Biography on the topic of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. "The main thing is literary works"

Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich (1828 - 1910) - one of the most famous Russian writers and thinkers, one of the greatest writers in the world, educator, publicist and religious thinker.

Short biography of Tolstoy

Write short biography of Tolstoy difficult enough, as he lived a long and very diverse life.

In principle, all short biographies can be called "short" only conditionally. Nevertheless, we will try to convey in a concise form the main points of the biography of Leo Tolstoy.

Childhood and youth

Was born future writer in Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province, in a wealthy aristocratic family. Entered Kazan University, but then left it.

At the age of 23 he went to war with Chechnya and Dagestan. Here he began to write the trilogy "Childhood", "Boyhood", "Youth".

In the Caucasus, he participated in hostilities as an artillery officer. During the Crimean War, he went to Sevastopol, where he continued to fight. After the end of the war, he left for St. Petersburg and published Sevastopol Stories in the Sovremennik magazine, which clearly reflected his outstanding writing talent.

In 1857 Tolstoy went on a trip to Europe. From his biography it clearly follows that this trip disappointed the thinker.

From 1853 to 1863 wrote the story "Cossacks", after which he decided to interrupt literary activity and become a landowner, doing educational work in the village. For this purpose he went to Yasnaya Polyana, where he opened a school for peasant children and created his own system of pedagogy.

Creativity Tolstoy

In 1863-1869 he wrote the fundamental work War and Peace. It was this work that brought him worldwide fame. In 1873-1877, the novel Anna Karenina was published.

Portrait of Leo Tolstoy

In the same years, the writer's worldview was fully formed, which later resulted in the religious movement "Tolstoyism". Its essence is indicated in the works: “Confession”, “What is my faith?” and the Kreutzer Sonata.

From the biography of Tolstoy it is clearly seen that the teaching of "Tolstoyism" is set forth in the philosophical and religious works "Study of Dogmatic Theology", "Combination and Translation of the Four Gospels". The main emphasis in these works is on the moral improvement of man, the exposure of evil and non-resistance to evil by violence.

Later, a dilogy was published: the drama "The Power of Darkness" and the comedy "The Fruits of Enlightenment", then a series of stories-parables about the laws of being.

From all over Russia and the world, admirers of the writer's work came to Yasnaya Polyana, whom they treated as spiritual guide. In 1899, the novel Resurrection was published.

The last works of the writer are the stories "Father Sergius", "After the Ball", " Posthumous notes Elder Fyodor Kuzmich” and the drama “The Living Corpse”.

Tolstoy and the Church

Tolstoy's confessional journalism gives a detailed idea of ​​his emotional drama: painting pictures of social inequality and idleness of the educated strata, Tolstoy in a harsh form posed questions of the meaning of life and faith to society, criticized all state institutions, reaching the denial of science, art, court, marriage, and the achievements of civilization.

Tolstoy's social declaration is based on the idea of ​​Christianity as a moral doctrine, and the ethical ideas of Christianity are comprehended by him in a humanistic key, as the basis of the universal brotherhood of people.

In a brief biography of Tolstoy, it makes no sense to mention the numerous harsh statements of the writer about the church, but they can be easily found in various sources.

In 1901, the Holy Governing Synod issued a decree officially announcing that Count Leo Tolstoy was no longer a member of the Orthodox Church, since his (publicly expressed) convictions were incompatible with such membership.

This caused a huge public outcry, since Tolstoy's popular authority was extremely great, although everyone knew very well the writer's critical mood in relation to the Christian church.

Last days and death

October 28, 1910 Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana from his family, fell ill on the way and was forced to leave the train on a small railway station Astapovo Ryazan-Ural Railway.

Here, seven days later, in the house of the head of the station, he died at the age of 82.

We hope that short biography Tolstoy will interest you for further study of his creative heritage. And the last thing: maybe you didn’t know this, but in mathematics there is Tolstoy’s riddle, the author of which is himself great writer. We highly recommend checking it out.

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

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

So let's get started!

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

   Leo Tolstoy with his wife and children

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

   Diary of Tolstoy L.N.

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

   Tolstoy in his youth

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

    Portrait of the writer Tolstoy

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

    Tolstoy with assistants makes lists of peasants in need of help

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

    Tolstoy in the family circle in the park

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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




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

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

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

- Why did you get married? the countess asked.

“But I didn’t know that then.”

Leo Tolstoy with his wife

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




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




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

Count, the great Russian writer.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born on August 28 (September 9), 1828 in the estate of the Krapivensky district of the Tula province (now in) in the family of a retired staff captain Count N. I. Tolstoy (1794-1837), a participant in the Patriotic War of 1812.

L. N. Tolstoy received home education. In 1844-1847 he studied at Kazan University, but did not complete the course. In 1851 he went to the Caucasus to the village - to the place of military service of his elder brother N. N. Tolstoy.

Two years of life in the Caucasus turned out to be unusually significant for spiritual development writer. The story "Childhood" written by him here - the first printed work of L. N. Tolstoy (published under the initials L. N. in the journal "Sovremennik" in 1852) - together with the stories "Boyhood" (1852-1854) and "Youth "(1855-1857) was part of an extensive plan autobiographical novel"Four Epochs of Development", the last part of which - "Youth" - was never written.

In 1851-1853 L. N. Tolstoy took part in military operations in the Caucasus (first as a volunteer, then as an artillery officer), in 1854 he was welded into the Danube army. Shortly after the start of the Crimean War, at his personal request, he was transferred to Sevastopol, during the siege of which he participated in the defense of the 4th bastion. Army life and episodes of the war gave L. N. Tolstoy material for the stories "The Raid" (1853), "Cutting the Forest" (1853-1855), as well as for the artistic essays "Sevastopol in the month of December", "Sevastopol in May", " Sevastopol in August 1855" (all published in Sovremennik in 1855-1856). These essays, traditionally called "Sevastopol Tales", made a huge impression on Russian society.

In 1855, L. N. Tolstoy came to, where he became close to the staff of Sovremennik, met I. A. Goncharov, and others. assert your creativity. Most bright work this time - the story "Cossacks" (1853-1863), in which the author's attraction to folk themes.

Dissatisfied with his work, disappointed in secular and literary circles, L. N. Tolstoy at the turn of the 1860s decided to leave literature and settle in the countryside. In 1859-1862, he devoted a lot of energy to the school he founded for peasant children, studied the organization of pedagogical work in and abroad, published the pedagogical journal Yasnaya Polyana (1862), preaching a free system of education and upbringing.

In 1862, L. N. Tolstoy married S. A. Bers (1844-1919) and began to live patriarchally and secludedly in his estate as the head of a large and ever-increasing family. In the years peasant reform he acted as a conciliator of the Krapivensky district, resolved the litigation of the landowners with their former serfs.

The 1860s were the heyday of the artistic genius of Leo Tolstoy. Living a sedentary, measured life, he found himself in an intense, concentrated spiritual creativity. The original ways mastered by the writer led to a new rise in national culture.

The novel by L. N. Tolstoy "War and Peace" (1863-1869, the beginning of publication - 1865) became unique phenomenon in Russian and world literature. The author managed to successfully combine depth and intimateness. psychological novel with the scope and multifigures of an epic fresco. With his novel, L. N. Tolstoy tried to answer the desire of literature of the 1860s to understand the course historical process, to determine the role of the people in the decisive era of national life.

In the early 1870s, Leo Tolstoy again focused on pedagogical interests. He wrote "ABC" (1871-1872), later - "New ABC" (1874-1875), for which the writer composed original stories and transcriptions of fairy tales and fables, which made up four "Russian Books for Reading". For a while, Leo Tolstoy returned to teaching at the Yasnaya Polyana school. However, symptoms of a crisis in the moral and philosophical outlook of the writer soon began to appear, aggravated by the historical stop of the social turning point of the 1870s.

The central work of L. N. Tolstoy of the 1870s is the novel "Anna Karenina" (1873-1877, published in 1876-1877). Like novels and written at the same time, Anna Karenina is an acutely problematic work, full of signs of the time. The novel was the result of the writer's thoughts on fate modern society and filled with pessimism.

By the beginning of the 1880s, L. N. Tolstoy formed the basic principles of his new worldview, which later became known as Tolstoyism. They found their fullest expression in his works "Confession" (1879-1880, published in 1884) and "What is my faith?" (1882-1884). In them, L. N. Tolstoy concluded that the foundations of existence are false higher strata societies with which he was connected by origin, upbringing and life experience. To the writer's characteristic criticism of the materialist and positivist theories of progress, to the apology of naive consciousness, there is now added a sharp protest against the state and the official church, against the privileges and way of life of one's class. Your new social views L. N. Tolstoy put in connection with moral and religious philosophy. The works "Study of dogmatic theology" (1879-1880) and "Combination and translation of the four gospels" (1880-1881) laid the foundation for the religious side of Tolstoy's teachings. Purified from distortions and church rituals, Christian doctrine in its updated form, according to the writer, it was supposed to unite people with the ideas of love and forgiveness. L. N. Tolstoy preached non-resistance to evil by violence, considering the only reasonable means of combating evil to be its public denunciation and passive disobedience to the authorities. He saw the path to the coming renewal of man and mankind in individual spiritual work, the moral improvement of the individual and rejected the meaning political struggle and revolutionary explosions.

In the 1880s, L. N. Tolstoy noticeably lost interest in artistic work and even condemned his former novels and stories as lordly "fun". He became interested in simple physical labor, plowed, sewed boots for himself, switched to vegetarian food. At the same time, the writer's dissatisfaction with the usual way of life of loved ones grew. His publicistic works "So what should we do?" (1882-1886) and Slavery of Our Time (1899-1900) sharply criticized the vices of modern civilization, but the author saw a way out of its contradictions mainly in utopian calls for moral and religious self-education. Actually artistic creativity the writer of these years is saturated with journalism, direct denunciations of wrongful judgment and modern marriage, land ownership and the church, passionate appeals to the conscience, reason and dignity of people (the stories "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" (1884-1886); "Kreutzer Sonata" (1887-1889, published in 1891); The Devil (1889-1890, published 1911).

In the same period, L. N. Tolstoy began to show a serious interest in dramatic genres. In the drama "The Power of Darkness" (1886) and the comedy "The Fruits of Enlightenment" (1886-1890, published in 1891), he considered the problem of the pernicious influence of urban civilization on a conservative rural society. to life the so-called folk stories» of the 1880s (“How do people live”, “Candle”, “Two old men”, “How much land does a person need”, etc.), written in the parable genre.

L. N. Tolstoy actively supported the Posrednik publishing house that arose in 1884, led by his followers and friends V. G. Chertkov and I. I. Gorbunov-Posadov, and whose goal was to distribute among the people books that served the cause of education and were close to Tolstoy’s teachings . Many of the writer's works were published under censorship conditions, first in Geneva, then in London, where, on the initiative of V. G. Chertkov, the Free Word publishing house was founded. In 1891, 1893 and 1898 L. N. Tolstoy headed a wide social movement to assist the peasants of the starving provinces, issued appeals and articles on measures to combat hunger. In the second half of the 1890s, the writer devoted much of his energy to protecting religious sectarians - the Molokans and Doukhobors, and helped the Doukhobors move to Canada. (especially in the 1890s) became a place of pilgrimage for people from the farthest corners of Russia and from other countries, one of the largest centers of attraction for the living forces of world culture.

The main artistic work of Leo Tolstoy in the 1890s was the novel Resurrection (1889-1899), the plot of which arose on the basis of a genuine court case. In an amazing combination of circumstances (a young aristocrat who was once guilty of seducing a peasant girl brought up in a manor house, now, as a juror, must decide her fate in court), the alogism of a life built on social injustice was expressed for the writer. The caricature of the ministers of the church and its rites in the Resurrection became one of the reasons for the decision of the Holy Synod to excommunicate Leo Tolstoy from Orthodox Church (1901).

During this period, the alienation observed by the writer in contemporary society makes the problem of personal identity extremely important for him. moral responsibility with the inevitable pangs of conscience, enlightenment, moral upheaval and subsequent break with their environment. The plot of “departure”, a sharp and radical change in life, an appeal to a new life faith (“Father Sergius”, 1890-1898, published in 1912; “The Living Corpse”, 1900, published in 1911; “After the Ball” , 1903, published in 1911; "Posthumous notes of the elder Fyodor Kuzmich ...", 1905, published in 1912).

In the last decade of his life, Leo Tolstoy became the recognized head of Russian literature. He maintains personal relationships with young contemporary writers V. G. Korolenko, A. M. Gorky. His social and journalistic activities continued: his appeals and articles were published, and work was underway on the book "Circle of Reading". Tolstoyism became widely known as an ideological doctrine, but the writer himself at that time experienced hesitations and doubts about the correctness of his teaching. During the years of the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907, his protests against death penalty(article "I can not be silent", 1908).

Leo Tolstoy spent the last years of his life in an atmosphere of intrigue and strife between the Tolstoyans and members of his family. Trying to bring his lifestyle into line with his beliefs, on October 28 (November 10), 1910, the writer secretly left. On the way, he caught a cold and died on November 7 (20), 1910 at the Astapovo station of the Ryazan-Ural Railway (now a village in). The death of Leo Tolstoy caused a colossal public outcry in and abroad.

The work of L. N. Tolstoy marked new stage in the development of realism in Russian and world literature, has become a kind of bridge between the traditions of the classical novel XIX century and literature of the twentieth century. Philosophical views the writer had a huge impact on the evolution of European humanism.

Relevant to localities:

Born in Yasnaya Polyana, Krapivensky district, Tula province, on August 28 (September 9), 1828. He lived in the estate in 1828-1837. From 1849 he returned to the estate periodically, from 1862 he lived permanently. Buried at Yasnaya Polyana.

He first visited Moscow in January 1837. He lived in the city until 1841, subsequently visited repeatedly and lived for a long time. In 1882 he bought a house in Dolgokhamovnichesky Lane, where since then his family usually spent the winter. The last time he came to Moscow was in September 1909.

In February-May 1849 he visited St. Petersburg for the first time. He lived in the city in the winter of 1855-1856, visited annually in 1857-1861, and also in 1878. The last time he came to St. Petersburg was in 1897.

Repeatedly visited Tula in 1840-1900. In 1849-1852 he was in the service of the office of the noble assembly. In September 1858 he took part in the congress of the provincial nobility. In February 1868 he was elected a juror in the Krapivensky district, attended the meetings of the Tula District Court.

The owner of the Nikolskoye-Vyazemskoye estate in the Chernsky district of the Tula province since 1860 (previously belonged to his brother N.N. Tolstoy). In the 1860s and 1870s, he conducted experiments in the estate to improve the economy. The last time he visited the estate was on June 28 (July 11), 1910.

In 1854, the wooden manor house in which Leo Tolstoy was born was sold and moved from the village of Dolgoe, Krapivensky district, Tula province, which belonged to the landowner P. M. Gorokhov. In 1897, the writer visited the village in order to buy a house, but due to its dilapidated state, it was recognized as non-transportable.

In the 1860s, he organized a school in the village of Kolpna, Krapivensky district, Tula province (now within the city of Shchekino). On July 21 (August 2), 1894, he visited the mine of the R. Gill Partnership at the Yasenki station. On October 28 (November 10), 1910, on the day he left, he boarded a train at the Yasenki station (now in Shchekino).

He lived in the village of Starogladovskaya in the Kizlyar district of the Terek region, the location of the 20th artillery brigade, from May 1851 to January 1854. In January 1852, he was enlisted as a 4th class fireworker in Battery No. 4 of the 20th Artillery Brigade. On February 1 (February 13), 1852, in the village of Starogladovskaya, with the help of his friends S. Miserbiev and B. Isaev, he wrote down the words of two Chechen folk songs with the translation. Leo Tolstoy's notes are recognized as "the first written monument of the Chechen language" and "the first experience of recording Chechen folklore in the local language."

For the first time he visited the Grozny fortress on July 5 (17), 1851. He visited the commander of the left flank of the Caucasian line, Prince A. I. Baryatinsky, to obtain permission to participate in hostilities. Subsequently, he visited Groznaya in September 1851 and in February 1853.

For the first time he visited Pyatigorsk on May 16 (28), 1852. Lived in the Kabardian settlement. On July 4 (16), 1852, he sent the manuscript of the novel Childhood from Pyatigorsk to the editor of the Sovremennik magazine. On August 5 (17), 1852, he set off from Pyatigorsk to the village. He visited Pyatigorsk again in August - October 1853.

Orel visited three times. On January 9-10 (21-22), 1856, he visited his brother D. N. Tolstoy, who was dying of consumption. On March 7 (19), 1885, he was in the city on his way to the Maltsevs' estate. On September 25-27 (October 7-9), 1898, he visited the Oryol provincial prison while working on the novel Resurrection.

In the period from October 1891 to July 1893, he came several times to the village of Begichevka, Dankovsky district, Ryazan province (now Begichevo in), the estate of I. I. Raevsky. In the village, he organized a center to help the starving peasants of Dankovsky and Epifansky counties. The last time Leo Tolstoy left Begichevka was on July 18 (30), 1893.

The land of Russia has given mankind a whole scattering of talented writers. In many parts of the world, people know and love the works of I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, N. V. Gogol and many other Russian authors. This publication aims to in general terms describe life and creative way remarkable writer L.N. Tolstoy as one of the most prominent Russians, who covered world fame himself and the Fatherland.

Childhood

In 1828, or rather, on August 28, in the family estate of Yasnaya Polyana (at that time, the Tula province), the fourth child was born in the family, who was named Leo. Despite the imminent loss of his mother - she died when he was not yet two years old - he will carry her image through his whole life and use it in the War and Peace trilogy as Princess Volkonskaya. Tolstoy lost his father before reaching the age of nine, and it would seem that he would perceive these years as a personal tragedy. However, brought up by relatives who gave him love and a new family, the writer considered the years of his childhood the happiest. This was reflected in his novel "Childhood".

It is interesting, but Leo began to transfer his thoughts and feelings to paper as a child. One of the first attempts at pen of the future literary classic became short story"Kremlin", written under the impression of visiting the Moscow Kremlin.

Adolescence and youth

Having received an excellent primary education (he was taught by excellent teachers from France and Germany) and having moved to Kazan with his family, the young Tolstoy entered Kazan University in 1844. The study was not exciting. After less than two years, he, allegedly for health reasons, drops out of school and returns to the family estate with the thought of completing his studies in absentia.

Having experienced all the delights of unsuccessful management, which will then be reflected in the story "The Morning of the Landowner", Lev moves first to Moscow, and later to St. Petersburg with the hope of getting a diploma at the university. The search for oneself during this period led to amazing metamorphoses. Preparation for exams, the desire to become a military man, religious asceticism, suddenly replaced by revelry and revelry - this is far from complete list his activities at this time. But it is at this stage of life that a serious desire arises.

Adulthood

Heeding the advice of his older brother, Tolstoy becomes a cadet and goes in 1851 to serve in the Caucasus. Here he takes part in hostilities, becomes close to the inhabitants of the Cossack village and realizes the huge difference between noble life and everyday reality. During this period, he writes the story "Childhood", which is published under a pseudonym and brings the first success. Having supplemented his autobiography to a trilogy with the stories Boyhood and Youth, Tolstoy gains recognition among writers and readers.

Participating in the defense of Sevastopol (1854), Tolstoy was awarded not only an order and medals, but also new experiences that became the basis of "Sevastopol stories". This collection finally convinced the critics of his talent.

After the war

Having finished with military adventures in 1855, Tolstoy returned to St. Petersburg, where he immediately became a member of the Sovremennik circle. He falls into the company of such people as Turgenev, Ostrovsky, Nekrasov and others. But Savor did not please him and, having been abroad and finally breaking with the army, he returned to Yasnaya Polyana. Here, in 1859, Tolstoy, mindful of the contrast between the common people and the nobles, opened a school for peasant children. With his assistance, 20 more such schools were created in the vicinity.

"War and Peace"

After the wedding with the 18-year-old daughter of a doctor Sophia Bers in 1862, the couple returned to Yasnaya Polyana, where they indulged in the joys of family life and household chores. But a year later, Tolstoy was carried away by a new idea. A trip to the Borodino field, work in the archives, painstaking study of the correspondence of people of the era of Alexander I and spiritual uplift from family happiness led to the publication of the first part of War and Peace in 1865. Full version trilogy was released in 1869 and still causes admiration and controversy regarding the novel.

"Anna Karenina"

The iconic novel known throughout the world was the result of deep analysis life of Tolstoy's contemporaries and saw the light in 1877. In this decade, the writer lived in Yasnaya Polyana, teaching peasant children and defending his own views on pedagogy through the press. Family life, decomposed through a social prism, illustrates the entire spectrum of human emotions. Despite not the best, to put it mildly, relations between the writers, even F.M. Dostoevsky.

Broken soul

Contemplating social inequality around him, he now considers the dogmas of Christianity as an incentive to humanity and justice. Tolstoy, understanding the role of God in people's lives, continues to denounce the corruption of his servants. This period of complete denial of the established way of life explains the criticism of the church and state institutions. It got to the point that he questioned art, denied science, the bonds of marriage and much more. As a result, he was officially excommunicated in 1901, and also caused discontent among the authorities. This period of the writer's life gave the world many sharp, sometimes controversial, works. The result of understanding the views of the author was his last novel "Sunday".

Care

Because of disagreements in the family and misunderstood secular society, Tolstoy, having decided to leave Yasnaya Polyana, but, having got off the train due to poor health, died at a small, godforsaken station. It happened in the fall of 1910, and next to him was only his doctor, who turned out to be powerless against the writer's illness.

L. N. Tolstoy was one of the first who dared to describe human life without embellishment. His heroes possessed all, sometimes unattractive, feelings, desires and character traits. Therefore, they remain relevant today, and his works are rightfully included in the heritage of world literature.

Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy brief information.

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy- an outstanding Russian prose writer, playwright and public figure. Born on August 28 (September 9), 1828 in the estate of Yasnaya Polyana Tula region. On the maternal side, the writer belonged to the eminent family of the Volkonsky princes, and on the paternal side, to the ancient family of the Counts Tolstoy. Great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather, grandfather and father of Leo Tolstoy were military men. Representatives ancient family Tolstoy, even under Ivan the Terrible, served as governors in many cities of Russia.

The writer's grandfather on his mother's side, "a descendant of Rurik", Prince Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky, was enrolled in military service from the age of seven. He was a member Russian-Turkish war and retired with the rank of general-in-chief. The writer's paternal grandfather - Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy - served in the Navy, and then in the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. The writer's father, Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, voluntarily entered military service at the age of seventeen. He participated in Patriotic War 1812, was captured by the French and was released by Russian troops who entered Paris after the defeat of Napoleon's army. On the maternal side, Tolstoy was related to the Pushkins. Their common ancestor was the boyar I.M. Golovin, an associate of Peter I, who studied shipbuilding with him. One of his daughters is the great-grandmother of the poet, the other is the great-grandmother of Tolstoy's mother. Thus, Pushkin was Tolstoy's fourth cousin.

Writer's childhood took place in Yasnaya Polyana - an old family estate. Tolstoy's interest in history and literature arose in his childhood: living in the countryside, he saw how the life of the working people flowed, from him he heard a lot folk tales, epics, songs, legends. The life of the people, their work, interests and views, oral creativity- everything living and wise - was revealed to Tolstoy by Yasnaya Polyana.

Maria Nikolaevna Tolstaya, the writer's mother, was kind and sympathetic person, an intelligent and educated woman: she knew French, German, English and Italian She played the piano and took up painting. Tolstoy was not even two years old when his mother died. The writer did not remember her, but he heard so much about her from those around him that he clearly and vividly imagined her appearance and character.

Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, their father, the children loved and appreciated for humane attitude to the fortresses. In addition to doing housework and children, he read a lot. During his life, Nikolai Ilyich collected a rich library, consisting of rare books for those times. French classics, historical and natural history writings. It was he who first noticed the tendency of his younger son to the living perception of the artistic word.

When Tolstoy was in his ninth year, his father took him to Moscow for the first time. The first impressions of the Moscow life of Lev Nikolaevich served as the basis for many paintings, scenes and episodes of the hero’s life in Moscow Tolstoy's trilogy "Childhood", "Adolescence" and "Youth". Young Tolstoy saw not only open side big city life, but also some hidden, shady sides. With his first stay in Moscow, the writer connected the end of the earliest period of his life, childhood, and the transition to adolescence. The first period of Tolstoy's life in Moscow did not last long. In the summer of 1837, having gone on business to Tula, his father died suddenly. Soon after the death of his father, Tolstoy, his sister and brothers had to endure a new misfortune: the grandmother died, whom all relatives considered the head of the family. Sudden death her son was a terrible blow to her and less than a year later carried her to the grave. A few years later, the first guardian of the orphaned Tolstoy children, the father's sister, Alexandra Ilyinichna Osten-Saken, died. Ten-year-old Leo, his three brothers and sister were taken to Kazan, where their new guardian, aunt Pelageya Ilyinichna Yushkova, lived.

Tolstoy wrote about his second guardian as a woman "kind and very pious", but at the same time very "frivolous and vain". According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Pelageya Ilyinichna did not enjoy authority among Tolstoy and his brothers, therefore moving to Kazan is considered to be a new stage in the life of the writer: education ended, a period of independent life began.

Tolstoy lived in Kazan for more than six years. It was the time of formation of his character and choice life path. Living with his brothers and sister at Pelageya Ilyinichna, young Tolstoy spent two years preparing to enter Kazan University. Deciding to enter the eastern department of the university, he paid special attention to preparing for exams in foreign languages. At the exams in mathematics and Russian literature, Tolstoy received fours, and in foreign languages ​​- fives. At the exams in history and geography, Lev Nikolaevich failed - he received unsatisfactory marks.

Failure in the entrance exams served as a serious lesson for Tolstoy. He devoted the whole summer to a thorough study of history and geography, passed additional exams on them, and in September 1844 he was enrolled in the first year of the eastern department of the philosophical faculty of Kazan University in the category of Arabic-Turkish literature. However, the study of languages ​​did not captivate Tolstoy, and after summer holidays in Yasnaya Polyana, he transferred from the Oriental Faculty to the Faculty of Law.

But even in the future, university studies did not arouse Lev Nikolayevich's interest in the sciences being studied. Most time he independently studied philosophy, compiled the "Rules of Life" and carefully made entries in his diary. By the end of the third year of studies, Tolstoy was finally convinced that the then university order only interfered with independent creative work and he made the decision to leave the university. However, he needed a university degree to qualify for employment. And in order to get a diploma, Tolstoy passed the university exams as an external student, having spent two years of his life in the countryside preparing for them. Having received university documents at the end of April 1847, the former student Tolstoy left Kazan.

After leaving the university, Tolstoy again went to Yasnaya Polyana, and then to Moscow. Here, at the end of 1850, he took up literary creativity. At this time, he decided to write two stories, but he did not finish either of them. In the spring of 1851, Lev Nikolaevich, together with his older brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich, who served in the army as an artillery officer, arrived in the Caucasus. Here Tolstoy lived for almost three years, being mainly in the village of Starogladkovskaya, located on the left bank of the Terek. From here he traveled to Kizlyar, Tiflis, Vladikavkaz, visited many villages and villages.

started in the Caucasus Tolstoy's military service. He took part in the combat operations of the Russian troops. Tolstoy's impressions and observations are reflected in his stories "Raid", "Cutting the Forest", "Degraded", in the story "Cossacks". Later, turning to the memories of this period of life, Tolstoy created the story "Hadji Murad". In March 1854, Tolstoy arrived in Bucharest, where the office of the chief of artillery troops was located. From here, as a staff officer, he made trips to Moldavia, Wallachia and Bessarabia.

In the spring and summer of 1854, the writer took part in the siege Turkish fortress Silistria. However, the main place of hostilities at that time was the Crimean peninsula. Here, Russian troops led by V.A. Kornilov and P.S. Nakhimov heroically defended Sevastopol for eleven months, besieged by Turkish and Anglo-French troops. Participation in Crimean War - milestone in Tolstoy's life. Here he closely recognized ordinary Russian soldiers, sailors, residents of Sevastopol, sought to understand the source of the heroism of the defenders of the city, to understand the special character traits inherent in the defender of the Fatherland. Tolstoy himself showed bravery and courage in the defense of Sevastopol.

In November 1855 Tolstoy left Sevastopol for St. Petersburg. By this time, he had already earned recognition in advanced literary circles. During this period attention public life Russia was centered around the issue of serfdom. Tolstoy's stories of this time ("The Morning of the Landowner", "Polikushka", etc.) are also devoted to this problem.

In 1857 the writer made overseas travel. He traveled to France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. Traveling through different cities, the writer got acquainted with the culture and social system of Western European countries with great interest. Much of what he saw later reflected in his work. In 1860 Tolstoy made another trip abroad. The year before, he opened a school for children in Yasnaya Polyana. Traveling through the cities of Germany, France, Switzerland, England and Belgium, the writer visited schools and studied the features of public education. In most of the schools that Tolstoy visited, caning discipline was in effect and corporal punishment was used. Returning to Russia and visiting a number of schools, Tolstoy discovered that many teaching methods that were in force in Western European countries, in particular in Germany, also penetrated into Russian schools. At this time, Lev Nikolaevich wrote a number of articles in which he criticized the system of public education both in Russia and in Western European countries.

Arriving at home after a trip abroad, Tolstoy devoted himself to work at school and the publication of the pedagogical journal Yasnaya Polyana. The school, founded by the writer, was located not far from his house - in an outbuilding that has survived to our time. In the early 1970s, Tolstoy compiled and published a number of textbooks for elementary school: "ABC", "Arithmetic", four "Books for reading". More than one generation of children have learned from these books. Stories from them are read with enthusiasm by children in our time.

In 1862, when Tolstoy was away, landowners arrived in Yasnaya Polyana and searched the writer's house. In 1861, the tsar's manifesto announced the abolition of serfdom. During the reform, disputes broke out between the landowners and peasants, the settlement of which was entrusted to the so-called peace mediators. Tolstoy was appointed mediator in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province. Dealing with controversial cases between nobles and peasants, the writer most often took a position in favor of the peasantry, which caused discontent among the nobles. This was the reason for the search. Because of this, Tolstoy had to stop the activities of the mediator, close the school in Yasnaya Polyana and refuse to publish a pedagogical journal.

In 1862 Tolstoy married Sofya Andreevna Bers, daughter of a Moscow doctor. Arriving with her husband in Yasnaya Polyana, Sofya Andreevna tried with all her might to create such an environment on the estate in which nothing would distract the writer from hard work. In the 60s, Tolstoy led a solitary life, devoting himself entirely to work on War and Peace.

At the end of the epic War and Peace, Tolstoy decided to write a new work - a novel about the era of Peter I. However, social events in Russia, caused by the abolition of serfdom, so captured the writer that he left work on historical novel and set about creating a new work, which reflected the post-reform life of Russia. This is how the novel "Anna Karenina" appeared, which Tolstoy devoted four years to work on.

In the early 1980s, Tolstoy moved with his family to Moscow to educate his growing children. Here the writer, well acquainted with rural poverty, became a witness to urban poverty. In the early 90s of the XIX century, almost half of the central provinces of the country were gripped by famine, and Tolstoy joined the fight against the people's disaster. Thanks to his call, the collection of donations, the purchase and delivery of food to the villages was launched. At this time, under the leadership of Tolstoy, about two hundred free canteens for the starving population were opened in the villages of the Tula and Ryazan provinces. A number of articles written by Tolstoy on the famine belong to the same period, in which the writer truthfully depicted the plight of the people and condemned the policy of the ruling classes.

In the mid-1980s Tolstoy wrote Drama "Power of Darkness", which depicts the death of the old foundations of patriarchal-peasant Russia, and the story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", dedicated to the fate of a man who only before his death realized the emptiness and meaninglessness of his life. In 1890, Tolstoy wrote the comedy The Fruits of Enlightenment, which shows the true state of the peasantry after the abolition of serfdom. Created in the early 1990s novel "Sunday", on which the writer worked intermittently for ten years. All works related to given period creativity, Tolstoy openly shows whom he sympathizes with and whom he condemns; depicts the hypocrisy and insignificance of the "masters of life."

The novel "Sunday" more than other works of Tolstoy was subjected to censorship. Most of the novel's chapters have been released or cut. The ruling circles launched an active policy against the writer. Fearing popular indignation, the authorities did not dare to use open repressions against Tolstoy. With the consent of the tsar and at the insistence of the chief procurator of the Holy Synod, Pobedonostsev, the synod adopted a resolution on excommunication of Tolstoy from the church. The writer was put under police surveillance. The world community was outraged by the persecution of Lev Nikolaevich. The peasantry, the progressive intelligentsia and the common people were on the side of the writer, they sought to express their respect and support to him. The love and sympathy of the people served as a reliable support for the writer in the years when the reaction sought to silence him.

However, despite all the efforts of reactionary circles, every year Tolstoy denounced the noble-bourgeois society more and more sharply and boldly, and openly opposed the autocracy. Works from this period "After the Ball", "For what?", "Hadji Murad", "The Living Corpse") are imbued with a deep hatred for royal power, a limited and ambitious ruler. In publicistic articles relating to this time, the writer sharply condemned the instigators of wars, called for a peaceful resolution of all disputes and conflicts.

In 1901-1902 Tolstoy suffered a serious illness. At the insistence of doctors, the writer had to go to the Crimea, where he spent more than six months.

In the Crimea, he met with writers, artists, artists: Chekhov, Korolenko, Gorky, Chaliapin, and others. When Tolstoy returned home, hundreds of ordinary people warmly greeted him at the stations. In the autumn of 1909 the writer last time traveled to Moscow.

Tolstoy's diaries and letters of the last decades of his life reflected the difficult experiences that were caused by the discord between the writer and his family. Tolstoy wanted to transfer the land that belonged to him to the peasants and wanted his works to be freely and free of charge published by anyone who wanted to. The writer's family opposed this, not wanting to give up either the rights to the land or the rights to works. The old landlord way of life, preserved in Yasnaya Polyana, weighed heavily on Tolstoy.

In the summer of 1881, Tolstoy made his first attempt to leave Yasnaya Polyana, but a feeling of pity for his wife and children forced him to return. Several more attempts by the writer to leave his native estate ended with the same result. On October 28, 1910, secretly from his family, he left Yasnaya Polyana forever, deciding to go south and spend the rest of his life in a peasant's hut, among the simple Russian people. However, on the way, Tolstoy fell seriously ill and was forced to leave the train at the small Astapovo station. The great writer spent the last seven days of his life in the house of the head of the station. The news of the death of one of the outstanding thinkers, a remarkable writer, a great humanist deeply struck the hearts of all the progressive people of that time. Tolstoy's creative heritage has great value for world literature. Over the years, interest in the writer's work does not weaken, but, on the contrary, grows. As A. Frans rightly noted: “With his life he proclaims sincerity, directness, purposefulness, firmness, calm and constant heroism, he teaches that one must be truthful and one must be strong ... Precisely because he was full of strength, he always was true!