Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a little over twenty years old when he began teaching literacy to peasant children on his estate. He continued to work at the Yasnaya Polyana school intermittently until the end of his life; he worked long and enthusiastically on compiling educational books. In 1872, “Azbuka” was published - a book set containing the alphabet itself, texts for initial Russian and Church Slavonic reading, arithmetic and a teacher’s manual. Three years later, Tolstoy published The New ABC. When teaching, he used proverbs, sayings, and riddles. He composed many “proverb stories”: in each, the proverb unfolded into a short story with a moral. The “New Alphabet” was supplemented by “Russian Books for Reading” - several hundred works: short stories, retellings of folk tales and classical fables, natural history descriptions and reasoning.
Tolstoy strove for extremely simple and precise language. But it is difficult for a modern child to understand even the simplest texts about ancient peasant life.
So what? Are Leo Tolstoy’s works for children becoming a literary monument and disappearing from Russian children’s reading, of which they were the basis for a whole century?
There is no shortage of modern publications. Publishers are trying to make books interesting and understandable to today's children.
1. Tolstoy, L. N. Stories for children / Leo Tolstoy; [preface V. Tolstoy; comp. Yu. Kublanovsky] ; drawings by Natalia Parent-Chelpanova. - [Yasnaya Polyana]: L.N. Tolstoy Museum-Estate “Yasnaya Polyana”, 2012. - 47 p. : ill.
Illustrated by the Russian artist in exile Natalya Parent-Chelpanova, Leo Tolstoy's children's stories, translated into French, were published in Paris by the Gallimard publishing house in 1936. In the Yasnaya Polyana booklet they are, of course, printed in Russian. Here there are both stories that are usually included in modern collections and undisputed in children's reading (“Fire Dogs,” “Kitten,” “Filipok”), as well as rare, even surprising ones. For example, the fable “The Owl and the Hare” - how a arrogant young owl wanted to catch a huge hare, grabbed his back with one paw, the other into a tree, and he “rushed and tore the owl apart”. Read on?
What is true is true: Tolstoy’s literary means are strong; The impressions after reading will remain deep.
Natalia Parent’s illustrations brought the texts closer to the little readers of her time: the characters in the stories were drawn as if they were the artist’s contemporaries. There are French inscriptions: for example, “Pinson” on the grave of a sparrow (for the story “How my aunt talked about how she had a pet sparrow - Zhiwchik”).
2. Tolstoy, L. N. Three Bears / Leo Tolstoy; artist Yuri Vasnetsov. - Moscow: Melik-Pashaev, 2013. - 17 p. : ill.
In the same 1936, Yuri Vasnetsov illustrated an English fairy tale retold in Russian by Leo Tolstoy. At first the illustrations were in black and white, but the later colorful version is reproduced here. The fairy-tale bears of Yu. Vasnetsov, although Mikhail Ivanovich and Mishutka are in vests, and Nastasya Petrovna with a lace umbrella, are quite scary. The child understands why “one girl” was so afraid of them; but she managed to escape!
Illustrations have been color corrected for the new edition. You can see the first edition, as well as reprints that differ from one another, in the National Electronic Children's Library (books are protected by copyright, registration is required to view).
3. Tolstoy, L. N. Lipunyushka: stories and fairy tales / Leo Tolstoy; illustrations by A. F. Pakhomov. - St. Petersburg: Amphora, 2011. - 47 p. : ill.- (Library of a junior school student).
Many adults have retained in their memory “The ABC” by Leo Tolstoy with illustrations by Alexei Fedorovich Pakhomov. The artist knew the peasant way of life very well (he himself was born in a pre-revolutionary village). He painted peasants with great sympathy, children - sentimentally, but always with a firm, confident hand.
The St. Petersburg “Amphora” more than once published small collections of stories from L. N. Tolstoy’s “ABC” with illustrations by A. F. Pakhomov. This book contains several stories from which peasant children learned to read. Then the fairy tales - “How a man divided the geese” (about a cunning man) and “Lipunyushka” (about a resourceful son who "came out in cotton wool").
4. Tolstoy, L. N. About animals and birds / L. N. Tolstoy; artist Andrey Brey. - Saint Petersburg; Moscow: Rech, 2015. - 19 p. : ill. - (Mom’s favorite book).
Stories “Eagle”, “Sparrow and Swallows”, “How Wolves Teach Their Children”, “What Mice Are for”, “Elephant”, “Ostrich”, “Swans”. Tolstoy is not sentimental at all. Animals in his stories are predators and prey. But, of course, a moral must be read in a basic story; Not every story is straightforward.
Here is “Swans” - a genuine prose poem.
It must be said about the artist that he painted animals expressively; among his teachers was V. A. Vatagin. “Stories about Animals” with illustrations by Andrei Andreevich Brey, published by Detgiz in 1945, are digitized and available in the National Electronic Children's Library (registration is also required to view).
5. Tolstoy, L. N. Kostochka: stories for children / Leo Tolstoy; drawings by Vladimir Galdyaev. - Saint Petersburg; Moscow: Rech, 2015. - 79 p. : ill.
The book contains mainly the most frequently published and read children's stories by L. N. Tolstoy: “Fire”, “Fire Dogs”, “Filipok”, “Kitten”...
“The Bone” is also a widely known story, but few people are ready to agree with the radical educational method shown in it.
The contents of the book and layout are the same as in the collection “Stories and Were”, published in 1977. More texts and drawings by Vladimir Galdyaev were in L. N. Tolstoy’s “Book for Children,” published by the Moskovsky Rabochiy publishing house in the same 1977 (the publications, of course, were preparing for the writer’s 150th anniversary). The rigor of the drawing and the specificity of the characters correspond well to Tolstoy's literary style.
6. Tolstoy, L. N. Children: stories / L. Tolstoy; drawings by P. Repkin. - Moscow: Nigma, 2015. - 16 p. : ill.
Four stories: “The Lion and the Dog”, “Elephant”, “Eagle”, “Kitten”. They are illustrated by Peter Repkin, a graphic artist and animator. It is interesting that the lion, eagle, elephant and his little owner depicted by the artist obviously resemble the characters of the cartoon “Mowgli”, the production designer of which was Repkin (together with A. Vinokurov). This cannot harm either Kipling or Tolstoy, but it does make one think about the differences and similarities in the views and talents of the two great writers.
7. Tolstoy, L. N. The Lion and the Dog: a true story / L. N. Tolstoy; drawings by G. A. V. Traugot. - St. Petersburg: Rech, 2014. - 23 p. : ill.
On the flyleaf there is a drawing depicting Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in London in 1861 and as if confirming: this story is true. The story itself is given in the form of captions to the illustrations.
First line: “Wild animals were shown in London...” An ancient multi-colored, almost fairy-tale Western European city, townspeople and townswomen, curly-haired children - all in a manner that has long been characteristic of the artists “G. A. V. Traugot." Meat thrown into a lion's cage does not look naturalistic (like Repkin's). A lion yearning for a dead dog (Tolstoy honestly writes that she “died”) is drawn very expressively.
I told you more about the book “Biblioguide”.
8. Tolstoy, L. N. Filipok / L. N. Tolstoy; artist Gennady Spirin. - Moscow: RIPOL classic, 2012. -: ill. - (Masterpieces of book illustration).
“Filipok” from “The New ABC” is one of the most famous stories by Leo Tolstoy and all Russian children's literature. The figurative meaning of the word “textbook” here coincides with the direct one.
The RIPOL Classic publishing house has already reprinted the book with illustrations by Gennady Spirin several times and included it in the New Year's gift collection. This “Filipok” was previously published in English (see on the artist’s website: http://gennadyspirin.com/books/). In the drawings of Gennady Konstantinovich there is a lot of affection for the ancient peasant life and winter Russian nature.
It is noteworthy that in “The New Alphabet” behind this story (at the end of which Filipok “he began to speak to the Mother of God; but every word he spoke was wrong") followed by “Slavic letters”, “Slavic words under titles” and prayers.
9. Tolstoy, L. N. My first Russian book for reading / Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. - Moscow: White City, . - 79 s. : ill. - (Russian books for reading).
"White City" has undertaken a complete publication of "Russian books for reading". The second, third and fourth books were published in the same way. There are no abbreviations here. Stories, fairy tales, fables, descriptions and reasoning are given in the order in which Lev Nikolaevich arranged them. There are no comments on the texts. Illustrations are used instead of verbal explanations. Basically, these are reproductions of paintings, famous and not so famous. For example, to the description of “The Sea” - “The Ninth Wave” by Ivan Aivazovsky. To the discussion “Why does the wind happen?” - “Children running from a thunderstorm” by Konstantin Makovsky. To the story “Fire” - “Fire in the Village” by Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky. For the story “Prisoner of the Caucasus” - landscapes by Lev Lagorio and Mikhail Lermontov.
The range of ages and interests of readers of this book can be very wide.
10. Tolstoy, L. N. Sea: description / Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy; artist Mikhail Bychkov. - St. Petersburg: Azbuka, 2014. - p. : ill. - (Good and eternal).
Of the books listed, this one seems to belong most to our time. Artist Mikhail Bychkov says: “A few lines by L. N. Tolstoy gave me a wonderful opportunity to draw the sea”. On large-format spreads, the artist depicted the southern and northern sea, calm and stormy, day and night. To Tolstoy's short text he made a drawn appendix about all kinds of sea vessels.
The work fascinated Mikhail Bychkov, and he illustrated three stories from Tolstoy’s ABC, uniting them with a fictional trip around the world on a sailing warship. In the story "The Jump" such a journey is mentioned. The story "Shark" begins with the words: "Our ship was anchored off the coast of Africa." The story “Fire Dogs” takes place in London - and the artist painted a Russian corvette flying the St. Andrew’s flag against the backdrop of the construction of the Tower Bridge (built from 1886 to 1894; “ABC” was compiled earlier, but in the same era, especially if viewed from our time) .
The book “Were” was published by the Rech publishing house in 2015. In the spring of 2016, the State Museum of Leo Tolstoy on Prechistenka hosted an exhibition of Mikhail Bychkov’s illustrations for these two children’s books.
“The sea is wide and deep; there is no end in sight to the sea. The sun rises at sea and sets at sea. No one has reached or knows the bottom of the sea. When there is no wind, the sea is blue and smooth; when the wind blows, the sea will stir up and become uneven..."
"Sea. Description"
“...Water from the sea rises in fog; the fog rises higher, and clouds become from the fog. The clouds are driven by the wind and spread across the ground. Water falls from the clouds to the ground. It flows from the ground into swamps and streams. From streams it flows into rivers; from rivers to sea. From the sea again the water rises into the clouds, and the clouds spread across the earth...”
“Where does the water go from the sea? Reasoning"
Leo Tolstoy's stories from "ABC" and "Russian Books for Reading" are laconic, even lapidary. In many ways, they are archaic, in today's opinion. But this is what is essential about them: a now rare, non-playful, serious attitude to words, a simple, but not simplified attitude towards everything around them.
Svetlana Malaya
Read stories and 3 fairy tales by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy for children with a brief description and illustrations. Tolstoy's stories for a school diary.
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About Filka-Milka and Baba Yaga
Polyansky Valentin
This fairy tale was told by my great-grandmother, Maria Stepanovna Pukhova, to my mother, Vera Sergeevna Tikhomirova. And she - first of all - to me. And so I wrote it down and you will read about our hero. U...
Polyansky Valentin
Some owners had a dog, Boska. Marfa - that was the name of the owner - hated Boska, and one day she decided: “I’ll survive this dog!” Yeah, survive! Easy to say! And how to do it? - Martha thought. I thought, I thought, I thought -...
Russian folktale
One day a rumor spread through the forest that the animals would be given their tails. Everyone didn’t really understand why they were needed, but if they were given, we had to take them. All the animals reached out to the clearing and the little hare ran, but it rained heavily...
Tsar and shirt
Tolstoy L.N. 
One day the king fell ill and no one could cure him. One wise man said that a king could be healed if he wore the shirt of a happy man. The king sent to find such a person. The Tsar and the Shirt read One king was...
What is everyone's favorite holiday? Of course, New Year! On this magical night, a miracle descends on the earth, everything sparkles with lights, laughter is heard, and Santa Claus brings long-awaited gifts. A huge number of poems are dedicated to the New Year. IN …
In this section of the site you will find a selection of poems about the main wizard and friend of all children - Santa Claus. Many poems have been written about the good grandfather, but we have selected the most suitable ones for children aged 5,6,7 years. Poems about...
Winter has come, and with it fluffy snow, blizzards, patterns on the windows, frosty air. The children rejoice at the white flakes of snow and take out their skates and sleds from the far corners. Work is in full swing in the yard: they are building a snow fortress, an ice slide, sculpting...
A selection of short and memorable poems about winter and New Year, Santa Claus, snowflakes, and a Christmas tree for the younger group of kindergarten. Read and learn short poems with children 3-4 years old for matinees and New Year's Eve. Here …
1 - About the little bus who was afraid of the dark
Donald Bisset 
A fairy tale about how mother bus taught her little bus not to be afraid of the dark... About the little bus who was afraid of the dark read Once upon a time there was a little bus in the world. He was bright red and lived with his dad and mom in the garage. Every morning …
2 - Three kittens
Suteev V.G. 
A short fairy tale for the little ones about three fidgety kittens and their funny adventures. Little children love short stories with pictures, which is why Suteev’s fairy tales are so popular and loved! Three kittens read Three kittens - black, gray and...
3 - Hedgehog in the fog
Kozlov S.G. 
A fairy tale about a Hedgehog, how he was walking at night and got lost in the fog. He fell into the river, but someone carried him to the shore. It was a magical night! Hedgehog in the fog read Thirty mosquitoes ran out into the clearing and began to play...
4 - Apple
Suteev V.G. 
A fairy tale about a hedgehog, a hare and a crow who could not divide the last apple among themselves. Everyone wanted to take it for themselves. But the fair bear judged their dispute, and each got a piece of the treat... Apple read It was late...
Leo Tolstoy is known for his monumental works, but his children's works also deserve attention. The famous classic wrote dozens of excellent fairy tales, epics and stories for children, which will be discussed below.
Fairy tales, fables, there were stories
The famous Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy always treated children's literature with special trepidation. The author's long observations of peasant children are reflected in his work. The famous “ABC”, “New ABC” and “Russian books for reading” made a huge contribution to the development of children's education. This edition includes the fairy tales “Three Bears”, “Lipunyushka”, “Two Brothers”, “Filipok”, “Jump”, stories about the dog Bulka, which are widely used to this day in preschool and primary school education. Further
Three Bears
Leo Tolstoy's collection includes essays written more than half a century ago for pupils of the Yasnopolyansky school. Today, the texts are no less extremely popular among children, thanks to their simple and colorful descriptions of worldly wisdom. The illustrations in the book were provided by the famous artist I. Tsygankov. Suitable for older preschool age. Further
The collected works include such works as “Lipunyushka”, “Shark”, as well as “The Lion and the Dog”, “Two Brothers”, the famous “Bone”, “Jump”, and, of course, “Three Bears”. The works were written for all young students on the Yasnaya Polyana estate, but continue to arouse great interest among young readers today. Further
This publication is a collection of folklore works “The Fox and the Crane”, “Geese-Swans”, “Gingerbread House”, retold by L.N. Eliseeva and A.N. Afanasyeva and the creation of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy “Three Bears”. The works tell about such concepts as kindness, intelligence, justice, and intelligence. Here you will meet well-known fairy-tale characters: the cunning fox, the evil gray wolf, Mashenka, who loved to eat from someone else’s cup. The publication is accompanied by pictures by artists Sergei Bordyug and Natalia Trepenok. Further
A collection of fascinating fairy tales about animals with many bright images for preschool children: “The Fox and the Mouse” by Vitaly Bianchi, “The Frog the Traveler” by Vsevolod Garshin, “The Gray Neck” by Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak, “The Three Bears” by Leo Tolstoy and others. Illustrator: Tatyana Vasilyeva. Further
All the best for children
A golden collection of works by Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, which will not leave both kids and older children indifferent. The theme of a carefree childhood will appeal to modern children and their parents. The book calls on the younger generation to love, kindness and respect, which, perhaps, permeate the entire work of the great writer. Further
This is a collection of stories, epics and fairy tales included in the primary school curriculum. A series of stories about Lev Nikolaevich’s dogs – Milton and Bulka – will not leave primary school boys and girls indifferent. Further
Novels and stories
Information sheet:
The wonderful, cute fairy tales of Leo Tolstoy make an indelible impression on children. Little readers and listeners make unusual discoveries about living nature, which are given to them in a fairy-tale form. At the same time, they are interesting to read and easy to understand. For better perception, some of the author's previously written fairy tales were later released in processing.
Who is Leo Tolstoy?
He was a famous writer of his time and remains so today. He had an excellent education, knew foreign languages, and was fond of classical music. Traveled extensively throughout Europe and served in the Caucasus.
His original books were always published in large editions. Great novels and novellas, short stories and fables - the list of published works amazes with the richness of the author’s literary talent. He wrote about love, war, heroism and patriotism. Personally participated in military battles. I saw a lot of grief and complete self-denial of soldiers and officers. He often spoke bitterly not only about the material, but also about the spiritual poverty of the peasantry. And quite unexpected against the backdrop of his epic and social works were his wonderful creations for children.
Why did you start writing for children?
Count Tolstoy did a lot of charity work. On his estate he opened a free school for peasants. The desire to write for children arose when the first few poor children came to study. To open up the world around them, to teach them in simple language what is now called natural history, Tolstoy began to write fairy tales.
Why do they love the writer these days?
It turned out so well that even now, children of a completely different generation, enjoy the works of the 19th century count, learning love and kindness towards the world around us and animals. As in all literature, Leo Tolstoy was also talented in fairy tales and is loved by his readers.
Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich
(09.09.1828 - 20.11.1910).
Born in the Yasnaya Polyana estate. Among the writer's paternal ancestors is an associate of Peter I - P. A. Tolstoy, one of the first in Russia to receive the title of count. A participant in the Patriotic War of 1812 was the father of the writer, Count. N.I. Tolstoy. On his mother's side, Tolstoy belonged to the family of the Bolkonsky princes, related by kinship to the Trubetskoy, Golitsyn, Odoevsky, Lykov and other noble families. On his mother's side, Tolstoy was a relative of A.S. Pushkin.
When Tolstoy was in his ninth year, his father took him to Moscow for the first time, the impressions of his meeting with which were vividly conveyed by the future writer in his children's essay "The Kremlin." Moscow is here called “the greatest and most populous city in Europe,” the walls of which “saw the shame and defeat of Napoleon’s invincible regiments.” The first period of young Tolstoy's Moscow life lasted less than four years. He was orphaned early, losing first his mother and then his father. With his sister and three brothers, young Tolstoy moved to Kazan. One of my father’s sisters lived here and became their guardian.
Living in Kazan, Tolstoy spent two and a half years preparing to enter the university, where he studied from 1844, first at the Oriental Faculty and then at the Faculty of Law. He studied Turkish and Tatar languages from the famous Turkologist Professor Kazembek. In his mature years, the writer was fluent in English, French and German; read in Italian, Polish, Czech and Serbian; knew Greek, Latin, Ukrainian, Tatar, Church Slavonic; studied Hebrew, Turkish, Dutch, Bulgarian and other languages.
Classes on government programs and textbooks weighed heavily on Tolstoy the student. He became interested in independent work on a historical topic and, leaving the university, left Kazan for Yasnaya Polyana, which he received through the division of his father's inheritance. Then he went to Moscow, where at the end of 1850 his writing began: an unfinished story from gypsy life (the manuscript has not survived) and a description of one day he lived (“The History of Yesterday”). At the same time, the story “Childhood” was begun. Soon Tolstoy decided to go to the Caucasus, where his older brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich, an artillery officer, served in the active army. Having entered the army as a cadet, he later passed the exam for junior officer rank. The writer's impressions of the Caucasian War were reflected in the stories "Raid" (1853), "Cutting Wood" (1855), "Demoted" (1856), and in the story "Cossacks" (1852-1863). In the Caucasus, the story “Childhood” was completed, published in 1852 in the magazine “Sovremennik”.
When the Crimean War began, Tolstoy was transferred from the Caucasus to the Danube Army, which was operating against the Turks, and then to Sevastopol, which was besieged by the combined forces of England, France and Turkey. Commanding the battery on the 4th bastion, Tolstoy was awarded the Order of Anna and the medals “For the Defense of Sevastopol” and “In Memory of the War of 1853-1856.” More than once Tolstoy was nominated for the military Cross of St. George, but he never received the “George.” In the army, Tolstoy wrote a number of projects - about the reformation of artillery batteries and the creation of artillery battalions armed with rifled guns, about the reformation of the entire Russian army. Together with a group of officers of the Crimean Army, Tolstoy intended to publish the magazine "Soldier's Bulletin" ("Military Leaflet"), but its publication was not authorized by Emperor Nicholas I.
In the fall of 1856, he retired and soon went on a six-month trip abroad, visiting France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. In 1859, Tolstoy opened a school for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana, and then helped open more than 20 schools in the surrounding villages. To direct their activities along the right path, from his point of view, he published the pedagogical magazine Yasnaya Polyana (1862). In order to study the organization of school affairs in foreign countries, the writer went abroad for the second time in 1860.
After the manifesto of 1861, Tolstoy became one of the world mediators of the first call who sought to help peasants resolve their disputes with landowners about land. Soon in Yasnaya Polyana, when Tolstoy was away, the gendarmes carried out a search in search of a secret printing house, which the writer allegedly opened after communicating with A. I. Herzen in London. Tolstoy had to close the school and stop publishing the pedagogical magazine. In total, he wrote eleven articles on school and pedagogy (“On Public Education”, “Upbringing and Education”, “On Social Activities in the Field of Public Education” and others). In them, he described in detail the experience of his work with students (“Yasnaya Polyana school for the months of November and December”, “On methods of teaching literacy”, “Who should learn to write from whom, the peasant children from us or us from the peasant children”). Tolstoy the teacher demanded that school be brought closer to life, sought to put it at the service of the needs of the people, and for this to intensify the processes of learning and upbringing, and develop the creative abilities of children.
At the same time, already at the beginning of his creative career, Tolstoy becomes a supervised writer. Some of the writer's first works were the stories "Childhood", "Adolescence" and "Youth", "Youth" (which, however, was not written). According to the author's plan, they were supposed to compose the novel "Four Epochs of Development."
In the early 1860s. For decades, the order of Tolstoy’s life, his way of life, is established. In 1862, he married the daughter of a Moscow doctor, Sofya Andreevna Bers.
The writer is working on the novel "War and Peace" (1863-1869). Having completed War and Peace, Tolstoy spent several years studying materials about Peter I and his time. However, after writing several chapters of Peter’s novel, Tolstoy abandoned his plan. In the early 1870s. The writer was again fascinated by pedagogy. He put a lot of work into the creation of the ABC, and then the New ABC. At the same time, he compiled “Books for Reading”, where he included many of his stories.
In the spring of 1873, Tolstoy began and four years later completed work on a great novel about modernity, calling it after the name of the main character - Anna Karenina.
The spiritual crisis experienced by Tolstoy at the end of 1870 - beginning. 1880, ended with a turning point in his worldview. In “Confession” (1879-1882), the writer talks about a revolution in his views, the meaning of which he saw in a break with the ideology of the noble class and a transition to the side of the “simple working people.”
At the beginning of the 1880s. Tolstoy moved with his family from Yasnaya Polyana to Moscow, caring about providing an education to his growing children. In 1882, a census of the Moscow population took place, in which the writer took part. He saw the inhabitants of the city's slums up close and described their terrible lives in an article on the census and in the treatise "So What Should We Do?" (1882-1886). In them, the writer made the main conclusion: “...You can’t live like that, you can’t live like that, you can’t!” "Confession" and "So What Should We Do?" were works in which Tolstoy acted simultaneously as an artist and as a publicist, as a profound psychologist and a courageous sociologist-analyst. Later, this type of work - journalistic in genre, but including artistic scenes and paintings, saturated with elements of imagery - will occupy a large place in his work.
In these and subsequent years, Tolstoy also wrote religious and philosophical works: “Criticism of Dogmatic Theology”, “What is My Faith?”, “Connection, Translation and Study of the Four Gospels”, “The Kingdom of God is Within You”. In them, the writer not only showed a change in his religious and moral views, but also subjected to a critical revision of the main dogmas and principles of the teaching of the official church. In the mid-1880s. Tolstoy and his like-minded people created the Posrednik publishing house in Moscow, which printed books and paintings for the people. The first of Tolstoy's works, published for the "common" people, was the story "How People Live." In it, as in many other works of this cycle, the writer made extensive use not only of folklore plots, but also of the expressive means of oral creativity. Thematically and stylistically related to Tolstoy’s folk stories are his plays for folk theaters and, most of all, the drama “The Power of Darkness” (1886), which depicts the tragedy of a post-reform village, where under the “power of money” the centuries-old patriarchal order collapsed.
In 1880 Tolstoy's stories "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" and "Kholstomer" ("The Story of a Horse"), "The Kreutzer Sonata" (1887-1889) appeared. In it, as well as in the story “The Devil” (1889-1890) and the story “Father Sergius” (1890-1898), the problems of love and marriage, the purity of family relationships are posed.
Tolstoy’s story “The Master and the Worker” (1895), stylistically related to the cycle of his folk stories written in the 80s, is based on social and psychological contrast. Five years earlier, Tolstoy wrote the comedy “The Fruits of Enlightenment” for a “home performance.” It also shows the “owners” and “workers”: noble landowners living in the city and peasants who came from a hungry village, deprived of land. The images of the former are given satirically, the author portrays the latter as reasonable and positive people, but in some scenes they are “presented” in an ironic light.
All these works of the writer are united by the idea of the inevitable and close in time “denouement” of social contradictions, of the replacement of an obsolete social “order”. “I don’t know what the outcome will be,” Tolstoy wrote in 1892, “but that things are approaching it and that life cannot continue like this, in such forms, I am sure.” This idea inspired the largest work of all the creativity of the “late” Tolstoy - the novel “Resurrection” (1889-1899).
Less than ten years separate Anna Karenina from War and Peace. "Resurrection" is separated from "Anna Karenina" by two decades. And although the third novel differs in many ways from the previous two, they are united by a truly epic scope in the depiction of life, the ability to “pair” individual human destinies with the fate of the people in the narrative. Tolstoy himself pointed out the unity that existed between his novels: he said that "Resurrection" was written in the "old manner", meaning, first of all, the epic "manner" in which "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" were written ". "Resurrection" became the last novel in the writer's work.
At the beginning of 1900 The Holy Synod excommunicated Tolstoy from the Orthodox Church.
In the last decade of his life, the writer worked on the story “Hadji Murat” (1896-1904), in which he sought to compare “the two poles of imperious absolutism” - the European, personified by Nicholas I, and the Asian, personified by Shamil. At the same time, Tolstoy created one of his best plays, “The Living Corpse.” Its hero - the kindest soul, gentle, conscientious Fedya Protasov leaves his family, breaks off relations with his usual environment, falls to the "bottom" and in the courthouse, unable to bear the lies, pretense, pharisaism of "respectable" people, shoots himself with a pistol. scores with life. The article “I Can’t Be Silent” written in 1908, in which he protested against the repression of participants in the events of 1905–1907, sounded poignant. The writer’s stories “After the Ball”, “For What?” belong to the same period.
Weighed down by the way of life in Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy more than once contemplated and for a long time did not dare to leave it. But he could no longer live according to the principle of “together and apart,” and on the night of October 28 (November 10) he secretly left Yasnaya Polyana. On the way, he fell ill with pneumonia and was forced to stop at the small station of Astapovo (now Leo Tolstoy), where he died. On November 10 (23), 1910, the writer was buried in Yasnaya Polyana, in the forest, on the edge of a ravine, where as a child he and his brother were looking for a “green stick” that held the “secret” of how to make all people happy.