Alexei Tolstoy: childhood, creativity, interesting facts from life. Biography of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy

Descendant of famous families

The future writer was born in the family of Count Konstantin Petrovich Tolstoy, a bank adviser, and Anna Alekseevna, nee Perovskaya, the natural daughter of Count Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky. Her father achieved for her and the brothers a title of nobility and the surname "Perovsky", and also gave a thorough education.

The father's uncle was a famous sculptor and vice-president of the Academy of Arts - Count Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy.

Uncles on the mother's side are the writer Aleksey Alekseevich Perovsky, well-known in those days (known to us under the pseudonym Anton Pogorelsky), as well as Lev Alekseevich Perovsky, who later became ministers of internal affairs, and the future Governor-General of Orenburg, Vasily Alekseevich Perovsky.

When the boy was only 6 weeks old, his parents' marriage broke up, and Anna Alekseevna took her son to Ukraine to the estate of her brother Alexei. In practice, the uncle became the main educator of Alexei Konstantinovich. Since he himself was a famous novelist, he managed to instill in his nephew a love for books and literary creativity from an early age. It was Alexei Alekseevich who subsequently served as a prototype for Leo Tolstoy to create the image of Pierre Bezukhov in the novel War and Peace.

In 1810, Perovsky brought his sister and nephew to St. Petersburg. Here for ten years he maintains friendly relations with famous writers: A.S. Pushkin, V.A. Zhukovsky, K.F. Ryleev and others. The nephew also listens with interest to literary discussions.

Soon after his arrival, through the efforts of Alexei Zhukovsky, they bring in a playmate to the future Russian Emperor Alexander II, who at that time was also eight years old. The boys got along in character and maintained good relations for life. Subsequently, the emperor's wife also appreciated Tolstoy's personality and talent.

In 1827, Alexei Konstantinovich, together with his mother and uncle, went to Germany, where they visited Goethe. Tolstoy will keep his childhood impressions and the gift of the great writer (a fragment of a mammoth tusk) for many years to come. In 1831, on "commercial" business, Perovsky went to Italy, where he also took his sister and nephew. Alexey “falls in love” with this country, its works of art and historical monuments so much that when he returns to Russia, he longs for the great Italian cities for a long time. At this time, in his diaries, he calls Italy "a lost paradise."

The beginning of the sovereign's service and the first literary experiments

Having received a good home education, in March 1834 Tolstoy entered the Moscow Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a "student". Here his interest in history is further developed.

The service does not particularly burden Tolstoy - he is busy in the archive only two days a week. The rest of the time he devotes to secular life. But attending balls and parties, he devotes time to other activities - Tolstoy begins to seriously engage in literature.

The following year, he writes his first poems, which were approved by V. Zhukovsky and even Pushkin.

In 1836, Tolstoy took an exam at Moscow University and from the next year received a freelance position in the Russian mission in Germany. After the death of Alexei Perovsky, he receives all of his large fortune by will. In 1838-39 Tolstoy lived in Germany, Italy and France. Here he writes his first stories (in French) - "The Family of the Ghoul" and "Meeting in Three Hundred Years" (1839).

The following year he received the title of collegiate secretary. From December Tolstoy was transferred to the II Department of the Imperial Chancellery in St. Petersburg. In 1841, Alexei Konstantinovich first appeared in print as a writer - his book “Ghoul. Works of Krasnorogsky ”(the pseudonym was taken from the name of the Krasny Rog estate). VG Belinsky noted this work as the creation of a very young, but very promising talent.

From 1842 to 1846 Tolstoy successfully moved up the career ladder, receiving ever higher ranks.

During these years, he tries himself in the genre of poetry (the poem "Serebryanka" in the "Leaf for secular people") and prose (the story "Artemy Semyonovich Bervenkovsky, a fragment of" Amen "from the unwritten novel" Stebelovsky "), writes essays about Kyrgyzstan.

In 1847-49, he began to write ballads from Russian history, he plans to write the novel Prince Silver.

All these years, Alexei Konstantinovich leads a life typical of a secular person: he does not bother himself with service, travels often, participates in social entertainment and flirts with young ladies. He is handsome, smart and full of energy.

fifties

In 1850, Tolstoy traveled "with a check" to the Kaluga province. He even calls his trip "exile", but it is here that he first reads his poems and chapters from the novel "Prince Silver" in public - in the governor's house, in the presence of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. In the same year, the writer acquires the Pustynka estate near St. Petersburg.

In 1851, the premiere of Tolstoy's play "Fantasy" took place on the stage of the Alexandria Theater with a scandal. Nicholas I forbids it for further display. But fate almost immediately "rewards" the newly-minted playwright for trouble - at a masquerade ball he meets an intelligent, beautiful and strong-willed woman - Sofya Andreevna Miller (wife of a horse guard colonel, nee Bakhmetyeva), who in 1863 will become his wife. After the beginning of the affair with Tolstoy, she immediately leaves her husband for her brother's estate, but the categorical unwillingness of Alexei Konstantinovich's mother to see her as her daughter-in-law and obstruction by her husband, who did not give her a divorce, leads two loving people to marriage only 12 years after they met.

In 1852, Tolstoy, "using his official position," successfully fussed about mitigating the fate of I.S. Turgenev, who was arrested for an article in memory of Gogol.

Two years later, the writer "comes out" with his works in the "Contemporary". Here his poems about nature (“My Bells”, etc.) are published, a cycle of satirical humorous poetry begins to appear under the pseudonym “Kozma Prutkov”, which Tolstoy writes together with the Zhemchuzhnikov brothers. In the same year, Alexei Konstantinovich met Leo Tolstoy.

During the Crimean War in 1855, Tolstoy wants to organize a special voluntary militia. But when he fails, he enters the "rifle regiment of the Imperial family." They did not manage to get to the front of hostilities, but in the winter of 1855-56, most of the regiment was “mowed down” by typhus. Tolstoy did not escape this disease either. Sofya Andreevna came to look after him, and telegrams were personally sent to Alexander II every day about the state of health of Alexei Konstantinovich.

After the coronation of Alexander II (1856), at which Tolstoy was an honored guest, the emperor promoted his "old friend" to lieutenant colonel and appointed adjutant wing.

The following year, two people close to the writer died - his mother and uncle, Vasily Alekseevich. Alexei Konstantinovich invites his father to his mother's funeral. From that time on, he began to send him a pension, about 4 thousand rubles a year. At the same time, he settles his beloved woman with her relatives in his estate Pustynka near St. Petersburg.

In January 1858 Tolstoy returned to Petersburg. This year, his poem "The Sinner" is published in the "Russian Conversation", published by the Slavophiles, and next year - "John of Damascus".

The Emperor grants Tolstoy the Order of St. Stanislaus, 2nd class.

Since 1859, Alexei Konstantinovich was dismissed on indefinite leave from the duties of an aide-de-camp, and he settled in one of his estates, Pogoreltsy. The writer joins the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature, begins to work on the poem "Don Juan".

Freelancer

Since 1860, for ten years, Tolstoy spends most of his time in Europe, only occasionally coming to Russia.

In 1861, together with his peasants in the Red Horn, he celebrates their liberation from serfdom. In autumn, he writes a letter of resignation to Alexander II. On September 28, he receives a positive response and an honorary, non-binding position of Jägermeister with the rank of State Councilor.

Until mid-January 1862, the writer read his new novel Prince Silver at meetings with the Empress with great success. At the end of the readings, he receives a valuable gift from the empress (a massive golden keychain in the form of a book with memorable notes). In the same year, his poem "Don Juan" and the novel "Prince Silver" are published in the "Russian Messenger". By winter, the writer leaves for Germany.

In April of the following year, after many years of waiting, they are married to Sofya Mikhailovna in the Orthodox Church of Dresden. The wife returns to her homeland, and Tolstoy remains for treatment.

The empress again becomes the first listener of his new work. In July 1864, in Schwalbach, he read to the Empress and her retinue "The Death of Ivan the Terrible." At the beginning of 1866, the tragedy was published in the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski. 1867 - staged with great success on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. In 1868, thanks to a wonderful translation by the poetess Karolina Pavlova, the audience of the court theater of the Duke of Weimar sees her. In the same year, Tolstoy wrote the parody "History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev" in verse. In 83 stanzas, the writer managed to fit the history of Russia from 860 to 1868. The work was published after Tolstoy's death.

After the transformation of Vestnik Evropy into a general literary magazine, Alexei Konstantinovich often publishes his works in it. His epics and poems, the second and third parts of the trilogy about Ivan the Terrible (1868, 1870), the autobiographical story in verse "Portrait" and the poetic story "Dragon" are published here.

Tolstoy's health is deteriorating. He suffers from asthma and terrible neuralgic headaches. From 1871 to the spring of 1873, the writer traveled to Germany and Italy for treatment. He gets a little better. In 1873, he even submitted a new poem, "Popov's Dream", to print. In December, he was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the department of the Russian language and literature.

The following year, the writer gets worse. He is being treated both in Russia and abroad. Eventually, he is prescribed morphine, which is the beginning of the end.

September 28 (October 10), 1875, during a severe attack of headache, Alexei Konstantinovich injects himself with too much morphine, which leads to death.

He died in his estate Krasny Rog (now the Pochepsky district of the Bryansk region), and was buried here.

Interesting Facts:

Tolstoy was famous for his strength: he unbent horseshoes and drove nails into the wall with his finger.

Alexey Konstantinovich was fond of spiritualism: he read the relevant books and even attended sessions of the English spiritist Hume, who toured in Russia.

He was an avid hunter, more than once alone went with a horn to a bear.

TOLSTOY Alexey Konstantinovich (August 24, 1817 - September 28, 1875), Russian prose writer, poet, playwright. He spent his childhood in the Chernihiv region. on the estate of his uncle Alexei Perovsky (known in literature under the pseudonym Anton Pogorelsky), who encouraged the boy's early literary interests.

In 1834 Tolstoy passed the exam at the university and was enrolled as a "student" in the Moscow archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1837 he was seconded to the Russian mission at the German Diet in Frankfurt am Main, in 1840 he returned to Russia and was appointed an official in the office of legislation.

For the first time in print, Tolstoy appeared with the fantastic story "Ghoul". In the 1840s, Tolstoy wrote a lot, but published only one poem, yet the one written at that time appeared in print much later.

In the 1850s, Tolstoy, together with his cousins ​​Zhemchuzhnikov, created the image of Kozma Prutkov, on whose behalf they acted with literary parodies and satires. From 1854 Tolstoy's lyrical poems and Prutkov's satires began to appear in Sovremennik. These years were the most fruitful in the writer's work. Having retired in 1861, he lived in a village near St. Petersburg or in Chernigov province, occasionally visiting the capitals. Tolstoy's work is multi-genre. In 1867 the first collection of his poems was published. In the 60s he wrote the novel "Prince Silver", a dramatic trilogy: "The Death of Ivan the Terrible" (1866), "Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich" (1868) and "Tsar Boris" (1870), his highest artistic achievement; a number of ballads and satires.

In the last years of his life, Tolstoy suffered severely from a nerve disorder, relieving pain with morphine. He died in the estate of Krasny Rog in the Chernigov province.

Tolstoy's work, imbued with love for a healthy earthly life, Russian nature and homeland, reflected the movement of Russian literature from romanticism to realism, the achievements of which were reflected in the clarity and accuracy of the depiction of nature, in the fidelity and depth of the disclosure of spiritual experiences, in the satirical denunciation of serfdom.

K.P. Bryullov. Portrait of Count A.K. Tolstoy. 1836.

Tolstoy Alexei Konstantinovich (08/24/1817 - 09/28/1875), writer, poet, playwright. Born in St. Petersburg. On the maternal side, he came from the Razumovsky family (great-grandfather - the last Little Russian hetman Kirill Razumovsky; grandfather - Minister of Public Education under Alexander I - A. K. Razumovsky ). Father - gr. K. P. Tolstoy, with whom the mother divorced immediately after the birth of her son. He was brought up under the guidance of his mother and her brother, the writer A. A. Perovsky (see: A. Pogorelsky), who encouraged Tolstoy's early poetic experiments. In 1834 he entered the Moscow archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then he was in the diplomatic service. In 1843 he received the title of chamber junker. In the k. 30s - n. In the 1940s, Tolstoy wrote fantastic novels in the style of the Gothic novel and romantic prose - "The Ghoul Family" and "Meeting in Three Hundred Years" (in French). The first publication is the story "Ghoul" (1841, under the pseudonym Krasnorogsky). In the 1840s, Tolstoy began working on the historical novel The Silver Prince (completed in 1861), at the same time he created a number of ballads and lyrical poems that were published later (in the 1950s and 1960s); many of them gained wide popularity (“My Bells”, “You know the land where everything breathes in abundance”, “Where the vines bend over the pool”, “Kurgan”, “Vasily Shibanov”, “Prince Mikhailo Repnin”, etc.). In n. In the 1950s, Tolstoy became close friends with I. S. Turgenev, N. A. Nekrasov and other writers. Since 1854 he has been publishing poems and literary parodies in Sovremennik. In collaboration with his cousins ​​A. M. and V. M. Zhemchuzhnikov, in the Literary jumble department of Sovremennik, in the Whistle, he published satirical parody works signed by Kozma Prutkov; the work of the author they invented became a parodic mirror of obsolete literary phenomena and at the same time created a satirical type of bureaucrat claiming to be the legislator of artistic taste.

Moving away from participation in Sovremennik in 1857, Tolstoy began to publish in Russian Conversation, and in the 60s and 70s - ch. arr. in Russkiy Vestnik and Vestnik Evropy. During these years, he defended the principles of the so-called. "pure art", independent of political, including "progressive" ideas. In 1861 Tolstoy left the service, which he was very tired of, and concentrated on literary pursuits. He published the dramatic poem "Don Juan" (1862), the novel "Prince Silver" (1863), the historical trilogy - the tragedies "The Death of Ivan the Terrible" (1866), "Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich" (1868), "Tsar Boris" (1870). In 1867 the first collection of Tolstoy's poems was published. In the last decade he wrote ballads (“The Serpent Tugarin”, 1868, “The Song of Harald and Yaroslavna”, 1869, “Roman Galitsky”, 1870, “Ilya Muromets”, 1871, etc.), poetic political satires (“History of the Russian State from Gostomysl do Timashev", published 1883; "Popov's Dream", published 1882, etc.), poems ("Portrait", 1874; "Dragon", 1875), lyric poetry.

Tolstoy's work is imbued with a unity of motives, philosophical ideas, and lyrical emotions. Interest in national antiquity, problems of the philosophy of history, rejection of political tyranny, love for the nature of his native land - these features of Tolstoy as a person and thinker are reflected in his works of all genres. He considered Kievan Rus and ancient Novgorod to be the ideal state structure corresponding to the national character of the Russian people. The high level of development of art, the special importance of the cultural layer of the aristocracy, the simplicity of morals, the prince's respect for the personal dignity and freedom of citizens, the breadth and variety of international relations, especially relations with Europe - this was the way of life of Ancient Russia. Ballads depicting images of Ancient Russia are permeated with lyricism, they convey the poet's passionate dream of spiritual independence, admiration for the whole heroic natures captured by folk epic poetry. In the ballads “Ilya Muromets”, “Matchmaking”, “Alyosha Popovich”, “Kanut” and other images of legendary heroes and historical plots, they illustrate the author’s thought, embody his ideal ideas (for example, Prince Vladimir Kyiv). According to the system of artistic means, these ballads are close to some of Tolstoy's lyrical poems ("Blagovest", "If you love, so without reason", "You are my land, my dear land", etc.).

Tolstoy's ballads, depicting the era of the strengthening of Russian statehood, are permeated with a dramatic beginning. The plots of many of them were events from the history of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, who seemed to the poet the most vivid exponent of the principle of unlimited autocracy and the complete absorption of the individual by the state. "Dramatic" ballads are more traditional in form than "lyrical" ones, referring mainly to the 60s - n. 70s. However, even in them Tolstoy showed himself as an original poet, modifying the poetic structure of the genre. Thus, in the ballad "Vasily Shibanov" Tolstoy revises the heroic situation of a dispute between a freedom-loving subject and the tsar, which was recognized under the influence of the work of F. Schiller. Passing on the denunciation of Ivan the Terrible by Kurbsky, Tolstoy emphasizes common features in the participants in the dramatic conflict - the tsar and the rebellious boyar: pride, inhumanity, ingratitude. The author sees the ability to self-sacrifice, the willingness to suffer for the words of truth in a simple person whom the powerful of this world sacrifice to their dispute: an obscure slave wins a moral victory over the king and restores the triumph of truly human greatness over the imaginary with his feat. "Vasily Shibanov", like Tolstoy's other "dramatic" ballads, in its subject matter and the complexity of the psychological characteristics of the characters, in the poet's ethical approach to historical events, is adjacent to Tolstoy's works of major genres.

In the novel "Prince Silver" Tolstoy depicts violent clashes of strong people in an atmosphere of unbridled autocracy and shows the detrimental effect of arbitrariness on the personality of the monarch himself and his entourage. The novel shows how, moving away from the corrupt court circle, and sometimes hiding from persecution or social oppression, gifted people from different walks of life "make history", protect their homeland from the invasion of external enemies, discover and develop new lands (Prince Serebryany, Yermak Timofeevich, Ivan Koltso, Mitka and others). The style of the novel is associated with the traditions of the historical novel and the story of the 1930s, including the traditions coming from the stories of N.V. Gogol "Terrible Revenge" and "Taras Bulba".

In the dramatic trilogy, Tolstoy portrayed Russian life in the 16th - n. 17th century The solution of historical and philosophical problems in these plays is more important for him than the exact reproduction of historical facts. He depicts the tragedy of three reigns, depicting three autocrats: Ivan the Terrible, obsessed with the idea of ​​​​the divine origin of his power, Fedor, soft-hearted, and the wise ruler - the "genius ambitious" Boris Godunov.

Tolstoy attached particular importance to the creation of individual, original and vivid characters of historical figures. A major achievement was the image of Tsar Fedor, testifying to the assimilation of the principles of psychological realism by the writer in the 60s. The Moscow Art Theater was opened in 1898 by staging the tragedy Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich.

Features of Tolstoy's historical thinking also affected political satires. Behind the anecdotal plot of "Popov's Dream" was hidden the poet's caustic mockery of the liberals. The controversy with the nihilists was reflected in the poems “Sometimes a merry May ...”, “Against the Current”, etc. In “The History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev”, Tolstoy subjected to merciless ridicule historical phenomena that, as he believed, interfered with the life of national Russia. Intimate lyrics of Tolstoy, in contrast to his dramaturgy and ballads, are alien to the elation of tone. His lyrical poems are simple and sincere. Many of them are, as it were, psychological short stories in verse (“In the midst of a noisy ball, by chance ...”, “That was in early spring”). Tolstoy introduced elements of a folk poetic style into his lyrics; his poems are often close to songs. More than 70 poems by Tolstoy have been set to music by Russian composers; romances based on his words were written by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, P. I. Tchaikovsky, M. P. Mussorgsky, S. I. Taneev and others.

Count, Russian writer, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1873). Ballads, satirical poems, the historical novel The Silver Prince (published in 1863), the dramatic trilogy The Death of Ivan the Terrible (1866), Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (1868) and Tsar Boris (1870). Heartfelt lyrics with a pronounced musical beginning, psychological short stories in verse ("In the midst of a noisy ball, by chance ...", "That was in early spring"). Together with the Zhemchuzhnikov brothers, he created a parody image of Kozma Prutkov.

Biography

Born on August 24 (September 5 n.s.) in St. Petersburg in a noble noble family. The parents separated immediately after the birth of their son; he was brought up by his mother and her brother, the writer A. Perovsky (pseudonym A. Pogorelsky). Childhood years were spent on the estates of his mother, later his uncle in Northern Ukraine. He received a good education at home.

At the age of 17, he was enrolled in the Moscow archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then he was in the diplomatic service in Germany. In 1843 he received the title of chamber junker.

Tolstoy was engaged in literary creativity from an early age, encouraged by his uncle. He wrote poetry, fantastic stories, and already his first story, published under the pseudonym "Krasnorogsky" in 1841, was noticed by Belinsky.

In the 1840s, he began working on the historical novel "Prince Silver", completed in 1861. During the same period, he wrote a number of ballads and lyric poems that became widely known and subsequently set to music by Russian composers ("My Bells", "You know land where everything breathes in abundance", "Kurgan", "Among the noisy ball ...", etc.).

In 1854, together with his cousins ​​Zhemchuzhnikov, he created a satirical literary mask of Kozma Prutkov and a collection of his works, which is still popular in Russia.

Service at the court (adjutant wing of Alexander II, then jagermeister head of the royal huntsmen) gave the writer the opportunity to stand up for people close to him (he was busy about returning Shevchenko from exile, about Aksakov, Turgenev).

In 1861 he forced his resignation ("Service and art are incompatible...", he wrote to the tsar) and began to devote all his energy and time to literature.

In recent years, he turned to poetry (he wrote ballads and political satires in verse).

After retiring, he mostly lived on his estates, paying little attention to the economy, and gradually went bankrupt. His health deteriorated. At the age of 58, A. Tolstoy died on September 28 (October 10, n.s.), 1875, in the estate of Krasny Rog, Chernihiv province.

Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy- a classic of Russian literature, one of our greatest poets of the second half of the 19th century, a brilliant playwright, translator, creator of magnificent love lyrics, hitherto unsurpassed satirist poet, who wrote his works both under his real name and under the name invented by Tolstoy together with brothers Zhemchuzhnikov Kozma Prutkov; finally, Tolstoy is a classic of Russian "terrible literature", his stories "Ghoul" and "Ghoul's Family" are considered masterpieces of Russian mysticism. The works of A. K. Tolstoy are familiar to us from school. But little is known about the life of the writer himself, paradoxically. The fact is that most of the writer's archives perished in fires, and a significant part of the correspondence was destroyed after Tolstoy's death by his wife. Researchers of the writer's work had to restore the facts of his life literally bit by bit. And I must say that Alexei Konstantinovich lived a very interesting life. Shortly after his birth (August 24, 1817 in St. Petersburg), a break occurred in the Tolstoy family - mother Anna Alekseevna (nee Perovskaya, the illegitimate daughter of the all-powerful Count Razumovsky) took the six-week-old Alyosha and left for her estate. And she never returned to Count Konstantin Petrovich Tolstoy. Alyosha's tutor, who essentially replaced his father, was his mother's brother, the writer Aleksey Alekseevich Perovsky, better known by his literary pseudonym Anthony Pogorelsky. The famous fairy tale "The Black Hen, or Underground Inhabitants" Pogorelsky wrote specifically for Alyosha Tolstoy. Fate itself seemed to favor Tolstoy - thanks to his involvement in two of the most influential noble families - Tolstoy and Razumovsky - and kinship with the popular writer Pogorelsky, he met Pushkin as a child, during a trip with his mother and uncle to Germany - with Goethe, and the trip to Italy is associated with an acquaintance with the great artist Karl Bryullov, who would later paint a portrait of the young Tolstoy. Tolstoy's playmate was the heir to the throne, the future Emperor Alexander II. There is a known case when, together with Alyosha and Alexander, Emperor Nicholas I himself played soldiers.

In 1834, Tolstoy was enrolled in the civil service as a "student" in the Moscow Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In December 1835, he passed exams at Moscow University to obtain a certificate for entry into the first category of civil service officials. Public service is deeply disgusting to Tolstoy, he wants to become a poet, writes poetry from the age of six, but does not find the strength to break with the service, fearing to upset his relatives. In 1836, Tolstoy took a four-month vacation to accompany the seriously ill Perovsky to Nice for treatment, but on the way, in a Warsaw hotel, Perovsky died. He leaves all his fortune to Alyosha. At the end of 1836, Tolstoy was transferred to the department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was soon appointed to the Russian mission to the German Sejm in Frankfurt am Main. However, the service was essentially a mere formality, and although Tolstoy went to Frankfurt (where he first met Gogol), he, like any young socialite, spends most of his time in entertainment. In 1838 - 1839. Tolstoy lives abroad - in Germany, Italy, France. At the same time, he writes his first stories (in French) "The Family of the Ghoul" and "Meeting in Three Hundred Years", which will be published only after the death of the author. Apparently, the influence of Perovsky, one of the founders of Russian science fiction literature, and the first stories of Tolstoy, were vivid examples of mysticism (by the way, the writer will remain interested in the other world even in adulthood: it is known that he read books on spiritualism, attended sessions of the English spiritualist Hume who toured Russia ). Returning to Russia, Tolstoy continues to live a “social life”: he hits on young ladies at St. Petersburg balls, spends money with chic, hunts in his estate Krasny Rog in the Chernigov province, which he inherited from Alexei Perovsky. Hunting becomes a passion for Tolstoy, he repeatedly went with a horn to a bear at the risk of his life. In general, Alexei Konstantinovich was distinguished by amazing physical strength - he twisted silver forks and spoons with a screw, unbent horseshoes.

In 1841, Tolstoy made his literary debut - under the pseudonym Krasnorogsky, the mystical story "Ghoul", the first Russian work on the "vampire" theme, was published. The story earned an approving review by Belinsky. In the 40s, Tolstoy began the novel "Prince Silver", creates many poems and ballads, but writes mostly "on the table". In 1850, Tolstoy, together with his cousin Alexei Zhemchuzhnikov, hiding behind the pseudonyms "Y" and "Z", sent the comedy in one act "Fantasy" for censorship. Although the censor made corrections to the work, on the whole he did not find anything reprehensible in it. The premiere of the play took place on January 8, 1851 at the Alexandrinsky Theater and ended in a huge scandal, after which the production was banned: the public did not understand the play’s innovation, the parody of absurd dialogues and monologues at all, Emperor Nicholas I, who was present at the premiere, left the hall without waiting for the end of the performance. In the same 1851, Alexei Tolstoy was granted the title of master of ceremonies of the court, and the most important event in his personal life takes place - the poet meets his future wife Sophia Miller. The feeling that has arisen for Miller inspires Tolstoy. Since 1854, he has been systematically publishing his poems, including under the name of Kozma Prutkov, a writer invented by him together with the Zhemchuzhnikov brothers. During the Crimean War, Tolstoy joined the army as a major, but did not participate in hostilities: he fell ill with typhus near Odessa and barely survived. After recovery, he participates in the coronation of Alexander II, on the day of the coronation celebrations, Tolstoy was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed adjutant wing to the emperor. Military service burdens Tolstoy and in 1861 he seeks his resignation. After his resignation, Tolstoy lived mainly on his estates Pustynka (near St. Petersburg) and Krasny Rog. Literary fame comes - his poems are a success. The poet is fascinated by Russian history - the "Time of Troubles" and the era of Ivan the Terrible - and he creates the historical novel "Prince Silver" and "Dramatic Trilogy", but Tolstoy is especially interested in pre-Mongolian Russia, which he idealizes in many ballads and epics.

In the last years of his life, Tolstoy was seriously ill. Finding no escape from terrible headaches, he begins to use morphine injections. Morphine addiction develops. On September 28 (October 10 according to the new style), 1875, Tolstoy dies in Krasny Rog from too much morphine.

From the works of Tolstoy, in addition to mystical prose (“Ghoul”, “Ghoul Family”, Meeting after three hundred years”, “Amena”), many poetic works include the poem “Dragon”, ballads and epics “The Tale of the King and the Monk ”, “Vikhor-horse”, “Wolves”, “Prince Rostislav”, “Sadko”, “Bogatyr”, “Potok-hero”, “Snake Tugarin”, dramatic poem “Don Juan”. Fantastic elements are present in some other works of the writer.

Creation

Artworks

Dramaturgy

Publicism

(August 24 (September 5), 1817 Petersburg - September 28 (October 10), 1875 c. Red Horn (now Pochepsky district, Bryansk region)) - Russian writer, poet, playwright, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1873), count .

Biography

Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy was born on August 24, 1817 in St. Petersburg. Father - Count Konstantin Petrovich Tolstoy (1779-1875). Mother - Anna Alekseevna Perovskaya, pupil of Count A.K. Razumovsky. She separated from her husband immediately after the birth of the child for unknown reasons. Instead of his father, Alexei was raised by his maternal uncle A. A. Perovsky, a well-known writer who published under the pseudonym Anthony Pogorelsky. Alex spent his early childhood in Ukraine, on his uncle's estate. From the age of 10, the boy was taken abroad, he described the trip to Italy in 1831 in his diary. Tolstoy belonged to the children's environment of the heir to the throne, the future Alexander II.

In 1834, Tolstoy was assigned as a "student" to the Moscow archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1837 he served in the Russian mission in Germany, in 1840 he received service in St. Petersburg at the royal court. In 1843 - the court rank of chamber junker.

In the late 30s and early 40s, two fantastic stories were written (in French) - "The Family of the Ghoul" and "Meeting in Three Hundred Years". In May 1841, Tolstoy first appeared in print, publishing a separate book, under the pseudonym "Krasnorogsky" (from the name of the Red Horn estate), the fantastic story "Ghoul". V. G. Belinsky spoke very favorably about the story, seeing in it "all the signs of a still too young, but, nevertheless, a remarkable talent."

In the winter of 1850/51, Tolstoy fell in love with the wife of a horse guards colonel, Sofya Andreevna Miller (nee Bakhmeteva, 1827-1892). Their marriage was officially registered only in 1863, as it was prevented, on the one hand, by Sofya Andreevna's husband, who did not give her a divorce, and on the other, by Tolstoy's mother, who treated her unkindly. After his resignation from service in 1861, Tolstoy only occasionally visited the capital. He lived in the estate "Pustynka" on the banks of the Tosna River near St. Petersburg (not preserved) or in Krasny Rog, even more distant from the capital (Chernigov province, Mglinsky district).

On September 28, 1875, during another severe attack of headache, Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy made a mistake and injected himself with an overdose of morphine (which was treated according to the doctor's prescription), which led to the writer's death.

The museum-estate of Alexei Tolstoy is located in Krasny Rog (now the Pochepsky district of the Bryansk region). Here the count spent his childhood, repeatedly returned to these places in adulthood, and was buried here.

Creation

Creator of ballads, satirical poems, the historical novel The Silver Prince (published in 1863), the dramatic trilogy The Death of Ivan the Terrible (1866), Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (1868) and Tsar Boris (1870). The author of heartfelt lyrics, with a pronounced musical beginning, psychological short stories in verse (“In the midst of a noisy ball, by chance ...”, “That was in early spring”).

In the midst of a noisy ball, by chance, In the anxiety of worldly fuss,
I saw you, but the mystery
Your veiled features;
Only sad eyes looked
And the voice sounded so wonderful,
Like the sound of a distant flute,
Like the waves of the sea.
I liked your slim figure
And all your thoughtful look;
And your laughter, both sad and sonorous,
Since then it has been in my heart.
In the hours of lonely nights
I love, tired to lie down -
I see sad eyes
I hear a cheerful speech;
And sadly I fall asleep so
And in the dreams of the unknown I sleep ...
Do I love you - I don't know
But I think I love it!
"In the midst of a noisy ball, by chance ..." (1851)

Together with the Zhemchuzhnikov brothers, he created a parody image of Kozma Prutkov (more than half of the works of Kozma Prutkov, especially in the late period, were authored by A. K. Tolstoy).

Artworks

poems

• sinner
• John of Damascus

Dramaturgy

• Fantasy (1850) (first production at the Alexandrinsky Theater in 1851)
• Don Juan (1862)
• The Death of Ivan the Terrible (1866) (first production at the Alexandrinsky Theater in 1867). The tragedy was filmed in 1991.
• Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (1868) (first production in 1898 at the theater of the Literary and Artistic Society)
• Tsar Boris (1870) (first production in 1881 at Moscow's Brenco Theatre)
• Posadnik (1871) (first production in 1877 at the Alexandrinsky Theatre)

Prose

• Prince Silver (1862)
• Ghoul (1841)
• The Ghoul Family (1839)
• Meeting after three hundred years (1839)
• Wolf Foster (1843)
• Steblovsky (1846)

Publicism

• Project for staging the tragedy "The Death of Ivan the Terrible" (1866)
• Project for staging the tragedy "Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich" (1868)

"History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev"

The poem has 83 stanzas; in such a short volume, A. K. Tolstoy manages to fit a parody story about all the main symbolic events of Russian history: from the calling of the Varangians ((860) and the baptism of Russia - until 1868. Written in 1868, "History ..." first saw the light only 15 years later, in 1883, after the death of A. K. Tolstoy.