Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich young. Brief biography of Leo Tolstoy

Do you know Leo Tolstoy? The short and complete biography of this writer is studied in detail in school years. However, like great works. The first association for every person who hears the name famous writer, is the novel "War and Peace". Not everyone dared to overcome laziness and read it. And in vain. This work has earned worldwide fame. This is a classic that everyone should read. educated person. But first things first.

The biography of Leo Tolstoy says that he was born in the 19th century, namely in 1828. The surname of the future writer is the oldest aristocratic one in Russia. Lev Nikolaevich received his education at home. When his parents died, he, his sister and three brothers moved to the city of Kazan. P. Yushkova became Tolstoy’s guardian. At the age of 16 he entered the local university. He studied first at the Faculty of Philosophy and then at the Faculty of Law. But Tolstoy never graduated from the university. He settled on the Yasnaya Polyana estate - where he was born.

The biography of Leo Tolstoy says that the next 4 years became years of quest for him. First, he reorganized the life of the estate, then went to Moscow, where Savor. He received a candidate of law degree from St. Petersburg University, and then got a job - he became a clerical employee in the noble parliamentary assembly of Tula.

The biography of Leo Tolstoy describes his trip to the Caucasus in 1851. There he even fought with the Chechens. Episodes of this particular war were later described in various stories and the story “Cossacks”. Next, Lev passed the cadet exam in order to become an officer in the future. And already in this rank in 1854, Tolstoy served in the Danube Army, which was operating at that time against the Turks.

Lev Nikolaevich began to seriously engage in literary creativity during a trip to the Caucasus. His story “Childhood” was written there and then published in the Sovremennik magazine. The story “Adolescence” subsequently appeared in the same publication.

Leo also fought in Sevastopol during the war. There he showed real fearlessness, participating in the defense of the city under siege. For this he was awarded the Order of Bravery. Bloody picture The writer recreated the war in his “Sevastopol Stories”. This work made an indelible impression on the entire Russian society.

Since 1855, Tolstoy lived in St. Petersburg. There he often communicated with Chernyshevsky, Turgenev, Ostrovsky and other legendary personalities. And a year later he retired. Then the writer traveled, he opened a school for peasant children on his native estate and even taught classes there himself. With his help, two dozen more schools were opened nearby. This was followed by a second trip abroad. The works that immortalized the writer’s name throughout the world were created by him in the 70s. This is, of course, “Anna Karenina” and the novel “War and Peace” described at the beginning of the article.

The biography of Leo Tolstoy says that he got married in 1862. He and his wife subsequently raised nine children. The family moved to the capital in 1880.

Leo Tolstoy (biography Interesting Facts reports this) last years spent his life torn apart by intrigue and squabbles in the family over the inheritance that would remain after him. At the age of 82, the writer leaves the estate and goes on a journey, away from the lordly way of life. But his health was too weak for this. On the way, he caught a cold and died. He was buried, of course, in his homeland - in Yasnaya Polyana.

LEV NIKOLAEVICH TOLSTOY (1828 1910), Russian writer. Born on August 28, 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana, a family estate in the Tula province. His parents, well-born Russian nobles, died when he was a child. At the age of 16, raised by domestic... ... Collier's Encyclopedia

Count, Russian writer. Father T. Count... ... Big Soviet encyclopedia

- (1828 1910), Russian. writer. Diaries, letters, conversations recorded by contemporaries of T. contain numerous. judgments about L. T.’s first acquaintance with L. directly. youthful perception of his work. (“Hadji Abrek”, “Ishmael Bey”, “Hero of Our Time”)... ... Lermontov Encyclopedia

Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich- (18281910), count, writer. Tolstoy's connections with literary, social and cultural life Petersburg (which the writer visited about 10 times, for the first time in 1849) were especially intense in the 50s; here he made his first appearance in literature in... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

- (1828 1910) Russian. writer, publicist, philosopher. In 1844-1847 he studied at Kazan University (did not graduate). Artistic creativity T. is largely philosophical. In addition to reflections on the essence of life and the purpose of man, expressed in... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

- (1828 1910) 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 the fluidity of the inner world, ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1828 1910), count, writer. T.'s connections with the literary, social and cultural life of St. Petersburg (which the writer visited about 10 times, for the first time in 1849) were especially intense in the 50s; here he made his first appearance in literature in a magazine... ... St. Petersburg (encyclopedia)

Tolstoy, Lev Nikolaevich- L.N. Tolstoy. Portrait by N.N. Ge. TOLSTOY Lev Nikolaevich (1828 1910), Russian writer, count. Starting with the autobiographical trilogy “Childhood” (1852), “Adolescence” (1852 54), “Youth” (1855 57), a study of the “fluidity” of the inner world, ... ... Illustrated encyclopedic Dictionary

- (1828 1910), count, Russian writer, corresponding member (1873), honorary academician (1900) of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Starting with the autobiographical trilogy “Childhood” (1852), “Adolescence” (1852 54), “Youth” (1855 57), a study of the “fluidity” of internal... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Tolstoy (Count Lev Nikolaevich) famous writer who achieved something unprecedented in history literature of the 19th century V. glory. In his face they powerfully united great artist with the great moralist. Personal life Tolstoy, his tenacity, tirelessness,... ... Biographical Dictionary

Books

• Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich. Collected works in 12 volumes (number of volumes: 12), Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) is a writer whose name is known all over the world, a writer whose novels have been and are being read by many generations. Tolstoy's works have been translated into more than 75...
• My second Russian book to read. Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich, Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich. Educational, entertaining and instructive works for teaching children to read were specially collected by Leo Tolstoy into several “Russian books for reading”. The first of them is our...

Count Leo Tolstoy, a classic of Russian and world literature, is called a master of psychologism, the creator of the epic novel genre, an original thinker and teacher of life. Works brilliant writer- Russia's greatest asset.

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

Lev Nikolayevich’s mother, nee Princess Volkonskaya, died of childbirth fever after the birth of her daughter. At that time, Lev 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-Sacken, became the guardian of the orphaned children. After her death in 1840, the children moved to Kazan, to a new guardian - their father’s sister P. I. Yushkova. The aunt influenced her nephew, and the writer called his childhood in her house, which was considered the most cheerful and hospitable in the city, happy. Later, Leo Tolstoy described his impressions of life at the Yushkov estate in his story “Childhood.”

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 transferred to another faculty - law. But he did not succeed here either: after two years he left the university without receiving a degree.

Lev Nikolaevich returned to Yasnaya Polyana, wanting to establish relations with the peasants in a new way. The idea failed, but the young man regularly kept a diary, loved social entertainment and became interested in music. Tolstoy listened for hours, and...

Disappointed with the life of the landowner after spending the summer 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 candidate exams at the university, studying music, carousing with cards and gypsies, and dreams of becoming either an official or a cadet in a horse guards regiment. Relatives called Lev “the most trifling fellow,” and it took years to pay off the debts he incurred.

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. Nature of the Caucasus and patriarchal life Cossack village later appeared in the stories “Cossacks” and “Hadji Murat”, the 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. The literary debut turned out to be brilliant and brought Lev Nikolaevich his first recognition.

The creative biography of Leo Tolstoy is developing rapidly: an appointment to Bucharest, a transfer to besieged Sevastopol, and command of a battery enriched the writer with impressions. From the pen of Lev Nikolaevich came the cycle “ Sevastopol stories" The works of the young writer amazed critics with their bold psychological analysis. Nikolai Chernyshevsky found in them a “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 welcomed, calling him “the great hope of Russian literature.” But over the course of a year, I got tired of the writing environment with its disputes and conflicts, readings and literary dinners. Later in Confession Tolstoy admitted:

“These people disgusted me, and I disgusted myself.”

In the fall of 1856, the young writer went to the Yasnaya Polyana estate, and in January 1857 he went abroad. Leo Tolstoy traveled around Europe for six months. Visited Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland. He returned to Moscow, and from there to Yasnaya Polyana. IN family estate began arranging schools for peasant children. With his participation, twenty educational institutions appeared in the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana. In 1860, the writer traveled a lot: in Germany, Switzerland, and 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 works for children and teenagers. The writer has created hundreds of works for young readers, including good and instructive fairy tales “Kitten”, “Two Brothers”, “Hedgehog and Hare”, “Lion and Dog”.

Leo Tolstoy wrote the school textbook “ABC” to teach children writing, reading and arithmetic. The literary and pedagogical work consists of four books. The writer included instructive stories, epics, fables, as well as methodological advice teachers. The third book includes the story “ Prisoner of the Caucasus».

In the 1870s, Leo Tolstoy, while continuing to teach peasant children, wrote the novel Anna Karenina, in which he contrasted the two storylines: family drama Karenins and the home idyll of the young landowner Levin, with whom he identified himself. The novel only at first glance seemed to be a love affair: the classic raised the problem of the meaning of existence of the “educated class”, contrasting it with the truth of peasant life. "Anna Karenina" was highly appreciated.

The turning point in the writer’s consciousness was reflected in the works written in the 1880s. Life-changing spiritual insight occupies a central place in the stories and stories. “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 and 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 didn’t find satisfaction there either. The writer came to the conclusion that Christian church corrupt, and under the guise of religion, priests promote false teaching. In 1883, Lev Nikolaevich founded the publication “Mediator,” where he outlined his spiritual beliefs and criticized the Russian Orthodox Church. For this, Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church, and the writer was monitored by the secret police.

In 1898, Leo Tolstoy wrote the novel Resurrection, which received favorable reviews from critics. 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, with his teachings on non-violent resistance to evil, was recognized as the spiritual and religious leader of Russia.

"War and Peace"

Leo Tolstoy disliked his novel War and Peace, calling the epic “wordy rubbish.” The classic writer wrote the work in the 1860s, while living with his family in Yasnaya Polyana. The first two chapters, entitled “1805,” were published by Russkiy Vestnik in 1865. Three years later, Leo Tolstoy wrote three more chapters and completed the novel, which caused heated controversy among critics.

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

When writing the novel, Leo Tolstoy worked in the archives, studied the correspondence of Tolstoy and Volkonsky, Masonic manuscripts, and visited the Borodino field. His young wife helped him, copying his drafts out clean.

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

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

“War and Peace” was first filmed by director Pyotr Chardynin in 1913. The most famous film was made by a Soviet director in 1965.

Personal life

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

Sofia Bers is the second of three daughters of the Moscow palace office doctor Andrei Bers. The family lived in the capital, but in the summer they vacationed on a 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 memoir genre.

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

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

Problems in the family began after Leo Tolstoy finished his work on Anna Karenina. The writer plunged into depression, expressed dissatisfaction with the life that Sofya Andreevna so diligently arranged in the family nest. The count's moral turmoil led to Lev Nikolayevich demanding 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 wanted to give his acquired property to the peasants.

Sofya Andreevna made considerable efforts to dissuade her husband from the idea of ​​​​distributing goods. But the quarrel that occurred split the family: Leo Tolstoy left home. Upon returning, the writer entrusted the responsibility of rewriting drafts to his daughters.

Death last child– seven-year-old Vanya – brought the spouses closer 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 developed. Their relationship remained friendly, but the count did not forgive his wife for “half-betrayal.”

The couple's fatal quarrel occurred at the end of October 1910. Leo Tolstoy left home, leaving Sophia Farewell letter. He wrote that he loved her, but could not do 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. Lev Nikolaevich spent the last 7 days of his life in the house stationmaster. The whole country followed the news about Tolstoy’s 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.

Quotes by Leo Tolstoy

• Everyone wants to change humanity, but no one thinks about how to change themselves.
• Everything comes to those who know how to wait.
• All happy families are similar to each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
• Let everyone sweep in front of his own door. If everyone does this, the whole street will be clean.
• It's easier to live without love. But without it there is no point.
• I don't have everything I love. But I love everything I have.
• The world moves forward because of those who suffer.
• The greatest truths are the simplest.
• Everyone is making plans, and no one knows whether he will survive 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 – “Notes of a Madman”
• 1889 – “Kreutzer Sonata”
• 1898 – “Father Sergius”
• 1904 – “Hadji Murat”

The Russian cultural heritage of the nineteenth century includes many world-famous musical works, achievements of choreographic art, and masterpieces of brilliant poets. The work of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, a great prose writer, humanist philosopher and public figure, occupies a special place not only in Russian, but also in world culture.

The biography of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is contradictory. It indicates that he did not immediately come to his philosophical views. And the creation of artistic literary works, which made him a world-famous Russian writer, was far from his main occupation. And the beginning of his life’s journey was not cloudless. Here are the main ones milestones in the writer's biography:

• Tolstoy's childhood years.
• Military service and the beginning of a creative career.
• European travel and teaching activities.
• Marriage and family life.
• Novels "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina".
• One thousand eight hundred and eighties. Moscow census.
• Novel "Resurrection", excommunication.
• The final years of life.

Childhood and adolescence

The writer's date of birth is September 9, 1828. He was born into a noble aristocratic family, on his mother’s estate “Yasnaya Polyana”, where Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy spent his childhood until he was nine years old. Leo Tolstoy's father, Nikolai Ilyich, came from the ancient Tolstoy count family, which traced its family tree back to the mid-fourteenth century. Lev's mother, Princess Volkonskaya, died in 1830, some time after the birth of her only daughter, whose name was Maria. Seven years later, my father also died. He left five children in the care of his relatives, among whom Leo was the fourth child.

Having changed several guardians, little Leva settled in the Kazan house of his aunt Yushkova, his father’s sister. Live in new family turned out to be so happy that she pushed the tragic events into the background early childhood. Later, the writer recalled this time as one of the best in his life, which was reflected in his story “Childhood,” which can be considered part of the writer’s autobiography.

Having received, as was customary at that time in most noble families, home elementary education, Tolstoy entered Kazan University in 1843, choosing to study oriental languages. The choice turned out to be unsuccessful; due to poor academic performance, he changes the Oriental Faculty to study law, but with the same result. As a result, after two years, Lev returns to his homeland in Yasnaya Polyana, deciding to take up farming.

But the idea, which required monotonous, continuous work, failed, and Lev leaves for Moscow, and then to St. Petersburg, where he tries again to prepare for entering the university, alternating this preparation with carousing and gambling, increasingly accumulating debts, as well as with musical studies and keeping a diary. . Who knows how all this could have ended if not for the visit of his brother Nikolai, an army officer, to him in 1851, who persuaded him to enroll in military service.

The army and the beginning of a creative journey

Army service contributed to the writer’s further reassessment of the social relations existing in the country. This is where it was started a writing career that consisted of two important stages:

• Military service in the North Caucasus.
• Participation in the Crimean War.

For three years L.N. Tolstoy lived among the Terek Cossacks, took part in battles - first as a volunteer, and later officially. Impressions of that life were subsequently reflected in the writer’s work, in works dedicated to the life of the North Caucasian Cossacks: “Cossacks”, “Hadji Murat”, “Raid”, “Cutting the Forest”.

It was in the Caucasus, in between military skirmishes with the highlanders and while waiting to be accepted into official military service, that Lev Nikolaevich wrote his first published work - the story “Childhood”. The creative growth of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy as a writer began with her. Published in Sovremennik under the pseudonym L.N., it immediately brought fame and recognition to the aspiring author.

Having spent two years in the Caucasus, L. N. Tolstoy, with the beginning of the Crimean War, was transferred to the Danube Army, and then to Sevastopol, where he served in the artillery troops, commanding a battery, participated in the defense of the Malakhov Kurgan and fought at Chernaya. For his participation in the battles for Sevastopol, Tolstoy was awarded several times, including the Order of St. Anna.

Here the writer begins work on “Sevastopol Stories”, which he completes in St. Petersburg, where he was transferred in the early autumn of 1855, and publishes them under his own name in Sovremennik. This publication gives him the name of a representative of a new generation of writers.

At the end of 1857, L.N. Tolstoy resigns with the rank of lieutenant and sets off on his European journey.

Europe and pedagogical activity

Leo Tolstoy's first trip to Europe was a fact-finding, tourist trip. He visits museums, places associated with the life and work of Rousseau. And although he admired the sense of social freedom inherent in the European way of life, his overall impression of Europe was negative, mainly due to the contrast between wealth and poverty hidden under a cultural veneer. The characteristics of the Europe of that time were given by Tolstoy in the story “Lucerne”.

After his first European trip, Tolstoy was involved in public education for several years, opening peasant schools in the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana. He already had his first experience in this when, leading a rather chaotic lifestyle in his youth, in search of its meaning, during an unsuccessful farming career, he opened the first school on his estate.

At this time, work continues on “Cossacks” and the novel “Family Happiness”. And in 1860-1861, Tolstoy again traveled to Europe, this time with the goal of studying the experience of introducing public education.

After returning to Russia, he developed his own pedagogical system based on personal freedom, wrote many fairy tales and stories for children.

Marriage, family and children

In 1862 the writer married Sophia Bers, who was eighteen years younger than him. Sophia, who had a university education, later helped her husband a lot in his writing work, including completely rewriting draft manuscripts. Although family relationships were not always ideal, they lived together for forty-eight years. Thirteen children were born into the family, of whom only eight survived to adulthood.

L. N. Tolstoy’s lifestyle contributed to the growth of problems in family relationships. They became especially noticeable after the completion of Anna Karenina. The writer plunged into depression and began to demand that his family lead a lifestyle close to peasant life, which led to constant quarrels.

"War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina"

It took Lev Nikolayevich twelve years to work on his most famous works “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina”.

The first publication of an excerpt from “War and Peace” appeared back in 1865, and already in sixty-eight the first three parts were printed in full. The success of the novel was so great that an additional edition of the already published parts was required, even before the completion of the last volumes.

Tolstoy's next novel, Anna Karenina, published in 1873-1876, was no less successful. In this work of the writer, signs of a mental crisis are already felt. The relationships of the main characters of the book, the development of the plot, its dramatic ending testified to the transition of L. N. Tolstoy to the third stage of his literary creativity, reflecting the strengthening of the writer’s dramatic view of existence.

1880s and Moscow census

At the end of the seventies, L. N. Tolstoy met V. P. Shchegolenok, on the basis of whose folklore stories the writer created some of his works “How People Live,” “Prayer” and others. The change in his worldview by the eighties was reflected in the works “Confession”, “What is My Faith?”, “The Kreutzer Sonata”, which are characteristic of the third stage of Tolstoy’s work.

Trying to improve the lives of the people, the writer took part in the Moscow census in 1882, believing that the official publication of data on the plight ordinary people will help change their destiny. According to the plan issued by the Duma, he collects statistical information for several days on the territory of the most difficult site, located in Protochny Lane. Impressed by what he saw in the Moscow slums, he wrote an article “On the census in Moscow.”

The novel "Resurrection" and excommunication

In the nineties, the writer wrote a treatise “What is Art?”, in which he substantiates his view of the purpose of art. But the pinnacle of Tolstoy’s writing of this period is considered the novel “Resurrection.” Its depiction of church life as a mechanical routine later became the main reason for Leo Tolstoy’s excommunication from the church.

The writer’s response to this was his “Response to the Synod,” which confirmed Tolstoy’s break with the church, and in which he justifies his position, pointing out the contradictions between church dogmas and his understanding of the Christian faith.

The public reaction to this event was contradictory - part of society expressed sympathy and support for L. Tolstoy, while others heard threats and abuse.

Final years of life

Deciding to live the rest of his life without contradicting his beliefs, L.N. Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana in early November 1910, accompanied only by his personal doctor. The departure did not have a specific end goal. It was supposed to go to Bulgaria or the Caucasus. But a few days later, feeling unwell, the writer was forced to stop at the Astapovo station, where doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia.

Attempts by doctors to save him failed, and the great writer died on November 20, 1910. The news of Tolstoy's death caused excitement throughout the country, but the funeral took place without incident. He was buried in Yasnaya Polyana, in his favorite place of childhood play - at the edge of a forest ravine.

The spiritual quest of Leo Tolstoy

Despite the recognition of the writer’s literary heritage throughout the world, he himself Tolstoy treated the works he wrote with disdain. He considered the dissemination of his philosophical and religious views, which were based on the idea of ​​“non-resistance to evil through violence,” known as “Tolstoyism,” to be truly important. In search of answers to the questions that worried him, he communicated a lot with people of clergy, read religious treatises, and studied the results of research in the exact sciences.

In everyday life, this was expressed by a gradual renunciation of the luxury of landowner life, of one’s property rights, and a transition to vegetarianism—“simplification.” In Tolstoy’s biography, this was the third period of his work, during which he finally came to the denial of all the then social, state, and religious forms of life.

World recognition and heritage study

And in our time Tolstoy is considered one of greatest writers peace. And although he himself considered his literary pursuits to be a secondary matter, and even in certain periods of his life insignificant and useless, it was his stories, tales and novels that made his name famous and contributed to the spread of the religious and moral teaching he created, known as Tolstoyism, which for Lev Nikolaevich was the main outcome of life.

In Russia, a project to study creative heritage Tolstoy has been launched since junior classes secondary school. The first presentation of the writer’s work begins in the third grade, when an initial acquaintance with the writer’s biography takes place. In the future, as they study his works, students write abstracts on the theme of the classic’s work, make reports both on the biography of the writer and on his individual works.

Many museums in the region contribute to the study of the writer’s work and the preservation of his memory. memorable places countries associated with the name of L. N. Tolstoy. First of all, such a museum is the Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Reserve, where the writer was born and buried.

Biography, life story of Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich

He came from a noble family, known, according to legendary sources, since 1351. His paternal ancestor, Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, is known for his role in the investigation of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, for which he was put in charge of the Secret Chancellery. The traits 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. In some character traits and biographical facts, he was similar to Nikolenka’s father in “Childhood” and “Adolescence” and partly to Nikolai Rostov in “War and Peace.” However, in real life Nikolai Ilyich differed from Nikolai Rostov not only good education, but also with convictions that did not allow him to serve under Nicholas. A participant in the foreign campaign of the Russian army against Napoleon, including participating in the “Battle of the Nations” near Leipzig and being 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 go into bureaucratic service in order not to end up in debtor's prison because of the debts of his father, the Kazan governor, who died under investigation for official abuses. His 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 a no longer very young princess from the Volkonsky family; the marriage was happy. They had four sons: Nikolai, Sergei, Dmitry, Lev and daughter Maria.

Tolstoy's maternal grandfather, Catherine's general, Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky, bore some resemblance to the stern rigorist old Prince Bolkonsky in War and Peace. Lev Nikolaevich's mother, similar in some respects to Princess Marya depicted in War and Peace, had a remarkable gift for storytelling.

In addition to the Volkonskys, L.N. Tolstoy was closely related to several other aristocratic families: the princes Gorchakovs, Trubetskoys and others.

CONTINUED BELOW

Born on August 28, 1828 in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province, on his mother’s hereditary estate - Yasnaya Polyana. Was the fourth child; he had three older brothers: Nikolai (1823-1860), Sergei (1826-1904) and Dmitry (1827-1856). In 1830, Sister Maria (1830-1912) was born. His mother died at birth last daughter when he was not yet 2 years old.

A distant relative, T. A. Ergolskaya, took up the task of raising orphaned children. In 1837, the family moved to Moscow, settling on Plyushchikha, because the eldest son had to prepare to enter university, but soon his father suddenly died, leaving affairs (including some related to family property, litigation) in an unfinished state, and the three youngest children again settled in Yasnaya Polyana under the supervision of Ergolskaya and their paternal aunt, Countess A. M. Osten-Sacken, who was appointed guardian of the children. Here Lev Nikolaevich remained until 1840, when Countess Osten-Sacken died, and the children moved to Kazan, to a new guardian - their father's sister P. I. Yushkova.

The Yushkov house was one of the most fun in Kazan; All family members highly valued external shine. “My good aunt,” says Tolstoy, “a pure being, always said that she would want nothing more for me than for me to have a relationship with a married woman.”

He wanted to shine in society, but his natural shyness and lack of external attractiveness hampered him. The most diverse, as Tolstoy himself defines them, “philosophies” about the most important issues our existence - happiness, death, God, love, eternity - painfully tormented him in that era of life. What he told in “Adolescence” and “Youth” about the aspirations of Irtenyev and Nekhlyudov for self-improvement was taken by Tolstoy from the history of his own ascetic attempts of this time. All this led to the fact that Tolstoy developed a “habit of constant moral analysis,” which, as it seemed to him, “destroyed the freshness of feeling and clarity of reason” (“Adolescence”).

Education

His education was first carried out under the guidance of the French tutor Saint-Thomas (Mr. Jerome in Boyhood), who replaced the good-natured German Reselman, whom he portrayed in Childhood under the name Karl Ivanovich.

In 1841, P.I. Yushkova, taking on the role of guardian of her minor nephews (only the eldest, Nikolai, was an adult) and niece, brought them to Kazan. Following the brothers Nikolai, Dmitry and Sergei, Lev decided to enter the Imperial Kazan University, where Lobachevsky worked at the Faculty of Mathematics, and Kovalevsky worked at the Eastern Faculty. On October 3, 1844, Leo Tolstoy was enrolled as a student in the category of oriental literature as a student. In the entrance exams, in particular, he showed excellent results in the “Turkish-Tatar language” required for admission.

Due to a conflict between his family and a teacher of Russian and general history and history of philosophy, Professor N.A. Ivanov, at the end of the year had poor performance in the relevant subjects and had to re-take the first-year program. To avoid repeating the course completely, he transferred to the Faculty of Law, where he had problems with his grades. Russian history and German continued. Leo Tolstoy spent less than two years at the Faculty of Law: “Every education imposed by others was always difficult for him, and everything he learned in life, he learned himself, suddenly, quickly, with intense work,” writes Tolstaya in her “Materials for biography of L. N. Tolstoy." In 1904 he recalled: “ ...for the first year...I did nothing. In the second year I began to study... there was Professor Meyer, who... gave me a work - a comparison of Catherine’s “Order” with Montesquieu’s “Esprit des lois”. ... this work fascinated me, 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».

While in the Kazan hospital, he began to keep a diary, where, imitating, he set goals and rules for self-improvement and noted successes and failures in completing these tasks, analyzed his shortcomings and train of thoughts, the motives of his actions.

In 1845, L.N. Tolstoy had a godson in Kazan. On November 11 (23), according to other sources - November 22 (December 4), 1845, in the Kazan Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, the 18-year-old Jewish cantonist of the Kazan battalions of military cantonists Zalman was baptized under the name Luka Tolstoy (“Zelman”) Kagan, godfather whose documents listed a student of the Imperial Kazan University, Count L.N. Tolstoy. Before this - on September 25 (October 7), 1845 - his brother, a student at the Imperial Kazan University, Count D. N. Tolstoy became the successor of the 18-year-old Jewish cantonist Nukhim (“Nokhim”) Beser, baptized (with the name Nikolai Dmitriev) archimandrite Kazan Assumption (Zilantov) Monastery by Gabriel (V.N. Voskresensky).

Start literary activity

Having dropped out of the university, Tolstoy settled in Yasnaya Polyana in the spring of 1847; his activities there are partly described in “The Landowner’s Morning”: Tolstoy tried to establish a new relationship with the peasants.

His attempt to somehow atone for the guilt of the nobility before the people dates back to the same year when Grigorovich’s “Anton the Miserable” and the beginning of Turgenev’s “Notes of a Hunter” appeared.

In his diary, Tolstoy sets himself a huge number of goals and rules; Only a small number of them were able to follow. Among those who succeeded were serious studies in English, music, and law. 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 Lev Nikolaevich himself often taught classes.

Having left for St. Petersburg in February 1849, he spends time in revelry with K. A. Islavin, his uncle future wife(“My love for Islavin ruined 8 whole months of my life in St. Petersburg”); in the spring he began taking the exam to become 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 came to Moscow, where he often succumbed to his passion for gambling, greatly upsetting his financial affairs. During this period of his life, Tolstoy was especially passionately interested in music (he himself played the piano quite well and greatly appreciated his favorite works performed by others). The author of the “Kreutzer Sonata” drew an exaggerated description in relation to most people of the effect that “passionate” music produces from the sensations excited by the world of sounds in his own soul.

Tolstoy's favorite composers were Handel and. In the late 1840s, Tolstoy, in collaboration with his acquaintance, composed a waltz, which in the early 1900s he performed with the composer Taneyev, who made a 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 lost German musician, whom he later described in Alberta. Tolstoy came up with the idea of ​​saving him: he took him to Yasnaya Polyana and played a lot with him. A lot of time was also spent on carousing, gaming and hunting.

In the winter of 1850-1851. started writing "Childhood". In March 1851 he wrote “The History of Yesterday.”

After leaving the university, 4 years passed when Lev Nikolayevich’s brother Nikolai, who served in the Caucasus, came to Yasnaya Polyana and invited his younger brother to join military service in the Caucasus. Lev did not immediately agree, until a major loss in Moscow accelerated the final decision. The writer's biographers note significant and positive influence brother Nikolai against the young and inexperienced Lev in everyday affairs. In the absence of his parents, his older brother was his friend and mentor.

To pay off his debts, it was necessary to reduce his expenses to a minimum - and in the spring of 1851, Tolstoy hastily left Moscow for the Caucasus without a specific goal. Soon he decided to enlist in military service, but obstacles arose in the form of a lack of necessary papers, which were difficult to obtain, and Tolstoy lived for about 5 months in complete solitude 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 Eroshka.

In the fall of 1851, Tolstoy, having passed the 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” also convey a picture of the inner life of a young gentleman who fled from Moscow life.

In a remote village, Tolstoy began to write and in 1852 he sent the first part of the future trilogy: “Childhood” to the editors of Sovremennik.

The relatively late start of his career is very characteristic of Tolstoy: he never considered himself a professional writer, understanding professionalism not in the sense of a profession that provides a means of living, but in the sense of the predominance of literary interests. He did not take the interests of literary parties to heart, and was reluctant to talk about literature, preferring to talk about issues of faith, morality, and social relations.

Military career

Having received the manuscript of “Childhood,” the editor of Sovremennik, Nekrasov, immediately recognized its literary value and wrote a kind letter to the author, which had a very encouraging effect on him.

Meanwhile, the encouraged author sets about continuing the tetralogy “Four Epochs of Development,” the last part of which, “Youth,” never materialized. Plans for “The Morning of the Landowner” (the completed story was only a fragment of “The Romance of a Russian Landowner”), “The Raid”, and “The Cossacks” are swarming in his head. “Childhood,” published in Sovremennik on September 18, 1852, signed with the modest initials L.N., was extremely successful; the author immediately began to be ranked among the luminaries of the young literary school along with Turgenev, Goncharov, Grigorovich, Ostrovsky, who already enjoyed great literary fame. Criticism - Apollo Grigoriev, Annenkov, Druzhinin, Chernyshevsky - appreciated the depth of psychological analysis, the seriousness of the author's intentions, and the bright salience of realism.

Tolstoy remained in the Caucasus for two years, participating in many skirmishes with the mountaineers and being exposed to the dangers of military Caucasian life. He had rights and claims to the St. George Cross, but did not receive it. When it broke out at the end of 1853 Crimean War, Tolstoy transferred to the Danube Army, participated in the battle of Oltenitsa and 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 dangerous 4th bastion, commanded a battery at the Battle of Chernaya, and was present during the bombardment during the assault on Malakhov Kurgan. Despite all the horrors of the siege, Tolstoy wrote at this time the story “Cutting Wood,” which reflected Caucasian impressions, and the first of the three “Sevastopol stories” - “Sevastopol in December 1854.” He sent this story to Sovremennik. Immediately printed, the story was read with interest throughout Russia and made a stunning impression with the picture of the horrors that befell the defenders of Sevastopol. The story was noticed by Emperor Alexander II; he ordered to take care of the gifted officer.

For the defense of Sevastopol, Tolstoy was awarded the Order of St. Anne with the inscription “For Honor,” medals “For the Defense of Sevastopol 1854-1855” and “In Memory of the War of 1853-1856.” Surrounded by the brilliance of fame, enjoying the reputation of a brave officer, Tolstoy had every chance of a career, but he ruined it for himself by writing several satirical songs, stylized as soldiers' songs. One of them is dedicated to the failure of the military operation on August 4 (16), 1855, when General Read, misunderstanding the order of the commander-in-chief, attacked the Fedyukhin Heights. The song entitled “Like the fourth, the mountains carried us hard to take away,” which affected a number of important generals, was a huge success. Leo Tolstoy answered for her to the assistant chief of staff A. A. Yakimakh. Immediately after the assault on August 27 (September 8), Tolstoy was sent by courier to St. Petersburg, where he completed “Sevastopol in May 1855.” and wrote “Sevastopol in August 1855,” published in the first issue of Sovremennik for 1856 with the author’s full signature.

“Sevastopol Stories” finally strengthened his reputation as a representative of the new literary generation, and in November 1856 the writer parted with military service forever.

Traveling around Europe

In St. Petersburg he was warmly welcomed in high society salons and literary circles; He became especially close friends with Turgenev, with whom he lived in the same apartment for some time. The latter introduced him to the Sovremennik circle, after which Tolstoy established friendly relations with Nekrasov, Goncharov, Panaev, Grigorovich, Druzhinin, Sollogub.

At this time, “Blizzard”, “Two Hussars” were written, “Sevastopol in August” and “Youth” were completed, and the writing of the future “Cossacks” continued.

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

On his first trip abroad, he visited Paris, where he was horrified by the cult (“The idolization of a villain, terrible”), at the same time he attends balls, museums, and is fascinated by the “sense of social freedom.” However, his presence at the guillotine made such a grave impression that Tolstoy left Paris and went to places associated with Rousseau - to Lake Geneva.

Lev Nikolaevich writes the story “Albert”. At the same time, his friends never cease to be amazed at his eccentricities: in his letter to I. S. Turgenev in the fall of 1857, P. V. Annenkov tells of Tolstoy’s project to plant forests throughout Russia, and in his letter to V. P. Botkin, Leo Tolstoy reports how very happy he was the fact that he did not become only a writer, contrary to Turgenev’s advice. However, in the interval between the first and second trips, the writer continued to work on “Cossacks”, wrote the story “Three Deaths” and the novel “Family Happiness”.

His last novel was published in “Russian Bulletin” by Mikhail Katkov. Tolstoy's collaboration with the Sovremennik magazine, which lasted from 1852, ended in 1859. In the same year, Tolstoy took part in organizing the Literary Fund. But his life was not limited to literary interests: on December 22, 1858, he almost died on a bear hunt. Around the same time, he began an affair with the peasant woman Aksinya, and plans for marriage were ripening.

On his next trip, he was mainly interested in public education and institutions aimed at raising the educational level of the working population. He closely studied issues of public education in Germany and France, both theoretically and practically, and through conversations with specialists. From outstanding people In Germany, he was most interested in Auerbach as the author of the “Black Forest Stories” dedicated to folk life and as a publisher of folk calendars. Tolstoy paid him a visit and tried to get closer to him. In addition, he also met with the German teacher Disterweg. During his stay in Brussels, Tolstoy met Proudhon and Lelewell. 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 also 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.

The stories and essays he wrote in the late 1850s include “Lucerne” and “Three Deaths.” Gradually, criticism for 10-12 years, before the appearance of “War and Peace,” cooled towards Tolstoy, and he himself did not strive for rapprochement with writers, making an exception for Afanasy Fet.

One of the reasons for this alienation was the quarrel between Leo Tolstoy and Turgenev, which occurred while both prose writers were visiting Fet on the Stepanovo estate in May 1861. The quarrel almost ended in a duel and ruined the relationship between the writers for 17 long years.

Treatment in the Bashkir nomadic camp Karalyk

In 1862, Lev Nikolaevich was treated with kumis in the Samara province. Initially I wanted to be treated at the Postnikov kumiss clinic near Samara, but due to the large number of vacationers I went to Bashkir nomadic camp Karalyk, on the Karalyk River, 130 versts from Samara. There he lived in a Bashkir tent (yurt), ate lamb, basked in the sun, drank kumiss, tea and played checkers with the Bashkirs. The first time he stayed there for a month and a half. In 1871, Lev Nikolaevich came again due to deteriorating health. Lev Nikolaevich lived not in the village itself, but in a tent near it. He wrote: “The melancholy and indifference have passed, I feel myself returning to the Scythian state, and everything is interesting and new... Much is new and interesting: the Bashkirs, who smell of Herodotus, and Russian men, and villages, especially charming in the simplicity and kindness of the people.” . In 1871, having fallen in love with this region, he bought from Colonel N.P. Tuchkov an estate in the Buzuluk district of the Samara province, near the villages of Gavrilovka and Patrovka (now Alekseevsky district), in the amount of 2,500 dessiatines for 20,000 rubles. Lev Nikolaevich spent the summer of 1872 on his estate. A few fathoms from the house there was a felt tent in which lived the family of the Bashkir Muhammad Shah, who made kumiss for Lev Nikolaevich and his guests. In general, Lev Nikolaevich visited Karalyk 10 times in 20 years.

Pedagogical activity

Tolstoy returned to Russia shortly after the liberation of the peasants and became a peace mediator. Unlike those who looked at the people as a younger brother who needed to be raised to their level, Tolstoy thought, on the contrary, that the people were infinitely higher than the cultural classes and that the gentlemen needed to borrow the heights of spirit from the peasants. He actively began setting up schools in his Yasnaya Polyana and throughout the Krapivensky district.

The Yasnaya Polyana school belonged to the number of original pedagogical attempts: in the era of admiration for the German pedagogical school Tolstoy resolutely rebelled against any regulation and discipline in school. In his opinion, everything in teaching should be individual - both the teacher and the student, and their mutual relationships. At the Yasnaya Polyana school, the children sat where they wanted, as much as they wanted, and as they wanted. There was no specific teaching program. The teacher's only job was to get the class interested. The classes went well. They were led by Tolstoy himself with the help of several regular teachers and several random ones, from his closest acquaintances and visitors.

Since 1862, he began publishing the pedagogical magazine “Yasnaya Polyana”, where he himself was the main employee. In addition to theoretical articles, Tolstoy also wrote a number of stories, fables and adaptations. Combined together, Tolstoy's pedagogical articles made up an entire volume of his collected works. At one time they went unnoticed. Nobody paid attention to the sociological basis of Tolstoy’s ideas about education, to the fact that Tolstoy saw only simplified and improved ways of exploiting the people by the upper classes in education, science, art and technological successes. Moreover, from Tolstoy’s attacks on European education and “progress,” many concluded that Tolstoy was a “conservative.”

Soon Tolstoy left teaching. Marriage, the birth of his own children, plans related to writing the novel “War and Peace” push back his pedagogical activities by ten years. Only in the early 1870s did he begin to create his own “ABC” and publish it in 1872, and then release “ New alphabet"and a series of four "Russian books for reading", approved as a result of long ordeals by the Ministry of Public Education as aids for primary educational institutions. Classes at the Yasnaya Polyana school resume briefly.

It is known that the Yasnaya Polyana school had a certain influence on other domestic teachers. For example, it was S. T. Shatsky who initially took it as a model when creating his own school “Cheerful Life” in 1911.

Acting as a defense attorney in court

In July 1866, Tolstoy appeared at a military court as a defender of Vasil Shabunin, a company clerk stationed near Yasnaya Polyana of the Moscow Infantry Regiment. Shabunin hit the officer, who ordered him to be punished with canes for being drunk. Tolstoy argued that Shabunin was insane, but the court found him guilty and sentenced him to death penalty. Shabunin was shot. This case made a great impression on Tolstoy.

Lev Nikolaevich with teenage years was acquainted with Lyubov Alexandrovna Islavina, married Bers (1826-1886), loved to play with her children Lisa, Sonya and Tanya. When the Bersov daughters grew up, Lev Nikolaevich thought about marrying eldest daughter Lise, hesitated for a long time until he made a choice in favor of his middle daughter Sophia. Sofya Andreevna agreed when she was 18 years old, and the count was 34 years old. On September 23, 1862, Lev Nikolaevich married her, having previously admitted his premarital affairs.

For a certain period of time, the brightest period of his life begins for Tolstoy - the rapture of personal happiness, very significant thanks to the practicality of his wife, material well-being, outstanding literary creativity and, in connection with it, all-Russian and world fame. It would seem that in his wife he found an assistant in all matters, practical and literary - in the absence of a secretary, she rewrote her husband’s drafts several times. But very soon happiness is overshadowed by inevitable petty disagreements, fleeting quarrels, mutual misunderstandings, which only worsened over the years.

The wedding of Sergei Nikolaevich Tolstoy’s elder brother was also planned with younger sister Sofia Andreevna - Tatyana Bers. But Sergei’s unofficial marriage to a gypsy woman made the marriage of Sergei and Tatyana impossible.

In addition, Sofia Andreevna’s father, physician Andrei Gustav (Evstafievich) Bers, even before his marriage to Islavina, had a daughter, Varvara, from V.P. Turgeneva, the mother of I.S. Turgenev. According to her mother, Varya was sister I. S. Turgenev, and on his father’s side - S. A. Tolstoy, thus, together with marriage, Leo Tolstoy acquired a relationship with I. S. Turgenev..

From the marriage of Lev Nikolaevich with Sofia Andreevna, a total of 13 children were born, five of whom died in childhood. Children:
- Sergei (July 10, 1863 - December 23, 1947), composer, musicologist.
- 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 museum-estate. In 1925 she emigrated with her daughter. Daughter Tatyana Mikhailovna Sukhotina-Albertini (1905-1996).
- Ilya (May 22, 1866 - December 11, 1933), writer, memoirist
- Lev (1869-1945), writer, sculptor.
- Maria (1871-1906) Buried in the village. Kochaki of Krapivensky district (modern Tula region, Shchekinsky district, village of Kochaki). Since 1897 she has been married to Nikolai Leonidovich Obolensky (1872-1934).
- Peter (1872-1873).
- Nikolai (1874-1875).
- Varvara (1875-1875).
- Andrey (1877-1916), civil servant special assignments under the Tula governor. Participant Russo-Japanese War.
- Mikhail (1879-1944).
- Alexey (1881-1886).
- Alexandra (1884-1979).
- Ivan (1888-1895).

As of 2010, there were a total of more than 350 descendants of Leo Tolstoy (including both living and deceased), living in 25 countries around the world. Most of them are descendants of Lev Lvovich Tolstoy, who had 10 children, the third son of Lev Nikolaevich. Since 2000, once every two years, meetings of the writer’s descendants have been held in Yasnaya Polyana.

Creativity flourishes

During the first 12 years after his marriage, he created War and Peace and Anna Karenina. At the turn of this second era literary life Tolstoy are conceived back in 1852 and completed in 1861-1862. “Cossacks” is the first of the works in which Tolstoy’s talent was most realized.

"War and Peace"

Unprecedented success befell War and Peace. An excerpt from the novel entitled "1805" appeared in the Russian Messenger of 1865; in 1868 three of its parts were published, soon followed by the remaining two. The release of War and Peace was preceded by the novel The Decembrists (1860-1861), to which the author returned several times, but which remained unfinished.

In Tolstoy's novel all classes of society are represented, from emperors and kings to the last soldier, all ages and all temperaments throughout the entire reign of Alexander I.

"Anna Karenina"

The endlessly happy rapture of the bliss of existence is no longer present in Anna Karenina, dating back to 1873-1876. There are still many gratifying experiences in almost autobiographical novel Levin and Kitty, but there is already so much bitterness in the depiction of Dolly’s family life, in the unhappy ending of the love of Anna Karenina and Vronsky, so much anxiety in Levin’s mental life that in general this novel is already a transition to the third period of Tolstoy’s literary activity.

In January 1871, Tolstoy sent a letter to A. A. Fet: “ How happy I am... that I will never write verbose rubbish like “War” again» .

On December 6, 1908, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: “ People love me for those trifles - “War and Peace”, etc., which seem very important to them»

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 the same as if someone came to Edison and said: “I really respect you because you dance the mazurka well.” I attribute meaning to completely different books of mine (religious!)».

In the sphere of material interests, he began to say to himself: “ Well, okay, you will have 6,000 acres in the Samara province - 300 heads of horses, and then?"; in the literary field: " Well, okay, you will be more famous than Gogol, Pushkin, Shakespeare, Moliere, all the writers in the world - so what!" As he began to think about raising children, he asked himself: “ For what?"; discussing “how the people can achieve prosperity,” he “ suddenly he said to himself: what does it matter to me?"In general, he " felt that what he stood on had given way, that what he had lived on was no longer there.” The natural result was thoughts of suicide.

« I, happy man, hid the cord from myself so as not to hang myself on the crossbar between the closets 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 didn’t know what I wanted: I was afraid of life, I wanted to get away from it and, meanwhile, I 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 and a half. The little goldfinch told Tolstoy many folk tales and epics, of which more than twenty were written down by Tolstoy, and the plots of some, Tolstoy, if he did not write down on paper, then remembered (these notes are published in volume XLVIII Anniversary edition works of Tolstoy). Six works written by Tolstoy are sourced from legends and stories of Shchegolenok (1881 - “How People Live”, 1885 - “Two Old Men” and “Three Elders”, 1905 - “Korney Vasiliev” and “Prayer”, 1907 - “An Old Man in the Church”) . In addition, Count Tolstoy diligently wrote down many sayings, proverbs, individual expressions and words told by the Goldfinch.

Last journey, death and funeral

On the night of October 28 (November 10), 1910, L.N. Tolstoy, fulfilling his decision to live his last years in accordance with his views, secretly left Yasnaya Polyana, accompanied by his doctor D.P. Makovitsky. He began his last journey at Shchekino station. On the same day, having transferred to another train at the Gorbachevo station, he reached the Kozelsk station, hired a coachman and headed to Optina Pustyn, and from there the next day to the Shamordino Monastery, where Tolstoy met his sister, Maria Nikolaevna Tolstoy. Later, Tolstoy’s daughter, Alexandra Lvovna, came to Shamordino with her friend.

On the morning of October 31 (November 13) L.N. Tolstoy and his entourage went from Shamordino to Kozelsk, where they boarded train No. 12, which had already arrived at the station, heading south. There was no time to buy tickets upon boarding; Having reached Belyov, we purchased tickets to Volovo station. According to the testimony of those accompanying Tolstoy, the trip had no specific purpose. After the meeting, we decided to go to Novocherkassk, where we would try to get foreign passports and then go to Bulgaria; if this fails, go to the Caucasus. However, on the way, L.N. Tolstoy fell ill with pneumonia and was forced to get off the train that same day at the first large station near populated area. This station turned out to be Astapovo (now Leo Tolstoy, Lipetsk region), where on November 7 (20) L. N. Tolstoy died in the house of the station chief I. I. Ozolin.

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 held 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 at the grave of her husband by a certain priest (she refutes rumors that he was not real) in her presence. In particular, the countess wrote: “I also declare that Lev Nikolaevich never once before his death expressed a desire not to be buried, and earlier he wrote in his diary in 1895, as if a will: “If possible, then (bury) without priests and funeral services. But if this will be unpleasant for those who will bury, then let them bury as usual, but as cheaply and simply as possible."

Report of the head of the St. Petersburg security department, Colonel von Kotten, to the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire:

« In addition to the reports of November 8th, I am reporting to Your Excellency information about the unrest of student youth that took place on November 9th... on the occasion of the burial day of the deceased L.N. Tolstoy. At 12 o'clock in the afternoon it was served in Armenian Church a memorial service for the late L.N. Tolstoy, which was attended by about 200 people praying, mostly Armenians, and a small part of students. At the end of the funeral service, the worshipers dispersed, but a few minutes later students and female students began to arrive at the church. It turned out that on entrance doors University and Higher Women's Courses posted announcements that a memorial service for L.N. Tolstoy would take place on November 9 at one o'clock in the afternoon in the above-mentioned church. The Armenian clergy performed a requiem service for the second time, by the end of which the church could no longer accommodate all the worshipers, a significant part of whom stood on the porch and in the courtyard of the Armenian Church. At the end of the funeral service, everyone on the porch and in the church yard sang “Eternal Memory”...»

There is also unofficial version death of Leo Tolstoy, described in exile by I.K. Sursky from the words of a Russian police official. According to it, the writer, before his death, wanted to reconcile with the church and came to Optina Pustyn for this. Here he awaited the order of the Synod, but, feeling unwell, was taken away by his arriving daughter and died at the Astapovo post station.