brilliance of analysis and foreseeing Tolstoy's future activities, outlined the spiritual image of the most original of Russian writers in the real light. The little attention that was paid to Tolstoy's pedagogical articles is partly due to the fact that little was done about him at that time.

Apollon Grigoriev had the right to call his article about Tolstoy ("Time", 1862) "Phenomena of modern literature, missed by our criticism." Extremely cordially welcoming Tolstoy's debits and credits and "Sevastopol Tales", recognizing in him the great hope of Russian literature (Druzhinin even used the epithet "genius" in relation to him), criticism then for 10-12 years, until the appearance of "War and Peace", not that he ceases to recognize him as a very great writer, but somehow grows cold towards him.

Among the stories and essays he wrote in the late 1850s are Lucerne and Three Deaths.

Family and offspring

In the late 1850s, he met Sophia Andreevna Bers (1844-1919), the daughter of a Moscow doctor from the Eastsee Germans. He was already in his fourth decade, Sofya Andreevna was only 17 years old. On September 23, 1862, he married her, and the fullness of family happiness fell to his lot. In the person of his wife, he found not only the most faithful and devoted friend, but also an irreplaceable helper in all matters, practical and literary. For Tolstoy, the brightest period of his life begins - the rapture of personal happiness, very significant due to the practicality of Sofya Andreevna, material well-being, the outstanding, easily given tension of literary creativity and, in connection with it, the unprecedented glory of all-Russian, and then worldwide.

However, Tolstoy's relationship with his wife was not cloudless. Quarrels often arose between them, including in connection with the lifestyle that Tolstoy chose for himself.

• Sergei (July 10, 1863 - December 23, 1947)
• Tatiana (October 4, 1864 - September 21, 1950). Since 1899 she has been married to Mikhail Sergeevich Sukhotin. In 1917-1923 she was the curator of the Yasnaya Polyana estate museum. In 1925 she emigrated with her daughter. Daughter Tatiana Mikhailovna Sukhotina-Albertini 1905-1996
• Ilya (May 22, 1866 - December 11, 1933)
• Leo (1869-1945)
• Maria (1871-1906) Buried in the village. Cochety, Krapivensky district. Since 1897 she has been married to Nikolai Leonidovich Obolensky (1872-1934)
• Peter (1872-1873)
• Nikolay (1874-1875)
• Barbara (1875-1875)
• Andrew (1877-1916)
• Michael (1879-1944)
• Alexey (1881-1886)
• Alexandra (1884-1979)
• Ivan (1888-1895)

The flowering of creativity

During the first 10-12 years after marriage, he creates War and Peace and Anna Karenina. At the turn of this second era literary life Tolstoy stands, conceived back in 1852 and completed in 1861-1862. "Cossacks", the first of the works in which the great talent of Tolstoy reached the level of a genius. For the first time in world literature, the difference between the brokenness of a cultured person, the absence of strong, clear moods in him, and the spontaneity of people close to nature was shown with such vividness and certainty.

Tolstoy showed that it is not at all the peculiarity of people close to nature that they are good or bad. The heroes of the works of Tolstoy the dashing horse thief Lukashka, a kind of dissolute girl Maryanka, the drunkard Eroshka, cannot be called good. But they cannot be called bad either, because they have no consciousness of evil; Eroshka is directly convinced that "There is no sin in anything"... Tolstoy's Cossacks are just living people, for whom not a single emotional movement is clouded by reflection. The Cossacks were not assessed in a timely manner. At that time, everyone was too proud of the "progress" and success of civilization to be interested in how a representative of culture defied some half-savages before the force of direct spiritual movements.

"War and Peace"

Unprecedented success fell to the lot of "War and Peace". An excerpt from the novel entitled "Year 1805" appeared in the Russian Bulletin in 1865; in 1868, three parts of it came out, followed shortly by the other two.

Recognized by the critics of the whole world as the greatest epic new European literature, "War and Peace" amazes from a purely technical point of view, the size of its fictional canvas. Only in painting can one find some parallel in the huge paintings of Paolo Veronese in the Venetian Palace of the Doges, where hundreds of faces are also painted with amazing clarity and individual expression. All classes of society are represented in Tolstoy's novel, from emperors and kings to the last soldier, all ages, all temperaments and in the space of the whole reign of Alexander I.

Anna Karenina

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

In January 1871, Tolstoy sent a letter to A.A. Fet: "How happy I am ... that I will never write verbose nonsense like 'War' again.".

On December 6, 1908, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: "People love me for those trifles -" War and Peace ", etc., which they think are very important"

In the summer of 1909, one of the visitors to Yasnaya Polyana expressed his delight and gratitude for the creation of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Tolstoy replied: “It's like someone came to Edison and said: 'I really respect you for dancing the mazurka well.' I ascribe meaning to my completely different books (religious!) ".

In the sphere of material interests, he began to say to himself: "Well, okay, you will have 6,000 dessiatines in the Samara province - 300 heads of horses, and then?"; in the literary sphere: "Well, okay, you will be more glorious than Gogol, Pushkin, Shakespeare, Moliere, all the writers in the world - so what of it!"... When he started thinking about raising children, he asked himself: "why?"; reasoning "About how the people can achieve prosperity," he "suddenly said to himself: what is it to me?" In general, he “I felt that what he was standing on had broken, that what he was living on was no longer there”... The natural result was the thought of suicide.

"I AM, happy man, hid the lace from myself so as not to hang myself on the crossbar between the cupboards in my room, where I was alone every day, undressing, and stopped going hunting with a gun, so as not to be tempted by too easy a way to rid myself of life. I myself did not know what I want: I was afraid of life, I strove away from it and, meanwhile, hoped for something else from it. "

Other works

In March 1879, in the city of Moscow, Leo Tolstoy met Vasily Petrovich Shchegolenok and in the same year, at his invitation, he came to Yasnaya Polyana, where he stayed for about a month or a month and a half. The goldfinch told Tolstoy a lot of folk tales and epics, of which more than twenty were written down by Tolstoy, and the plots of some, Tolstoy, if not written down on paper, then remembered (these records are printed in volume XLVIII of the Jubilee edition of Tolstoy's works). Six works written by Tolstoy have a source of legends and stories of the Goldfinch (1881 - " Than people are alive", 1885 -" Two old men" and " Three elders", 1905 -" Korney Vasiliev" and " Prayer", 1907 -" Old man in church"). In addition, Count Tolstoy diligently wrote down many sayings, proverbs, individual expressions and words told by the Goldfinch.

Literary criticism of Shakespeare's works

In his critical essay"On Shakespeare and the Drama", based on a detailed analysis of some of the most popular works Shakespeare, in particular: "King Lear", "Othello", "Falstaff", "Hamlet" and others - Tolstoy sharply criticized Shakespeare's ability as a playwright.

Religious quest

To find an answer to the questions and doubts that tormented him, Tolstoy first of all took up the study of theology and wrote and published in 1891 in Geneva his Study of Dogmatic Theology, in which he criticized Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov )'s Orthodox Dogmatic Theology. Conducted conversations with priests and monks, went to the elders in Optina Pustyn, read theological treatises. In order to learn in the original the primary sources of Christian teaching, he studied the ancient Greek and Hebrew languages ​​(in the study of the latter he was helped by the Moscow rabbi Shlomo Minor). At the same time, he looked closely at the schismatics, became close to the thoughtful peasant Syutaev, talked with the Molokans, the Stundists. Tolstoy also looked for the meaning of life in the study of philosophy and in acquaintance with the results of the exact sciences. He made a number of attempts to simplify more and more, striving to live a life close to nature and agricultural life.

Gradually, he abandons the whims and conveniences of a rich life, does a lot of physical labor, dresses in the simplest clothes, becomes a vegetarian, gives the family all his large fortune, and renounces literary property rights. On this soil of unalloyed pure impulse and striving for moral improvement, the third period of Tolstoy's literary activity is created, distinguishing feature which is the denial of all established forms of state, social and religious life... A significant part of Tolstoy's views could not receive open expression in Russia and were fully set forth only in foreign editions of his religious and social treatises.

Any unanimous attitude was not established even in relation to the fictional works of Tolstoy, written during this period. So, in a long series of small stories and legends, intended mainly for folk reading ("How people live", etc.), Tolstoy, in the opinion of his unconditional admirers, reached the pinnacle of artistic power - that spontaneous skill that is given only to folk legends, therefore that they embody the creativity of an entire people. On the contrary, in the opinion of people who are indignant at Tolstoy for turning from an artist into a preacher, these artistic teachings, written with a definite purpose, are crudely tendentious. High and terrible truth The Death of Ivan Ilyich, according to fans, placing this work along with the main works of Tolstoy's genius, according to others, is deliberately tough, deliberately sharply emphasizes the soullessness of the upper strata of society in order to show the moral superiority of a simple "kitchen man" Gerasim. The explosion of the most opposite feelings, caused by the analysis of marital relations and the indirect demand for abstinence from marriage, in the "Kreutzer Sonata" made one forget about the amazing brightness and passion with which this story was written. The folk drama "The Power of Darkness", according to Tolstoy's admirers, is a great manifestation of his artistic power: within the narrow framework of ethnographic reproduction of Russian peasant life Tolstoy managed to fit so much common human traits that the drama has gone around all the stages of the world with colossal success.

In the last major work of the novel "Resurrection" he condemned judicial practice and high society life, caricatured the clergy and worship.

Critics of the last phase of Tolstoy's literary and preaching activity find that his artistic power has certainly suffered from the predominance of theoretical interests and that creativity is now only needed by Tolstoy, in order to propagate his social and religious views in a public form. In his aesthetic treatise ("On Art") one can find enough material to declare Tolstoy an enemy of art: in addition to what Tolstoy here partly completely denies, partly significantly belittles artistic value Dante, Raphael, Goethe, Shakespeare (at the performance of Hamlet, he experienced “special suffering” for this “false semblance of works of art”), Beethoven, etc., he directly comes to the conclusion that “the more we devote ourselves to beauty, the more the more we move away from good. "

Excommunication

Belonging to the Orthodox Church by birth and baptism, Tolstoy, like most representatives of the educated society of his time, in his youth and youth was indifferent to religious issues. In the mid-1870s, he showed an increased interest in the teaching and worship of the Orthodox Church. The second half of 1879 became a turning point away from the teachings of the Orthodox Church. In the 1880s, he took the position of an unambiguously critical attitude towards church doctrine, clergy, and official church life. The publication of some of Tolstoy's works was prohibited by the spiritual and secular censorship. In 1899 Tolstoy's novel "Resurrection" was published, in which the author showed the life of various social strata of contemporary Russia; the clergy was depicted as mechanically and hastily performing the rituals, and some took the cold and cynical Toporov for a caricature of K.P. Pobedonostsev, chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod.

In February 1901, the Synod finally inclined to the idea of ​​publicly condemning Tolstoy and declaring him to be outside the church. Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) played an active role in this. As it appears in the chamber-furrier magazines, on February 22, Pobedonostsev was with Nicholas II in Winter Palace and talked with him for about an hour. Some historians believe that Pobedonostsev came to the tsar directly from the Synod with a ready-made definition.

On February 24 (old style), 1901, in the official organ of the Synod, "Church Gazette, published under His Holiness the Governing Senod" was published "Determination of the Holy Synod of February 20-22, 1901 No. 557, with a message to the faithful children of the Orthodox Greek Russian Church about Count Leo Tolstoy":

In his Answer to the Synod, Leo Tolstoy confirmed his break with the Church: “The fact that I have renounced a church that calls itself Orthodox is absolutely true. But I renounced her not because I rebelled against the Lord, but on the contrary, only because I wanted to serve him with all the strength of my soul. " However, Tolstoy objected to the charges brought against him in the definition of the synod: “The resolution of the synod generally has many shortcomings. It is illegal or intentionally ambiguous; it is arbitrary, unsubstantiated, untrue and, moreover, contains slander and incitement to bad feelings and actions. " In the text of his Answer to the Synod, Tolstoy reveals these theses in detail, recognizing a number of significant discrepancies between the dogmas of the Orthodox Church and his own understanding of the teachings of Christ.

The synodal definition aroused the indignation of a certain part of society; Numerous letters and telegrams were sent to Tolstoy's address expressing sympathy and support. At the same time, this definition provoked a stream of letters from the other part of society - with threats and abuse.

At the end of February 2001, the great-grandson of Count Vladimir Tolstoy, manager of the museum-estate of the writer in Yasnaya Polyana, sent a letter to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II with a request to revise the synodal definition; In an unofficial interview on television, the Patriarch said: "We cannot revise now, because after all, it is possible to revise if a person changes his position." In March 2009, Vl. Tolstoy expressed his opinion on the significance of the synodal act: “I studied the documents, read the newspapers of that time, got acquainted with the materials of public discussions around excommunication. And I got the feeling that this act gave the signal for a total split Russian society... The reigning family, the upper aristocracy, the local nobility, the intelligentsia, the raznochin strata, and the common people split. A crack went through the body of the entire Russian, Russian people. "

Moscow census of 1882. L. N. Tolstoy - census participant

The 1882 census in Moscow is famous for the fact that it took part great writer Count L. N. Tolstoy. Lev Nikolayevich wrote: "I suggested using the census in order to learn about poverty in Moscow and help it with deeds and money, and make sure that the poor were not in Moscow."

Tolstoy believed that for society, the interest and significance of the census is that it gives him a mirror in which you want or don’t want, the whole society and each of us will look. He chose for himself one of the most difficult and difficult sections, Protochny Lane, where the shelter was located, in the midst of Moscow's dullness this gloomy two-story building was called the Rzhanova Fortress. Having received an order from the Duma, Tolstoy, a few days before the census, began to bypass the site according to the plan he was given. Indeed, the filthy shelter, filled with beggars and desperate people who had sunk to the very bottom, served as a mirror for Tolstoy, reflecting the terrible poverty of the people. Freshly impressed by what he saw, Leo Tolstoy wrote his famous article "On the census in Moscow." In this article, he writes:

Despite the good goals of the census declared by Tolstoy, the population was suspicious of this event. On this occasion, Tolstoy writes: “When it was explained to us that the people had already learned about the bypass of the apartments and were leaving, we asked the owner to lock the gates, and we ourselves went to the courtyard to persuade the people who were leaving.” Lev Nikolayevich hoped to arouse sympathy in the rich for urban poverty, raise money, recruit people willing to contribute to this business and, together with the census, go through all the dens of poverty. In addition to fulfilling the duties of a scribe, the writer wanted to get in touch with the unfortunate, find out the details of their needs and help them with money and work, expulsion from Moscow, placing children in schools, old people and old women in orphanages and almshouses.

According to the results of the census, the population of Moscow in 1882 was 753.5 thousand people, and only 26% were born in Moscow, and the rest were "newcomers". Of the Moscow residential apartments, 57% went outside, 43% to the courtyard. From the 1882 census, one can find out that in 63% the head of the household is the married couple, in 23% - the wife and only 14% - the husband. The census recorded 529 families with 8 or more children. 39% have servants, and most often they are women.

Last years of life. Death and burial

In October 1910, fulfilling his decision to live the last years according to his views, he secretly left Yasnaya Polyana. He began his last journey at the station of Kozlova Zaseka; on the way he fell ill with pneumonia and had to make a stop at the small station Astapovo (now Lev Tolstoy, Lipetsk region), where he died on November 7 (20).

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

In January 1913, a letter from Countess Sophia Tolstoy dated December 22, 1912, was published, in which she confirms the news in the press that his funeral service was performed on her husband's grave by a certain priest (she refutes rumors that he was fake) in her presence. In particular, the Countess wrote: “I also declare that Lev Nikolayevich never before his death expressed a desire not to be inveted, but earlier he wrote in his diary in 1895, as if a testament:“ If possible, then (bury) without priests and funeral services. But if it is unpleasant for those who will bury, then let them bury, as usual, but as cheap and simple as possible. "

There is also an unofficial version of the death of Leo Tolstoy, set out in exile by I.K. Sursky, according to a Russian police official. According to her, the writer, before his death, wanted to be reconciled with the church and came to Optina Pustyn for this. Here he was awaiting an order from the Synod, but feeling unwell, he was taken away by his daughter who had arrived and died at the Astapovo post station.

Philosophy

Tolstoy's religious and moral imperatives were the source of the Tolstoyan movement, one of the fundamental theses of which is the thesis of "non-resistance to evil by force." The latter, according to Tolstoy, is recorded in a number of places in the Gospel and is the core of Christ's teaching, as well as Buddhism. The essence of Christianity, according to Tolstoy, can be expressed in a simple rule: “ Be kind and do not resist evil by force».

Ilyin I.A., in particular, spoke out against the position of non-resistance, which gave rise to controversies in the philosophical environment, in his work "On Resisting Evil by Force" (1925)

Criticism of Tolstoy and Tolstoyism

• The Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod of Victory Bearers in his private letter dated February 18, 1887 to Emperor Alexander III, wrote about Tolstoy's drama The Power of Darkness: “I have just read a new drama by L. Tolstoy and cannot recover from horror. And they assure me that they are preparing to give it to Imperial theaters and are already learning the roles. I don't know anything like that in any literature. Zola himself has hardly reached such a degree of rough realism that Tolstoy becomes here. The day on which Tolstoy's drama will be presented at the Imperial Theaters will be decisive fall our stage, which has already dropped very low. "

• The leader of the extreme left wing of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party, V.I. ridiculous, like a prophet who discovered new recipes for the salvation of mankind - and therefore, the foreign and Russian "Tolstoyans" who wished to turn into dogma just the very weak side his teachings. Tolstoy is great as an exponent of the ideas and moods that had developed among millions of the Russian peasantry at the time of the onset of the bourgeois revolution in Russia. Tolstoy is original, for the totality of his views, taken as a whole, expresses precisely the peculiarities of our revolution as a peasant bourgeois revolution. The contradictions in Tolstoy's views, from this point of view, are a real mirror of those contradictory conditions in which the historical activity of the peasantry was placed in our revolution. ".
• The Russian religious philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev wrote at the beginning of 1918: “L. Tolstoy must be recognized as the greatest Russian nihilist, the destroyer of all values ​​and shrines, the destroyer of culture. Tolstoy triumphed, his anarchism triumphed, his non-resistance, his denial of the state and culture, his moralistic demand for equality in poverty and non-existence and submission to the peasant kingdom and physical labor. But this triumph of Tolstoyism turned out to be less meek and beautiful-hearted than Tolstoy had imagined. It is unlikely that he himself would have rejoiced at such a triumph of his. The godless nihilism of Tolstoyism is exposed, its terrible poison destroying the Russian soul. To save Russia and Russian culture with a hot iron, you need to burn out from the Russian soul Tolstoy's morality, low and destructive. "

His article “The Spirits of the Russian Revolution” (1918): “There is nothing prophetic in Tolstoy, he did not anticipate or predict anything. As an artist, he faces a crystallized past. He did not have that sensitivity to the dynamism of human nature, which in the highest degree was at Dostoevsky's. But in the Russian revolution it is not Tolstoy's artistic insights that triumph, but his moral assessments. Tolstoyans in the narrow sense of the word, who share the doctrine of Tolstoy, are few, and they represent an insignificant phenomenon. But Tolstoyism in a broad, non-doctrinal sense of the word is very characteristic of a Russian person, it determines Russian moral assessments. Tolstoy was not a direct teacher of the Russian left intelligentsia; Tolstoy's religious teaching was alien to her. But Tolstoy grasped and expressed the peculiarities of the moral makeup of the majority of the Russian intelligentsia, perhaps even the Russian person-intellectual, perhaps even the Russian person in general. And the Russian revolution is a kind of triumph of Tolstoyism. Both Tolstoy's Russian moralism and Russian immorality were imprinted on it. This Russian moralism and this Russian immorality are interconnected and are two sides of the same disease of moral consciousness. Tolstoy managed to instill in the Russian intelligentsia a hatred for everything historically individual and historically different. He was the spokesman for that side of Russian nature that abhorred historical power and historical glory. This he taught to moralize in an elementary and simplified way over history and to transfer to historical life the moral categories of individual life. By this, he morally undermined the opportunity for the Russian people to live a historical life, fulfill their historical destiny and historical mission... He morally prepared the historical suicide of the Russian people. He clipped the wings of the Russian people as a historical people, morally poisoned the sources of every impulse to historical creativity... The world war was lost by Russia because Tolstoy's moral assessment of the war prevailed in it. In the terrible hour of the world struggle, the Russian people were weakened by Tolstoy's moral assessments, in addition to betrayal and animal selfishness. Tolstoy's morality disarmed Russia and delivered it into the hands of the enemy. "

• V. Mayakovsky, D. Burliuk, V. Khlebnikov, A. Kruchenykh, called for "to throw Tolstoy L. N. and others from the steamer of our time" in the 1912 Futurist manifesto "Slap in the face of public taste"
• George Orwell defended against criticism of Tolstoy W. Shakespeare

• Georgy Florovsky (1937), researcher of the history of Russian theological thought and culture: “There is one decisive contradiction in Tolstoy's experience. He undoubtedly had the temperament of a preacher or a moralist, but he had no religious experience at all. Tolstoy was not at all religious, he was religiously mediocre. Tolstoy did not derive his "Christian" worldview from the Gospel at all. He already verifies the gospel with his own view, and therefore he so easily trims it down and adapts it. For him, the Gospel is a book compiled many centuries ago by “poorly educated and superstitious people,” and it cannot be accepted in its entirety. But Tolstoy does not mean scientific criticism, but simply personal choice or selection. Tolstoy, in some strange way, seemed to be late mentally in the 18th century, and therefore found himself outside of history and modernity. And he deliberately leaves the present into some kind of contrived past. All his work is in this respect some kind of continuous moralistic Robinsonade. Annenkov also called Tolstoy's mind sectarian... There is a striking discrepancy between the aggressive maximalism of Tolstoy's socio-ethical denials and denials and the extreme poverty of his positive moral teaching. All morality for him is reduced to common sense and to worldly prudence. “Christ teaches us exactly how we can get rid of our misfortunes and live happily.” And this is what the whole Gospel comes down to! Here Tolstoy's insensibility becomes creepy, and “common sense” turns into madness ... abandoning history, only by leaving culture and simplifying, that is, by removing questions and abandoning tasks. Moralism in Tolstoy turns around historical nihilism.»

• Saint righteous john Kronstadt sharply criticized Tolstoy (see "The answer of Father John of Kronstadt to Count Leo Tolstoy's appeal to the clergy"), and in his dying diary (August 15 - October 2, 1908) he wrote:

"24 August. How long, Where, do you endure the worst atheist who confused the whole world, Leo Tolstoy? How long do you not call him to your judgment? Behold, I am coming soon, and will My wages with Me reward commensurately for his work? (Rev; Rev. 22, 12) Where, the earth is tired of enduring his blasphemy. - "
"6 September. Where, do not allow Leo Tolstoy, a heretic who surpassed all heretics, to reach before the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, whom he terribly blasphemed and blasphemed. Take it from the ground - this stinking corpse, with its pride, has made the whole earth stink. Amen. 9 pm. "

• In 2009, as part of a court case on the liquidation of a local religious organization Jehovah's Witnesses Taganrog conducted a forensic examination, in the conclusion of which Leo Tolstoy's statement was cited: Christian doctrine ”, which was characterized as a formative negative attitude towards the Russian Orthodox Church, and LN Tolstoy himself - as“ an opponent of Russian Orthodoxy ”.

Expert assessment of individual statements of Tolstoy

• In 2009, within the framework of a court case on the liquidation of the local religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses "Taganrog", a forensic examination of the organization's literature was carried out for signs of incitement to religious hatred, undermining respect and hostility towards other religions. The experts concluded that Awake! contains (without specifying the source) the statement of Leo Tolstoy: “I became convinced that the teaching of the [Russian Orthodox] Church is theoretically an insidious and harmful lie, but in practice it is a collection of the most crude superstitions and witchcraft that completely conceals the whole meaning of Christian teaching,” which was described as formative negative attitude and undermining respect for the Russian Orthodox Church, and Leo Tolstoy himself - as an "enemy of Russian Orthodoxy."

• In March 2010, in the Kirov court of Yekaterinburg, Lev Tolstoy was accused of "inciting religious hatred towards the Orthodox Church." Extremism expert Pavel Suslonov testified: "Lev Tolstoy's leaflets" Preface to the Soldiers 'Memo "and" Officers' Memo "" directed to soldiers, sergeant major and officers, contain direct calls for inciting sectarian hatred directed against the Orthodox Church. "

Bibliography

Tolstoy's translators

• In Azerbaijani language - Dadash-zade, Mamed Arif Maharram oglu
• Into English - Constance Garnett, Leo Wiener, Elmer and Louis Maude (en: Aylmer and Louise Maude)
• In Bulgarian - Sava Nichev, Georgi Shopov, Hristo Dosev
• On Spanish- Selma Ansira
• On Kazakh language- Ibrai Altynsarin
• Into Malay - Victor Pogadaev
• In Norwegian - Martin Gran, Olaf Broch, Martha Grundt
• In French - Michel Okuturier, Vladimir Lvovich Binstok
• Esperanto - Valentin Melnikov, Victor Sapozhnikov
• In Japanese - Konishi Masutaro

Worldwide recognition. Memory

Museums

In the former estate "Yasnaya Polyana" there is a museum dedicated to his life and work.

The main literary exposition about his life and work is in State Museum L. N. Tolstoy, in former house Lopukhin-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), showroom on Pyatnitskaya.

Scientists, cultural figures, politicians about L. N. Tolstoy

Screen adaptations of his works

• "Sunday"(eng. 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 Dead"(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
• "Living Dead"(1916). Silent movie.
• Anna Karenina(1918, Hungary). Silent movie.
• "The power of darkness"(1918, Russia). Silent movie.
• "Living Dead"(1918). Silent movie.
• "Father Sergius"(1918, RSFSR). Silent motion picture film by Yakov Protazanov, in 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 Dead"(1929, USSR). Cast - V. Pudovkin
• Anna Karenina(Anna Karenina, 1935, USA). Sound film. Greta Garbo as Anna
• « Anna Karenina "(Anna Karenina, 1948, UK). 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
• "Sunday"(1960, USSR). Dir. - M. Schweitzer
• Anna Karenina(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 Dead"(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(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(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.

Documentary

• "Lev Tolstoy". Documentary. TsSDF (RTSSDF). 1953.47 minutes.

Movies about Leo Tolstoy

• "The departure of the great old man"(1912, Russia). Director - Yakov Protazanov
• "Lev Tolstoy"(1984, USSR, Czechoslovakia). Director - S. Gerasimov
• "The last station"(2008). Christopher Plummer as L. Tolstoy, Helen Mirren as Sophia Tolstoy. A film about the last days of the writer's life.

Gallery of portraits

Tolstoy's translators

• In Japanese - Konishi Masutaro
• In French - Michel Okuturier, Vladimir Lvovich Binstok
• In Spanish - Selma Ansira
• Into English - Constance Garnett, Leo Wiener, Elmer and Louis Maude (en: Aylmer and Louise Maude)
• In Norwegian - Martin Gran, Olaf Broch, Martha Grundt
• In Bulgarian - Sava Nichev, Georgi Shopov, Hristo Dosev
• In Kazakh language - Ibrai Altynsarin
• Into Malay - Victor Pogadaev
• Esperanto - Valentin Melnikov, Victor Sapozhnikov
• In Azerbaijani language - Dadash-zade, Mamed Arif Maharram oglu

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 they 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 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. In 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 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 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 the 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 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 doctrine. Once 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 flew everywhere. One particularly annoying one sat on Chertkov's bald head, where the writer killed him with his palm. Everyone laughed, and only the offended victim noted that Lev Nikolaevich 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. That 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 and accessible things to all.

Tolstoy was an opponent of medicine and science. The writer was not an obscurantist at all. On the contrary, he talked 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. It is another matter that a community of followers, Tolstoyans, had formed 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 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 interferes with a true reading of Tolstoy's works. 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 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 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.