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: stories and stories, retellings folk tales and classical fables, natural history descriptions and reasoning.
Tolstoy strove for extremely simple and precise language. But to the modern child It is difficult to understand even the simplest texts about ancient peasant life.
So what? The works of Leo Tolstoy for children become literary monument and leave Russian children's reading, the basis of which they have been 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.
Children's stories by Leo Tolstoy, illustrated by the Russian artist in exile Natalya Paren-Chelpanova, translated into French were published in Paris by Gallimard in 1936. In the Yasnaya Polyana booklet they are, of course, printed in Russian. There are both stories usually included in modern collections and undisputed in children's reading(“Fire Dogs”, “Kitten”, “Filipok”), and rare, even amazing. 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: literary devices Tolstoy's 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 the story retold in Russian by Leo Tolstoy English fairy tale. 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 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 republished the book with illustrations by Gennady Spirin several times and included it in the New Year's gift collection. This “Filipok” was previously published on English language(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. To 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”, combining 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 in State Museum L. N. Tolstoy on Prechistenka hosted an exhibition of illustrations by Mikhail Bychkov 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 archaic, in today's opinion. But the essential thing about them is this: what is now rare is not game, serious attitude by the way, a simple, but not simplified attitude towards everything around.
Svetlana Malaya
Russian writer and philosopher L.N. Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province, the fourth child in a wealthy aristocratic family. Tolstoy lost his parents early; his further upbringing was carried out by his distant relative T. A. Ergolskaya. In 1844, Tolstoy entered Kazan University at the Department of Oriental Languages of the Faculty of Philosophy, but because... classes did not arouse any interest in him, in 1847. submitted his resignation from the university. At the age of 23, Tolstoy, together with his older brother Nikolai, left for the Caucasus, where he took part in hostilities. These years of the writer's life were reflected in the autobiographical story "Cossacks" (1852-63), in the stories "Raid" (1853), "Cutting Wood" (1855), as well as in the later story "Hadji Murat" (1896-1904, published in 1912). In the Caucasus, Tolstoy began to write the trilogy “Childhood”, “Adolescence”, “Youth”.
During Crimean War went to Sevastopol, where he continued to fight. After the end of the war, he left for St. Petersburg and immediately joined the Sovremennik circle (N. A. Nekrasov, I. S. Turgenev, A. N. Ostrovsky, I. A. Goncharov, etc.), where he was greeted as " the great hope of Russian literature" (Nekrasov), published "Sevastopol Stories", which clearly reflected his outstanding writing talent. In 1857, Tolstoy went on a trip to Europe, which he was later disappointed with.
In the fall of 1856, Tolstoy, having retired, decided to interrupt his literary activity and become a landowner, went to Yasnaya Polyana, where he studied educational work, opened a school, created his own pedagogy system. This activity fascinated Tolstoy so much that in 1860 he even went abroad to get acquainted with the schools of Europe.
In September 1862, Tolstoy married the eighteen-year-old daughter of a doctor, Sofya Andreevna Bers, and immediately after the wedding he took his wife from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana, where he devoted himself completely to family life and economic concerns, but by the autumn of 1863 he was captured by a new literary idea, as a result of which the fundamental work “War and Peace” was born. In 1873-1877 created the novel Anna Karenina. During these same years, the writer’s worldview, known as Tolstoyism, was fully formed, the essence of which is visible in the works: “Confession”, “What is my faith?”, “The Kreutzer Sonata”.
Admirers of the writer’s work came to Yasnaya Polyana from all over Russia and the world, whom they treated as a spiritual mentor. In 1899, the novel “Resurrection” was published.
Latest works The writer's stories were “Father Sergius”, “After the Ball”, “ Posthumous notes Elder Fyodor Kuzmich" and the drama "The Living Corpse".
In the late autumn of 1910, at night, secretly from his family, 82-year-old Tolstoy, accompanied only by his personal doctor D.P. Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana, fell ill on the way and was forced to get off the train at the small Astapovo Ryazan-Uralskaya railway station railway. Here, in the house of the station chief, he spent the last seven days of his life. November 7 (20) Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy died.
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is one of the greatest novelists in the world. He is not only the world's greatest writer, but also a philosopher, religious thinker and educator. You will learn more about all this from this.
But what he really achieved success in was managing personal diary. This habit inspired him to write his novels and stories, and also allowed him to form most of his life goals and priorities.
An interesting fact is that this nuance of Tolstoy’s biography (keeping a diary) was a consequence of imitation of the great.
Hobbies and military service
Naturally, Leo Tolstoy had it. He loved music extremely much. His favorite composers were Bach, Handel and.
From his biography it is clear that sometimes he could play works by Chopin, Mendelssohn and Schumann on the piano for several hours in a row.
It is reliably known that Leo Tolstoy’s elder brother, Nikolai, had a great influence on him. He was a friend and mentor of the future writer.
It was Nikolai who invited his younger brother to join military service in the Caucasus. As a result, Leo Tolstoy became a cadet, and in 1854 he was transferred to, where he participated in the Crimean War until August 1855.
Tolstoy's creativity
During his service, Lev Nikolaevich had quite a lot of free time. During this period he wrote autobiographical story“Childhood”, in which he masterfully described the memories of the first years of his life.
This work became important event to compile his biography.
After this, Leo Tolstoy writes the next story - “Cossacks”, in which he describes his army life in the Caucasus.
Work on this work continued until 1862, and was completed only after serving in the army.
An interesting fact is that Tolstoy did not stop his writing even while participating in the Crimean War.
During this period, the story “Adolescence”, which is a continuation of “Childhood,” as well as “Sevastopol Stories” came out from his pen.
After the end of the Crimean War, Tolstoy left service. Upon arrival home, he already has great fame in the literary field.
His outstanding contemporaries talk about a major acquisition for Russian literature in the person of Tolstoy.
While still young, Tolstoy was distinguished by arrogance and stubbornness, which is clearly visible in his. He refused to belong to one or another school of thought, and once publicly called himself an anarchist, after which he decided to leave for Russia in 1857.
He soon developed an interest in gambling. But it didn't last long. When he lost all his savings, he had to return home from Europe.
Leo Tolstoy in his youth By the way, a passion for gambling is observed in the biographies of many writers.
Despite all the difficulties, he writes the last, third part of his autobiographical trilogy"Youth". This happened in the same 1857.
Since 1862, Tolstoy began publishing the pedagogical magazine Yasnaya Polyana, where he himself was the main employee. However, not having the vocation of a publisher, Tolstoy managed to publish only 12 issues.
Leo Tolstoy's family
September 23, 1862 in the biography of Tolstoy occurs sharp turn: he marries Sofya Andreevna Bers, who was the daughter of a doctor. From this marriage 9 sons and 4 daughters were born. Five of the thirteen children died in childhood.
When the wedding took place, Sofya Andreevna was only 18 years old, and Count Tolstoy was 34 years old. An interesting fact is that before his marriage Tolstoy admitted future wife in their premarital affairs.
Leo Tolstoy with his wife Sofia Andreevna For some time, the brightest period began in Tolstoy’s biography.
He is truly happy, largely thanks to the practicality of his wife, material wealth, outstanding literary creativity and in connection with it all-Russian and even worldwide fame.
In his wife, Tolstoy found an assistant in all matters, practical and literary. In the absence of the secretary, it was she who rewrote his drafts several times.
However, very soon their happiness is overshadowed by inevitable minor disagreements, fleeting quarrels and mutual misunderstandings, which only worsen over the years.
The fact is that Leo Tolstoy proposed a kind of “life plan” for his family, according to which he intended to give part of the family income to the poor and schools.
He wanted to significantly simplify his family’s lifestyle (food and clothing), while he intended to sell and distribute “everything unnecessary”: pianos, furniture, carriages.
Tolstoy with his family at a tea table in the park, 1892, Yasnaya Polyana Naturally, his wife, Sofya Andreevna, was clearly not happy with such an ambiguous plan. Because of this, their first serious conflict broke out, which served as the beginning of an “undeclared war” to ensure the future of their children.
In 1892, Tolstoy signed a separate deed and, not wanting to be the owner, transferred all the property to his wife and children.
It must be said that Tolstoy’s biography is in many ways unusually contradictory precisely because of his relationship with his wife, with whom he lived for 48 years.
Works of Tolstoy
Tolstoy is one of the most prolific writers. His works are large-scale not only in volume, but also in the meanings that he touches on in them.
Most popular works Tolstoy's "War and Peace", "Anna Karenina" and "Resurrection" are considered.
"War and Peace"
In the 1860s, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and his entire family lived in Yasnaya Polyana. It was here that his most famous novel, War and Peace, was born.
Initially, part of the novel was published in “Russian Bulletin” under the title “1805”.
After 3 years, 3 more chapters appear, thanks to which the novel was completely finished. He was destined to become the most outstanding creative result in Tolstoy's biography.
Both critics and the public debated the work “War and Peace” for a long time. The subject of their disputes was the wars described in the book.
Thoughtful but still fictional characters were also hotly debated.
Tolstoy in 1868 The novel also became interesting because it presented 3 informative satirical essays about the laws of history.
Among all other ideas, Leo Tolstoy tried to convey to the reader that a person’s position in society and the meaning of his life are derivatives of his daily activities.
"Anna Karenina"
After Tolstoy wrote War and Peace, he began work on his second, no less famous novel"Anna Karenina".
The writer contributed many autobiographical essays to it. This can be easily seen by looking at the relationship between Kitty and Levin, the main characters in Anna Karenina.
The work was published in parts between 1873-1877, and was very highly appreciated by both critics and society. Many have noticed that Anna Karenina is practically an autobiography of Tolstoy, written in the third person.
For his next work, Lev Nikolaevich received fabulous fees for those times.
"Resurrection"
In the late 1880s, Tolstoy wrote the novel “Resurrection.” Its plot was based on a true court case. It is in “Resurrection” that the author’s sharp views on church rituals are clearly outlined.
By the way, this work became one of the reasons that led to a complete break between the Orthodox Church and Count Tolstoy.
Tolstoy and religion
Despite the fact that the works described above were a colossal success, it did not bring any joy to the writer.
He was in depressed state and experienced deep inner emptiness.
Due to this, the next stage Tolstoy's biography became a continuous, almost convulsive search for the meaning of life.
Initially, Lev Nikolaevich looked for answers to his questions in the Orthodox Church, but this did not bring him any results.
Over time, he began to criticize in every possible way both the Orthodox Church itself and the Christian religion in general. He began to publish his thoughts on these pressing issues in the publication “Mediator”.
His main position was that Christian teaching good, but Jesus Christ himself seems to be unnecessary. That is why he decided to make his own translation of the Gospel.
In general, Tolstoy's religious views were extremely complex and confusing. It was some incredible mixture of Christianity and Buddhism, seasoned with various Eastern beliefs.
In 1901, the Holy Governing Synod issued a ruling on Count Leo Tolstoy.
This was a decree that officially announced that Leo Tolstoy was no longer a member of the Orthodox Church, since his publicly expressed beliefs were incompatible with such membership.
The definition of the Holy Synod is sometimes mistakenly interpreted as excommunication (anathema) of Tolstoy from the church.
Copyrights and conflict with my wife
In connection with his new convictions, Leo Tolstoy wanted to give away all his savings and give up his own property in favor of the poor. However, his wife, Sofya Andreevna, expressed a categorical protest in this regard.
In this regard, a major family crisis emerged in Tolstoy’s biography. When Sofya Andreevna found out that her husband had publicly renounced the copyright to all his works (which, in fact, was their main source of income), they began to have fierce conflicts.
From Tolstoy's diary:
“She does not understand, and the children do not understand, spending money, that everyone they live and make money from books is suffering, my shame. It may be a shame, but why weaken the effect that the preaching of the truth could have.”
Of course, it is not difficult to understand Lev Nikolaevich’s wife. After all, they had 9 children, whom he, by and large, left without a livelihood.
Pragmatic, rational and active Sofya Andreevna could not allow this to happen.
Ultimately, Tolstoy drew up a formal will, transferring the rights to his youngest daughter, Alexandra Lvovna, who fully sympathized with his views.
At the same time, an explanatory note was attached to the will that in fact these texts should not become anyone’s property, and V.G. would assume the authority to monitor the processes. Chertkov is a faithful follower and student of Tolstoy, who was supposed to take all the writer’s works, right down to the drafts.
Tolstoy's later work
Tolstoy's later works were realistic fiction, as well as stories filled with moral content.
In 1886, one of Tolstoy’s most famous stories appeared, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.”
Her main character realizes that he wasted most of his life, and the realization came too late.
In 1898 Lev Nikolaevich wrote no less famous work"Father Sergius." In it, he criticized his own beliefs that appeared to him after his spiritual rebirth.
The rest of the works are devoted to the theme of art. These include the play “The Living Corpse” (1890) and the brilliant story “Hadji Murat” (1904).
In 1903 Tolstoy wrote short story, which is called “After the Ball.” It was published only in 1911, after the death of the writer.
last years of life
The last years of his biography, Leo Tolstoy was better known as a religious leader and moral authority. His thoughts were aimed at resisting evil using a non-violent method.
During his lifetime, Tolstoy became an idol for the majority. However, despite all his achievements, there were serious flaws in his family life, which became especially aggravated in old age.
Leo Tolstoy with his grandchildren The writer's wife, Sofya Andreevna, did not agree with her husband's views and disliked some of his followers who often came to Yasnaya Polyana.
She said: “How can you love humanity and hate those who are next to you.”
All this could not last long.
In the fall of 1910, Tolstoy, accompanied only by his doctor D.P. Makovitsky leaves Yasnaya Polyana forever. However, he did not have any specific plan of action.
Death of Tolstoy
However, on the way, L.N. Tolstoy felt unwell. First he caught a cold, and then the illness turned into pneumonia, due to which he had to interrupt the trip and take the sick Lev Nikolaevich out of the train at the first large station near the settlement.
This station was Astapovo (now Leo Tolstoy, Lipetsk region).
Rumors about the writer’s illness instantly spread throughout the entire surrounding area and far beyond its borders. Six doctors tried in vain to save the great old man: the disease progressed inexorably.
On November 7, 1910, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy died at the age of 83. He was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.
“I sincerely regret the death of the great writer, who, during the heyday of his talent, embodied in his works the images of one of the glorious times of Russian life. May the Lord God be his merciful judge.”
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Classic Russian literature Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 into the noble family of Nikolai Tolstoy and his wife Maria Nikolaevna. The father and mother of the future writer were nobles and belonged to revered families, so the family lived comfortably in their own Yasnaya Polyana estate, located in the Tula region.
Leo Tolstoy spent his childhood in the family estate. In these places he first saw the course of life of the working people, heard an abundance of old legends, parables, fairy tales, and here his first attraction to literature arose. Yasnaya Polyana is a place to which the writer returned at all stages of his life, drawing wisdom, beauty, and inspiration.
Despite noble birth Since childhood, Tolstoy had to learn the bitterness of orphanhood, because the mother of the future writer died when the boy was only two years old. His father passed away not much later, when Leo was seven years old. The grandmother first took custody of the children, and after her death, Aunt Palageya Yushkova, who took the four children of the Tolstoy family with her to Kazan.
Growing up
The six years of living in Kazan became the informal years of the writer’s growing up, because during this time his character and worldview were formed. In 1844, Leo Tolstoy entered Kazan University, first to the eastern department, then, not finding himself in the study of Arabic and Turkish, to the Faculty of Law.
The writer did not show significant interest in studying law, but he understood the need to obtain a diploma. After passing the external exams, in 1847 Lev Nikolaevich received the long-awaited document and returned to Yasnaya Polyana, and then to Moscow, where he began to engage in literary creativity.
Military service
Not having time to finish two planned stories, in the spring of 1851 Tolstoy went to the Caucasus with his brother Nikolai and began military service. A young writer takes part in combat operations Russian army, acts among the defenders Crimean peninsula, frees native land from Turkish and Anglo-French troops. Years of service gave Leo Tolstoy invaluable experience, knowledge of the life of ordinary soldiers and citizens, their characters, heroism, and aspirations.
The years of service are clearly reflected in Tolstoy’s stories “Cossacks”, “Hadji Murat”, as well as in the stories “Demoted”, “Cutting Wood”, “Raid”.
Literary and social activities
Returning to St. Petersburg in 1855, Leo Tolstoy was already well-known in literary circles. Remembering the respectful attitude towards serfs in his father’s house, the writer strongly supports the abolition of serfdom, clarifying this question in the stories “Polikushka”, “Morning of the Landowner”, etc.
In an effort to see the world, in 1857 Lev Nikolaevich went on a trip abroad, visiting countries Western Europe. Getting acquainted with cultural traditions peoples, the master of words records information in his memory in order to later display the most important points in his creativity.
Actively engaged social activities, Tolstoy opens a school in Yasnaya Polyana. The writer criticizes in every possible way Physical punishment, which were widely practiced at that time in educational institutions Europe and Russia. In order to improve the educational system, Lev Nikolaevich publishes a pedagogical magazine called “Yasnaya Polyana”, and in the early 70s he compiled several textbooks for junior schoolchildren, including “Arithmetic”, “ABC”, “Books to Read”. These developments were effectively used in teaching several more generations of children.
Personal life and creativity
In 1862, the writer cast his lot with the daughter of doctor Andrei Bers, Sophia. The young family settled in Yasnaya Polyana, where Sofya Andreevna diligently tried to provide an atmosphere for literary work husband. At this time, Leo Tolstoy was actively working on the creation of the epic “War and Peace”, and also, reflecting life in Russia after the reform, wrote the novel “Anna Karenina”.
In the 80s, Tolstoy moved with his family to Moscow, seeking to educate his growing children. Watching the hungry life ordinary people, Lev Nikolaevich contributes to the opening of about 200 free tables for those in need. Also at this time, the writer published a number of topical articles about the famine, strongly condemning the policies of the rulers.
The period of literature of the 80-90s includes: the story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, the drama “The Power of Darkness”, the comedy “Fruits of Enlightenment”, the novel “Sunday”. For his strong attitude against religion and autocracy, Leo Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church.
last years of life
In 1901 - 1902 the writer became seriously ill. With the aim of get well soon the doctor strongly recommends a trip to Crimea, where Leo Tolstoy spends six months. Last trip the prose writer to Moscow took place in 1909.
Beginning in 1881, the writer strives to leave Yasnaya Polyana and retire, but remains, not wanting to hurt his wife and children. On October 28, 1910, Leo Tolstoy nevertheless decided to take a conscious step and live the rest of his years in a simple hut, refusing all honors.
An unexpected illness on the road becomes an obstacle to the writer’s plans and he spends his last seven days of life in the house of the station master. The day of death of an outstanding literary and public figure became November 20, 1910.
Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in the Tula province (Russia) into a family belonging to the noble class. In the 1860s, he wrote his first great novel, War and Peace. In 1873, Tolstoy began work on the second of his most famous books, Anna Karenina.
He continued to write fiction throughout the 1880s and 1890s. One of his most successful later works is “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.” Tolstoy died on November 20, 1910 in Astapovo, Russia.
First years of life
On September 9, 1828, the future writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born in Yasnaya Polyana (Tula province, Russia). He was the fourth child in a large noble family. In 1830, when Tolstoy's mother, née Princess Volkonskaya, died, his father's cousin took over the care of the children. Their father, Count Nikolai Tolstoy, died seven years later, and their aunt was appointed guardian. After the death of his aunt, Leo Tolstoy, his brothers and sisters moved to their second aunt in Kazan. Although Tolstoy experienced many losses in early age, he later idealized his childhood memories in his work.
It is important to note that elementary education in Tolstoy's biography, he received lessons at home from French and German teachers. In 1843 he entered the Faculty of Oriental Languages at the Imperial Kazan University. Tolstoy failed to succeed in his studies - low grades forced him to transfer to an easier law faculty. Further difficulties in his studies led Tolstoy to eventually leave the Imperial Kazan University in 1847 without a degree. He returned to his parents' estate, where he planned to start farming. However, this endeavor also ended in failure - he was absent too often, leaving for Tula and Moscow. What he really excelled at was keeping his own diary - it was this lifelong habit that inspired much of Leo Tolstoy's writing.
Tolstoy was fond of music; his favorite composers were Schumann, Bach, Chopin, Mozart, and Mendelssohn. Lev Nikolaevich could play their works for several hours a day.
One day, Tolstoy’s elder brother, Nikolai, during his army leave, came to visit Lev, and convinced his brother to join the army as a cadet in the south, in the Caucasus mountains, where he served. After serving as a cadet, Leo Tolstoy was transferred to Sevastopol in November 1854, where he fought in the Crimean War until August 1855.
Early publications
During his years as a cadet in the army, Tolstoy had a lot of free time. During quiet periods, he worked on an autobiographical story called Childhood. In it, he wrote about his favorite childhood memories. In 1852, Tolstoy sent a story to Sovremennik, the most popular magazine of the time. The story was happily accepted, and it became Tolstoy's first publication. From that time on, critics put him on a par with already famous writers, among whom were Ivan Turgenev (with whom Tolstoy became friends), Ivan Goncharov, Alexander Ostrovsky and others.
After completing his story “Childhood,” Tolstoy began writing about his daily life at an army outpost in the Caucasus. The work “Cossacks”, which he began during his army years, was completed only in 1862, after he had already left the army.
Surprisingly, Tolstoy managed to continue writing while actively fighting in the Crimean War. During this time he wrote Boyhood (1854), a sequel to Childhood, the second book in Tolstoy's autobiographical trilogy. At the height of the Crimean War, Tolstoy expressed his views on the startling contradictions of the war through a trilogy of works, Sevastopol Tales. In the second book " Sevastopol stories", Tolstoy experimented with a relatively new technique: part of the story is presented as a narration from the point of view of a soldier.
After the end of the Crimean War, Tolstoy left the army and returned to Russia. Arriving home, the author enjoyed great popularity on the literary scene of St. Petersburg.
Stubborn and arrogant, Tolstoy refused to belong to any particular school of philosophy. Declaring himself an anarchist, he left for Paris in 1857. Once there, he lost all his money and was forced to return home to Russia. He also managed to publish Youth, the third part of an autobiographical trilogy, in 1857.
Returning to Russia in 1862, Tolstoy published the first of 12 issues of the thematic magazine Yasnaya Polyana. That same year he married the daughter of a doctor named Sofya Andreevna Bers.
Major novels
Living in Yasnaya Polyana with his wife and children, Tolstoy spent much of the 1860s working on his first famous novel"War and Peace". Part of the novel was first published in “Russian Bulletin” in 1865 under the title “1805”. By 1868 he had published three more chapters. A year later, the novel was completely finished. Both critics and the public argued about historical justice Napoleonic Wars in the novel, combined with the development of stories that are thoughtful and realistic, but still fictional characters. The novel is also unique in that it includes three long satirical essays on the laws of history. Among the ideas that Tolstoy also tries to convey in this novel is the belief that a person’s position in society and the meaning human life are mainly derivatives of his daily activities.
After the success of War and Peace in 1873, Tolstoy began work on the second of his most famous books, Anna Karenina. It was partly based on real events during the war between Russia and Turkey. Like War and Peace, this book describes some biographical events from the life of Tolstoy himself, this is especially noticeable in romantic relationships between the characters Kitty and Levin, which is said to be reminiscent of Tolstoy's courtship of his own wife.
The first lines of the book “Anna Karenina” are among the most famous: “Everyone happy families are similar to each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Anna Karenina was published in installments from 1873 to 1877, and was highly acclaimed by the public. The royalties received for the novel quickly enriched the writer.
Conversion
Despite the success of Anna Karenina, after the completion of the novel Tolstoy experienced spiritual crisis and was depressed. The next stage of Leo Tolstoy's biography is characterized by the search for the meaning of life. The writer first turned to the Russian Orthodox Church, but did not find answers to his questions there. He concluded that Christian churches were corrupt and, instead of organized religion, promoted their own beliefs. He decided to express these beliefs by founding a new publication in 1883 called The Mediator.
As a result, for his unconventional and controversial spiritual beliefs, Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church. He was even watched by the secret police. When Tolstoy, driven by his new conviction, wanted to give away all his money and give up everything unnecessary, his wife was categorically against this. Not wanting to escalate the situation, Tolstoy reluctantly agreed to a compromise: he transferred the copyright and, apparently, all royalties on his work until 1881 to his wife.
Late fiction
In addition to his religious treatises, Tolstoy continued to write fiction throughout the 1880s and 1890s. Among the genres of his later works were moral stories and realistic fiction. One of the most successful of his later works was the story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” written in 1886. Main character struggling to fight the death hanging over him. In short, Ivan Ilyich is horrified by the realization that he wasted his life on trifles, but this realization comes to him too late.
In 1898, Tolstoy wrote the story “Father Sergius”, piece of art, in which he criticizes the beliefs he developed after his spiritual transformation. The following year he wrote his third voluminous novel, Resurrection. Got the job good feedback, but it is unlikely that this success corresponded to the level of recognition of his previous novels. Other late works Tolstoy are essays about art, this satirical play entitled “The Living Corpse,” written in 1890, and a story called “Hadji Murat” (1904), which was discovered and published after his death. In 1903 Tolstoy wrote short story“After the Ball,” which was first published after his death, in 1911.
Old age
During it later years, Tolstoy reaped the benefits of international recognition. However, he still struggled to reconcile his spiritual beliefs with the tensions he created in his family life. His wife not only did not agree with his teachings, she did not approve of his students, who regularly visited Tolstoy on the family estate. In an effort to avoid his wife's growing discontent, Tolstoy and his youngest daughter Alexandra went on pilgrimage in October 1910. Alexandra was the doctor for her elderly father during the trip. Trying not to expose their private lives, they traveled incognito, hoping to evade unnecessary questions, but sometimes this was to no avail.
Death and legacy
Unfortunately, the pilgrimage proved too onerous for the aging writer. In November 1910, the head of a small railway station Astapovo opened the doors of his house for Tolstoy so that the sick writer could rest. Shortly after this, on November 20, 1910, Tolstoy died. He was buried in the family estate, Yasnaya Polyana, where Tolstoy lost so many people close to him.
To this day, Tolstoy's novels are considered one of the best achievements literary art. “War and Peace” is often cited as greatest novel ever written. In the modern scientific community, Tolstoy is widely recognized as having a gift for describing the unconscious motives of character, the subtlety of which he championed by emphasizing the role of everyday actions in determining the character and goals of people.
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