Biography of Leo Tolstoy

1.2 Childhood

Born on August 28, 1828 in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province, in the hereditary estate of his mother - Yasnaya Polyana. Was the 4th child; his three older brothers: Nikolai (1823-1860), Sergei (1826-1904) and Dmitry (1827-1856). In 1830 sister Maria (1830-1912) was born. His mother died when he was not yet 2 years old.

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

The Yushkovs' house was one of the most cheerful in Kazan; all members of the family highly valued external brilliance. “My good aunt,” says Tolstoy, “the purest being, always said that she would want nothing more for me than for me to have a connection with married woman"(Confession).

He wanted to shine in society, but his natural shyness prevented him. The most diverse, as Tolstoy himself defines them, "speculations" about key issues of our existence - happiness, death, God, love, eternity - painfully tormented him in that era of life. What he told in Boyhood 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 that time. All this led to the fact that Tolstoy developed "a habit of constant moral analysis", as it seemed to him, "destroying the freshness of feeling and clarity of mind" ("Youth").

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Do you know Leo Tolstoy? A short and complete biography of this writer is studied in detail in school years. However, like great works. The first association of every person who hears the name famous writer, is the novel "War and Peace". Not everyone dared to overcome laziness and read it. And very 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 tells that he was born in the 19th century, namely, in 1828. The surname of the future writer is the oldest aristocratic in Russia. Lev Nikolaevich received his education at home. When his parents died, he moved to the city of Kazan with his sister and three brothers. 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 in the Yasnaya Polyana estate - where he was born.

The biography of Leo Tolstoy tells that the next 4 years became years of searching for him. First, he reorganized the life of the estate, then went to Moscow, where social life awaited him. He received the degree of candidate of law at St. Petersburg University, and then got a job - he became an office worker in the noble deputy assembly of Tula.

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". Then Leo passed the exam for a cadet in order to be an officer in the future. And already in this rank in 1854, Tolstoy served in the Danube army, which acted in those days against the Turks.

Lev Nikolaevich began to seriously engage in literary work precisely during a trip to the Caucasus. His story "Childhood" was written there, and then published in the Sovremennik magazine. In the same edition, the story "Boyhood" subsequently appeared.

Leo also fought in Sevastopol during the time there and showed real fearlessness, participating in the defense of the city, which was under siege. For this he was awarded the Order "For Courage". bloody picture The writer recreated the war in his Sevastopol Tales. This work made an indelible impression on the entire Russian society.

From 1855 Tolstoy lived in St. Petersburg. There he often talked with Chernyshevsky, Turgenev, Ostrovsky and others. legendary figures. And a year later he retired. Then the writer traveled, he opened a school for the children of peasants on his native estate and even conducted classes there himself. With his help, another two dozen 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, of course, is "Anna Karenina" and the novel "War and Peace" described at the beginning of the article.

The biography of Leo Tolstoy tells that he married in 1862. With his wife, he subsequently raised nine children. The family moved to the capital in 1880.

Leo Tolstoy (biography reports interesting facts about this) last years spent his life torn apart by intrigues, squabbles in the family over the inheritance that will 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 that. On the way, he caught a cold and died. He was buried, of course, in his homeland - in Yasnaya Polyana.

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 Tales 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. To this end, he left for 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 world 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: drawing pictures social inequality and the 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, a resolution of the Holy Governing Synod was issued, in which it was officially announced that Count Leo Tolstoy was no longer a member Orthodox Church because his (publicly expressed) beliefs are 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 a brief biography of Tolstoy will interest you for further study of him. creative heritage. And the last thing: you may not have known this, but in mathematics there is Tolstoy's riddle, the author of which is the great writer himself. We highly recommend checking it out.

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Leo Tolstoy is the most striking and controversial figure in Russian literature XIX century. Leo Tolstoy is known not only for his epic works but also philosophical views.

Over one hundred and seventy works of art he created for his long life. His prose has been translated into 75 languages. His works were translated into Chinese alone for more than twenty years.

His influence on the formation of world literature is enormous. Thousands of articles were written about him during his lifetime. His religious convictions provoked furious disputes, for which he was excommunicated, but he did not suffer from this at all. He has been nominated several times for the prestigious Nobel Prize, but took steps to prevent it from being handed to him.

If Count Tolstoy spent the first half of his life in wars, revelry and card games, then the second - he was known as an ascetic striving for moral perfection. During his lifetime, he gathered followers near him in Yasnaya Polyana. He did not preach, but talked with the most different people. He was not afraid of hard work, did not recognize estates, and in letters to the tsar he denounced state violence.

At the age of 56, he gave up his property in favor of his wife, as well as the rights to publish his works, for which already in those days they offered one million rubles in gold. And then he almost let his large family, which numbered 28 people, go around the world, transferring to his devotees the rights to publish all his works.

Tolstoy's wife fought to the last for the family's property, which caused frequent conflicts. He believed that he was exchanged for money and went to die in a calm environment.

After his death, the widow will write that she never found out what kind of person her husband was, despite 48 years of living together.

Orphan Kazan

Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy was in military service from the age of 17, participated in the war with Napoleon, was captured, returned to his homeland and at the age of 30 retired to the rank of colonel. Having inherited the name Nikolskoye-Vyazemskoye from his mother, the young officer quickly squandered him in card games. To improve his financial affairs, he married a princess.

Maria was a wealthy heiress, the only daughter of General Nikolai Volkonsky. The girl's mother Ekaterina Trubetskaya died when she was two years old. Maria received a very good education, but she was sharp on the tongue, had large features, and after the death of her parent she became incredibly generous. Wealthy relatives were concerned about her intentions to squander money in favor of the poor, and therefore decided to arrange her fate by introducing Nikolai Tolstoy, a pleasant but ruined count. He was four years older than 30-year-old Maria.

This marriage of convenience was happy, but short-lived. For ten years life together they built big house and gave birth to five children: four sons and a long-awaited daughter, also Mary. Lev Nikolaevich was the fourth son in this friendly family.

After the birth of her daughter in 1830, her mother died. The future writer was two years old.

Seven years later, his father died suddenly.

The children have been taken care of sister father appointed legal guardian.

Lev Nikolaevich bit by bit collected the image of his mother. He was told about her by his elder brother Nikolai, the guardian, he learned something from her diary. He liked to walk alone among the trees she had planted in the lower garden of Yasnaya Polyana. The heroine of "War and Peace" Marya Bolkonskaya will be largely written off from his mother.

When the boy was 12 years old, his aunt died. The children were appointed a new guardian - another sister of the father. Pelageya Yushkova was childless. The daughter of the governor of the Kazan province, she led social life, lived in a big way and did not want to leave for the wilderness. Therefore, the children from Yasnaya Polyana moved to Kazan.

Here they lived for almost five years. All the brothers, except for Lev Nikolaevich, graduated from one of top universities. Maria received a very good education at the Rodionov Institute for Noble Maidens.

Lev completed two courses in the eastern department of the faculty, but dropped out. For less than two years he studied law at the university, but this science will suffer the same fate - the student is not interested in lectures. He is fascinated by self-education, reading philosophical books and the first creative experiences of writing treatises on life. From the age of 19, Tolstoy began to keep a diary, which he would write until the end of his days.

Aunt Pauline, as the children called their guardian, did a lot for her nephews. She preserved their inheritance for them, sympathetically approached the problems of everyone, together with the children went to Yasnaya Polyana every summer to conduct business there.

At the age of 50, when her nephews became independent, she dramatically changed her lifestyle, abandoned secular society, began to travel to monasteries, and changed.

She often visited the estate, where Lev returned in 1847. And he visited Yushkov in Kazan, maintaining excellent relations with him.

The next two years he lived in the capital. He was preparing for exams in law, but suddenly became interested in social events. He had plenty of relatives and acquaintances in the capital, he was received willingly. This is where I first started playing cards. Excitement did not allow him to stop for a long time, he even almost lost his estate. Playing cards will become his constant companion.

His passion for music and musicians also dates back to this time. This is reflected in his Kreutzer Sonata. He played the piano well himself. Once, together with a friend, he composed a waltz. A musical notation of this single piece of music has been preserved. It sounds in the film “Father Sergius.

Hunting was his other passion. In the company of his older brother, Ivan Turgenev, Afanasy Fet, he hunted birds, game and animals. There is a well-known story when, before the new year of 1859, Lev Nikolayevich was almost bullied by a bear.

Schools for the poor

Opponent of public education, Tolstoy opens his system of education. He built a school and taught the peasant children himself. At 21, he sees pedagogy as a system of free relations between students and the teacher. Schoolchildren sit where they want in the classroom, they are free to leave at any time and not do their homework.

The principle of teaching was based on the teacher's interest in the subject of conversation. Tolstoy succeeded: they listened to him with pleasure.

During his life, the writer donated more than one thousand rubles for the construction of schools for the poor. And from the age of 34 he published a magazine about pedagogy, mainly consisting of his own texts, including stories, fables for children of all ages. A dozen issues were published, the material from which formed the basis of one of the volumes of collected works.

Soon he will leave this occupation for a decade. And when he resumes his pedagogical experiments, he will create two versions of the alphabet and a manual for elementary school approved, albeit reluctantly, by the Ministry of Education. He will publish them at the age of 44.

Military career

In the early 1950s, he began to write the first part autobiographical trilogy"Childhood". But the work was interrupted by the elder brother Nikolai. He offered to go together to the Caucasus, where he participated in battles with the highlanders. He will describe his experience in stories published in the Nekrasov magazine Sovremennik. Leo Tolstoy will appreciate the writing talent of his brother. Between them there was a difference of five years, Leo respected the opinion of Nicholas, loved him and heeded his advice.

And this time was no exception. Lev Nikolayevich finishes Childhood, sends the manuscript to a publisher, and travels to Tiflis. In the story "Cossacks" he will describe the flight of a young master to military service to the artillery brigade.

He wore sideburns, a uniform and epaulettes. In a boring staff situation, he spent almost three years until he was assigned to Sevastopol. Crimean War will discover in him a brave warrior, commander of an artillery battery. He was awarded the Order of St. Anna and medals. Between the explosions of shells, he writes "Sevastopol stories" and manages to forward them to the Nekrasov magazine.

Military service played a positive role in his affairs, shattered by playing cards and inability to manage the household.

By the time he returned home, the 28-year-old lieutenant had already had success as a writer, thanks to Childhood, which his eminent colleagues spoke very well of. His military stories were read by the whole country.

From invitations to secular salons and to literary evenings there was no retreat. Tolstoy met many eminent writers, for example, Ivan Turgenev, ten years older than him. With him he will keep a good relationship for many years.

He will continue to actively write prose, spilling his impressions of the war onto paper. And he will begin the second part of the trilogy - "Youth".

A year later, he will exchange balls in Petrograd for balls in Paris. The 29-year-old writer will continue his journey through Europe for three years. He visited many countries, but in his diary, in addition to admiring culture, he notes the distance between the rich and the poor.

In France, he had a real grief: at the age of 37, his brother Nikolai died of tuberculosis. After the funeral, he goes to the Nikolskoye estate to take over. After 32 years, he will voluntarily give this estate younger brother Sergei.

And after the revolution, the landowner's estate will be burned down, like many others.

Sonya

His life will be changed by his marriage to Sofya Andreevna, with whom he will live for 48 years.

She was the middle daughter of the Bers family, with whom the Tolstoys had known each other for a long time. She was 18 years old, he was 34. He did not immediately single her out among the three sisters. But when I did the test, I was shocked by her sharp mind and understanding of his thoughts. Tolstoy often encrypted phrases, denoting them only with the first letters, behind which he always knew what the word was. After explaining the scheme, he asked the girl to unravel the phrase encrypted in this way. She called right away. This unique understanding will remain in the family forever. No wonder Tolstoy is happy.

Biographers will call the first ten years the most fruitful. He will write all his major novels. The first assistant who will work with his drafts is Sophia. Only she could understand what lies behind the squiggles and abbreviations that Tolstoy generously sprinkled on paper.

Their marriage produced nine sons and four daughters. Five died in childhood.

Today there are more than three hundred descendants of the writer in the world. For the past seventeen years they have been meeting annually in Yasnaya Polyana.

Second self

Closer to the age of fifty, like Aunt Pauline, Tolstoy had an internal breakdown. He did not know what he wanted, he was at a dead end in his thoughts. In his diary, he writes what he thinks about death. He found his way up in theological literature, conversations with monks and trips to holy places. Since then he has not written. literary texts, only philosophical articles, religious treatises.

The count is increasingly seen in simple clothes, at peasant work, preaching the rejection of conveniences, vegetarianism, and simplicity in everything. He even stopped hunting and found pleasure in walking from Yasnaya Polyana to Moscow, overcoming more than two hundred kilometers alone or with ascetics. I quit smoking at the age of 60.

He opposes the state system, openly declaring the violence that the state inflicts, refuses to be a jury in court, stigmatizes wars. The king does not like all this, the writer is placed under supervision, but they will not be touched until the end of his life, given his merits.

His writings on the subject of the new philosophy were banned. They were partially published abroad.

He rewrote all his property to his family and waived copyright. Everything is managed by his wife, who had to not only manage the household, raise children, but also immerse herself in publishing. The widow of Dostoevsky helped, who for many years brilliantly coped with this task.

Sophia sold her husband's works on her own, put her collected works on favorable terms. The commercial vein of the wife allowed large family survive.

In September 1887, the couple celebrated a silver wedding, to which relatives and friends were invited. And in the spring of next year, their thirteenth child was born. Ivan will be given seven years of life.

In the 90s, famine sets in. Reason: crop failure, crisis, typhoid epidemics.

The proceeds from productions that were successfully staged in the capital's theaters were spent on charity. The writer spent these two or three thousand rubles a year on helping the starving. With his support, about three hundred canteens were opened in four regions. More than 10,000 people in need were able to survive two difficult winters. The supply of firewood, fodder for livestock, seeds of oats, potatoes, and millet was organized. Dairy kitchens were opened for infants. Tolstoy's example spread throughout the country. There were more and more benefactors.

On the basis of moral perfection, disinterested service to people, the denial of all forms of government, the Tolstoy movement was born. Thousands of followers attacked Yasnaya Polyana. For them, the master was almost a saint. They were actively engaged in disseminating the writer's views, publishing a magazine, organizing communes. When Tolstoy turned 70, his followers were declared a sect, and he himself was excommunicated.

But such a life is a burden to Sofya Andreevna. She loves her husband, the whole family serves him as a writer, takes care of him as a person, but he increasingly withdraws into himself or out of the house. Quarrels, nervous breakdowns, reproaches become unbearable for him. Sofya Andreevna keeps the defense, fearing to lose the rights to publish her husband's works. One of Tolstoy's followers, whom he trusts, is already encroaching on them.

The last large-scale work: the novel "Resurrection" was published in the 99th year. The clergy once again gave in - the writer always stood on the side of the people, despite his noble origin. But they did not want to have such an "enemy" and offered him to publicly repent in order to return him to their system. Tolstoy said nothing.

Every year the house was empty: the sons got married and set up their own household, the daughters Maria and Tatyana got married, but often visited their parents. The family lived in three: with the younger Alexandra.

At the beginning of the new century, Tolstoy spent the winter in the Crimea. He was seriously ill, doctors and relatives fussed around him. Strengthened, he returned to the estate and did not go anywhere.

Two years before her eightieth birthday, a tragedy occurs in the family: her daughter Masha dies of typhus. She was only 35 years old. Tolstoy will never recover from this death.

He forbids celebrating his anniversary. Nevertheless, thousands of congratulatory telegrams from all over the world will come to his name.

Scandals in the house will flare up brighter and brighter. A tired and exhausted writer will somehow wake up at night and see that his wife is again looking for something in his papers. Sofya Andreevna was looking for evidence of a conspiracy - the notorious will to transfer the rights to publish all his works to Chertkov, a follower of Tolstoy's teachings. Lev Nikolaevich could not stand it. He left the warring camps of two people close to him in the night, writing a letter with the last "sorry".

He died seven days later in the apartment of the head of the Astapovo railway station. Sofya Andreevna was allowed to see him in last minutes his life.