Great Russian writers who did not receive the Nobel Prize. Five famous Nobel Prize refusals Aldanov and company

90 volumes. How many printed books were needed to contain the manuscripts of Leo Tolstoy? Moreover, not all, but only those selected for the collected works after the death of the writer. This is a reprint from 1928 and even contains the original handwriting samples. Lev Nikolayevich wrote a lot and illegibly, but a genius, as you know, is not revered for this. “Tolstoy wrote his will. He recommended that Chertkov publish his works at his own discretion. Chertkov chose from all of Tolstoy’s unpublished manuscripts and from 1928 to 1957 he published all of them,” says Alena Dolzhenko, head of the department of rare and valuable publications of the Central Library System.

By 1906, when Russian Academy Sciences nominated Leo Tolstoy for the Nobel Prize, almost everything had already been written: five novels, a dozen stories, many short stories, plays and philosophical articles. Having learned about the academic initiative, he immediately sent a letter to his friend, Finnish writer and translator Arvid Järnefelt. The writer urgently asked him, with the help of colleagues from Sweden, to ensure that the prize was not awarded to him. The delicate order was carried out. So why did he refuse? Here is what Lev Nikolaevich himself writes about this: “Firstly, it saved me from great difficulty in managing this money, which, like any money, in my conviction, can only bring evil; and secondly, it gave me the honor and great pleasure to receive expressions of sympathy from so many people, although unknown to me, but still deeply respected by me.”

That year, the Italian poet Giosue Carducci, whose name is known today only to literary scholars, did not refuse the Nobel Prize in Literature. But the Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek, Nobel laureate in 2004, said that she received the prize undeservedly and refused to go to the award ceremony. However, she still took the bonus money of 10 million Swedish crowns or one and a half million dollars. From the point of view of his contemporaries, Tolstoy’s act was an arrogant count’s whim. But not for those familiar with his views on wealth and the violent inequality of human beings. “The philosophy that he came to at the end of his life: to give everything to people - his estate to the peasants, and to leave even his own children without a livelihood, that money is evil, naturally, this is a logical ending,” says Natalya Tsymbalistenko , literary critic, candidate of philological sciences.

Leo Tolstoy’s action was later repeated by other writers. Because of his convictions, Jean-Paul Sartre refused the Nobel Prize in 1964. Boris Pasternak and Alexander Solzhenitsyn were prevented from receiving the prize by the USSR authorities. The latter was simply not allowed into Stockholm for the award ceremony in 1970. Nobel Committee corrected this stupidity 5 years later, when Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the country and deprived of Soviet citizenship. Total in history Russian literature 5 laureates of the most prestigious award on the planet: Bunin, Pasternak, Sholokhov, Solzhenitsyn and Brodsky.

The winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced very soon. In the entire history, only five Russian writers and poets - Ivan Bunin (1933), Boris Pasternak (1958), Mikhail Sholokhov (1965), Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1970) and Joseph Brodsky (1987) - were awarded this prestigious award. Meanwhile, other prominent representatives of Russian literature also applied for the prize, but they never managed to receive the coveted medal. About which of the Russian writers could have won the Nobel, but never received it, is in the RT material.

Secret bonus

It is known that the Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded annually since 1901. A special committee selects candidates, and then, with the help of experts, literary scholars and laureates of past years, a winner is selected.

However, thanks to archival finds at Uppsala University, it became known that the literature prize could also be awarded in XIX century. Most likely, it was established by Alfred Nobel's grandfather, Emmanuel Nobel Sr., who at the end of the 18th century, in correspondence with friends, discussed the idea of ​​​​establishing an international literary prize.

The list of prize winners found at a Swedish university also includes the names of Russian writers: Thaddeus Bulgarin (1837), Vasily Zhukovsky (1839), Alexander Herzen (1867), Ivan Turgenev (1878) and Leo Tolstoy (1894). However, we still know little about the mechanism for selecting winners and other details of the award procedure. Therefore, let us turn to the official history of the prize, which began for Russia in 1902.

Lawyer and Tolstoy

Few people know, but the first person nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature was not a writer or poet, but a lawyer, Anatoly Koni. At the time of his nomination, in 1902, he was an honorary academician of the Academy of Sciences in the category of fine literature, as well as a senator in general meeting First Department of the Senate. It is known that his candidacy was proposed by the head of the department of criminal law at the Military Law Academy, Anton Wulfert.

A more famous nominee is Leo Tolstoy. From 1902 to 1906, his candidacy was persistently proposed by the Nobel Committee. Leo Tolstoy by that time was already well known not only to the Russian but also to the world community for his novels. According to the expert community, Leo Tolstoy was “the most revered patriarch of modern literature.” In a letter that was sent to the writer from the Nobel Committee, the academicians called Tolstoy “the greatest and most profound writer.” The reason why the author of War and Peace never received an award is simple. Alfred Jensen, an expert on Slavic literature who acted as one of the advisors to the nomination committee, criticized Leo Tolstoy's philosophy, describing it as "subversive and contrary to the idealistic nature of the prize."

However, the writer was not particularly eager for the award and even wrote about this in a response letter to the committee: “I was very pleased that the Nobel Prize was not awarded to me. This saved me from a great difficulty in disposing of this money, which, like any money, in my conviction, can only bring evil.”

Since 1906, after this letter, Leo Tolstoy was no longer nominated for the prize.

• Leo Tolstoy in his office
• RIA Novosti

Merezhkovsky's calculation

In 1914, on the eve of the First World War, the poet and writer Dmitry Merezhkovsky was nominated for the Nobel Prize. The same Alfred Jensen noted the “artistic mastery of the image, the universal content and idealistic direction” of the poet’s work. In 1915, Merezhkovsky's candidacy was again proposed, this time by the Swedish writer Karl Melin, but again to no avail. But the first one was walking world war, and only 15 years later Dmitry Merezhkovsky was again nominated for the award. His candidacy was nominated from 1930 to 1937, but the poet had to face serious competition: Ivan Bunin and Maxim Gorky were nominated along with him during the same period. However, the persistent interest of Sigurd Agrel, who nominated Merezhkovsky for seven years in a row, gave hope to the writer to be among the winners of the coveted award. Unlike Leo Tolstoy, Dmitry Merezhkovsky wanted to become a Nobel laureate. In 1933, Dmitry Merezhkovsky was closest to success. According to the recollections of Ivan Bunin’s wife, Vera, Dmitry Merezhkovsky invited her husband to share the prize. Moreover, if he won, Merezhkovsky would give Bunin as much as 200 thousand francs. But this did not happen. Despite the fact that Merezhkovsky persistently wrote to the committee, convincing its members of his superiority over his competitors, he never received the award.

Gorky is more needed

Maxim Gorky was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 4 times: in 1918, 1923, 1928 and 1933. The writer’s work presented a certain difficulty for the Nobel Committee. Anton Karlgren, who replaced Alfred Jensen as an expert on Slavic studies, noted that in the post-revolutionary work of Gorky (meaning the revolution of 1905. - RT) there is “not the slightest echo of ardent love for the homeland” and that in general his books are a complete “sterile desert.” Earlier, in 1918, Alfred Jensen spoke of Gorky as a “double cultural-political personality” and “a tired, long-worn-out writer.” In 1928, Gorky was close to receiving the award. The main struggle was between him and the Norwegian writer Sigrid Undset. Anton Karlgren noted that Gorky’s work is like an “extraordinary renaissance”, which provided the writer with “ leading place in Russian literature".

• Maxim Gorky, 1928
• RIA Novosti

The Soviet writer lost due to a devastating review by Heinrich Schük, who noted in Gorky’s work “the evolution from bad May Day rhetoric to direct discrediting of the authorities and agitation against it, and then to Bolshevik ideology.” Later works the writer, according to Shyuk, deserves “absolutely damning criticism.” This became a powerful argument for conservative Swedish academics in favor of Sigrid Undset. In 1933, Maxim Gorky lost to Ivan Bunin, whose novel “The Life of Arsenyev” left no chance for anyone.

Marina Tsvetaeva was subsequently indignant that Gorky was not awarded the prize in 1933: “I’m not protesting, I just don’t agree, because Gorky is incomparably greater than Bunin: greater, and more humane, and more original, and more necessary. Gorky is an era, and Bunin is the end of an era. But - since this is politics, since the King of Sweden cannot pin orders on the communist Gorky...”

"Star" 1965

In 1965, four domestic writers were nominated for the prize: Vladimir Nabokov, Anna Akhmatova, Konstantin Paustovsky and Mikhail Sholokhov.

Vladimir Nabokov was nominated for the award several times in the 1960s for his acclaimed novel Lolita. A member of the Swedish Academy, Anders Österling, spoke of him as follows: “The author of the immoral and successful novel Lolita cannot under any circumstances be considered as a candidate for the prize.”

In 1964 he lost to Sartre, and in 1965 to his former compatriot (Nabokov emigrated from the USSR in 1922. - RT) Mikhail Sholokhov. After its 1965 nomination, the Nobel Committee called Lolita immoral. It is still unknown whether Nabokov was nominated after 1965, but we know that in 1972 Alexander Solzhenitsyn approached the Swedish committee with a request to reconsider the writer's candidacy.

Konstantin Paustovsky was eliminated at the preliminary stage, although Swedish academics spoke well of his “Tale of Life”. Anna Akhmatova competed with Mikhail Sholokhov in the final. Moreover, the Swedish committee proposed dividing the prize between them, arguing that “they write in the same language.” Andreas Esterling, a professor and long-term secretary of the Academy, noted that Anna Akhmatova’s poetry is full of “genuine inspiration.” Despite this, the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1965 was awarded to Mikhail Sholokhov, who was nominated for the seventh time.

• King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden presents Mikhail Sholokhov with an honorary diploma and a Nobel laureate medal
• RIA Novosti

Aldanov and company

In addition to the above nominees, other, no less honored writers and poets were nominated from Russia at different times. For example, in 1923, Konstantin Balmont was nominated along with Maxim Gorky and Ivan Bunin. However, his candidacy was rejected unanimously by the experts as clearly unsuitable.

In 1926, Vladimir Frantsev, a Slavist and literary historian, nominated the white general Pyotr Krasnov for the literature prize. Twice, in 1931 and 1932, the writer Ivan Shmelev applied for the prize.

Since 1938, the writer and publicist Mark Aldanov has been competing for the award for a long time, becoming the record holder for the number of nominations - 12 times. The prose writer was popular among the Russian emigration in France and the USA. IN different years he was nominated by Vladimir Nabokov and Alexander Kerensky. And Ivan Bunin, who became the prize winner in 1933, proposed Aldanov’s candidacy 9 times.

The philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev was nominated four times, the writer Leonid Leonov was nominated for the prize twice, the writer Boris Zaitsev and the author of the novel “The Fall of the Titan” Igor Guzenko, a Soviet defector cryptographer, were nominated once each.

Eduard Epstein

Vladimir Nabokov

The Nobel Prize in Literature is the most prestigious award, which has been awarded annually by the Nobel Foundation for achievements in the field of literature since 1901. A writer who has been awarded the prize appears in the eyes of millions of people as an incomparable talent or genius who, with his creativity, managed to win the hearts of readers from all over the world.

However there is a whole series famous writers who were bypassed by the Nobel Prize for various reasons, but they were no less worthy of it than their fellow laureates, and sometimes even more. Who are they?

LEO TOLSTOY

It is generally accepted that Leo Tolstoy himself refused the prize. In 1901, the first Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the French poet Sully-Prudhomme - although, it would seem, how can one bypass the author of Anna Karenina and War and Peace?

Realizing the awkwardness, Swedish academics shyly turned to Tolstoy, calling him “the deeply revered patriarch of modern literature” and “one of those powerful, soulful poets who in this case should be remembered first of all.” However, they wrote, great writer after all, he himself “never aspired to this kind of reward.” Tolstoy thanked: “I was very pleased that the Nobel Prize was not awarded to me,” he wrote. “This saved me from a great difficulty in disposing of this money, which, like all money, in my opinion, can only bring evil.”

49 Swedish writers, led by August Strindberg and Selma Lagerlöf, wrote a letter of protest to the Nobel academicians. The opinion of the Nobel Committee expert, Professor Alfred Jensen, remained behind the scenes: the philosophy of the late Tolstoy contradicts the will of Alfred Nobel, who dreamed of an “idealistic orientation” in his works. And “War and Peace” is completely “devoid of understanding of history.” The secretary of the Swedish Academy, Karl Wiersen, agreed with this:

“This writer condemned all forms of civilization and insisted in their place on adopting a primitive way of life, divorced from all the institutions of high culture.”

Whether Lev Nikolaevich heard about this or not, in 1906, anticipating another nomination, he asked the academicians to do everything so that he would not have to refuse the prestigious award. They happily agreed and Tolstoy never appeared on the list of Nobel laureates.

VLADIMIR NABOKOV

One of the contenders for the 1963 award was famous writer Vladimir Nabokov, author of the acclaimed novel Lolita. This circumstance became a pleasant surprise for fans of the writer’s work.

The scandalous novel, the subject of which was unthinkable for that time, was published in 1955 by the Parisian publishing house Olympia Press. In the 60s, rumors repeatedly appeared about Vladimir Nabokov’s nomination for the Nobel Prize, but nothing was really clear. A little later it will become known that Nabokov will never receive the Nobel Prize for excessive immorality.

• Nabokov's candidacy was opposed by Anders Oesterling, a permanent member of the Swedish Academy. “Under no circumstances can the author of the immoral and successful novel Lolita be considered a candidate for the prize,” Oesterling wrote in 1963.

In 1972, prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn approached the Swedish committee with a recommendation to consider Nabokov's candidacy. Subsequently, the authors of many publications (in particular the London Times, The Guardian, New York Times) ranked Nabokov among those writers who were undeservedly not included in the lists of nominees.

The writer was nominated in 1974, but lost to two Swedish authors whom no one remembers now. But they turned out to be members of the Nobel Committee. One American critic wittily said: “Nabokov did not receive the Nobel Prize not because he did not deserve it, but because Nabokov did not deserve the Nobel Prize.”

MAXIM GORKY

Since 1918, Maxim Gorky was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 5 times - in 1918, 1923, 1928, 1930 and finally in 1933.

But even in 1933, Nobel passed the writer by. Among the nominees that year, Bunin and Merezhkovsky were again with him. For Bunin, this was the fifth attempt to win the Nobel. She turned out to be successful, unlike the five-time nominees. The award was presented to Ivan Alekseevich Bunin with the wording “For the strict mastery with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose.”

Until the forties, the Russian emigration was concerned with doing everything so that the prize did not go to Gorky and the myth that there was no culture left on the territory of Russia without emigrants would collapse. Both Balmont and Shmelev were nominated as candidates, but Merezhkovsky was especially nervous. The fuss was accompanied by intrigue, Aldanov urged Bunin to agree to a “group” nomination, the three of them, Merezhkovsky persuaded Bunin to enter into an amicable agreement - whoever wins will divide the prize in half. Bunin did not agree, and he did the right thing - the fighter against the “coming boor” Merezhkovsky will soon be soiled by fraternization with Hitler and Mussolini.

And Bunin, by the way, gave part of the prize without any contracts to needy Russian writers (they still got into fights), part was lost in the war, but with the prize Bunin bought a radio receiver, on which he listened to reports of battles on the eastern front - he was worried.

However, it is a fact: even here the Swedish newspapers were perplexed. Gorky has much more merit to Russian and world literature; Bunin is known only to fellow writers and rare connoisseurs. And Marina Tsvetaeva was indignant, by the way, sincerely: “I don’t protest, I just don’t agree, because Gorky is incomparably greater than Bunin: greater, and more humane, and more original, and more necessary. Gorky is an era, and Bunin is the end of an era. But - since this is politics, since the king of Sweden cannot pin orders on the communist Gorky ... "

The angry opinions of experts remained behind the scenes. Having listened to them, back in 1918, academics considered that Gorky, nominated by Romain Rolland, was an anarchist and “without a doubt, in no way fits into the framework of the Nobel Prize.” The Dane H. Pontoppidan was preferred to Gorky (don’t remember who it is, and it doesn’t matter). In the 1930s, the academicians hesitated and came up with the idea that “he is collaborating with the Bolsheviks,” the award will be “misinterpreted.”

ANTON CHEKHOV

Anton Pavlovich, who died in 1904 (the prize has been awarded since 1901), most likely simply did not have time to receive it. By the day of his death, he was known in Russia, but not yet very well in the West. In addition, he is better known there as a playwright. More precisely, in general, he is only known there as a playwright. But the Nobel Committee does not favor playwrights.

...WHO ELSE?

In addition to the above-mentioned Russian writers, among the Russian nominees for the award in different years were Anatoly Koni, Konstantin Balmont, Pyotr Krasnov, Ivan Shmelev, Nikolai Berdyaev, Mark Aldanov, Leonid Leonov, Boris Zaitsev, Roman Yakobson and Evgeny Yevtushenko.

And how many geniuses Russian literature Bulgakov, Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Mandelstam were not even declared among the nominees... Everyone can continue this brilliant series with the names of their favorite writers and poets.

Is it an accident that four out of five Russian writers who became Nobel laureates were in one way or another in conflict with the Soviet regime? Bunin and Brodsky were emigrants, Solzhenitsyn was a dissident, Pasternak received a prize for a novel published abroad. And Sholokhov, who was completely loyal to the Soviet regime, was given a Nobel “for the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia."

• Is it any wonder that in 1955, even the notorious Soviet cryptographer-defector Igor Guzenko, who took up literature in the West, was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

And in 1970, the Nobel Committee had to prove for a long time that the prize was awarded to Alexander Solzhenitsyn not for political reasons, but “for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature.” After all, by that time only eight years had passed since the writer’s first publication, and his main works “The Gulag Archipelago” and “The Red Wheel” had not yet been published.

This is how things are, brothers...

Try to remember which of the great Russian writers and poets was awarded the Nobel Prize? Sholokhov, of course, then Bunin, Pasternak, it seems, and this one, like him, whom, at first, they wanted to bury in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg - next to the emperors, and then, according to his will, they scattered his ashes over the canals in Naples , Well, what’s his name?.. Joseph Brodsky! What an amazing incident, isn't it?! A poet, practically unknown in Russia, not a single line of which was remembered by any of the almost forty (!) fellow journalists I interviewed, suddenly became the laureate of the most prestigious literary prize in the world.

However, why is it surprising? And do not rush to complain about the insufficient literary horizons of Volgograd journalists. There’s really nothing surprising about this award! All this is quite natural. Who now remembers the name of the first Nobel Prize laureate in literature, who received it in December 1901 - the French poet René François Armand Sully-Prudhomme. He is not known, and, I dare say, he has never been known even in his native France. And there are plenty of such, to put it mildly, dubious laureates among the Nobel laureates! But at the same time, Mark Twain, Emile Zola, Ibsen, Chekhov, Oscar Wilde and, of course, Leo Tolstoy lived and worked!

When you get acquainted with the long list of writers noted at various times by the Nobel Committee, you involuntarily catch yourself thinking that you have never heard four names out of every ten. And five of the remaining six are nothing special either. Their “star” works have long been forgotten. The thought naturally comes to mind: it turns out that the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded for some other merit? Judging by the life and work of the same Joseph Brodsky, then yes!

Of course, this simple thought was not the first to come to my mind. After the very first dubious award, public opinion in Sweden and other countries was shocked by the decision of the Nobel Academy. A month after the scandalous award, in January 1902, Leo Tolstoy received a protest address from a group of Swedish writers and artists:

“In view of the award of the Nobel Prize for the first time, we, the undersigned writers, artists and critics of Sweden, want to express our admiration to you. We see in you not only the highly revered patriarch of modern literature, but also one of those powerful, soulful poets, who in this case should be remembered first of all, although you, in your personal judgment, never aspired to this kind of award. We feel the need to address you with this greeting all the more vividly because, in our opinion, the institution that was entrusted with the award of the literary prize does not, in its current composition, represent either the opinion of writers and artists or public opinion. Let them know abroad that even in our remote country the main and most powerful art is considered to be that which rests on freedom of thought and creativity.” This letter was signed by more than forty prominent figures of Swedish literature and art.

Everyone knew: there is only one writer in the world worthy of being the first to receive the world's highest award. And this is the writer Leo Tolstoy. In addition, it was at the turn of the century that the writer’s new brilliant creation was published - the novel “Resurrection,” which Alexander Blok would later call “the testament of the outgoing century to the new.”

On January 24, 1902, an article by the writer August Strindberg appeared in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, stating in it that the majority of members of the Academy “are unscrupulous artisans and amateurs in literature, who for some reason are called upon to administer justice, but the concepts of these gentlemen about art are so They are childishly naive that they call poetry only what is written in verse, preferably in rhyme. And if, for example, Tolstoy became forever famous as a depicter of human destinies, if he is the creator of historical frescoes, then he is not considered a poet by them on the grounds that he did not write poetry!

Another judgment on this matter belongs to the famous Danish literary critic Georg Brandes: “Leo Tolstoy holds first place among modern writers. No one inspires such a sense of reverence as he does! We can say: no one but him inspires a feeling of reverence. When, at the first award of the Nobel Prize, it was given to a noble and subtle, but second-rate poet, all the best Swedish authors sent an address to Leo Tolstoy for their signatures, in which they protested against such an award of this distinction. It went without saying that it should have belonged to only one thing - the great writer of Russia, for whom they unanimously recognized the right to this prize.

Numerous appeals and demands for the restoration of outraged justice forced Tolstoy himself to take up his pen: “Dear and respected brothers! I was very pleased that the Nobel Prize was not awarded to me. Firstly, it saved me from a great difficulty - managing this money, which, like any money, in my conviction, can only bring evil; and secondly, it gave me the honor and great pleasure to receive expressions of sympathy from so many people, although unfamiliar to me, but still deeply respected by me. Please accept, dear brothers, my sincere gratitude and best feelings. Leo Tolstoy."

It would seem that this could be the end of the question?! But no! The whole story received an unexpected continuation.

In 1905, Tolstoy's new work, The Great Sin, was published. This now, unfortunately, almost forgotten, acutely journalistic book told about the difficult lot of the Russian peasantry. Now they don’t remember it also because in this work Tolstoy spoke out in the most categorical form, reasoned and extremely convincingly against private ownership of land. The Russian Academy of Sciences had a completely understandable idea to nominate Leo Tolstoy for the Nobel Prize. In a note compiled for this purpose by outstanding Russian scientists, academicians A.F. Koni, K.K. Arsenyev and N.P. The Kondakovs gave the highest praise to “War and Peace” and “Resurrection”. And in conclusion, on behalf of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences, a wish was expressed to award Tolstoy the Nobel Prize.

This note was also approved by the Department of Fine Literature of the Academy of Sciences - there was such an organizational structure at the Academy at that time. On January 19, 1906, along with a copy of Tolstoy’s “The Great Sin,” the note was sent to Sweden.

As soon as he heard about such a great honor, Tolstoy wrote to the Finnish writer Arvid Ernefeld: “If this happened, I would be very unpleasant to refuse, and therefore I very much ask you, if you have - as I think - any connections in Sweden, try to make sure that I am not awarded this prize. Maybe you know one of the members, maybe you can write to the chairman, asking him not to disclose this, so that they don’t do it. I ask you to do what you can so that they do not award me a bonus and do not put me in a very unpleasant position - to refuse it.”

In fact, the Nobel Prize only partially reflects the true merits to humanity of a particular writer, scientist or politician. Remember my statistics: nine out of ten Nobel laureates in the field of literature were ordinary artisans from literature and did not leave any noticeable mark on it. And only about one or two out of these ten were truly brilliant. So why then were the others given bonuses and honors? In my opinion, only the presence of a genius gave the award to the rest of the very, very dubious company the illusion of authenticity and deservedness.

Apparently, in this most sophisticated way, the Nobel Committee tried and is trying to influence the literary and political preferences of society, the formation of its tastes, affections and, ultimately, neither more nor less, on the worldview of all mankind, on its future.

Remember with what enthusiastic aspiration we all say: So-and-so is a Nobel laureate!!! But the Nobel laureates were not only Zhores Alferov or, say, Pyotr Kapitsa Sr., but also the traitor Gorbachev, Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov - the destroyers and destroyers of our great country. It was for this merit that they became laureates of the Nobel banker prize. So money bags are trying to buy the very soul of the World. Apparently, the great Tolstoy understood this before all of us - he understood, and did not want his name to be used to endorse such a terrible idea.

Why was the Nobel Prize never awarded to Leo Tolstoy? Only for one simple reason. He wouldn't accept her. The old man disdained her!

Andrey CHERKASOV

PRAVDA.Ru