Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy - biography, information, personal life. Leo Tolstoy: biography and writing activity of the writer, personal life and creative heritage Achievements of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Born into the noble family of Maria Nikolaevna, nee Princess Volkonskaya, and Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy in the Yasnaya Polyana estate in Krapivensky district of the Tula province, he was the fourth child. The happy marriage of his parents became the prototype of the heroes in the novel “War and Peace” - Princess Marya and Nikolai Rostov. Parents died early. The future writer was educated by Tatyana Aleksandrovna Ergolskaya, a distant relative, and educated by tutors: the German Reselman and the Frenchman Saint-Thomas, who became the heroes of the writer’s stories and novels. At the age of 13, the future writer and his family moved to the hospitable house of his father’s sister P.I. Yushkova in Kazan.

In 1844, Leo Tolstoy entered the Imperial Kazan University at the Department of Oriental Literature of the Faculty of Philosophy. After the first year, he failed the transition exam and transferred to the Faculty of Law, where he studied for two years, plunging into secular entertainment. Leo Tolstoy, naturally shy and ugly, acquired a reputation in secular society for “thinking” about the happiness of death, eternity, and love, although he himself wanted to shine. And in 1847, he left the university and went to Yasnaya Polyana with the intention of pursuing science and “reaching the highest degree of perfection in music and painting.”

In 1849, the first school for peasant children was opened on his estate, where Foka Demidovich, his serf and former musician, taught. Yermil Bazykin, who studied there, said: “There were about 20 of us boys, the teacher was Foka Demidovich, a yard man. Under father L.N. Tolstoy he performed the position of musician. The old man was good. He taught us the alphabet, counting, sacred history. Lev Nikolaevich also came to us, also studied with us, showed us his diploma. I went every other day, every other day, or even every day. He always ordered the teacher not to offend us...”

In 1851, under the influence of his older brother Nikolai, Lev left for the Caucasus, having already begun to write “Childhood”, and in the fall he became a cadet in the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade, stationed in the Cossack village of Starogladovskaya on the Terek River. There he finished the first part of “Childhood” and sent it to the magazine “Sovremennik” to its editor N.A. Nekrasov. On September 18, 1852, the manuscript was published with great success.

Leo Tolstoy served for three years in the Caucasus and, having the right to the most honorable St. George Cross for bravery, “ceded” it to a fellow soldier, as giving a lifelong pension. At the beginning of the Crimean War of 1853-1856. transferred to the Danube Army, participated in the battles of Oltenitsa, the siege of Silistria, and the defense of Sevastopol. Then the story “Sevastopol in December 1854” was written. was read by Emperor Alexander II, who ordered to take care of the talented officer.

In November 1856, the already recognized and famous writer left military service and went to travel around Europe.

In 1862, Leo Tolstoy married seventeen-year-old Sofya Andreevna Bers. Their marriage produced 13 children, five died in early childhood, and the novels “War and Peace” (1863-1869) and “Anna Karenina” (1873-1877), recognized as great works, were written.

In the 1880s. Leo Tolstoy experienced a powerful crisis, which led to the denial of official state power and its institutions, the awareness of the inevitability of death, faith in God and the creation of his teaching - Tolstoyism. He lost interest in the usual lordly life, he began to have thoughts about suicide and the need to live correctly, become a vegetarian, engage in education and physical labor - he plowed, sewed boots, taught children at school. In 1891 he publicly renounced copyright on his literary works written after 1880.

During 1889-1899 Leo Tolstoy wrote the novel “Resurrection,” whose plot is based on a real court case, and scathing articles about the system of government - on this basis, the Holy Synod excommunicated Count Leo Tolstoy from the Orthodox Church and anathematized him in 1901.

On October 28 (November 10), 1910, Leo Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana, setting off on a journey without a specific plan for the sake of his moral and religious ideas of recent years, accompanied by the doctor D.P. Makovitsky. On the way, he caught a cold, fell ill with lobar pneumonia and was forced to get off the train at Astapovo station (now Lev Tolstoy station in the Lipetsk region). Leo Tolstoy died on November 7 (20), 1910 in the house of the station chief I.I. Ozolin and was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.

The name of the writer, educator, Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is known to every Russian person. During his lifetime, 78 works of art were published, and another 96 were preserved in archives. And in the first half of the 20th century, a complete collection of works was published, numbering 90 volumes and including, in addition to novels, stories, stories, essays, etc., numerous letters and diary entries of this great man, distinguished by his enormous talent and extraordinary personal qualities. In this article we will recall the most interesting facts from the life of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy.

Selling a house in Yasnaya Polyana

In his youth, the count was known as a gambling man and loved, unfortunately, not very successfully, to play cards. It so happened that part of the house in Yasnaya Polyana, where the writer spent his childhood, was given away for debts. Subsequently, Tolstoy planted trees in the empty space. Ilya Lvovich, his son, recalled how he once asked his father to show him the room in the house where he was born. And Lev Nikolaevich pointed to the top of one of the larches, adding: “There.” And he described the leather sofa on which this happened in the novel “War and Peace.” These are interesting facts from the life of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy related to the family estate.

As for the house itself, its two two-story wings have been preserved and have grown over time. After marriage and the birth of children, the Tolstoy family grew larger, and at the same time new premises were added.

Thirteen children were born into the Tolstoy family, five of whom died in infancy. The Count never spared time for them, and before the crisis of the 80s he loved to play pranks. For example, if jelly was served during lunch, my father noticed that it was good for them to glue the boxes together. The children immediately brought table paper to the dining room, and the creative process began.

Another example. Someone in the family became sad or even cried. The count, who noticed this, immediately organized the “Numidian Cavalry”. He jumped up from his seat, raised his hand and rushed around the table, and the children rushed after him.

Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich has always been distinguished by his love of literature. He regularly held evening readings in his house. Somehow I picked up a Jules Verne book without pictures. Then he began to illustrate it himself. And although he was not a very good artist, the family was delighted with what they saw.

The children also remembered the humorous poems of Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich. He read them in the wrong German for the same purpose: home. By the way, few people know that the writer’s creative heritage includes several poetic works. For example, “Fool”, “Volga the Hero”. They were mainly written for children and were included in the well-known “ABC”.

Thoughts of suicide

The works of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy became for the writer a way to study human characters in their development. Psychologism in the image often required great emotional effort from the author. So, while working on Anna Karenina, trouble almost happened to the writer. He was in such a difficult mental state that he was afraid to repeat the fate of his hero Levin and commit suicide. Later, in “Confession,” Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy noted that the thought of this was so persistent that he even took a lace out of the room where he changed clothes alone and gave up hunting with a gun.

Disappointment in the Church

Nikolaevich’s story is well studied and contains many stories about how he was excommunicated from the church. Meanwhile, the writer always considered himself a believer, and from 1977, for several years, he strictly observed all fasts and attended every church service. However, after visiting Optina Pustyn in 1981, everything changed. Lev Nikolaevich went there with his footman and school teacher. They walked, as expected, with a knapsack and bast shoes. When we finally found ourselves in the monastery, we discovered terrible dirt and strict discipline.

The arriving pilgrims were accommodated on a general basis, which outraged the footman, who always treated the owner as a gentleman. He turned to one of the monks and said that the old man was Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. The writer’s work was well known, and he was immediately transferred to the best hotel room. After returning from Optina Hermitage, the count expressed his dissatisfaction with such veneration, and from that time on he changed his attitude towards church conventions and its employees. It all ended with him taking a cutlet for lunch during one of his posts.

By the way, in the last years of his life the writer became a vegetarian, completely giving up meat. But at the same time I ate scrambled eggs in different forms every day.

Physical work

In the early 80s - this is reported in the biography of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy - the writer finally came to the conviction that an idle life and luxury do not make a person beautiful. For a long time he was tormented by the question of what to do: sell off all his property and leave his beloved wife and children, unaccustomed to hard work, without funds? Or transfer the entire fortune to Sofya Andreevna? Later, Tolstoy would divide everything between family members. During this difficult time for him - the family had already moved to Moscow - Lev Nikolaevich loved to go to the Sparrow Hills, where he helped the men cut wood. Then he learned the craft of shoemaking and even designed his own boots and summer shoes made of canvas and leather, which he wore all summer. And every year he helped peasant families in which there was no one to plow, sow and harvest grain. Not everyone approved of Lev Nikolaevich’s life. Tolstoy was not understood even in his own family. But he remained adamant. And one summer all of Yasnaya Polyana broke up into artels and went out to mow. Among those working was even Sofya Andreevna, raking the grass.

Help for the hungry

Noting interesting facts from the life of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, we can recall the events of 1898. Famine once again broke out in Mtsensk and Chernen districts. The writer, dressed in an old retinue and props, with a knapsack on his shoulders, together with his son, who volunteered to help him, personally toured all the villages and found out where the situation was truly miserable. Within a week, they compiled lists and created approximately twelve canteens in each district, where they fed, first of all, children, the elderly and the sick. Food was brought from Yasnaya Polyana and two hot meals were prepared a day. Tolstoy's initiative caused negativity from the authorities, who established constant control over him, and local landowners. The latter considered that such actions of the count could lead to the fact that they themselves would soon have to plow the fields and milk the cows.

One day a police officer entered one of the dining rooms and started a conversation with the count. He complained that although he approved of the writer’s action, he was a forced person, and therefore did not know what to do - they were talking about permission for such activities from the governor. The writer’s answer turned out to be simple: “Do not serve where you are forced to act against your conscience.” And this was the whole life of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy.

Serious illness

In 1901, the writer fell ill with a severe fever and, on the advice of doctors, went to Crimea. There, instead of being cured, he also contracted inflammation and there was practically no hope that he would survive. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, whose work contains many works describing death, prepared mentally for it. He was not at all afraid of losing his life. The writer even said goodbye to his loved ones. And although he could only speak in a half-whisper, he gave each of his children valuable advice for the future, as it turned out, nine years before his death. This was very helpful, since nine years later, none of the family members - and almost all of them gathered at the Astapovo station - were not allowed to see the patient.

Writer's funeral

Back in the 90s, Lev Nikolaevich spoke in his diary about how he would like to see his funeral. Ten years later, in “Memoirs,” he tells the story of the famous “green stick,” buried in a ravine next to the oak trees. And already in 1908 he dictated a wish to the stenographer: to bury him in a wooden coffin in the place where the brothers searched for the source of eternal goodness in childhood.

Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich, according to his will, was buried in the Yasnaya Polyana park. The funeral was attended by several thousand people, among whom were not only friends, admirers of creativity, writers, but also local peasants, whom he treated with care and understanding all his life.

History of the will

Interesting facts from the life of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy also concern his expression of will regarding his creative heritage. The writer drew up six wills: in 1895 (diary entries), 1904 (letter to Chertkov), 1908 (dictated to Gusev), twice in 1909 and in 1010. According to one of them, all his records and works came into general use. According to others, the right to them was transferred to Chertkov. Ultimately, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy bequeathed his work and all his notes to his daughter Alexandra, who became her father’s assistant at the age of sixteen.

Number 28

According to his relatives, the writer always had an ironic attitude towards prejudice. But he considered the number twenty-eight special for himself and loved it. Was it just a coincidence or fate? It is unknown, but many of the most important events in life and the first works of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy are connected precisely with her. Here is their list:

• August 28, 1828 is the date of birth of the writer himself.
• On May 28, 1856, censorship gave permission to publish the first book of stories, “Childhood and Adolescence.”
• On June 28, the first child, Sergei, was born.
• On February 28, the wedding of Ilya’s son took place.
• On October 28, the writer left Yasnaya Polyana forever.

Among his popular, timeless works are “War and Peace”, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, “Anna Karenina”, “The Kreutzer Sonata”, “The Living Corpse”, “Sunday”.

Childhood and youth

The boy had three older brothers - Nikolai, Dmitry and Sergei, and a sister Masha, younger by two years. They were orphaned early: the mother died six months after the birth of her daughter, the father died when Leo was 9 years old. Before his father’s death, his second cousin Tatyana Ergolskaya was involved in raising the children, and after that their aunt, Countess Alexandra Osten-Sacken, was appointed their guardian. Two older brothers moved to her in the White Stone capital, two younger brothers and a sister remained on the estate.

Three years later, my aunt died. The children moved to Kazan to live with their father’s second sister, Pelageya. In 1844, Lev, raised by home teachers, followed his older brothers and became a student at the local university. He chose the department of oriental literature, but study (as opposed to secular entertainment) did not particularly attract him. He was distrustful of any authority, and considered examination tests an annoying formality.

In 1847, the young man left the university and left to manage the estate in a new way and independently study the sciences of interest. But failure awaited him in establishing a life as a manager, described later in the story “The Morning of the Landowner.”

For several years he led a social life in the capital and in Moscow, noting in his diary his dissatisfaction with himself. Periods of asceticism, attempts to prepare for exams for an academic degree and remorse were replaced by high society idleness and revelry.

Creative path

At the same time, Lev took up literary activity and a year later completed the story “Childhood”, publishing it in Sovremennik. Readers liked the work and, inspired by the successful start, the author in 1854 presented to the public the second part of the trilogy, “Adolescence,” and eventually the third, “Youth.”

At the end of the same 1854, he transferred to the Danube Front, where he had to endure the siege of Sevastopol and all the horrors that befell its defenders. This experience prompted him to create the truthful and deeply patriotic “Sevastopol Stories”, which amazed his contemporaries with a realistic depiction of the inhumanity of war. For the defense of the city, he was awarded a number of awards, including the Imperial Order of St. Anne “For Bravery.”

After the end of hostilities, Lieutenant Tolstoy left his service and went to St. Petersburg, where he had great success in the literary community and in secular salons. The talent of the 28-year-old writer was admired, and even then he was called “the hope of Russian literature.” He developed friendly relations with Nikolai Nekrasov, Ivan Turgenev, Dmitry Grigorovich, Alexander Druzhinin and other masters of the pen.

He became a member of the circle of the Sovremennik magazine, which was the ideological center of democratic social thought, and published Two Hussars and Snowstorm. But over time, Tolstoy began to feel burdened by being in the circle with its endless discussions and conflicts, and in 1857 he went on a trip abroad.

During the trip, the young writer visited the capital of France, where he was unpleasantly surprised by the “deification of the villain” Napoleon and was shocked by the public execution. Then he traveled around Italy, Germany, Switzerland - he got acquainted with architectural monuments, met with artists, got a venereal disease from promiscuous relationships, and lost to smithereens in Baden-Baden at roulette. He expressed his disappointment in the foreign way of life in the famous work “Lucerne”.

Documentary film about Leo Tolstoy (“Geniuses and Villains”)

Returning to his estate in the summer of the same year, the classic writer wrote the novel “Family Happiness”, the story “Three Deaths”, and continued writing “Cossacks”. Then he put aside writing and took up problems of public education.

In 1860, he again traveled abroad to study the Western European education system. After 9 months in Yasnaya Polyana, he began publishing a pedagogical magazine, where he promoted his own educational methodology. Later, he compiled several textbooks for primary education with original stories and expositions of fairy tales and fables.

In the period from 1863 to 1869. The classic of Russian literature wrote his famous large-scale epic “War and Peace,” where he expressed a fierce protest against wars. The book, which became the pinnacle of realistic depiction in world literature, was a huge success and brought the author universal recognition.

In 1871, due to health problems, he went to one of the Bashkir nomad camps near Samara to be treated with kumis at the insistence of doctors. Inspired by the steppe nature, in 1873 he took up the novel Anna Karenina, creating by 1877 the greatest work about family, the meaning of life, love and passion, and revealing the subtlest movements of the human soul.

In the 1880s, at the peak of his literary fame, the time of moral torment came for the writer-thinker, which almost drove him to suicide. He created a number of journalistic treatises, including “Confession”, “On Life”, “The Kingdom of God is Within You”, where he outlined the thesis of nonviolent resistance.

Based on his doctrines, the Tolstoyan movement arose, supported by such famous figures as Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. Colonies of followers later appeared in Kharkov and Tver provinces, in Western Europe, Japan, India, and South Africa.

In parallel with his philosophical works, the count also created artistic works - “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” about the search for the meaning of life, “The Kreutzer Sonata” about the anger of jealousy, “Father Sergius” about a Christian ascetic, “The Living Corpse” about doom. In 1899, his novel “Sunday” was published, which criticized the army, the judicial system, and the institution of the church. Two years later, the Holy Synod announced a decision to excommunicate the author from the church.

Personal life of Leo Tolstoy

At the age of 28, he decided to marry the 20-year-old daughter of the nobleman Arsenyev, Valeria. Their romance lasted about six months. But it turned out that they had too different ideas about family happiness. He dreamed that his wife, in a simple dress, would visit peasant huts and give help, and she, in luxurious outfits, would drive around Nevsky in her own carriage.

In 1857, Lev Nikolaevich was infatuated with the daughter of the poet Tyutchev, Ekaterina, but their relationship did not work out. Then he had a relationship with a married peasant woman, Aksinya, who gave birth to his son Timofey in 1860.

In 1862 he married 18-year-old Sophia Bers. They lived together for 48 years. During the marriage, his wife gave him 13 children - 9 sons and 4 daughters (five of them died in childhood, the biggest blow was the death of his youngest son Vanya in 1895), became his secretary, business assistant, translator and unofficial editor.

“Levochka made me feel that I can’t be satisfied with just family life and being a wife or husband, but I need something else, something else,” she wrote in her diary.

Their relationship was sometimes marred by disagreements, for example, when the writer wanted to distribute all his property to the peasants and, having become a vegetarian, demanded that his loved ones give up meat.

The author’s favorite poem was the famous “Memoir” of Pushkin, and his favorite composers were Chopin, Bach and Handel.

Death

On the way to Novocherkassk, where they intended to obtain foreign passports for a trip to Bulgaria, and if they refused to go south, the elderly writer became seriously ill with lobar pneumonia. At the Astapovo station he was taken off the train and placed in the caretaker's house.

There, six doctors tried to save him, but to no avail - on November 20, the great writer died. The classic was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.

One of the most famous writers and philosophers of the Russian Empire, considered an influential thinker in world history.

Childhood and youth

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in the Tula province into a family of nobles. In early childhood, Leo lost his mother and all the children were raised by his father and nannies. But seven years after the loss of their mother, all the children became orphans, having also lost their father. Their closest relative, their aunt, became their guardian. Leo's noble origins obliged him to study various languages ​​and science; he received his education from private teachers. In 1843, the young man entered the Imperial Kazan University at the Faculty of Oriental Philology. However, Lev did not have success in studying another culture; he was forced to switch to the legal field. However, despite the change of faculty, the difficulties in studying the material that the educational institution provided did not go away. Ultimately, Leo Tolstoy left the university in 1847 without receiving his diploma.

Passion for gambling

The young man’s diary, which he carefully filled out until the last days of his life, can be considered his first experience as a writer. After leaving the university, the writer went to Moscow, where he planned to improve his knowledge of jurisprudence and re-test his strength in obtaining a diploma. However, having gotten involved in gambling, he was distracted from the primary task and spent long hours at the card table. Deciding to change the situation, the young man went to St. Petersburg, where the situation did not change, but only worsened. Having finally pulled himself together, Tolstoy takes exams for various types of law and passes them successfully, however, abandoning everything, he returns to his father’s house. In 1849, Tolstoy opened a school for poor children where he taught students to read and write using a primer he himself created.

Change of scenery, military service

Until 1851, the writer spent his time gambling, studying at his school, and doing a little work on the novel “Childhood.” In the same year, his brother returned from military service, who, seeing his relative’s not the most worthy lifestyle, suggested that he become a military man. Hastily collecting his things, Lev Nikolaevich set off for the Caucasus. Having passed the exams, he entered the service and spent a lot of time with local residents. Some of the people who were especially close to him in spirit in the future became prototypes for the heroes of the story “Cossacks”. Having decided to put everything on the line, Tolstoy sent the still unfinished manuscript “Childhood” to the editors of one of the most popular magazines of that time, Sovremennik. The editor-in-chief was deeply amazed by the talent of the young writer. The resulting material was sent for printing immediately after correction and soon appeared on the shelves of many bookstores. It is noteworthy that “Childhood” was an autobiographical work of the writer and despite the tragedy of his early losses, he described his early years of life as sunny and joyful moments.

Service in Crimea. End of military career

All this time, Lev served in the Caucasus and worked on new masterpieces of literature. After the war began in Crimea, the young man went to the front line and devoted himself entirely to serving his fatherland. During the period spent in the thick of hostilities, the writer created such works as “Cutting Wood” and “Sevastopol in December 1854.” Great success in military affairs and a talent for writing good war stories created an ideal combination for moving up the military ladder. Despite this, the writer’s character and his special humor played a bad joke on him, and after writing several unsuccessful satirical poems, he left the service. Although everything was over with his military career, Lev Nikolaevich was not sad and completely devoted himself to literary work. The literary community happily welcomed the new generation of writers, and Tolstoy was no exception. He wrote “Two Hussars” and “Youth”, which evoked an enthusiastic reaction from the public and critics.

The beginning of a dark streak in life

The writer got tired of the excessive attention and sometimes outright impudence, and he decided to take a break and went on a journey. The first city the writer visited was Paris. Filled with freedom and an extraordinary creative atmosphere, this city helped Lev Nikolaevich open up and fall in love with literature again. However, his stay in this city was overshadowed by the political situation; Tolstoy did not accept the blind worship of Napoleon and soon left Paris. His wanderings extended throughout Europe: Germany, Italy, France inspired the creator to new exploits. In the winter of 1858, the writer surprised everyone with a new brilliant story, “Three Deaths.” Soon the writer's life was darkened by the bitterness of loss; his beloved brother died of tuberculosis. This loss led to a deep and prolonged depression and as a result Tolstoy went to a sanatorium to improve his health. The distance from social life, delicious food and friendly locals contributed to the recovery of the writer’s health.

Creation of world masterpieces

In 1863, one of the writer’s most famous works, “War and Peace,” was created. Readers happily accept this unique masterpiece, and the community of writers enthusiastically calls Tolstoy the harbinger of a new era. There was surprisingly huge public interest not only within the Russian Empire, but also beyond its borders; many public figures spoke flatteringly about Lev’s work. The writer's success was greatly influenced by his marriage to Sofya Andreevna. A practical and often more mature-minded spouse has more than once prevented stupid and reckless decisions from being made. The next stunning and tragic novel was Anna Karenina. In this work, changes were felt that took place in the most remote corners of the writer’s subconscious. Courage and unusual perception of the world around him allowed Tolstoy to become the first representative of the literary world to criticize Shakespeare.

Renunciation of Orthodoxy

Towards the end of the 70s, the writer began to experience a creative crisis. Everything he did did not bring him any moral satisfaction. Raising children and writing new novels took a back seat. Even his wife, who had always been an outlet for him, began to irritate him and cause attacks of anger. In search of truth and a solution to his inner gravity, Tolstoy comes to religion. He is deeply interested in the study of the Bible and writes A Study in Dogmatic Theology. His interest gradually moves from the study of religion to the study of religious art. Raphael, Michelangelo, as well as Dante and Beethoven fall under a wave of criticism and misunderstanding from the writer. Such deep penetration into religion led to a complete denial of the judgments that the Bible carried. Church leaders condemned Tolstoy's highly negative behavior, and he was eventually excommunicated. In an attempt to explain his decision to others, the writer created “Answer to the Synod,” in which he describes his thoughts about church beliefs. The public, being deeply religious, reacted very negatively to this type of activity and many insults were sent to the writer.

last years of life

Not wanting to stay in his homeland any longer, Tolstoy went on a journey. He didn’t have a destination, he just decided to take the train and go, stopping by the Caucasus and Bulgaria along the way. However, his plans were interrupted by illness, which worsened due to stress caused by long hours spent on the road. When the highest circles of society and his relatives learned about Lev Nikolaevich’s illness, a commotion began in the country. In an attempt to return the writer to Orthodoxy, a priest was sent, who was not allowed to see the dying man. The family was also not allowed to see Tolstoy because of their religious views. Until the end, the writer was true to himself and continued to make plans. He conceived many ideas for creativity, some of which he mentioned in his diary while still able to write. In 1910, on November 20, Lev Nikolaevich died from a lack of air reaching his heart. The world was plunged into mourning, thousands of people mourned the great man, not only at home, but also abroad. Many admirers of his work organized demonstrations and marches in memory of the great writer.

• As a child, Tolstoy heard from his brother Nikolai the legend of the “green stick” - if it had been found on the edge of a ravine in Yasnaya Polyana, there would have been no more wars and deaths on earth. This children's game greatly influenced Tolstoy's personality. The idea of ​​universal happiness and love can be traced throughout the writer’s work, philosophical works and publications. In his declining years, Lev Nikolaevich asked to be buried without any honors on the edge of a ravine - where, as a child, he and his brother were looking for a “green stick”.
• An interesting fact is that Sofya Andreevna (Tolstoy’s wife) rewrote almost all of her husband’s works in order to send manuscripts to the publishing house. This was necessary because not a single editor could decipher the handwriting of the great writer.
• He had an excellent command of English, French and German. I read in Italian, Polish, Serbian and Czech. He studied Greek and Church Slavonic, Latin, Ukrainian and Tatar, Hebrew and Turkish, Dutch and Bulgarian.
• 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 boil down to non-resistance to evil through violence, denial of private property and complete disregard for any authority, be it church, state or any other.

Awards:

• Order of Saint Anne
• Medal "For the Defense of Sevastopol"
• Medal "In Memory of the War of 1853-1856"
• Medal "In memory of the 50th anniversary of the defense of Sevastopol"

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is one of the most famous and great writers in the world. During his lifetime he was recognized as a classic of Russian literature; his work paved a bridge between the flow of two centuries.

Tolstoy proved himself not just as a writer, he was an educator and humanist, thought about religion, and took a direct part in the defense of Sevastopol. The writer's legacy is so great, and his life itself is so ambiguous, that they continue to study him and try to understand him.

Tolstoy himself was a complex person, as evidenced by his family relationships. So numerous myths appear, both about Tolstoy’s personal qualities, his actions, and about his creativity and the ideas put into it. Many books have been written about the writer, but we will try to debunk at least the most popular myths about him.

Tolstoy's flight. It is a well-known fact that 10 days before his death, Tolstoy ran away from his home in Yasnaya Polyana. There are several versions about why the writer did this. They immediately began to say that this was how the elderly man tried to commit suicide. The communists developed the theory that Tolstoy expressed his protest against the tsarist regime in this way. In fact, the reasons for the writer’s flight from his native and beloved home were quite everyday. Three months earlier, he wrote a secret will, according to which he transferred all copyrights to his works not to his wife, Sofya Andreevna, but to his daughter Alexandra and his friend Chertkov. But the secret became clear - the wife learned about everything from the stolen diary. A scandal immediately broke out, and Tolstoy’s life became a real hell. His wife's hysterics prompted the writer to do something he had planned 25 years ago - to escape. During these difficult days, Tolstoy wrote in his diary that he could no longer tolerate this and hated his wife. Sofya Andreevna herself, having learned about Lev Nikolaevich’s escape, became even more enraged - she ran to drown herself in the pond, beat herself in the chest with thick objects, tried to run somewhere and threatened to never let Tolstoy go anywhere in the future.

Tolstoy had a very angry wife. From the previous myth, it becomes clear to many that only his evil and eccentric wife is to blame for the death of a genius. In fact, Tolstoy’s family life was so complex that numerous studies are still trying to understand it today. And the wife herself felt unhappy in it. One of the chapters of her autobiography is called “Martyr and Martyr.” Little was known about Sofia Andreevna’s talents; she was completely in the shadow of her powerful husband. But the recent publication of her stories has made it possible to understand the depth of her sacrifice. And Natasha Rostova from War and Peace came to Tolstoy straight from his wife’s youthful manuscript. In addition, Sofya Andreevna received an excellent education, she knew a couple of foreign languages ​​and even translated her husband’s complex works herself. The energetic woman still managed to manage the entire household, the accounting of the estate, as well as sheathing and tying up the entire considerable family. Despite all the hardships, Tolstoy’s wife understood that she was living with a genius. After his death, she noted that for almost half a century of marriage, she could not understand what kind of person he was.

Tolstoy was excommunicated and anathematized. Indeed, in 1910 Tolstoy was buried without a funeral service, which gave rise to the myth of excommunication. But in the commemorative act of the Synod of 1901, the word “excommunication” is not present in principle. Church officials wrote that with his views and false teachings the writer had long ago placed himself outside the church and was no longer perceived by it as a member. But society understood the complex bureaucratic document with ornate language in its own way - everyone decided that it was the church that abandoned Tolstoy. And this story with the definition of the Synod was actually a political order. This is how Chief Prosecutor Pobedonostsev took revenge on the writer for his image of the man-machine in “Resurrection.”

Leo Tolstoy founded the Tolstoyan movement. The writer himself was very cautious, and sometimes even disgusted, towards those numerous associations of his followers and admirers. Even after escaping from Yasnaya Polyana, the Tolstoy community turned out to be not the place where Tolstoy wanted to find shelter.

Tolstoy was a teetotaler. As you know, in adulthood the writer gave up alcohol. But he did not understand the creation of temperance societies throughout the country. Why do people gather if they are not going to drink? After all, big companies mean drinking.

Tolstoy fanatically adhered to his own principles. Ivan Bunin wrote in his book about Tolstoy that the genius himself was sometimes very cool about the tenets of his own teaching. One day, the writer with his family and close family friend Vladimir Chertkov (he was also the main follower of Tolstoy’s ideas) were eating on the terrace. It was a hot summer and mosquitoes were flying everywhere. One particularly annoying one sat on Chertkov’s bald head, where the writer killed him with the palm of his hand. Everyone laughed, and only the offended victim noted that Lev Nikolaevich took the life of a living creature, shaming him.

Tolstoy was a big womanizer. The writer’s sexual adventures are known from his own notes. Tolstoy said that in his youth he led a very bad life. But most of all he is confused by two events since then. The first is a relationship with a peasant woman before marriage, and the second is a crime with his aunt’s maid. Tolstoy seduced an innocent girl, who was then driven out of the yard. That same peasant woman was Aksinya Bazykina. Tolstoy wrote that he loved her as never before in his life. Two years before his marriage, the writer had a son, Timofey, who over the years became a huge man, like his father. In Yasnaya Polyana, everyone knew about the master’s illegitimate son, about the fact that he was a drunkard, and about his mother. Sofya Andreevna even went to look at her husband’s former passion, not finding anything interesting in her. And Tolstoy’s intimate stories are part of his diaries of his youth. He wrote about the voluptuousness that tormented him, about the desire for women. But something like this was commonplace for Russian nobles of that time. And remorse for their past relationships never tormented them. For Sofia Andreevna, the physical aspect of love was not at all important, unlike her husband. But she managed to give birth to Tolstoy 13 children, losing five. Lev Nikolaevich was her first and only man. And he was faithful to her throughout their 48 years of marriage.

Tolstoy preached asceticism. This myth appeared thanks to the writer’s thesis that a person needs little to live. But Tolstoy himself was not an ascetic - he simply welcomed a sense of proportion. Lev Nikolaevich himself thoroughly enjoyed life, he simply saw joy and light in simple things that were accessible to everyone.

Tolstoy was an opponent of medicine and science. The writer was not an obscurantist at all. On the contrary, he spoke about the fact that one should not return to the plow, about the inevitability of progress. At home Tolstoy had one of Edison's first phonographs and an electric pencil. And the writer rejoiced like a child at such achievements of science. Tolstoy was a very civilized man, understanding that humanity pays for progress with hundreds of thousands of lives. And the writer fundamentally did not accept such a development associated with violence and blood. Tolstoy was not cruel to human weaknesses; he was outraged that vices were justified by the doctors themselves.

Tolstoy hated art. Tolstoy understood art, he simply used his own criteria to evaluate it. And didn't he have the right to do this? It is difficult to disagree with the writer that a simple man is unlikely to understand Beethoven's symphonies. To untrained listeners, much of classical music sounds like torture. But there is also art that is excellently perceived by both simple rural residents and sophisticated gourmets.

Tolstoy was driven by pride. They say that it was this inner quality that was manifested in the author’s philosophy, and even in everyday life. But should the non-stop search for truth be considered pride? Many people believe that it is much easier to join some teaching and serve it. But Tolstoy could not change himself. And in everyday life, the writer was very attentive - he taught his children mathematics, astronomy, and conducted physical education classes. When they were little, Tolstoy took children to the Samara province so that they learned and fell in love with nature better. It’s just that in the second half of his life the genius was preoccupied with a lot of things. This includes creativity, philosophy, and work with letters. So Tolstoy could not give himself, as before, to his family. But this was a conflict between creativity and family, and not a manifestation of pride.

Because of Tolstoy, a revolution occurred in Russia. This statement appeared thanks to Lenin’s article “Leo Tolstoy, as a mirror of the Russian revolution.” In fact, one person, be it Tolstoy or Lenin, simply cannot be to blame for the revolution. There were many reasons - the behavior of the intelligentsia, the church, the king and the court, the nobility. It was all of them who gave old Russia to the Bolsheviks, including Tolstoy. They listened to his opinion as a thinker. But he denied both the state and the army. True, he was precisely against the revolution. The writer generally did a lot to soften morals, calling on people to be kinder and serve Christian values.

Tolstoy was an unbeliever, denied faith and taught this to others. Statements that Tolstoy was turning people away from the faith greatly irritated and offended him. On the contrary, he stated that the main thing in his works is the understanding that there is no life without faith in God. Tolstoy did not accept the form of faith that the church imposed. And there are many people who believe in God, but do not accept modern religious institutions. For them, Tolstoy’s quest is understood and not at all scary. Many people generally come to church after being immersed in the writer’s thoughts. This was especially common in Soviet times. Even before, Tolstoyans turned towards the church.

Tolstoy constantly taught everyone. Thanks to this deep-rooted myth, Tolstoy appears as a self-confident preacher, telling whom and how to live. But when studying the writer’s diaries, it becomes clear that he spent his whole life sorting himself out. So where could he teach others? Tolstoy expressed his thoughts, but never imposed them on anyone. Another thing is that a community of followers, Tolstoyans, formed around the writer, who tried to make the views of their leader absolute. But for the genius himself, his ideas were not fixed. He considered the presence of God absolute, and everything else was the result of trials, torment, and searches.

Tolstoy was a fanatical vegetarian. At a certain point in his life, the writer completely abandoned meat and fish, not wanting to eat the disfigured corpses of living beings. But his wife, taking care of him, added meat to his mushroom broth. Seeing this, Tolstoy was not angry, but only joked that he was ready to drink meat broth every day, if only his wife did not lie to him. Other people's beliefs, including in the choice of food, were above all else for the writer. At their house there were always those who ate meat, the same Sofya Andreevna. But there were no terrible quarrels over this.

To understand Tolstoy, it is enough to read his works and not study his personality. This myth prevents a real reading of Tolstoy's works. Without understanding how he lived, one cannot understand his work. There are writers who say everything in their texts. But Tolstoy can only be understood if you know his worldview, his personal traits, relationships with the state, church, and loved ones. Tolstoy's life is a fascinating novel in itself, which sometimes spilled over into paper form. An example of this is “War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina”. On the other hand, the writer’s work influenced his life, including his family life. So there is no escape from studying Tolstoy’s personality and interesting aspects of his biography.

Tolstoy's novels cannot be studied at school - they are simply incomprehensible to high school students. Modern schoolchildren generally find it difficult to read long works, and “War and Peace” is also filled with historical digressions. Give our high school students shortened versions of novels tailored to their intelligence. It’s difficult to say whether this is good or bad, but in any case they will at least get an idea of ​​Tolstoy’s work. Thinking that it is better to read Tolstoy after school is dangerous. After all, if you don’t start reading it at that age, then later the children will not want to immerse themselves in the writer’s work. So the school works proactively, deliberately teaching more complex and intelligent things than the child’s intellect can perceive. Perhaps later there will be a desire to return to this and understand it to the end. And without studying at school, such a “temptation” will definitely not appear.

Tolstoy's pedagogy has lost its relevance. Tolstoy the teacher is treated differently. His teaching ideas were perceived as the fun of a master who decided to teach children according to his original method. In fact, the spiritual development of a child directly affects his intelligence. The soul develops the mind, and not vice versa. And Tolstoy’s pedagogy also works in modern conditions. This is evidenced by the results of the experiment, during which 90% of children achieved excellent results. Children learn to read according to Tolstoy's ABC, which is built on many parables with their own secrets and archetypes of behavior that reveal human nature. Gradually the program becomes more complicated. A harmonious person with a strong moral principle emerges from the walls of the school. And today about a hundred schools in Russia practice this method.