Alexey Tolstoy, or Oh, lucky one!
No, there are plants in every rustle
And in every trembling leaf
A different meaning is heard,
A different kind of beauty is visible!
I listen to a different voice in them
And, breathing the life of death,
I look at the earth with love,
But the soul asks higher;
And that, always enchanting her,
Calls and beckons from afar -
I can’t tell you about it
In everyday language.
Alexey Tolstoy “I.S. Aksakov"
We will preface the story of the death of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy with a small, but, as practice shows, a very necessary explanation. The family of Count Tolstoy made its contribution in many areas public life Russia. However, the Tolstoys became especially famous in Great Russian Literature: three of the family entered its history on an equal footing, and consequently, the history of world literature. These are second cousins Alexey Konstantinovich and Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and their (approximately) fourth cousin, grandson, great-great-great-nephew Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy.
This may seem funny to some, but I am increasingly faced with the fact that even writers with the highest special education People often confuse which Tolstoy lived when and what he created. Therefore, I will give a brief summary.
1. Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817-1875). Great Russian poet and playwright, famous prose writer. Author historical novel“Prince Silver” and the mystical stories “The Family of the Ghoul” and “Meeting after Three Hundred Years”, the story “The Ghoul”. Creator of wonderful lyrical poems, including “In the midst of a noisy ball, by chance...”, “My bells, steppe flowers!”, “No fighter of two camps...”, etc. Author of a number of ballads of amazing beauty and deepest thought , epics and parables, among them one of the greatest spiritual works of the Russian people, the poem “John of Damascus,” stands out. Alexey Konstantinovich’s author also wrote the “History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev”, beloved by many readers, with its famous saying:
Listen guys
What will grandfather tell you?
Our land is rich
There is just no order in it.
Alexey Konstantinovich entered the history of national drama with his grandiose philosophical and historical trilogy “The Death of Ivan the Terrible,” “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich” and “Tsar Boris.”
But most of all he is known as one of the main creators of the unforgettable Kozma Prutkov, whom he created together with his cousins Alexei Mikhailovich (1821-1908), Vladimir Mikhailovich (1830-1884) and Alexander Mikhailovich (1826-1896) Zhemchuzhnikovs. At the same time, many experts claim that the best part of the works of the eternal graphomaniac was composed by Alexei Konstantinovich.
Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy from childhood and throughout his life was a personal friend of the Tsarevich, and then Emperor Alexander II.
2. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910). It is enough to name only the writer’s novels: “War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina”, “Resurrection”. That says it all.
3. Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1882-1945). Great Russian Soviet prose writer. Creator of the famous epic novels “Peter I” and “Walking in Torment”. He also wrote the novels “The Adventures of Nevzorov, or Ibicus” and “Emigrants”. An excellent storyteller, his most famous stories are “Actress”, “Count Cagliostro”, “Viper”, etc. Alexey Nikolaevich is one of the founders of Soviet science fiction, he wrote the famous story “Aelita” and the novel “Engineer Garin’s Hyperboloid”. No less than these works, we all love his fairy tale “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio.” Lev Nikolaevich and Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy are the authors of the most popular retellings of Russian folk tales for children in our country. Most readers are familiar with these masterpieces of folk art through Tolstoy.
After the Great October revolution Alexey Nikolaevich emigrated, but subsequently returned and became a staunch supporter of Soviet power. For this, many in the emigrant community hated him, they even spread rumors that the writer’s mother was a walking woman and adopted Alyosha not from Count Tolstoy, but from an unknown libertine; that Alexei Nikolaevich does not have a drop of aristocratic blood... What is the significance for a genius social status his parents, it is not clear, but the fugitive nobles were painfully disgusted by the consciousness of such a blatant class “treason.” They did not even consider the concepts of “my people” and “Motherland”; for most emigrants, unlike Tolstoy, they were already in the 1920s. turned into the abstract romance of dreams.
Since the late 1980s. the memory of Alexei Nikolaevich in our country was subjected to savage mockery from the envious post-Soviet intelligentsia, unable to create at least something close to the works of Tolstoy. On the one hand, he was declared a “red count” and people are raging about the lifestyle that the writer led in the USSR, having an income earned through hard creative work. On the other hand, they present him as an agent of the Jewish Freemasons, through the Jewish Mason Buratino, who is spiritually corrupting Russian children. Due to their illiteracy, envious people often try to present “The Adventures of Pinocchio” as plagiarism of Carlo Collodi’s book “The Adventures of Pinocchio. The history of a wooden doll." This is approximately the same as accusing Moliere, Byron or Pushkin of plagiarism from Tirso de Molina, since each of these authors has brilliant works, the main character of which was Don Juan - the creation of de Molina, who created the basis of the plot, which was later used by all creators of their own interpretations of the history of the famous adventurer and lover. All this cockroach fuss around the genius of our people can cause nothing but disgust. Well them!
We will talk about the first of the three great writers Tolstoy, our wonderful Alexei Konstantinovich. Someone may inevitably have a question about the legality of asserting the equality of Alexei Konstantinovich and Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in literature. There can be no talk of this in world literature, but for Russian literature and especially for the Russian people they are not only of equal magnitude, but over time, as the role of literature in the life of society is rethought, it is quite possible that Alexey Konstantinovich will occupy, if not a higher than Lev Nikolaevich, then an equal position in the objectively emerging hierarchy of Russian writers. It is not advisable to argue on this issue now. It is enough to take a closer look at the writer’s dramaturgy and poetry. But, of course, it’s not for us to judge; time and history will decide everything.
I bless you, forests,
Valleys, fields, mountains, waters!
I bless freedom
And blue skies!
And I bless my staff,
And this poor sum
And the steppe from edge to edge,
And the light of the sun, and the darkness of the night,
And a lonely path
Which way, beggar, am I going,
And in the field every blade of grass,
And every star in the sky!
Oh, if I could mix up my whole life,
To merge my whole soul with you!
Oh, if I could into my arms
I am you, enemies, friends and brothers,
And conclude all nature!
These lines are taken from the poem “John of Damascus,” which, in my opinion, is the second most significant, cosmic and grandiose spiritual creation of Great Russian Literature after Derzhavin’s ode “God.” Its author is Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, a man and creator of extraordinary integrity and amazing contradictions at the same time. The tragic death of the writer became, as it were, the quintessence of his entire life. We know exactly why Alexey Konstantinovich died - from an overdose of morphine. But we do not know and will never know why this overdose happened: whether Tolstoy made a mistake with a dangerous medicine, trying to drown out the unbearable pain, or deliberately injected himself with a lethal dose in order to stop his incurable physical and moral suffering. Two extremes on which the understanding of this person’s personality directly depends: a victim of an accident or a suicide? Agree - a significant difference.
On his mother's side, Alexei was in a distant and unspoken relationship with the reigning family. Anna Alekseevna (1796-1857) was the illegitimate daughter of Count Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky (1748-1822), nephew of the secret husband of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and, accordingly, the Empress herself. True, Anna’s mother was a bourgeois, Razumovsky’s long-term mistress, which subsequently did not at all affect the fate of her offspring. Thanks to the efforts of the count, perhaps the richest man in Russia at that time, all his illegitimate children received noble dignity and bore the surname Perovsky - after the name of the Razumovsky estate near Moscow. And the capital that their child-loving father gave them, and the highest state and court positions that they themselves achieved, forced the arrogant Russian aristocrats not to notice the low origin of the Perovskys.
Let's not forget that the writer's great-grandfather Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky in his childhood was a village shepherd of oxen, at the age of fifteen his elder brother - already as the empress's favorite - sent him to study abroad, where the young man at the same time received the dignity of a count, and three years later he passionately Elizaveta Petrovna, who loved her husband, appointed her eighteen-year-old brother-in-law as president of the Imperial Academy of Sciences - so that he would be in business. It must be said that both founders of the family, brothers Alexei and Kirill, were characterized by a sharp mind, good nature, great tact and patriotism unusual for that time, which made them outstanding statesmen of the empire. They were such not only under Elizabeth Petrovna, but they further strengthened their position under Catherine II. It was through the efforts of a small group of high-ranking nobles, among whom the Razumovsky brothers were especially active, that the Germans, who had flooded the country since the time of Peter I, were ousted from their leading roles in the Russian state. And worthy representatives of the Russian national nobility came forward.
True, the son of Kirill Grigorievich, Alexey Kirillovich, turned out to be a notorious Westerner, despised his own people and was inclined towards Catholicism, although he held the post of Minister of Education at court. His grandson, the writer Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, inherited almost all the best character traits of the first counts Razumovsky: patriotism, good nature, generosity... Let's add to this an unprecedented naivety and gullibility for an adult, which sometimes allowed him the best way resolve sensitive situations, which greatly helped many Russian cultural figures who found themselves in difficult situations - Tolstoy never refused to work for the persecuted and convicted. It is enough to give just a few names of those for whom Alexei Konstantinovich stood up for the emperor: Ivan Sergeevich Aksakov, Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, Taras Grigorievich Shevchenko, Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky and others.
On the other hand, Tolstoy never recognized political and ideological extremes. Remember the “Ceremonial” written by Tolstoy from Kozma Prutkov:
Slavophiles and nihilists are coming,
Both of them have unclean nails.
In a word:
Two stans is not a fighter, but only a random guest,
For the truth I would be glad to raise my good sword,
But the dispute with both has hitherto been my secret lot,
And no one could bring me to the oath;
There will not be a complete union between us -
Not bought by anyone, under whose banner I would stand,
I can’t bear the biased jealousy of my friends,
I would defend the enemy's banner with honor!
He did not recognize extremes at all, and therefore he lived his life in such a way that any of us, no matter how biased our attitude towards the writer, would exclaim:
- Oh, lucky guy!
The writer's father, Count Konstantin Petrovich (1779-1870), was one of the almost ruined, but well-born Tolstoys and was not distinguished by intelligence. As his brother, the great Russian sculptor Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy (1783-1873), wrote: “Brother Konstantin should never have married Anna Alekseevna - she was too smart for him...” Six weeks after the birth of their son Alexei, an affair occurred between the parents. a complete break, the countess left, never saw her husband again and forbade her son to meet his father - Alexey subsequently did this secretly, and his friendly relations with Konstantin Petrovich improved only after the death of his mother. It is quite possible that it was this event that predetermined the future fate of the future writer.
After leaving her husband, Anna Alekseevna settled on her estate Blistovo near Chernigov. Her elder brother, Alexei Alekseevich Perovsky (1787-1836), an outstanding Russian mystical writer, creator of the first ever national story for children, “The Black Hen,” lived in the neighboring Pogoreltsy estate. He is better known to readers under the pseudonym Antony Pogorelsky. By the way, the story “The Black Hen” was written by his uncle specifically for his beloved nephew, who became the prototype of the main character, Alyosha. Perovskaya and her little son often lived for a long time on her brother’s estate, and over time they moved there permanently. So the three of them lived for twenty years.
It should be noted that neither their contemporaries nor subsequent historians saw anything reprehensible in this. And only today’s moral monsters, intellectuals, obsessed with sexual problems and not noticing anything other than the genital organs in a person, staged a dirty bacchanalia around the memory of these bright people. Still, what a foul-smelling, mocking time we happen to live in, my reader!
It should be noted that Alyosha became everyone’s favorite of the Perovsky family; for more than forty years they looked after him like a small child, passing custody to each other by inheritance. And so the poet turned out to be a man completely unadapted to earthly life, who looked at everything and everyone through rose-colored glasses, a mighty good-natured man who could be offended by any scoundrel and consider this offense quite justified. The benefit of the Perovskys' wealth allowed Tolstoy to live almost his entire life in a world of dreams about man, humanity and philanthropy.
Alexey Alekseevich became Alyosha’s main guardian and replaced the boy’s father, and it was he who raised his nephew. Therefore, it is not surprising that Alexei Konstantinovich composed the first poem in his life when he was six years old.
When Count Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky died in 1822, his children inherited enormous wealth. Among other things, Alexey Alekseevich became the owner of the village of Krasny Rog. In the same year, Perovsky and the Tolstoys moved to this estate, where they spent a significant part of their lives, and Alexei Konstantinovich created the novel “Prince Silver”, wrote a dramatic trilogy and many poems. He died and was buried there.
I will quote a fragment from a very interesting book by Dmitry Anatolyevich Zhukov “Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy”*. You will hardly find a more complete and so vividly presented biography of the writer. It is not always possible to agree with the author’s point of view, but let’s not forget that the time of the first publication of the book was the last years of L.I.’s reign. Brezhnev, " golden era“Soviet bureaucracy - Dmitry Anatolyevich already expressed a very bold point of view in a number of cases, in particular, he very clearly connected the Decembrist movement with the Freemasons. In this case, we are interested in the most important period in the fate of Alexei Konstantinovich, which left a bright stamp on his entire future life.
* Zhukov D.A. Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy. M.: Young Guard, 1982.
“Introduced to Russia long ago, Freemasonry served more than dubious purposes. Secret organizations, in which ordinary “brothers” knew nothing about the intentions of the leaders of the lodges, had their roots abroad, and there, at the highest “degrees,” people who had nothing to do with enlightenment, magnificent rituals, or Christianity were in charge.
The Russians often understood Freemasonry in their own way and, taking its organizational foundations, created independent societies that were not recognized by international Freemasonry. The founder of one of them was, for example, the sculptor Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy.
Count Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky was a Freemason. His sons Vasily and Lev Perovsky* were members of the “Military Society,” of which many future Decembrists were members. But then their paths diverged. On December 14, 1825, Vasily Perovsky found himself on Senate Square with the new tsar, and he was even seriously concussed by a log that someone threw at his retinue.
* Vasily Alekseevich Perovsky (1794-1857) - count, adjutant general of Nicholas I. Hero of the War of 1812. From 1833 to 1842. and from 1851 to 1856. was the Governor-General of the Orenburg Region, and these years in the history of the region are called “the time of Perovsky” or the “golden age of the Orenburg Region.” Having no children, he took care of Alexei Konstantinovich until the end of his days and, dying, left him all his large fortune.
Lev Alekseevich Perovsky (1792-1856) - hero of 1812; Senator, since 1841 Minister of the Interior Russian Empire; since 1852, Minister of Appanages and Manager of His Majesty's Cabinet. Adjutant General of Alexander II. After the death of Alexei Alekseevich Perovsky, it was Lev Alekseevich who took over the main guardianship of Alexei Konstantinovich and, regardless of the age of the ward, did not leave him until his death, forcing him to engage in public service and forbidding him to marry a woman of “indecent behavior.” After the death of this uncle, Tolstoy also received a substantial inheritance.
Since 1818, Vasily Alekseevich was the adjutant of Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich. Now he became an aide-de-camp, and a brilliant career awaited him. He was friends with Pushkin, and he had a very touching relationship with Zhukovsky.
Many people relied on the new tsar, and Zhukovsky was among them. The educator of the new heir to the throne, the future Emperor Alexander II, was Karl Karlovich Merder*. Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky was offered to take up the education of the Tsar’s son. He agreed, seeing this as an opportunity to instill humane views in the future sovereign.
* Karl Karlovich Merder (1788-1834) - adjutant general, famous teacher; chief educator of Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich; a participant in all the children's games of the heir, and therefore of Alyosha Tolstoy.
Zhukovsky told Nicholas I that it would be useful for the heir to have study comrades. The eldest son of the composer Count Mikhail Vielgorsky, Joseph, and the son of the general, the good-natured lazy man Alexander Patkul, were chosen. Alexander Adlerberg and Alexei Tolstoy became playmates, and later they were joined by the young prince Alexander Baryatinsky.
Whether this was agreed upon in advance by the Perovskys or happened when Alyosha and his mother had already arrived in St. Petersburg, they had to say goodbye to Red Horn for a long time. And in general, the whole life of Alexei Tolstoy would have passed, perhaps, completely differently, if not for his closeness to the throne, for which he later had to pay...”
It's hard to agree with last words Zhukov, but for us something else is more important: Alexei Konstantinovich’s close communication throughout his childhood and youth with Joseph Vielgorsky (1817-1839). In the literature I have come across statements that during these years the most friendly relations developed between Joseph Vielgorsky and Alexei Tolstoy. The heir kept aloof from the comrades proposed to him, and for the better - Alexander was a soft-hearted man, easily fell under bad influence and could have drawn playmates into his affairs: the crown prince, and then the emperor, was fond of collecting pornographic pictures, with all the consequences of this complexes.
In 1838-1839 Alexey Konstantinovich lived in Rome. There he became friends with Gogol, who was caring for Joseph Vielgorsky, who was terminally ill with consumption, and, together with Nikolai Vasilyevich, was at the dying man’s bedside and at his burial. Very symbolic! In fact, Alexei Tolstoy found himself at the cradle of the emerging Great Russian Literature - the literature of God-seeking. His own work has many similarities with the God-seekers and is unusually close in spirit to the work of N.S. Leskov, although researchers usually point to almost an imitation of N.V. Gogol in early works writer - “The Ghoul”, “The Ghoul Family” and especially “Prince Silver”. However, genre, theme and form are one thing, and spirit and thought are quite another. It is enough that Alexey Konstantinovich visited Optina Pustyn several times and was received there by the elders with great respect each time. This, however, did not prevent him from becoming seriously interested in spiritualism. Until the end of his days, the writer remained a man of great contradictions.
“Alexey Tolstoy was of extraordinary strength: he bent horseshoes, and by the way, I kept a silver fork for a long time, from which he twisted not only the handle, but also each tooth separately with a screw with his fingers.”* This is what Alexander Vasilyevich Meshchersky, a friend of Alexei Konstantinovich in his youth, wrote. Tolstoy intended to marry his sister Elena Meshcherskaya, but his mother intervened, pointing out their close relationship, and the wedding had to be abandoned.
* Meshchersky A.V. From my old days. Memories. M.: 1901.
Mother tried to turn her son away from his second lover, the same one, the first meeting with whom, which took place in January 1851, the poet immortalized in the brilliant poem “Amidst a noisy ball, by chance...” Sofya Andreevna Miller (1827-1895), née Bakhmeteva , was married to captain Lev Fedorovich Miller, but was very burdened by this marriage and did not live with her husband. In her youth, the woman compromised herself by having an affair with Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Vyazemsky, from whom she became pregnant, but who, at the insistence of her parents, refused to marry her. Bakhmeteva’s mother was offended and persuaded her eldest son, Yuri Andreevich Bakhmetev (1823-1845), to challenge his sister’s offender to a duel. As a result, it was not the offender who was killed, but Yuri himself. Relatives considered Sophia to be the culprit in the death of the young man, and in order to get rid of their reproaches, the girl urgently married another admirer of hers, Miller, whom she did not love. What happened to the fruit of the criminal relationship between Bakhmeteva and Vyazemsky is not known. It was this story that turned out to be an argument for Countess Anna Alekseevna against the beloved of Alexei Konstantinovich.
However, the love was mutual, at least that’s what Tolstoy claimed, although some of his contemporaries openly talked about a relationship of convenience on the part of Sofia Andreevna, which, in the end, allegedly drove the writer to suicide. And although there could be no talk of a wedding without the consent of the writer’s mother, no one could forbid lovers from meeting and loving each other at a distance.
When the Crimean War began in 1853. For a long time, Alexey Konstantinovich could not achieve appointment to the army - high-ranking relatives of the Perovskys interfered. Tolstoy happened to be at the deathbed of Nicholas I, who fell ill and died in the fifty-eighth year of his life from shock after the news of the defeat of the Russian army near Evpatoria. At the end of 1855, the new emperor sent Tolstoy with the rank of major to Odessa, where, after the fall of Sevastopol, the main hostilities were to unfold. But by the time Alexei Konstantinovich arrived at his destination, a typhus epidemic had begun in the Russian troops. On February 13 (25), 1856, the Paris Peace Treaty, shameful for Russia, was signed. And almost on the same day, Major Tolstoy fell ill - the epidemic also reached this strong man.
Dispatches about the patient’s condition were sent daily by telegraph to the emperor, so biographers were able to thoroughly trace the progress of the writer’s illness. Alexey Konstantinovich suffered typhus very hard, for some time he was on the verge of life and death. And only when Sofya Andreevna came to him, things began to improve. She was the one who left Tolstoy. But typhus undermined the health of this mighty man, and those serious illnesses began and intensified over the years. internal illnesses, which twenty years later, according to the main version, brought Tolstoy to his grave.
During the coronation celebrations in August 1856, Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy was constantly with Emperor Alexander II, then he received the rank of lieutenant colonel and was appointed royal adjutant*. The vast expanses of a brilliant career opened up ahead. But Alexey Konstantinovich, a man not of this world, dreamed of only one thing - to leave the sovereign's service and engage in creativity. Alexander II, uncle Lev Alekseevich, and mother were against it. And Tolstoy was regularly obedient to the will of his relatives.
* Aide-de-camp is an honorary title for officers who were in the emperor's retinue.
But on November 10, 1856, Tolstoy’s main guardian, Lev Alekseevich Perovsky, died. Six months later, in early June, my mother died. In December 1857, Vasily Alekseevich Perovsky passed away. Although even before that Alexey Konstantinovich was, to put it mildly, not a poor man, but now three more huge fortunes have been added to his capital. Tolstoy became one of richest people Russia, having received into the hands the increased property of his grandfather Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky. Tolstoy now owned about 40 thousand acres of land alone, and there were several tens of thousands of serfs under him. Most of the nobles of the Russian Empire were already considered wealthy, having about 100 serfs with land. True, the serf owner from Tolstoy was still the same. Many facts are known when peasants from other estates fled to his estates; Alexey Konstantinovich did not drive anyone, he only said:
- Let them live until they are caught. Feed and equip.
In addition, Tolstoy received the opportunity to freely dispose of his wealth, before his mother and uncle Perovsky strictly monitored his expenses. Unfortunately, this freedom did not benefit Alexei Konstantinovich - very soon he fell into the Bakhmetevs’ trap.
Immediately after the death of Countess Anna Alekseevna, the family of Bakhmeteva’s brother, Pyotr Andreevich Bakhmetev, settled on Tolstoy’s estate. The writer’s favorite was Peter’s son, Andryusha*. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this, on the contrary: Tolstoy’s estate was filled with the ringing, cheerful voices of the Bakhmetev children, and this created an indescribable atmosphere of home comfort. But at the same time, the entire Bakhmetev family immediately sat on the neck of the good-natured Alexei Konstantinovich, and everyone began to shamelessly rob him and drive him out of his own home.
* Andrei Petrovich Bakhmetev (1853-1872) - favorite of A.K. Tolstoy. He died at the age of nineteen from consumption and was buried in the Red Horn churchyard. For Alexei Konstantinovich this was a severe blow; in the young man he saw his only heir.
Unfortunately, in those same years, the writer’s illnesses began to worsen. By this time, Alexey Konstantinovich was already suffering from neuralgia and asthma. Despite everything, in 1859 Tolstoy created the brilliant philosophical poem “John of Damascus.” The most amazing thing about the fate of the poem is that for the first time in Tolstoy’s life, it was its publication that the Third Department tried to ban, citing the ban on church censorship!!! It was rumored that in addition to the clergy, Alexander II himself gave the corresponding instructions. Then the poem was secretly handed over to Empress Maria Alexandrovna for reading, and she, bypassing the III Department, asked the Minister of Public Education Evgraf Petrovich Kovalevsky (senior) (1790-1867) to contribute to the publication. The poem was published in the first issue of the Slavophile magazine “Russian Conversation” and caused a quiet scandal in the ministerial offices.
In the fall of 1861, shortly after the abolition of serfdom, the emperor gave Tolstoy complete resignation. From that time on, Alexei Konstantinovich’s financial situation began to rapidly become more difficult. “Telling himself the hope of becoming a good rural owner, he tried to do something, to manage. His instructions were listened to respectfully, but were not followed. The peasants often turned to him for help, and he never refused it, protected them from the oppression of command rats and police authorities, gave them money... New times have come, capitalist relations have come into force. Resourcefulness, tight-fistedness, the ability to invest every penny in a business and make a profit from it, the daily increase in one’s property at the expense of others by hook or by crook - all this was alien to Tolstoy, full of liberal complacency and benevolence. And no matter how rich he was, his fortune was destined from now on to melt away with catastrophic speed... Businessmen were already hovering around - the new masters of life.” Already in 1862, Tolstoy sold the estate in the Saratov province, others followed, he began to sell forests for felling, and issued bills. By the end of the 1860s. the writer realized that he was going broke, but could not do anything about it.
During these years, certain “X” and “Z” began to be mentioned in Alexei Konstantinovich’s correspondence - “one of them once heard that there is delicacy in the world, and the second had never heard of it. “In a word, this reptile is almost naive.” This is how Tolstoy characterized Pyotr and Nikolai Bakhmetev, who began to take his estate into their hands and squander it. The managers of the count's numerous estates were also not embarrassed and stole everything that was in bad condition, and Tolstoy, under the supervision of the Bakhmetevs, had everything in bad condition!
He vividly described the attitude of Sofia Andreevna’s brothers towards the good-natured Tolstoy A.D. Zhukov: “...they resembled a kind of “good friend” who, drunk, uninvitedly breaks into the house, smokes the owner’s cigars, unceremoniously blowing smoke into the owner’s face, throws books off the desk onto the floor, and puts his legs in their place, lounging in chair, and if the owner makes a dissatisfied face, he will throw a tantrum, accusing him of being a curmudgeon and a purist... Tolstoy preferred not to get involved with such “naivety” and ran away.” He fled abroad.
Vasily Petrovich Gorlenko (1853-1907), famous Little Russian journalist, ethnographer and art critic, once wrote down: “Al. Tolstoy, adoring his wife, found himself in the “family embrace” of his wife’s numerous relatives. The severity of the situation was complicated by the fact that his wife herself, out of her kindness, patronized and loved this relative, while the poet had to endure an unceremonious attitude towards his goods, interference in his affairs and large, completely unproductive expenses out of ardent love for his wife. ..”*
* Gorlenko V.P. South Russian essays and portraits. Kyiv, 1898.
At the end of 1862, Alexei Konstantinovich’s health began to deteriorate sharply. This is how D.A. described it. Zhukov: “He sank, not a trace of the former blush remained - his face became sallow, his features seemed to have become heavier, enlarged, and the bags under his eyes were swollen. He was sick, seriously sick. He had headaches before. My leg ached, which did not allow me to make a trip to Odessa with the regiment at one time. But now everything seemed to have gone wrong - it was like fire was burning through my stomach. Tolstoy often felt sick and vomited. There were attacks of suffocation, pain appeared in the heart area...” The doctors were unable to help.
By this time, Sofya Andreevna Miller received the long-awaited divorce and again became Bakhmeteva. On April 3, 1863, she and Tolstoy finally got married, having lived in a civil marriage for a little less than 12 years.
Not in the literature consensus about their relationship. Most biographers, pointing to correspondence and memoirs of contemporaries, claim that Tolstoy and Bakhmeteva sincerely loved each other. But sometimes they also refer to I.S., who knew Bakhmeteva well. Turgenev, who allegedly wrote that family life theirs was like a difficult and boring tragicomedy. Turgenev respected, but did not like Sofya Andreevna, and once even declared to L.N. Tolstoy that she “has the face of a Chukhon soldier in a skirt.” However, Ivan Sergeevich himself was so bogged down in relations with Pauline Viardot and her family, he spent such huge funds received from Russian serfs on their maintenance in France, that it was hardly permissible for Turgenev to talk about Tolstoy’s family, much less condemn his wife.
Since the late 1860s. The Tolstoys settled in Krasny Rog, from where they only traveled abroad for treatment. Life on this estate cost them much less than in the capital, and Alexei Konstantinovich’s finances had long wanted better.
In addition, the writer began to develop a strange illness, during the exacerbation of which the skin all over his body suddenly seemed to be poured with boiling water. Attacks of wild headaches occurred every day, the writer was even afraid to move his head, he walked slowly so as not to cause another attack by an accidental movement. Tolstoy's face turned purple with blue veins. Doctors could not establish an accurate diagnosis of the disease, and therefore did not know how to treat it.
Since August 1874, the Starodub district doctor Korzhenevsky tried to relieve the patient’s neuralgic pain with lithium, but this remedy only helped a lot. short term, then the suffering resumed. In the autumn of the same year, Tolstoy, accompanied by the nephew of his wife, Prince Dmitry Nikolaevich Tsertelev (1852-1911), a future serious philosopher and passionate admirer of spiritualism, went abroad for treatment. There, in Paris, the writer first had an eerie vision: he woke up in the middle of the night and saw a figure in white bending over his bed, which immediately disappeared into the darkness. The travelers regarded this as a bad sign, but since Tolstoy experienced a temporary improvement in his health, they quickly forgot about what had happened. And in the spring of 1875, Alexey Konstantinovich again felt bad. It was then that he took the fatal step.
In 1853, Edinburgh doctor Alexander Wood came up with a treatment method by injecting medicine into the subcutaneous tissue. Later they were offered an injection machine under the German name “syringe”. And one of the first drugs that Wood used to inject patients as an anesthetic was morphine. It was especially actively used by doctors during the Crimean War. Publication of Wood's article "A New Method of Treating Neuralgia by Directly Injecting Opiates into Pain Points" in scientific journal The Edinburgh Journal of Medicine and Surgery became a sensation in world medical practice. True, doctors soon began to notice that patients were becoming addicted to morphine and sounded the alarm. But this happened in the year when Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy received the first injection of a terrible drug.
It is usually written that morphine injections were prescribed to the writer by the attending physician. It is not said who this doctor is. There is another version that on Tolstoy’s last visit to Paris, I.S. advised him to inject morphine. Turgenev, who was aware of medical innovations. The writer's wife, Sofya Andreevna, is also blamed for this.
Tolstoy began receiving morphine injections abroad in the spring of 1875. The first injections helped the patient in a matter of minutes and for a long time. Alexey Konstantinovich was happy! When he became ill on the way to Russia in a train compartment, he injected himself with morphine. Later, Tolstoy gave injections to himself.
Soon, an addiction to the drug occurred, the body demanded larger and larger doses... This is how Tolstoy described Tolstoy’s condition in a letter to A.N. Aksakov dated September 24, 1875, the famous Russian novelist Boleslav Mikhailovich Markevich (1822-1884), he was just visiting in Krasny Rog at that time: “But if you saw the state of my poor Tolstoy, you would understand the feeling that holds me here... A person lives only with the help of morphine, and morphine at the same time undermines his life - this is the vicious circle from which he can no longer get out. I was present when he was poisoned with morphine, from which he was barely saved, and now this poisoning begins again, because otherwise he would have been suffocated by asthma.”
In August, under the influence of the drug, Alexei Konstantinovich began to have a split personality, and mental anguish was added to physical suffering. According to the memoirs of Nikolai Mikhailovich Zhemchuzhnikov (1824-1909), the writer’s cousin, who arrived in Krasny Rog on the eve of the onset of this psychosis, Tolstoy, when he felt a little better, kept repeating: “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy... How I suffered! .. What I felt!..” The writer began to have visions: she came to him deceased mother and tried to take him with her.
Added to this was an exacerbation of asthma - Alexey Konstantinovich was constantly out of breath. Relief came only when pine forest. Therefore, throughout the house in the rooms they placed tubs of water, in which they placed fresh cut young pine trees.
But this is not enough! The Bakhmetevs, and above all Sofya Andreevna herself, were not going to give up senseless spending, even despite the sharp drop in income after the abolition of serfdom. Things got to the point that in September 1875, already anticipating his death, Alexei Konstantinovich wrote to Alexander II a request to return him to service - there was nothing to live on! Almost all the estates were mortgaged or sold, Tolstoy issued bills, but further credit was also in question.
Since August 1875, the writer’s friends, Prince D.N., permanently lived in Krasny Rog. Tsertelev, B.M. Markevich and N.M. Zhemchuzhnikov. He was treated by Dr. Velichkovsky, who advised him to take the patient abroad as soon as he felt better. But on August 24, after another morphine injection, Tolstoy began to experience poisoning. This time I managed to overcome the disease. Immediately after the count felt better, they decided to prepare for a trip to Europe.
Departure was scheduled for early October. On the afternoon of September 28, 1875, guests gathered for a walk in the forest. Prince Tsertelev looked into the office of the owner of the house and saw that Alexey Konstantinovich was sleeping in a chair. Since the patient was constantly tormented by insomnia, they decided not to wake him up and left. At about 20.30 in the evening, worried about her husband’s long sleep, Sofya Andreevna went to call Tolstoy to the table. He was already cold, his pulse was not beating. On the desk in front of the deceased lay an empty morphine bottle and a syringe. Artificial respiration and other attempts to bring the writer back to life did not help.
The last words that Alexey Konstantinovich said to those around him as he retired to his office:
- I feel so good!
Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy was buried in the family crypt in the graveyard of the Assumption Church in Krasny Rog, next to Andryusha Bakhmetev. Sofya Andreevna died in 1895 and was buried there.
Neither before the October Revolution, nor after the October Revolution did it occur to anyone to declare Alexei Konstantinovich a drug addict. The tragedy that happened to him is the general result of the youth of modern medicine and the severe physical torment that the writer experienced in Last year life. Public mockery of his memory began around the mid-1980s, when spiritual life in the USSR came into final decline, the ideological heirs of the generation of the so-called sixties grew up, and Voltaire’s envy of the dead reached catastrophic proportions.
The latter, apparently, needs to be clarified. People, especially educated people, to whom talent, if at all, is granted, is in very small quantities, or those who consider the recognition of their talent insufficient, often tend to envy people revered by society. And not only those living nearby, but even more so those who died long ago, whose glory has been verified by time and seems unshakable. This was especially clearly manifested in the work of Voltaire, who was pathologically jealous of the glory suffered at the beginning of the 15th century. French national heroine Joan of Arc. He poured out all the envious abomination that had accumulated in his soul toward the girl who was burned alive in the vile libel “The Virgin of Orleans.” In his last work in his life, the article “The Last of Joan of Arc’s Relatives,” written in January 1837, A.S. Pushkin pronounced the harshest verdict on Voltaire’s envy: “Recent history does not present a more touching, more poetic subject about the life and death of the Orleans heroine; What did Voltaire, this worthy representative of his people, make of this? Once in his life he happened to be a true poet, and this is what he uses inspiration for! With his satanic breath he fans the sparks that smoldered in the ashes of the martyr's fire, and like a drunken savage dances around his amusing fire. He, like a Roman executioner, adds desecration to the mortal torment of the virgin.<...>Let us note that Voltaire, surrounded in France by enemies and envious people, subjected to the most poisonous censures at every step, found almost no accusers when his criminal poem appeared. His most bitter enemies were disarmed. Everyone enthusiastically accepted the book, in which contempt for everything that is considered sacred for man and citizen was brought to the last degree of cynicism. No one thought to stand up for the honor of their fatherland; and the challenge of the good and honest Dulis, if it had become known then, would have aroused inexhaustible laughter not only in the philosophical drawing rooms of Baron d'Holbach and Mme Joffrin, but also in the ancient halls of the descendants of Lagire and Latrimouille*. Miserable age! Pathetic people!”**
* Jean François Philippe du Lys (? - 1836) - the last of the relatives of Joan of Arc. He died childless. The article by A.S. is dedicated to du Lis. Pushkin. The father of Jean Francois - his name is not known - having read The Virgin of Orleans in 1767, challenged Voltaire to a duel. The frightened philosopher replied that this work has nothing to do with it, and some scoundrel used his name in the title.
Baron d'Holbach, aka Paul Henri Thiry Holbach (1723-1789) - French philosopher German origin, writer, encyclopedist, educator, foreign honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Mme Joffrin, aka Maria Theresa Joffrin (1699-1777) - the owner of the famous literary salon, where for 25 years all the most talented intellectuals of Paris gathered, including Montesquieu, d'Alembert, Holbach, Diderot, Gibbon,
Etienne de Vignoles, nicknamed La Hire (The Wrathful) (1390-1440) - an outstanding French commander of the times Hundred Years' War; comrade-in-arms of Joan of Arc, tried to free her from English captivity.
Latrimouille, aka Georges La Tremouille (1385-1445) - favorite of the French king Charles VII, one of the opponents of Joan of Arc.
** Pushkin A.S. Collection Op. in 10 volumes. T.6. M.: Artist. lit., 1962.
When the poet contemptuously called the French a “pathetic people” who are not able to silence the throat of an arrogant jester who decided to mock a tortured victim in the name of the Fatherland, he did not suspect that a hundred and fifty years later his native Russians would turn out to be a thousand times more pitiful and disgusting people. In France, one Voltaire outraged the memory of one Joan of Arc; in modern Russia, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of nonentities with the guise of our blood brothers have been mocking the memory of their dead ancestors with impunity for the third decade under the slogans of democracy and freedom of speech. In our history today it is difficult to find at least one worthy name that has not been smeared from one side or another by envious intellectuals and then smeared with this impurity from head to toe by ordinary people who are susceptible to slander. From Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Alexander Suvorov, Mikhail Kutuzov to the unfortunate sufferers Alexander Matrosov, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya and Nikolai Gastello, from Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol to Alexander Fadeev, Alexander Tvardovsky and Mikhail Sholokhov. Most of all, of course, the slaughtered children Pavlik and Fedya Morozov suffered, who were “exposed a thousand times for denunciation and betrayal.” family values“fat, self-satisfied uncles and angry, hysterical ladies, from the offices of their comfortable metropolitan apartments fighting “for the spiritual cleansing of the Mankurt people, mired in unbelief.”
In this endless series, Alexey Konstantinovich suffered relatively little harm - he was simply declared a drug addict who had gone through all stages of drug withdrawal. But let us remember the letter from A.S. Pushkin to P.A. Vyazemsky in November 1825: “The crowd... in its meanness rejoices at the humiliation of the high, the weaknesses of the mighty. At the discovery of any abomination, she is delighted. He is small, like us, he is vile, like us! You’re lying, you scoundrels: he’s both small and vile - not like you - otherwise.”* Indeed, geniuses are not accessible to the abominations of the intelligentsia, since the poet was talking specifically about the intelligentsia - there is no need for anyone else to tinker in the trash heap of someone else’s existence, if other people envy, then it is for others, but not for fame and public respect.
* Pushkin A.S. Collection Op. in 10 volumes. T. 9. M.: Khudozh. lit., 1962.
What happened to Alexei Konstantinovich on September 28, 1875? Was it suicide or a tragic mistake?
Proponents of the possibility of suicide argue their position for a combination of the following reasons. Firstly, Tolstoy understood that he was doomed, that it was pointless to continue the struggle for existence and prolong the ever-increasing torment. Secondly, under the influence of morphine the writer had a narcotic psychosis. Thirdly, on the soul of Alexei Konstantinovich, accustomed to a luxurious life, the possibility of imminent ruin lay as a heavy stone. Fourthly, the patient was negatively affected by indifference and even contempt on the part of Sofia Andreevna, who lived with him only for the sake of his money.
Of course, the first two arguments can be considered truly compelling. But Tolstoy, and this is clear from all of his work, never treated life as a frivolous stroll that could be interrupted at any moment at his own discretion. He was a believer and believed that everyone is obliged to endure the torment that befell him, that the Lord will never send a person trials beyond his strength. On the other hand, it was not typical for Alexei Konstantinovich to change his principles and reject ideals under the influence of the situation. The entire life of the writer and his creations affirm the impossibility of his suicide!
If Alexei Konstantinovich did indeed interrupt his life under the influence of a sudden drug psychosis (and not a single witness to the last month of Tolstoy’s life mentions a prolonged psychosis), then this weakness should be attributed to death by accident, such a death of a person with a clouded mind is condemned is not subject to.
As for the possibility of ruin, people of Alexei Konstantinovich’s social status simply could not go broke. After all, the request to return to service indicates that Tolstoy not only intended to continue living, but also became a signal to the tsar about the need for material support. Alexander II had such opportunities and would never refuse a friend of his family. The writer knew this very well, just as he knew that his death could put Sofya Andreevna in a very difficult financial situation. For the sake of the woman he loved, he could not commit suicide.
The strained relationship between the Tolstoy spouses falls into the category of dirty gossip, fanned by certain groups of people who like to delve into the underwear of great people. They do not have documentary evidence and cannot serve as an argument.
Thus, the version of Alexei Konstantinovich’s suicide is based rather on someone’s desire for it to take place. The likelihood of a patient making an error in the injection dose is much greater. Everyone who has at least once experienced sharp pain, probably remembers that state when it seemed that it was enough to take more painkillers, and everything would quickly return to normal. The main thing is to relieve the pain now. Apparently, something similar happened to Alexei Konstantinovich. After a temporary improvement, when he went to his office, there was a sharp exacerbation of pain. Wanting to get rid of them as quickly as possible, the writer injected himself with a lethal dose of the drug, because he hoped to get rid of the painful condition faster. And the exact permissible one-time volumes of morphine injections in those years had not yet been established. The injection was given in great haste, the pain really went away - forever. She took Alexei Konstantinovich himself with her.
A notable prose writer of the 20-30s, who published his works under the pseudonym “Antony Pogorelsky”, cultivated a love of art in his nephew and encouraged his first literary experiments. ()
6. Estate "Pustynka"– not far from the Sablino station, on the right, high and steep bank of the Tosny River, there was once the Pustynka estate, bought in 1850 by the writer’s mother Anna Alekseevna Tolstoy.
The Tolstoys built a stone manor house in the English Gothic style (architect V.Ya. Langvagen, designed by A.I. Stackenschneider). The ensemble also included an outbuilding for guests, an office, stables, a carriage house, etc., united by a unity of design. Many people often visited Tolstoy here. writers and scientists, including I.A. Goncharov, N.I. Kostomarov, I.S. Turgenev, A.A. Fet, Ya.P. Polonsky and many others. etc. After Tolstoy’s death in 1875, the estate came into the possession of S.A. Khitrovo. In 1912, a fire destroyed almost all buildings; Currently, two ponds and fragments of the park have been preserved. Modern address: Nikolskoye, Tosnensky district, Leningrad region. (
In this article we will consider the biography of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy. We will tell you about his life, work, and introduce you to interesting facts about this poet. You probably associate the surname Tolstoy with another Russian writer, and this coincidence is no coincidence. They are not just namesakes - these figures of Russian literature are distant relatives. The fact is that the Tolstoy family is very extensive. There is another writer with the name Alexey Tolstoy, but his patronymic is different - Nikolaevich (“Peter the Great”, “Walking in Torment”). This surname is also represented in modern Russian literature. Everyone, at least, knows the writer Tatyana Tolstaya.
Origin of Alexei Tolstoy
This poet belonged to the Razumovsky family on his mother’s side. Kirill Razumovsky, the last hetman in Ukraine, was his great-grandfather. And the rich man and nobleman A.K. Razumovsky - count, senator and minister of public education - was the grandfather of this poet. The illegitimate children of this count were the poet's mother, as well as her sisters and brothers. They were legalized at the beginning of the 19th century, receiving the surname Perovsky, as well as the title of nobility.
The childhood of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy
The poet was born in St. Petersburg in 1817, on August 24. Count K.P. Tolstoy, his father, did not play any role in the boy’s life: immediately after the birth of the child, the couple separated, and Alexei’s mother left with her son for the Chernigov province. Here, surrounded by Ukrainian southern nature, on the estates of first his mother and then her brother, Tolstoy spent his childhood, which left only good memories in his memory.
Alexey Konstantinovich showed literary interests very early. From the age of 6, he began to write poetry, as the poet himself reported in a letter to A. Gubernatis. Famous prose writer period of the 20-30s, Alexey Perovsky, who signed his works with the name “Antony Pogorelsky”, tried to instill in his nephew a love of creativity and art, and in every possible way encouraged his first poetic experiments. The boy was taken abroad from the age of 10. He described in his diary his trip to Italy, which took place in 1831. Tolstoy was part of the childhood environment of the future heir to the throne, young Alexander II. The connection with this person will continue later.
Work in the Moscow Archive
Tolstoy was enrolled as a “student” in the Moscow Archive in 1834. His duties included the description and analysis of ancient documents related to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Alexey Konstantinovich in 1840 moved to the department of the Emperor's chancellery and served here for many years, moving up the ranks quite quickly. In 1843, Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy was awarded the title of chamber cadet.
We have very scant information about his work and life in the period of the 30s and 40s. This witty, affable, handsome young man was gifted with great physical strength. He could, for example, twist a poker with a screw. Tolstoy knew foreign languages very well and was very well read. Alexey Konstantinovich divided his time between his service, which did not burden him very much, secular society And literary studies. The poet's main adviser until 1836 was Perovsky (he died in 1836). This man showed literary friends poems by young Tolstoy. Among his friends was V.A. Zhukovsky, who spoke sympathetically about them.
First published works
In the period from the late 30s to the early 40s, he wrote two science fiction stories in French: “Meeting after 300 years” and “The Family of the Ghoul.” Tolstoy first published in May 1841, publishing the story “The Ghoul” under the pseudonym “Krasnorogsky” (derived from the Krasny Rog estate). V. G. Belinsky responded very favorably to this work. He saw signs of a young but promising big hopes talents.
Creativity in the 40s
Alexey Konstantinovich published very little in the 40s - only a few stories and essays, as well as one poem. However, "Prince Silver", a historical novel telling about the reign of Ivan the Terrible, was conceived already during this period. Even then, Tolstoy was formed both as an author of ballads and as a lyricist. Many of his famous poems belong to this decade, for example: “Vasily Shibanov”, “My bells...”, “You know the land...” and others. All of them were published much later.
At this time, Alexey Konstantinovich was satisfied with a small circle of listeners - secular friends and acquaintances. He passed by the heated debates and ideological quests of the advanced Russian intelligentsia of the 40s.
Birth of Kozma Prutkov
Kozma Prutkov was “born” in the early 50s. It was not just a pseudonym, but a satirical mask created by Tolstoy, as well as the Zhemchuzhnikovs, his cousins. Kozma Prutkov is a narcissistic, stupid bureaucrat from the period of Nicholas' rule. In his name, they created poems (parodies, epigrams, fables), and plays, as well as aphorisms and anecdotes on historical topics, which ridiculed the phenomena of literature and surrounding reality. In life, the works corresponded to a number of witty pranks.
It is impossible to unambiguously determine which works were written by Tolstoy, but we can say without a doubt that Alexei Konstantinovich’s contribution was very great, since he had a very strong humorous streak. This poet had the gift of subtle, good-natured ridicule. Many of his most famous and best poems are examples of skillful use of irony (for example, “At the Order Gate,” “Arrogance”).
In 1851, in January, the comedy “Fantasy” by Alexei Zhemchuzhnikov and Tolstoy was staged. It was a parody of vaudeville, meaningless and empty, which then still dominated the Russian stage. Nicholas I, who was present at the premiere, was very dissatisfied with this play and ordered it to be excluded from the repertoire.
Tolstoy marries Sophia Miller
In the winter of 1850-1851, Alexey Konstantinovich met Sofia Andreevna Miller, the wife of a colonel. He fell in love with this girl. Sophia reciprocated, but the marriage was interfered with: on the one hand, her husband, who did not want to give a divorce to his wife, and on the other hand, Tolstoy’s mother, who treated her son’s chosen one unkindly. Only in 1863 was their marriage officially formalized. Sofya Andreevna was an educated woman who knew several languages, knew how to play the piano, and also sang. In addition, she had an extraordinary aesthetic taste. More than once Tolstoy called his wife best critic. All love lyrics this author, starting in 1851, was addressed specifically to her.
Meeting different writers
Gradually Tolstoy acquired connections in literary circles. He became close to Turgenev in the early 50s and helped him free himself from the village, where he was in exile for Gogol’s obituary, which was published by Ivan Sergeevich. Later, Alexey Konstantinovich also met Nekrasov. After a long break, in 1854, it appeared in print again. Several poems by this poet were published in Sovremennik, as well as the first series of works by Kozma Prutkov.
The life of Alexei Konstantinovich during the Crimean War
During the Crimean War, Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy first wanted to create a partisan detachment, after which (in 1855) he entered the rifle regiment as a major. However, the poet did not have the opportunity to visit the war - he fell ill with typhus when the regiment was stationed near Odessa. After the end of hostilities, on the day when Alexander II was crowned, Alexei Konstantinovich was already appointed aide-de-camp.
The second half of the 50s in the poet’s work
The second half of the 50s was a period of revival of social movement and thought after the collapse of the Nikolaev regime. During these years, the poems of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy appeared very actively. Two thirds of all his works were created then. They were published in all sorts of magazines.
At the same time, this time is characterized by increasing social differentiation. In 1857, relations between the editors of Sovremennik and Tolstoy cooled somewhat. At the same time, the poet became closer to the Slavophiles. Alexey Konstantinovich became friends, in particular, with Aksakov. However, several years later, he did not accept the claims of the Slavophiles to become spokesmen for the true interests of the people.
Vacation and resignation
Alexey Konstantinovich often visited the court. Visits were not limited to official receptions. But he increasingly disliked his official duties, especially the fact that he did not have the opportunity to fully concentrate on art. Only in 1859 did the poet achieve indefinite leave, and retired in 1861.
Life and work of Tolstoy in the 60s
A brief biography of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy in the 60s can be marked by the following events. After the poet retired, he settled in the village permanently. Tolstoy lived either in Pustynka, his estate near St. Petersburg, or in Krasny Rog, far from the capital (Chernigov province). Only occasionally did he come to St. Petersburg.
In the 60s, the poet kept himself pointedly aloof from the literary circle, corresponding and meeting only with a few writers (Markevich, Fet, K.K. Pavlova, Goncharov). He was published mainly in M. N. Katkov’s “Russian Bulletin,” a reactionary magazine. Then (at the end of the 60s) the works of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy were published in Vestnik Evropy, edited by M. M. Stasyulevich.
During this time, at the beginning of the decade, he wrote the dramatic poem Don Juan, as well as a novel called Prince Silver, after which three plays that formed a dramatic trilogy: Tsar Boris, Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich and Death Ivan the Terrible" (years of creation of works - 1862-1869). The poems of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy in the form of a collection that summed up his poetic work were published in 1867.
After a long break, Alexey Konstantinovich returned to the ballad in the second half of the 60s and wrote a number of magnificent examples of this genre. The lyrics of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy now occupied much less space in his work than a decade ago. The late 60s and 70s also saw the production of most of his satires.
The concept of the drama "Posadnik", which tells about an episode from the history of ancient Novgorod, dates back to the early 70s. Alexey Konstantinovich was passionate about this topic. He created a significant part of the work, but, unfortunately, the author was unable to finish it. The work of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy was never replenished with this interesting work in finished form.
Material difficulties and social contradictions in society, their reflection in the life and work of the poet
The 70s were a difficult time for this poet. Judging by the available information, Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (his photo is presented in the article) was a very humane landowner. However, he did not manage the estates on his own; farming was carried out rather chaotically, using patriarchal methods. This led to the poet’s material affairs gradually falling into disarray. The devastation became especially noticeable towards the end of the 60s. Alexei Konstantinovich told his relatives that he would have to ask the tsar to take him back into service. All these circumstances weighed heavily on the poet.
However, it was not just a matter of ruin. Alexey Konstantinovich felt lonely in society and even called himself an “anchorite.” Tolstoy's experiences were connected with the processes in the life of Russia at that time. In the post-reform era, the existing social contradictions. The power of money grew rapidly and had a corrupting effect on the consciousness of people, and political reaction also thickened. Destruction eternal values accompanied by the collapse of former foundations.
The feeling of confusion and bewilderment, the search for a way out of this uncomfortable reality at that time was also characteristic of other contemporaries of the author (Uspensky, L.N. Tolstoy, Saltykov-Shchedrin).
At the end of his life, Tolstoy's fear of existence, of the course of history, intensified. In his poem in 1870, the poet said that the “veils have been removed” from his soul, its “living tissue” is exposed, and every touch of life is “a burning torment and evil pain.” This is what Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy wrote. The poems of many of his contemporaries reflect similar sentiments.
Last years
The poet's health has deteriorated significantly since the mid-60s. He began to suffer from asthma, neuralgia, angina pectoris, and headaches. Alexey Konstantinovich went abroad for treatment every year, but this only helped for a short time. He died in 1875, on September 28, in Krasny Rog. Nowadays there is a museum-estate of this poet (Bryansk region, Pochepsky district).
The Count spent his childhood in Krasny Rog, and also returned to these places several times in his adult years. The biography of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy is thus closely connected with Red Horn. His grave is now located here. The poet did not leave behind any children. But he had Sofya Petrovna Bakhmeteva, an adopted daughter.
This ends the biography of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy. We examined the work of this poet only briefly. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with it in more detail. Then the biography of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy will be understood more deeply. After all, the life and work of any poet and writer resonate with each other. A biography helps to better understand the works written by various authors, and autobiographical features are often reflected in poetry and prose. Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy is no exception in this regard.
Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy is a Russian classic writer, one of the creators of Kozma Prutkov and the author of stories, poems, poems and satirical notes. He may not be as famous as his namesake Lev Nikolaevich (who, by the way, was Alexei Konstantinovich’s second cousin), but his life and work are worth getting to know. Many facts about A.K. Tolstoy are very interesting, but are known to a very narrow circle of readers. Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy - interesting facts.
A.K. Tolstoy was born on September 5, 1817 in St. Petersburg in the family of a bank advisor and the illegitimate daughter of Count A.K. Razumovsky. The boy's parents separated almost immediately after his birth, 6 weeks later, and he went with his mother to the Chernigov province, Ukraine. Tolstoy was raised by his maternal uncle, A. A. Perovsky, also known as Antony Pogorelsky. The uncle loved his nephew very much; it is no coincidence that he dedicated the fairy tale “The Black Hen, or the Underground Inhabitants” to him, the main character of which is called Alyosha.
Tolstoy also had a famous uncle on his father's side - Fyodor Pavlovich Tolstoy, a famous sculptor and vice-president of the Academy of Arts. But still, Tolstoy owes his interest in art and connections in creative circles primarily to A. A. Perovsky.
Tolstoy received a good education at home, but besides this, his horizons expanded while traveling, for example, at the age of 14, he and his mother traveled to Italy, which he later recalled in his diary, calling the country “ paradise lost" At the age of 10, Tolstoy was in Germany, where he met Goethe. He, of course, remembered this meeting for the rest of his life, and kept Goethe’s gift (a fragment of a mammoth tusk) for many years.
From childhood, A.K. Tolstoy was close to the future Emperor Alexander II (Tolstoy was brought as a playmate for the future ruler, since the boys were the same age, eight years old). As an adult, his relationship with the royal family also remained good. In particular, Tolstoy was the guest of honor at the coronation of Alexander II. However, Tolstoy shirked service and eventually resigned in order to pursue what brought him pleasure - literature.
The goodwill of the authorities towards the writer often saved other writers. So, for example, A.K. Tolstoy tried to commute the punishment of I.S. Turgenev, convicted for an article in memory of N.V. Gogol, and since Tolstoy had a reputation as a “reliable” person, the punishment was commuted, for which Turgenev was immensely grateful .
Hobbies
Tolstoy’s home education logically continued in the Moscow Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he entered as a “student”. During his studies, the young man's interest in history increased. It wasn’t even really training, more like service, which, however, was not a burden to Tolstoy, since he attended it only twice a week. Outside the archive, the writer spends a lot of time at balls and parties, living a social life, but at the same time beginning to seriously engage in literary activity.
Since 1836, Tolstoy, having passed the exam, received education abroad from Moscow University: in Germany, Italy and France. Here he communicates a lot with creative people, writes, looking for her own style.
A.K. Tolstoy was known as a man gifted with extraordinary physical strength. They said that he could bend a horseshoe and a poker, tear an entire deck of cards and throw a weight over the estate building.
Tolstoy was fond of woodcock hunting. This passion of Tolstoy is reflected in the portrait by Bryullov: on the canvas the writer is depicted in hunting clothes and with a gun. In addition, Tolstoy's last position was huntsman of the Imperial Court. It was an honorary position, but not binding, which suited Tolstoy, who dreamed of studying literature and not being distracted by work.
A.K. Tolstoy really wanted to take part in Crimean War, in particular, the defense of Sevastopol, he even raised a detachment of volunteers with his own money, providing them with equipment. But Tolstoy’s plans were not destined to come true: when he and the detachment were in Odessa, a typhus epidemic began and the regiment had to be disbanded. At this time, the writer fell ill with typhus, was one step away from death for a long time, but was able to recover from this terrible disease.
Family
A.K. Tolstoy was married. He saw his wife in 1850 at a ball and fell in love, although he did not even see her face. The famous poem “In the midst of a noisy ball by chance...” (1851) is dedicated to her: “I liked your thin figure... And your whole thoughtful appearance...”. Tolstoy’s mother was categorically against marriage, Sophia’s relatives also did not like Tolstoy, obviously due to the fact that Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya (Miller) was married at the time of the meeting. The couple was able to formalize the marriage (probably a civil marriage, not a wedding) 12 years later in Dresden, when Sophia's husband gave her a divorce. The couple did not have their own children, but they raised Andrei, Tolstoy’s nephew, together.
Sofya Andreevna was a very educated woman, she knew 10 foreign languages and often quoted poems in the original, she especially loved Goethe.
Alexey Konstantinovich was familiar with Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, who was his second cousin.
Worldview
After 1860, having received his dismissal from service, Tolstoy spent most of his time in Europe, studying literature. In 1861, when the order to abolish serfdom was issued, the writer was in Russia and celebrated this event with the peasants. He was opposed to cruel reforms, repression and oppression of any person, and therefore rejoiced at the liberation of the peasants from dependence.
Alexey Konstantinovich was a religious person, which was reflected in his worldview, in his communication with people, and in his reverent attitude towards prayers.
Oddly enough, Vladimir Lenin really liked the work of A.K. Tolstoy.
And to my loved ones historical period Tolstoy in the history of Russia there were times of Kievan Rus.
The last few years of his life, A.K. Tolstoy suffered from migraines. He tried to numb the pain with morphine, which was then popular, but he became addicted to it, from which he suffered even more. The cause of the writer's death was an overdose of this drug. He died on his estate "Red Horn", where he was buried. His wife, Sofya Andreevna, remained the heir, since the couple had no children.
Throughout his life, the writer tried to answer the question: “What is the meaning of life?” and only closer to death did he come to the conclusion that man lives for the sake of good.
Literary creativity
A.K. Tolstoy began to “dirty paper,” as he himself put it, quite early, at the age of 6. The first poems were inspired by the best Russian poets and, although they were naive in meaning, they were distinguished by the correct poetic structure.
A. K. Tolstoy’s literary career began with scary short stories written in French, such as “The Ghoul,” “The Family of the Ghoul,” and “Meeting after Three Hundred Years.” "The Ghoul" (1841) was Tolstoy's debut in print as a writer under the pseudonym Krasnogorsky. Belinsky noted this work, noting that Tolstoy is “still a young, but very promising writer.”
His further work is varied and consists of texts of different genres. Tolstoy's last work is the poem "Dragon". This is a hoax, that is, the author passed it off as a translation of an Italian poem from the 15th century. Later it was proven that there is no such original, but the style of the poem is consistent - it is close to “ Divine Comedy» Dante.
The most popular novel during Tolstoy's lifetime was Prince Silver. It was already put on stage and released remade so that it could be read simple people. To date, the novel has been republished more than a hundred times.
Tolstoy's first serious poems appeared in 1835 and received the approval of such writers as Pushkin and Zhukovsky. This, of course, could not but please the aspiring poet.
In 1850, A.K. Tolstoy reads his poems for the first time, and not just anywhere, but in the presence of N.V. Gogol.
Tolstoy's poems are loved not only by ordinary readers, but also by composers. Their texts are set to music; there are more than 200 songs and romances, some of which are so popular that the public does not even think who their author is.
A.K. Tolstoy also proved himself in drama. His play “Fantasy,” staged in 1851, turned out to be scandalous; Nicholas I banned it from being shown for censorship reasons. But the tragedy “The Death of Ivan the Terrible” really pleased the Empress, and its production in Alexandria Theater was a huge success. In the same year, the tragedy was translated into German (translation by Karolina Pavlova) and became known and quite popular in Germany.
A.K. Tolstoy lived during the confrontation between Slavophiles and Westerners; he called himself a convinced Westerner.
A.K. Tolstoy is one of the creators of Kozma Prutkov. Kozma is fictional character, supposedly a representative of the people, under whose name many aphorisms were published, for example, “Look to the root,” “In the depths of every chest there is its own snake.” Tolstoy worked on this image together with his cousins, Alexander and Alexei Zhemchuzhnikov. A collection of aphorisms by Kozma Prutkov was published in Sovremennik and was very popular.
The surname Tolstoy in our minds is closely associated with literary creativity, and this is no coincidence. In Russian prose and poetry there were three famous authors who wore it: Lev Nikolaevich, Alexey Konstantinovich and Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy. The works written by them are not connected in any way, but the authors themselves are united by blood, albeit distant. All of them are representatives of a large noble branch. Tatiana Tolstaya, modern writer, by the way, also belongs to this genus. Although the most famous representative of this noble branch is, of course, Lev Nikolaevich, today we invite you to get acquainted with the work of Alexei Konstantinovich. The works of Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy also deserve close attention. However, this is a topic for a completely different article. For example, the namesake of the poet and writer we are interested in, Alexei Tolstoy, created works for children that are still very popular and fascinating to this day.
Biography of Tolstoy Alexey Konstantinovich
Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (life - 1817-1875) - poet, writer, playwright. He was born in St. Petersburg. He came from the Razumovsky family on his mother’s side (his great-grandfather was the last hetman of Little Russia and his grandfather, A.K. Razumovsky, was the Minister of Public Education under Tsar Alexander I). The father of the future writer is Count K.P. Tolstoy, with whom the mother broke up immediately after the birth of the boy. Alexey Konstantinovich was brought up under the guidance of his mother and her brother, A. A. Perovsky, a writer who encouraged the poetic experiments of young Tolstoy.
In 1834, he was hired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Moscow Archive. After that he was in the diplomatic service. Alexey Tolstoy, whose works we will present to you below, received the title of chamber cadet in 1843.
Fantastic stories and romantic prose
In the late 1830s - early 1840s, he created fantastic stories gravitating towards the Gothic novel, as well as romantic prose: “Meeting after Three Hundred Years”, “The Family of the Ghoul”. His first published work was the story “The Ghoul” written in 1841, created under the pseudonym Krasnorogsky. Also in the 1840s, Alexei Konstantinovich began work on a historical novel called (finished in 1861), at the same time a whole series of lyrical ballads and poems were created, which were published somewhat later (in the 1850-60s). Many works of Alexei Tolstoy have gained great popularity. Their list is as follows: “Kurgan”, “My Bells”, “Prince Mikhailo Repnin”, as well as “Vasily Shibanov”, etc.
Collaboration in Sovremennik
In the early 1850s, Tolstoy became close to N. A. Nekrasov, I. S. Turgenev and other writers. Since 1854, Sovremennik has published his literary parodies and poems. In collaboration with V. M. and A. M. Zhemchuzhnikov (their cousins), satirical and parody works were published under the pseudonym Kozma Prutkov in the department of this magazine “Literary Jumble”. The work of this fictional author became a mirror of obsolete phenomena in literature and at the same time created a satirical picture of a bureaucrat claiming to be a trendsetter of artistic taste.
Alexey Tolstoy, whose works by that time were already numerous, having moved away from his participation in Sovremennik, in 1857 he began to publish in Russian Conversation, and later, in the 1860-70s, mainly in Vestnik Evropy, as well as "Russian Bulletin". At this time he defended the principles of the so-called " pure art", that is, independent of any political ideas, including “progressive” ones.
In 1861, Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, whose works are discussed in this article, finally quit the service, which was very burdensome for him, and completely focused on literary creativity.
In 1862, his poem “Don Juan” was published, and the following year, “Prince Silver” (novel). In 1866, the first part of a large work was published - the historical trilogy "The Death of Ivan the Terrible", two years later - the second - "Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich", and in 1870 - the final one - "Tsar Boris".
Lyrical legacy
Answering the question about what works Alexei Tolstoy wrote, one cannot fail to note his lyrics. In 1867, the first collection of poetry by this author appeared. In the last ten years of his life, he wrote ballads (1868 - “The Serpent Tugarin”, 1869 - “Song of Harald and Yaroslavna”, 1870 - “Roman Galitsky”, 1871 - “Ilya Muromets”, etc.). Political satires in verse also appeared ("History of the Russian State...", published in 1883, "Popov's Dream" - in 1882, etc.), lyric poetry and poems (1874 - "Portrait", 1875 - "Dragon" ).
General characteristics of creativity
The work of Alexei Konstantinovich is imbued with the unity of philosophical ideas, motives, and lyrical emotions. One can note an interest in such problems as the philosophy of history, national antiquity, rejection of tsarist tyranny - these features of Tolstoy’s work are reflected in many of his works related to various genres. Alexey Konstantinovich considered ancient Novgorod and Kievan Rus. The way of life in Rus' at that time seemed to him as follows: high level development various arts, the importance of such a cultural layer as the aristocracy, the prince’s respect for the freedom and personal dignity of citizens, simplicity of morals, diversity and breadth of international relations, especially with Europe.
Ballads
Depicting images of Ancient Rus', the ballads are imbued with lyricism; they reflect their creator’s passionate dream of spiritual independence, as well as admiration for the heroic, integral natures that Alexey Tolstoy depicted in folk epic poetry. The works, the list of which is offered to you ("Matchmaking", "Ilya Muromets", "Kanut", "Alyosha Popovich" and other ballads) are noted for the fact that the images of legendary heroes in them, the plots of historical events illustrate the author's thought, embody his ideals (to for example, Prince Vladimir of Kiev). In their artistic means, they are close to some other lyrical poems of Alexei Konstantinovich (“You are my land...”, “If you love, so without reason,” “Blagovest”, etc.).
Tolstoy's ballads, depicting the era of strengthening statehood in Rus', are permeated through and through with a dramatic beginning. Their subjects are the events of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, whom the poet considered the most striking exponent of the principle of absorption of the individual by the state and unlimited autocracy.
"Dramatic" ballads are more traditional in form than "lyrical" ballads, which mainly date back to the late 1860s and early 1870s. However, these works of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy are marked by the fact that he acted as an original poet, capable of modifying the structure of the genre.
For example, in one of the ballads, “Vasily Shibanov,” he reconsiders the classic situation of a dispute with the king of a freedom-loving subject, which became widespread under the influence of the works of F. Schiller. Conveying how Kurbsky exposes Ivan the Terrible, Tolstoy among the participants in this dramatic conflict- the rebellious boyar and the tsar - emphasizes the common features: ingratitude, inhumanity, pride. Alexey Konstantinovich finds his readiness to suffer for the truth, the ability for self-sacrifice in common man who is sacrificed to this dispute the mighty of the world this. Thus, the slave wins a moral victory over the king and with his feat restores the triumph of man’s true greatness over the imaginary. Like other “dramatic” ballads by this author, “Vasily Shibanov”, in its themes and the psychological complexity of the characters’ images, as well as in the creator’s ethical approach to historical events, is close to the works of major genres written by Alexei Tolstoy. We will now look at these works.
Tolstoy's novels
Alexey Konstantinovich in his novel “Prince Silver” depicts brutal clashes in an atmosphere of unbridled tyranny strong people and shows that arbitrariness has a detrimental effect on the personality of the monarch, as well as on those around him. This work notes that, moving away from the already corrupted court circle, sometimes even forced to hide from social oppression and persecution, gifted people belonging to various strata of society, nevertheless “make history”, protect the country from attacks by external enemies, develop and discover new lands (Ermak Timofeevich, Mitka, Ivan Ring, Prince Serebryany, etc.). The style of this work is associated with the traditions of the story and historical novel of the 1830s, including those coming from such stories by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol as “Taras Bulba” and “Terrible Vengeance”.
Dramatic creativity
In the above-mentioned dramatic trilogy, the author depicted Russian life at the end of the 16th century - beginning of the 17th. And in these plays, the solution of various historical and philosophical problems is more important for him than the exact following historical facts. Alexey Konstantinovich depicts the tragedy of three reigns, three autocrats: Ivan the Terrible, obsessed with the idea that his power is of divine origin, the kind-hearted ruler Fyodor and the wise Boris Godunov, a “brilliant ambitious man.”
Alexey Tolstoy, whose works often depicted bygone eras, paid great attention to the creation of original, individual and vivid portraits of historical figures. His great achievement is the image of Sovereign Fyodor, which indicates that in the 1860s the writer learned the principles psychological realism. In 1898, the Moscow Art Theater was opened by staging the tragedy of this author - “The Tsar” These are the main dramatic works of Alexei Tolstoy. The list can be continued, since we have listed only the main ones.
Political satire
The peculiarities of Alexei Konstantinovich’s historical worldview are also reflected in his For example, behind such an anecdotal plot as the work “Popov’s Dream” was, the author’s mockery of liberals was hidden. The poems “Against the Current” or, for example, “Sometimes Merry May...” and others reflected polemics with nihilists. In “History of the State...” Alexei Konstantinovich subjected historical phenomena to merciless ridicule; he believed that they interfered with the life of Russia.
Intimate lyrics
Unlike ballads and drama, the intimate lyrics of this author were alien to elevated tone. The lyrical works of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy are sincere and simple. Many of them are, as it were, psychological poetic short stories (“That was in early spring”, “Among the noisy ball, by chance...”).
Music created based on the works of Alexei Konstantinovich
Alexey Konstantinovich introduced elements of folk poetic style into his work; his poems are often close to songs. Many of the works created by Alexei Tolstoy were set to music. The works (the list includes more than 70 poems) became the basis for romances that were written based on his words by P. I. Tchaikovsky, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, S. I. Taneyev, M. P. Mussorgsky and others.