1. "To love and be so happy"
2. “Be content with little and do good to others”

Lev Tolstoy is one of the most famous writers and philosophers in the world. His views and beliefs formed the basis of an entire religious and philosophical movement called Tolstoyism. Literary heritage The writer's collection included 90 volumes of artistic and journalistic works, diary notes and letters, and he himself was more than once nominated for Nobel Prize in Literature and the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Do everything that you have determined to be done.”

Family tree of Leo Tolstoy. Image: regnum.ru

Silhouette of Maria Tolstoy (nee Volkonskaya), mother of Leo Tolstoy. 1810s. Image: wikipedia.org

Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in the Yasnaya Polyana estate in the Tula province. He was the fourth child in a large noble family. Tolstoy was orphaned early. His mother died when he was not yet two years old, and at the age of nine he lost his father. Aunt Alexandra Osten-Saken became the guardian of Tolstoy's five children. The two older children moved to their aunt in Moscow, while the younger ones remained in Yasnaya Polyana. The most important and dear memories are associated with the family estate. early childhood Lev Tolstoy.

In 1841, Alexandra Osten-Sacken died, and the Tolstoys moved to their aunt Pelageya Yushkova in Kazan. Three years after moving, Leo Tolstoy decided to enter the prestigious Imperial Kazan University. However, he did not like studying; he considered exams a formality, and university professors as incompetent. Tolstoy did not even try to get a scientific degree; in Kazan he was more attracted to secular entertainment.

In April 1847 student life Leo Tolstoy is over. He inherited his part of the estate, including his beloved Yasnaya Polyana, and immediately went home without receiving higher education. On the family estate, Tolstoy tried to improve his life and start writing. He drew up his education plan: to study languages, history, medicine, mathematics, geography, law, Agriculture, natural Sciences. However, he soon came to the conclusion that it is easier to make plans than to implement them.

Tolstoy's asceticism was often replaced by carousing and card games. Wanting to start the right life, in his opinion, he created a daily routine. But he didn’t follow it either, and in his diary he again noted his dissatisfaction with himself. All these failures prompted Leo Tolstoy to change his lifestyle. An opportunity presented itself in April 1851: the elder brother Nikolai arrived in Yasnaya Polyana. At that time he served in the Caucasus, where there was a war. Leo Tolstoy decided to join his brother and went with him to a village on the banks of the Terek River.

Leo Tolstoy served on the outskirts of the empire for almost two and a half years. He whiled away his time by hunting, playing cards, and occasionally participating in raids into enemy territory. Tolstoy liked such a solitary and monotonous life. It was in the Caucasus that the story “Childhood” was born. While working on it, the writer found a source of inspiration that remained important to him until the end of his life: he used his own memories and experiences.

In July 1852, Tolstoy sent the manuscript of the story to the Sovremennik magazine and attached a letter: “...I look forward to your verdict. He will either encourage me to continue my favorite activities, or force me to burn everything I started.”. Editor Nikolai Nekrasov liked the work of the new author, and soon “Childhood” was published in the magazine. Inspired by the first success, the writer soon began the continuation of “Childhood”. In 1854, he published a second story, “Adolescence” in the Sovremennik magazine.

“The main thing is literary works”

Leo Tolstoy in his youth. 1851. Image: school-science.ru

Lev Tolstoy. 1848. Image: regnum.ru

Lev Tolstoy. Image: old.orlovka.org.ru

At the end of 1854, Leo Tolstoy arrived in Sevastopol - the epicenter of military operations. Being in the thick of things, he created the story “Sevastopol in December.” Although Tolstoy was unusually frank in describing battle scenes, the first Sevastopol story was deeply patriotic and glorified the bravery of Russian soldiers. Soon Tolstoy began working on his second story, “Sevastopol in May.” By that time, there was nothing left of his pride in the Russian army. The horror and shock that Tolstoy experienced on the front line and during the siege of the city greatly influenced his work. Now he wrote about the meaninglessness of death and the inhumanity of war.

In 1855, from the ruins of Sevastopol, Tolstoy traveled to sophisticated St. Petersburg. The success of the first Sevastopol story gave him a sense of purpose: “My career is literature - writing and writing! Starting tomorrow I work all my life or give up everything, rules, religion, decency - everything.”. In the capital, Leo Tolstoy finished “Sevastopol in May” and wrote “Sevastopol in August 1855” - these essays completed the trilogy. And in November 1856, the writer finally left military service.

Thanks to true stories about the Crimean War, Tolstoy entered the St. Petersburg literary circle magazine "Contemporary". During this period, he wrote the story “Blizzard”, the story “Two Hussars”, and finished the trilogy with the story “Youth”. However, after some time, relations with the writers from the circle deteriorated: “These people disgusted me, and I disgusted myself.”. To unwind, at the beginning of 1857 Leo Tolstoy went abroad. He visited Paris, Rome, Berlin, Dresden: he met famous works art, met artists, observed how people live in European cities. The journey did not inspire Tolstoy: he created the story “Lucerne”, in which he described his disappointment.

Leo Tolstoy at work. Image: kartinkinaden.ru

Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana. Image: kartinkinaden.ru

Leo Tolstoy tells a fairy tale to his grandchildren Ilyusha and Sonya. 1909. Krekshino. Photo: Vladimir Chertkov / wikipedia.org

In the summer of 1857, Tolstoy returned to Yasnaya Polyana. At his native estate, he continued to work on the story “Cossacks”, and also wrote the story “Three Deaths” and the novel “Family Happiness”. In his diary, Tolstoy defined his purpose for himself at that time: "Main - literary works, then - family responsibilities, then - farming... And so to live for yourself - according to good deed a day and that's enough".

In 1899, Tolstoy wrote the novel Resurrection. In this work the writer criticized judicial system, army, government. The contempt with which Tolstoy described the institution of the church in the novel “Resurrection” provoked a response. In February 1901, in the journal Tserkovnye Vedomosti, the Holy Synod published a resolution excommunicating Count Leo Tolstoy from the church. This decision only increased Tolstoy's popularity and attracted the public's attention to the writer's ideals and beliefs.

Literary and social activity Tolstoy became known abroad. The writer was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902 and 1909 and for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1902–1906. Tolstoy himself did not want to receive the award and even told the Finnish writer Arvid Järnefelt to try to prevent the award from being awarded because, “if this happened... it would be very unpleasant to refuse” “He [Chertkov] took the unfortunate old man into his hands in every possible way, he separated us, he killed the artistic spark in Lev Nikolaevich and kindled condemnation, hatred, denial, which can be felt in Lev Nikolaevich’s recent articles years, which his stupid evil genius egged him on".

Tolstoy himself was burdened by the life of a landowner and family man. He sought to bring his life into line with his beliefs and in early November 1910 secretly left the Yasnaya Polyana estate. The road turned out to be too much for the elderly man: on the way he became seriously ill and was forced to stay in the caretaker’s house railway station Astapovo. Here the writer spent last days own life. Leo Tolstoy died on November 20, 1910. The writer was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.

“The world, perhaps, did not know another artist in whom the eternally epic, Homeric principle would be as strong as Tolstoy. The element of the epic lives in his works, its majestic monotony and rhythm, similar to the measured breath of the sea, its tart, powerful freshness , its burning spice, indestructible health, indestructible realism"

Thomas Mann

Not far from Moscow, in the Tula province, there is a small noble estate, the name of which is known throughout the world. This Yasnaya Polyana, one of the great geniuses of mankind, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, was born, lived and worked. Tolstoy was born on August 28, 1828 into an old noble family. His father was a count, a participant in the War of 1812, and a retired colonel.
Biography

Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in the Yasnaya Polyana estate in the Tula province in the family of a landowner. Tolstoy's parents belonged to the highest nobility; even under Peter I, Tolstoy's paternal ancestors received the title of count. Lev Nikolaevich's parents died early, leaving him only with a sister and three brothers. Tolstoy's aunt, who lived in Kazan, took custody of the children. The whole family moved in with her.

In 1844, Lev Nikolaevich entered the university at the oriental faculty, and then studied law. Tolstoy knew more than fifteen foreign languages still at 19 years old. He was seriously interested in history and literature. His studies at the university did not last long; Lev Nikolaevich left the university and returned home to Yasnaya Polyana. Soon he decides to leave for Moscow and devote himself to literary activity. His older brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich, leaves for the Caucasus, where the war was going on, as an artillery officer. Following the example of his brother, Lev Nikolaevich enlists in the army, receives an officer rank and goes to the Caucasus. During the Crimean War, L. Tolstoy was transferred to the active Danube Army, fighting in besieged Sevastopol, commanding a battery. Tolstoy was awarded the Order of Anna ("For Bravery"), medals "For the Defense of Sevastopol", "In Memory of the War of 1853-1856".

In 1856, Lev Nikolaevich retired. After some time, he goes abroad (France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany).

Since 1859, Lev Nikolaevich has been actively involved in educational activities, opening a school for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana, and then promoting the opening of schools throughout the district, publishing the pedagogical magazine "Yasnaya Polyana". Tolstoy became seriously interested in pedagogy and studied foreign teaching methods. In order to deepen his knowledge in pedagogy, he went abroad again in 1860.

After the abolition of serfdom, Tolstoy actively participated in resolving disputes between landowners and peasants, acting as a mediator. For his activities, Lev Nikolaevich gains a reputation as an unreliable person, as a result of which a search was carried out in Yasnaya Polyana in order to find a secret printing house. Tolstoy's school is closing, continued pedagogical activity becomes almost impossible. By this time, Lev Nikolaevich had already written the famous trilogy “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth.”, the story “Cossacks”, as well as many stories and articles. “Sevastopol Stories” occupied a special place in his work, in which the author conveyed his impressions of the Crimean War.

In 1862, Lev Nikolaevich married Sofya Andreevna Bers, the daughter of a doctor who became a long years his faithful friend and assistant. Sofya Andreevna took on all the household chores, and in addition, she became her husband’s editor and his first reader. Tolstoy's wife manually rewrote all of his novels before sending them to the editor. It is enough to imagine how difficult it was to prepare War and Peace for publication to appreciate the dedication of this woman.

In 1873, Lev Nikolaevich finished work on Anna Karenina. By this time, Count Leo Tolstoy became a famous writer who received recognition, corresponded with many literary critics and authors, and actively participated in public life.

In the late 70s - early 80s, Lev Nikolaevich was experiencing a serious spiritual crisis, trying to rethink the changes taking place in society and determine his position as a citizen. Tolstoy decides that it is necessary to take care of the well-being and education of the common people, that a nobleman has no right to be happy when the peasants are in distress. He is trying to start changes from his own estate, from restructuring his attitude towards the peasants. Tolstoy's wife insists on moving to Moscow, since the children need to receive a good education. From this moment, conflicts began in the family, as Sofya Andreevna tried to ensure the future of her children, and Lev Nikolaevich believed that the nobility was over and the time had come to live modestly, like the entire Russian people.

During these years Tolstoy wrote philosophical works, articles, participates in the creation of the publishing house "Posrednik", which dealt with books for common people, writes the stories “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, “The History of a Horse”, “The Kreutzer Sonata”.

In 1889 - 1899, Tolstoy completed the novel "Resurrection".

At the end of his life, Lev Nikolaevich finally decides to break ties with the wealthy life of the nobility, engages in charity work, education, and changes the order of his estate, giving freedom to the peasants. Such life position Lev Nikolaevich became the cause of serious domestic conflicts and quarrels with his wife, who looked at life differently. Sofya Andreevna was worried about the future of her children and was against Lev Nikolaevich’s unreasonable spending, from her point of view. The quarrels became more and more serious, Tolstoy more than once made an attempt to leave home forever, the children experienced conflicts very hard. The former mutual understanding in the family disappeared. Sofya Andreevna tried to stop her husband, but then the conflicts escalated into attempts to divide property, as well as ownership rights to the works of Lev Nikolaevich.

Finally, on November 10, 1910, Tolstoy leaves his home in Yasnaya Polyana and leaves. He soon falls ill with pneumonia, is forced to stop at Astapovo station (now Lev Tolstoy station) and dies there on November 23.

Control questions:
1. Tell the biography of the writer, mentioning exact dates.
2. Explain the connection between the writer’s biography and his work.
3. Summarize his biographical data and determine his features
creative heritage.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Biography

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy(August 28 (September 9) 1828, Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province, Russian empire- November 7 (20), 1910, Astapovo station, Ryazan province, Russian Empire) - one of the most widely known Russian writers and thinkers, revered as one of the greatest writers in the world.

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. Participant Patriotic War 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. Studied Turkish and Tatar languages from the famous Turkologist Professor Kazembek. In his mature years, the writer was fluent in English, French and German languages; 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 got carried away independent work over 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 activity 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 Caucasian War 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 did it start Crimean War, Tolstoy was transferred from the Caucasus to the Danube Army, operating against the Turks, and then to Sevastopol, 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 creative path 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 studied materials about Peter I and his time for several years. 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 by name main character- "Anna Karenina".
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 was in the journalistic genre, but included art scenes and paintings, saturated with elements of figurativeness, will take great 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 expressive means 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"), and "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 his cycle, is based on social and psychological contrast. folk stories, written in the 80s. 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 ​​an inevitable and close in time “denouement” social contradictions, about replacing an outdated 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 last novel in the writer's work.
At the beginning of 1900 Tolstoy was excommunicated by the Holy Synod Orthodox Church.
IN last decade During his lifetime, 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.” Her hero is kindest soul, soft, 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 and takes his own 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 sharply. 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.

Count Leo Tolstoy, a classic of Russian and world literature, is called a master of psychologism, the creator of the epic novel genre, an original thinker and teacher of life. Works brilliant writer- Russia's greatest asset.

In August 1828, a classic was born on the Yasnaya Polyana estate in the Tula province Russian literature. Future author"War and Peace" became the fourth child in a family of eminent nobles. On his father's side, he belonged to the old family of Count Tolstoy, who served and. On the maternal side, Lev Nikolaevich is a descendant of the Ruriks. It is noteworthy that Leo Tolstoy also has a common ancestor - Admiral Ivan Mikhailovich Golovin.

Lev Nikolayevich’s mother, nee Princess Volkonskaya, died of childbirth fever after the birth of her daughter. At that time, Lev was not even two years old. Seven years later, the head of the family, Count Nikolai Tolstoy, died.

Caring for the children fell on the shoulders of the writer’s aunt, T. A. Ergolskaya. Later, the second aunt, Countess A. M. Osten-Sacken, became the guardian of the orphaned children. After her death in 1840, the children moved to Kazan, to a new guardian - their father’s sister P. I. Yushkova. The aunt influenced her nephew, and the writer called his childhood in her house, which was considered the most cheerful and hospitable in the city, happy. Later, Leo Tolstoy described his impressions of life at the Yushkov estate in his story “Childhood.”

Silhouette and portrait of Leo Tolstoy's parents

Elementary education the classic received at home from German and French teachers. In 1843, Leo Tolstoy entered Kazan University, choosing the Faculty of Oriental Languages. Soon, due to low academic performance, he transferred to another faculty - law. But he did not succeed here either: after two years he left the university without receiving a degree.

Lev Nikolaevich returned to Yasnaya Polyana, wanting to establish relations with the peasants in a new way. The idea failed, but the young man regularly kept a diary, loved social entertainment and became interested in music. Tolstoy listened for hours, and...

Disillusioned with the life of the landowner after spending the summer in the village, 20-year-old Leo Tolstoy left the estate and moved to Moscow, and from there to St. Petersburg. The young man rushed between preparing for candidate exams at the university, studying music, carousing with cards and gypsies, and dreams of becoming either an official or a cadet in a horse guards regiment. Relatives called Lev “the most trifling fellow,” and it took years to pay off the debts he incurred.

Literature

In 1851, the writer’s brother, officer Nikolai Tolstoy, persuaded Lev to go to the Caucasus. For three years Lev Nikolaevich lived in a village on the banks of the Terek. Nature of the Caucasus and patriarchal life Cossack village later appeared in the stories “Cossacks” and “Hadji Murat”, the stories “Raid” and “Cutting the Forest”.

In the Caucasus, Leo Tolstoy composed the story “Childhood,” which he published in the magazine “Sovremennik” under the initials L.N. Soon he wrote the sequels “Adolescence” and “Youth,” combining the stories into a trilogy. The literary debut turned out to be brilliant and brought Lev Nikolaevich his first recognition.

The creative biography of Leo Tolstoy is developing rapidly: an appointment to Bucharest, a transfer to besieged Sevastopol, and command of a battery enriched the writer with impressions. From the pen of Lev Nikolaevich came the cycle “ Sevastopol stories" The works of the young writer amazed critics with their bold psychological analysis. Nikolai Chernyshevsky found in them a “dialectic of the soul,” and the emperor read the essay “Sevastopol in December” and expressed admiration for Tolstoy’s talent.

In the winter of 1855, 28-year-old Leo Tolstoy arrived in St. Petersburg and entered the Sovremennik circle, where he was warmly welcomed, calling him “the great hope of Russian literature.” But over the course of a year, I got tired of the writing environment with its disputes and conflicts, readings and literary dinners. Later in Confession Tolstoy admitted:

“These people disgusted me, and I disgusted myself.”

In the fall of 1856, the young writer went to the Yasnaya Polyana estate, and in January 1857 he went abroad. Leo Tolstoy traveled around Europe for six months. Visited Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland. He returned to Moscow, and from there to Yasnaya Polyana. On the family estate, he began arranging schools for peasant children. In the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana, with his participation, twenty educational institutions. In 1860, the writer traveled a lot: in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium he studied pedagogical systems European countries to apply what we saw in Russia.

A special niche in Leo Tolstoy’s work is occupied by fairy tales and works for children and teenagers. The writer has created hundreds of works for young readers, including good and cautionary tales“Kitten”, “Two Brothers”, “Hedgehog and Hare”, “Lion and Dog”.

Leo Tolstoy wrote the school textbook “ABC” to teach children writing, reading and arithmetic. The literary and pedagogical work consists of four books. The writer included instructive stories, epics, fables, as well as methodological advice for teachers. The third book includes the story “ Prisoner of the Caucasus».

Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina"

In the 1870s, Leo Tolstoy, while continuing to teach peasant children, wrote the novel Anna Karenina, in which he contrasted the two storylines: family drama Karenins and home idyll young landowner Levin, with whom he identified himself. The novel only at first glance seemed to be a love affair: the classic raised the problem of the meaning of existence of the “educated class”, contrasting it with the truth of peasant life. "Anna Karenina" was highly appreciated.

The turning point in the writer’s consciousness was reflected in the works written in the 1880s. Life-changing spiritual insight occupies a central place in the stories and stories. “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, “The Kreutzer Sonata”, “Father Sergius” and the story “After the Ball” appear. A classic of Russian literature paints pictures social inequality, castigates the idleness of the nobles.

In search of an answer to the question of the meaning of life, Leo Tolstoy turned to the Russian Orthodox Church, but even there he did not find satisfaction. The writer came to the conclusion that the Christian Church is corrupt, and under the guise of religion, priests are promoting false teaching. In 1883, Lev Nikolaevich founded the publication “Mediator,” where he outlined his spiritual beliefs and criticized the Russian Orthodox Church. For this, Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church, and the writer was monitored by the secret police.

In 1898, Leo Tolstoy wrote the novel Resurrection, which received favorable reviews from critics. But the success of the work was inferior to “Anna Karenina” and “War and Peace”.

For the last 30 years of his life, Leo Tolstoy, with his teachings on non-violent resistance to evil, was recognized as the spiritual and religious leader of Russia.

"War and Peace"

Leo Tolstoy disliked his novel War and Peace, calling the epic “wordy rubbish.” The classic writer wrote the work in the 1860s, while living with his family in Yasnaya Polyana. The first two chapters, entitled “1805,” were published by Russkiy Vestnik in 1865. Three years later, Leo Tolstoy wrote three more chapters and completed the novel, which caused heated controversy among critics.

Leo Tolstoy writes "War and Peace"

The novelist took the features of the heroes of the work, written during the years of family happiness and spiritual elation, from life. In Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, the features of Lev Nikolaevich’s mother are recognizable, her penchant for reflection, brilliant education and love of art. The writer awarded Nikolai Rostov with his father's traits - mockery, love of reading and hunting.

When writing the novel, Leo Tolstoy worked in the archives, studied the correspondence of Tolstoy and Volkonsky, Masonic manuscripts, and visited the Borodino field. His young wife helped him, copying his drafts out clean.

The novel was read avidly, striking readers with the breadth of its epic canvas and subtle psychological analysis. Leo Tolstoy characterized the work as an attempt to “write the history of the people.”

According to the calculations of literary critic Lev Anninsky, by the end of the 1970s, the works of the Russian classic were filmed 40 times abroad alone. Until 1980, the epic War and Peace was filmed four times. Directors from Europe, America and Russia have made 16 films based on the novel “Anna Karenina”, “Resurrection” has been filmed 22 times.

War and Peace was first filmed by director Pyotr Chardynin in 1913. The most famous film was made by a Soviet director in 1965.

Personal life

Leo Tolstoy married 18-year-old in 1862, when he was 34 years old. The count lived with his wife for 48 years, but the couple’s life can hardly be called cloudless.

Sofia Bers is the second of three daughters of the Moscow palace office doctor Andrei Bers. The family lived in the capital, but in the summer they vacationed on a Tula estate near Yasnaya Polyana. For the first time Leo Tolstoy saw his future wife as a child. Sophia was educated at home, read a lot, understood art, and graduated from Moscow University. The diary kept by Bers-Tolstaya is recognized as an example of the memoir genre.

At the beginning of his married life, Leo Tolstoy, wanting there to be no secrets between him and his wife, gave Sophia a diary to read. The shocked wife found out about her husband's turbulent youth, his passion gambling, wild life and the peasant girl Aksinya, who was expecting a child from Lev Nikolaevich.

The first-born Sergei was born in 1863. In the early 1860s, Tolstoy began writing the novel War and Peace. Sofya Andreevna helped her husband, despite her pregnancy. The woman taught and raised all the children at home. Five of the 13 children died in infancy or early childhood childhood.

Problems in the family began after Leo Tolstoy finished working on Anna Karenina. The writer plunged into depression, expressed dissatisfaction with the life that Sofya Andreevna so diligently arranged in the family nest. The count's moral turmoil led to Lev Nikolayevich demanding that his relatives give up meat, alcohol and smoking. Tolstoy forced his wife and children to dress in peasant clothes, which he made himself, and wished to give the acquired property to the peasants.

Sofya Andreevna made considerable efforts to dissuade her husband from the idea of ​​​​distributing goods. But the quarrel that occurred split the family: Leo Tolstoy left home. Upon returning, the writer entrusted the responsibility of rewriting drafts to his daughters.

Death last child– seven-year-old Vanya – brought the spouses closer together for a short time. But soon mutual grievances and misunderstandings alienated them completely. Sofya Andreevna found solace in music. In Moscow, a woman took lessons from a teacher for whom romantic feelings developed. Their relationship remained friendly, but the count did not forgive his wife for “half-betrayal.”

The couple's fatal quarrel occurred at the end of October 1910. Leo Tolstoy left home, leaving Sophia Farewell letter. He wrote that he loved her, but could not do otherwise.

Death

82-year-old Leo Tolstoy, accompanied by his personal doctor D.P. Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana. On the way, the writer fell ill and got off the train at the Astapovo railway station. Lev Nikolaevich spent the last 7 days of his life in the house stationmaster. The whole country followed the news about Tolstoy’s health.

The children and wife arrived at the Astapovo station, but Leo Tolstoy did not want to see anyone. The classic died on November 7, 1910: he died of pneumonia. His wife survived him by 9 years. Tolstoy was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.

Quotes by Leo Tolstoy

• Everyone wants to change humanity, but no one thinks about how to change themselves.
• Everything comes to those who know how to wait.
• All happy families are similar to each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
• Let everyone sweep in front of his own door. If everyone does this, the whole street will be clean.
• It's easier to live without love. But without it there is no point.
• I don't have everything I love. But I love everything I have.
• The world moves forward because of those who suffer.
• The greatest truths are the simplest.
• Everyone is making plans, and no one knows whether he will survive until the evening.

Bibliography

• 1869 – “War and Peace”
• 1877 – “Anna Karenina”
• 1899 – “Resurrection”
• 1852-1857 – “Childhood”. "Adolescence". "Youth"
• 1856 – “Two Hussars”
• 1856 – “Morning of the Landowner”
• 1863 – “Cossacks”
• 1886 – “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”
• 1903 – “Notes of a Madman”
• 1889 – “Kreutzer Sonata”
• 1898 – “Father Sergius”
• 1904 – “Hadji Murat”

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

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

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

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

Tolstoy had a very angry wife. From the previous myth, it becomes clear to many that only his evil and eccentric wife is to blame for the death of a genius. In fact family life Tolstoy was so complex that numerous studies are still trying to understand it today. And the wife herself felt unhappy in it. One of the chapters of her autobiography is called “Martyr and Martyr.” Little was known about Sofia Andreevna’s talents; she was completely in the shadow of her powerful husband. But the recent publication of her stories has made it possible to understand the depth of her sacrifice. And Natasha Rostova from War and Peace came to Tolstoy straight from his wife’s youthful manuscript. In addition, Sofya Andreevna received an excellent education, she knew a couple of foreign languages ​​and even translated her husband’s complex works herself. The energetic woman still managed to manage the entire household, the accounting of the estate, as well as sheathing and tying up the entire considerable family. Despite all the hardships, Tolstoy’s wife understood that she was living with a genius. After his death, she noted that for almost half a century life together she could never understand what kind of person he was.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do you know Leo Tolstoy? The short and complete biography of this writer is studied in detail during his school years. However, like great works. The first association for every person who hears the name famous writer, is the novel "War and Peace". Not everyone dared to overcome laziness and read it. And in vain. This work has earned worldwide fame. This is a classic that every educated person should read. But first things first.

The biography of Leo Tolstoy says that he was born in the 19th century, namely in 1828. The surname of the future writer is the oldest aristocratic one in Russia. Lev Nikolaevich received his education at home. When his parents died, he, his sister and three brothers moved to the city of Kazan. P. Yushkova became Tolstoy’s guardian. At the age of 16 he entered the local university. He studied first at the Faculty of Philosophy and then at the Faculty of Law. But Tolstoy never graduated from the university. He settled on the Yasnaya Polyana estate - where he was born.

The biography of Leo Tolstoy says that the next 4 years became years of quest for him. First, he reorganized the life of the estate, then went to Moscow, where Savor. He received a candidate of law degree from St. Petersburg University, and then got a job - he became a clerical employee in the noble parliamentary assembly of Tula.

The biography of Leo Tolstoy describes his trip to the Caucasus in 1851. There he even fought with the Chechens. Episodes of this particular war were later described in various stories and the story “Cossacks”. Next, Lev passed the cadet exam in order to become an officer in the future. And already in this rank in 1854, Tolstoy served in the Danube Army, which was operating at that time against the Turks.

Lev Nikolaevich began to seriously engage in literary creativity during a trip to the Caucasus. His story “Childhood” was written there and then published in the Sovremennik magazine. The story “Adolescence” subsequently appeared in the same publication.

Leo also fought in Sevastopol during the war. There he showed real fearlessness, participating in the defense of the city under siege. For this he was awarded the Order of Bravery. The writer recreated the bloody picture of the war in his “Sevastopol Stories.” This work made an indelible impression on the entire Russian society.

Since 1855, Tolstoy lived in St. Petersburg. There he often communicated with Chernyshevsky, Turgenev, Ostrovsky and others legendary personalities. A year later he retired. Then the writer traveled, he opened a school for peasant children on his native estate and even taught classes there himself. With his help, two dozen more schools were opened nearby. This was followed by a second trip abroad. The works that immortalized the writer’s name throughout the world were created by him in the 70s. This is, of course, “Anna Karenina” and the novel “War and Peace” described at the beginning of the article.

The biography of Leo Tolstoy says that he got married in 1862. He and his wife subsequently raised nine children. The family moved to the capital in 1880.

Leo Tolstoy (biography tells interesting facts about this) last years spent his life torn apart by intrigue and squabbles in the family over the inheritance that would remain after him. At the age of 82, the writer leaves the estate and goes on a journey, away from the lordly way of life. But his health was too weak for this. On the way, he caught a cold and died. He was buried, of course, in his homeland - in Yasnaya Polyana.