Material about Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Interesting facts from the life of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. The life and work of Leo Tolstoy. Joyful years of childhood

An outstanding Russian writer, philosopher and thinker, the count is known throughout the world. Even in the farthest corners of the world, as soon as the conversation turns to Russia, they certainly remember Peter the Great, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and several more Russian history.

We decided to collect the most interesting facts from the life of Tolstoy to remind you of them, and maybe even surprise you with some things.

So, let's get started!

1. Tolstoy was born in 1828 and died in 1910 (he lived 82 years). He married 18-year-old Sofya Andreevna at the age of 34. They had 13 children, five of whom died in childhood.

   Leo Tolstoy with his wife and children

2. Before the wedding, the count gave his future wife to re-read his diaries, which described his numerous fornicating relationships. He considered it fair and just. According to the writer’s wife, she remembered their contents for the rest of her life.
3. At the beginning family life the young couple had complete harmony and mutual understanding, but over time the relationship began to deteriorate more and more, reaching its peak shortly before the death of the thinker.
4. Tolstoy's wife was a real housewife and conducted her household affairs in an exemplary manner.
5. An interesting fact is that Sofya Andreevna (Tolstoy’s wife) rewrote almost all of her husband’s works in order to send manuscripts to the publishing house. This was necessary because not a single editor could make out the handwriting of the great writer.

   Diary of Tolstoy L.N.

6. Almost all her life, the thinker’s wife copied her husband’s diaries. However, shortly before his death, Tolstoy began to keep two diaries: one that his wife read, and the other personal. The elderly Sofya Andreevna was furious that she could not find him, although she searched the whole house.
7. All significant works(“War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina”, “Resurrection”) Leo Tolstoy wrote after his marriage. That is, until the age of 34 he did not engage in serious writing.

   Tolstoy in his youth

8. The creative heritage of Lev Nikolaevich amounts to 165 thousand sheets of manuscripts and ten thousand letters. Complete collection works published in 90 volumes.
9. An interesting fact is that in life Tolstoy could not stand it when dogs barked, and also did not like cherries.
10. Despite the fact that he was a count from birth, his soul always gravitated towards the people. Often peasants saw him plowing the field on his own. There is a funny anecdote on this occasion: “Leo Tolstoy sits in a linen shirt and writes a novel. A footman in livery and white gloves enters. “Your Excellency, it’s time to plow!”
11. Since childhood, he was an incredibly gambling person and gambler. However, like another great writer -.
12. Interestingly, Count Tolstoy once lost one of the buildings of his Yasnaya Polyana estate at cards. His partner dismantled the property that had been transferred to him down to the stud and took everything away. The writer himself dreamed of buying this extension back, but never realized it.
13. Excellent command of English, French and German languages. I read in Italian, Polish, Serbian and Czech. He studied Greek and Church Slavonic, Latin, Ukrainian and Tatar, Hebrew and Turkish, Dutch and Bulgarian.

    Portrait of the writer Tolstoy

14. As a child, Anna Akhmatova learned letters using a primer, which L.N. Tolstoy wrote for peasant children.
15. All his life he tried to help the peasants in everything he had the strength to do.

    Tolstoy and his assistants compile lists of peasants in need of help

16. The novel “War and Peace” was written over the course of 6 years, and then rewritten 8 more times. Tolstoy rewrote individual fragments up to 25 times.
17. The work “War and Peace” is considered the most significant in the work of the great writer, but he himself said the following in a letter to A. Fet: “I am happy that I will never write again verbose rubbish like "War".
18. An interesting fact about Tolstoy is that the count, towards the end of his life, developed several serious principles your worldview. The main ones boil down to non-resistance to evil through violence, denial of private property and complete disregard for any authority, be it church, state or any other.

    Tolstoy with his family in the park

19. Many believe that Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Orthodox Church. In fact, the definition of the Holy Synod sounded verbatim like this:

“Therefore, testifying to his (Tolstoy’s – author’s) falling away from the Church, we pray together that the Lord will grant him repentance into the mind of truth.”

That is, the Synod simply testified that Tolstoy “self-excommunicated” from the Church. In fact, this was the case, if we analyze the writer’s numerous statements addressed to the Church.

1. In fact, towards the end of his life, Lev Nikolaevich actually expressed beliefs very far from Christianity. Quote:

“I do not want to be a Christian, just as I did not advise and would not want Buddhists, Confucionists, Taoists, Mohammedans and others to be.”



“Pushkin was like a Kyrgyz. Everyone still admires Pushkin. And just think about the excerpt from his “Eugene Onegin”, placed in all anthologies for children: “Winter. Peasant, triumphant..." Whatever the stanza is, it’s nonsense!

Meanwhile, the poet obviously worked hard and for a long time on the poem. "Winter. Peasant, triumphant..." Why "triumphant"? “Perhaps he’s going to town to buy some salt or shag.”

“On the firewood it renews the path. His horse smells the snow...” How can you “smell” snow?! After all, she runs in the snow - so what does flair have to do with it? Further: “Trotting somehow...”. This “somehow” is a historically stupid thing. And she got into the poem only for the rhyme.

This was written by the great Pushkin, undoubtedly an intelligent man; he wrote because he was young and, as a Kyrgyz, sang instead of speaking.

This question was asked to Tolstoy: But what, Lev Nikolaevich, should we do? Should I really give up writing?

Tolstoy: Of course, quit! I tell this to everyone who is a beginner. This is my usual advice. Now is not the time to write. You need to do things, live exemplary lives and teach others how to live by your example. Quit literature if you want to listen to the old man. Well for me! I will die soon…"




“Over the years, Tolstoy expresses his opinions about women more and more often. These opinions are terrible."

“If a comparison is needed, then marriage should be compared with a funeral, and not with a name day,” said Leo Tolstoy.

“The man was walking alone; they tied five pounds to his shoulders, and he was happy. What can I say, that if I walk alone, then I am free, but if my leg is tied to a woman’s leg, then she will drag behind me and interfere with me.

- Why did you get married? – asked the Countess.

“I didn’t know it then.”

Leo Tolstoy with his wife

Despite the interesting facts about Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy described above, he always declared that the highest value in society is family.




“Indeed, Paris is not at all in harmony with its spiritual system; He’s a strange person, I’ve never met anyone like him and I don’t quite understand him. A mixture of poet, Calvinist, fanatic, barich - something reminiscent of Rousseau, but more honest than Rousseau - a highly moral and at the same time unsympathetic creature.




If you want to get acquainted with more detailed information from Tolstoy’s biography, then we recommend that you read his own work “Confession”. We are sure that some things from the personal life of the outstanding thinker will simply shock you!

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short biography Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Born in 1828 into an aristocratic family. Father, Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, is a retired lieutenant colonel of the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment, a participant in the Patriotic War. Mother - Princess Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya.

The parents of the future writer died early, his mother when he was 2 years old, his father when he was 9 years old. The five orphaned children were raised by relatives-guardians.

In 1844-46. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy tried to study at the university, but his studies were difficult for him, and he left the educational institution. After this, the count lived on his estate for four years, trying to build relationships with the peasants in a new way; contributed to the opening of new schools in villages.

At the same time, he occasionally came to Moscow, where he indulged in gambling, which more than once undermined him financial situation. After another major loss, in 1851 he went to the army in the Caucasus, where his older brother was serving at that time.

It was in the Caucasus that Lev Nikolaevich discovered his need for creativity. Created autobiographical story“Childhood” and sent the manuscript (signed simply: “LNT”) to the court of Nikolai Nekrasov, famous poet and publisher of the authoritative literary monthly Sovremennik. He published the story, calling Tolstoy “a new and reliable talent” in Russian literature.

For five years Tolstoy served as an artillery officer. First he participates in the Chechen campaign, then in battles with the Turks on the Danube, then in the Crimea, where he heroically showed himself during the defense of Sevastopol, for which he was awarded the Order of St. Anna.

He devotes all his free time from work to creativity. “Adolescence” and “Youth,” the next parts of the autobiographical trilogy, were also published in Sovremennik and became very popular. Few writers have managed to so subtly explore the spiritual life of a person and at the same time convey all this in such a simple and easy style.

Vivid and interesting scenes from Tolstoy’s army and military life were reflected in his “Cossacks”, “Hadji Murat”, “Cutting Wood”, “Raid”, and especially in the magnificent “Sevastopol Stories”.

After his resignation, Tolstoy went on a long trip to Europe. Returning home, he devoted himself entirely to public education. He helped in opening 20 rural schools in the Tula province; he taught at a school in Yasnaya Polyana, compiled alphabet books and educational books for children. In 1862 he married 18-year-old Sophia Bers, and in 1863 he returned to literary activity and began work on his greatest work, the epic novel War and Peace.

Tolstoy approached his work extremely responsibly, having studied thousands of sources about the Patriotic War of 1812: memoirs, letters from contemporaries and participants in the events. The first part was published in 1865, and the writer finished the novel only in 1869.

The novel amazed and continues to amaze readers with its combination epic picture historical events with the living destinies of people, deep penetration into the emotional experiences and tossing of people. The second internationally recognized work of the writer was the novel “Anna Karenina” (1873-77).

In the last decades of the 19th century. Tolstoy philosophized a lot on the topic of faith and the meaning of life. These quests were reflected in his religious treatises, in which he tried to understand the essence of Christianity and convey its principles in understandable language.

Tolstoy prioritized moral purification and self-improvement of the individual, as well as the principle of non-resistance to evil through violence. The writer criticized the official Orthodox Church for its dogmatism and close connection with the state, for which the Synod excommunicated him from the church.

But, despite this, until the end of his life, followers of his religious and moral teachings came to Tolstoy from all over the country. The writer did not stop his work to support rural schools.

In the last years of his life, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy decided to renounce all private property, which displeased his wife and children. Offended by them, at the age of 82 he decided to leave home, took the train, but soon caught a bad cold and died. This happened in 1910.

Lev Nikolaevich went down in history not only as a worldwide genius famous writer, but also as a great teacher, theologian and preacher of Christianity.

Biography, life story of Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich

He came from a noble family, known, according to legendary sources, since 1351. His paternal ancestor, Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy, is known for his role in the investigation of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, for which he was put in charge of the Secret Chancellery. The traits of Pyotr Andreevich’s great-grandson, Ilya Andreevich, are given in “War and Peace” to the good-natured, impractical old Count Rostov. The son of Ilya Andreevich, Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy (1794-1837), was the father of Lev Nikolaevich. In some character traits and biographical facts, he was similar to Nikolenka’s father in “Childhood” and “Adolescence” and partly to Nikolai Rostov in “War and Peace.” However, in real life Nikolai Ilyich differed from Nikolai Rostov not only good education, but also with convictions that did not allow him to serve under Nicholas. A participant in the foreign campaign of the Russian army against Napoleon, including participating in the “Battle of the Nations” near Leipzig and being captured by the French, after the conclusion of peace he retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment. Soon after his resignation, he was forced to join the bureaucratic service in order not to end up in debtor's prison because of the debts of his father, the Kazan governor, who died under investigation for official abuses. The negative example of his father helped Nikolai Ilyich develop his ideal of life - a private independent life with family joys. To put his upset affairs in order, Nikolai Ilyich, like Nikolai Rostov, married a no longer very young princess from the Volkonsky family; the marriage was happy. They had four sons: Nikolai, Sergei, Dmitry, Lev and daughter Maria.

Tolstoy's maternal grandfather, Catherine's general, Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky, bore some resemblance to the stern rigorist old Prince Bolkonsky in War and Peace. Lev Nikolaevich's mother, similar in some respects to Princess Marya depicted in War and Peace, had a remarkable gift for storytelling.

In addition to the Volkonskys, L.N. Tolstoy was closely related to several other aristocratic families: the princes Gorchakovs, Trubetskoys and others.

CONTINUED BELOW

Born on August 28, 1828 in the Krapivensky district of the Tula province, on his mother’s hereditary estate - Yasnaya Polyana. Was the fourth child; he had three older brothers: Nikolai (1823-1860), Sergei (1826-1904) and Dmitry (1827-1856). In 1830, Sister Maria (1830-1912) was born. His mother died with the birth of her last daughter, when he was not yet 2 years old.

Took care of raising orphaned children distant relative T. A. Ergolskaya. In 1837, the family moved to Moscow, settling on Plyushchikha, because the eldest son had to prepare to enter university, but soon his father suddenly died, leaving affairs (including some related to family property, litigation) in an unfinished state, and the three youngest children again settled in Yasnaya Polyana under the supervision of Ergolskaya and their paternal aunt, Countess A. M. Osten-Sacken, who was appointed guardian of the children. Here Lev Nikolaevich remained until 1840, when Countess Osten-Sacken died, and the children moved to Kazan, to a new guardian - their father's sister P. I. Yushkova.

The Yushkov house was one of the most fun in Kazan; All family members highly valued external shine. “My good aunt,” says Tolstoy, “a pure being, always said that she would want nothing more for me than for me to have a relationship with a married woman.”

He wanted to shine in society, but his natural shyness and lack of external attractiveness hampered him. The most diverse, as Tolstoy himself defines them, “philosophies” about the most important issues our existence - happiness, death, God, love, eternity - painfully tormented him in that era of life. What he told in “Adolescence” and “Youth” about the aspirations of Irtenyev and Nekhlyudov for self-improvement was taken by Tolstoy from the history of his own ascetic attempts of this time. All this led to the fact that Tolstoy developed a “habit of constant moral analysis,” which, as it seemed to him, “destroyed the freshness of feeling and clarity of reason” (“Adolescence”).

Education

His education was first carried out under the guidance of the French tutor Saint-Thomas (Mr. Jerome in Boyhood), who replaced the good-natured German Reselman, whom he portrayed in Childhood under the name Karl Ivanovich.

In 1841, P.I. Yushkova, taking on the role of guardian of her minor nephews (only the eldest, Nikolai, was an adult) and niece, brought them to Kazan. Following the brothers Nikolai, Dmitry and Sergei, Lev decided to enter the Imperial Kazan University, where Lobachevsky worked at the Faculty of Mathematics, and Kovalevsky worked at the Eastern Faculty. On October 3, 1844, Leo Tolstoy was enrolled as a student in the category of oriental literature as a student. In the entrance exams, in particular, he showed excellent results in the “Turkish-Tatar language” required for admission.

Due to a conflict between his family and the teacher of Russian and general history and the history of philosophy, Professor N.A. Ivanov, at the end of the year he had poor performance in the relevant subjects and had to re-take the first-year program. To avoid repeating the course completely, he transferred to the Faculty of Law, where his problems with grades in Russian history and German continued. Leo Tolstoy spent less than two years at the Faculty of Law: “Every education imposed by others was always difficult for him, and everything he learned in life, he learned himself, suddenly, quickly, with intense work,” writes Tolstaya in her “Materials for biography of L.N. Tolstoy." In 1904 he recalled: “ ...for the first year...I did nothing. In the second year I began to study... there was Professor Meyer, who... gave me a work - a comparison of Catherine’s “Order” with Montesquieu’s “Esprit des lois”. ... this work fascinated me, I went to the village, began to read Montesquieu, this reading opened up endless horizons for me; I started reading Rousseau and dropped out of university precisely because I wanted to study».

While in the Kazan hospital, he began to keep a diary, where, imitating, he set goals and rules for self-improvement and noted successes and failures in completing these tasks, analyzed his shortcomings and train of thoughts, the motives of his actions.

In 1845, L.N. Tolstoy had a godson in Kazan. On November 11 (23), according to other sources - November 22 (December 4), 1845, in the Kazan Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, the 18-year-old Jewish cantonist of the Kazan battalions of military cantonists Zalman was baptized under the name Luka Tolstoy ("Zelman") Kagan, godfather whose documents listed a student of the Imperial Kazan University, Count L.N. Tolstoy. Before this - on September 25 (October 7), 1845 - his brother, a student at the Imperial Kazan University, Count D. N. Tolstoy became the successor of the 18-year-old Jewish cantonist Nukhim (“Nokhim”) Beser, baptized (with the name Nikolai Dmitriev) archimandrite Kazan Assumption (Zilantov) Monastery by Gabriel (V.N. Voskresensky).

Beginning of literary activity

Having dropped out of the university, Tolstoy settled in Yasnaya Polyana in the spring of 1847; his activities there are partly described in “The Landowner’s Morning”: Tolstoy tried to establish a new relationship with the peasants.

His attempt to somehow atone for the guilt of the nobility before the people dates back to the same year when Grigorovich’s “Anton the Miserable” and the beginning of Turgenev’s “Notes of a Hunter” appeared.

In his diary, Tolstoy sets himself a huge number of goals and rules; Only a small number of them were able to follow. Among the successful ones are serious studies English language, music, law. In addition, neither the diary nor the letters reflected the beginning of Tolstoy's studies in pedagogy and charity - in 1849 he first opened a school for peasant children. The main teacher was Foka Demidych, a serf, but Lev Nikolaevich himself often taught classes.

Having left for St. Petersburg in February 1849, he spends time in revelry with K. A. Islavin, the uncle of his future wife (“My love for Islavin ruined for me 8 whole months of life in St. Petersburg”); in the spring he began taking the exam to become a candidate of rights; He passed two exams, from criminal law and criminal proceedings, successfully, but he did not take the third exam and went to the village.

Later he came to Moscow, where he often succumbed to his passion for gambling, greatly upsetting his financial affairs. During this period of his life, Tolstoy was especially passionately interested in music (he himself played the piano quite well and greatly appreciated his favorite works performed by others). The author of the “Kreutzer Sonata” drew an exaggerated description in relation to most people of the effect that “passionate” music produces from the sensations excited by the world of sounds in his own soul.

Tolstoy's favorite composers were Handel and. In the late 1840s, Tolstoy, in collaboration with his acquaintance, composed a waltz, which in the early 1900s he performed under the composer Taneev, who made a musical notation of this musical work (the only one composed by Tolstoy).

The development of Tolstoy’s love for music was also facilitated by the fact that during a trip to St. Petersburg in 1848, he met in a very unsuitable dance class setting with a gifted but lost German musician, whom he later described in Alberta. Tolstoy came up with the idea of ​​saving him: he took him to Yasnaya Polyana and played a lot with him. A lot of time was also spent on carousing, gaming and hunting.

In the winter of 1850-1851. started writing "Childhood". In March 1851 he wrote “The History of Yesterday.”

After leaving the university, 4 years passed when Lev Nikolayevich’s brother Nikolai, who served in the Caucasus, came to Yasnaya Polyana and invited his younger brother to join military service in the Caucasus. Lev did not immediately agree, until a major loss in Moscow accelerated the final decision. The writer's biographers note significant and positive influence brother Nikolai on the young and inexperienced Leo in everyday affairs. In the absence of his parents, his older brother was his friend and mentor.

To pay off his debts, it was necessary to reduce his expenses to a minimum - and in the spring of 1851, Tolstoy hastily left Moscow for the Caucasus without a specific goal. Soon he decided to enroll in military service, but obstacles arose in the form of a lack of necessary papers, which were difficult to obtain, and Tolstoy lived for about 5 months in complete solitude in Pyatigorsk, in a simple hut. He spent a significant part of his time hunting, in the company of the Cossack Epishka, the prototype of one of the heroes of the story “Cossacks”, who appears there under the name Eroshka.

In the fall of 1851, Tolstoy, having passed the exam in Tiflis, entered the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade, stationed in the Cossack village of Starogladov, on the banks of the Terek, near Kizlyar, as a cadet. With a slight change in details, she is depicted in all her semi-wild originality in “Cossacks”. The same “Cossacks” convey the picture inner life a young gentleman who fled from Moscow life.

In a remote village, Tolstoy began to write and in 1852 he sent the first part of the future trilogy: “Childhood” to the editors of Sovremennik.

The relatively late start of his career is very characteristic of Tolstoy: he never considered himself a professional writer, understanding professionalism not in the sense of a profession that provides a means of living, but in the sense of the predominance of literary interests. He did not take the interests of literary parties to heart, and was reluctant to talk about literature, preferring to talk about issues of faith, morality, and social relations.

Military career

Having received the manuscript of “Childhood,” the editor of Sovremennik, Nekrasov, immediately recognized its literary value and wrote a kind letter to the author, which had a very encouraging effect on him.

Meanwhile, the encouraged author sets about continuing the tetralogy “Four Epochs of Development,” the last part of which, “Youth,” never materialized. Plans for “The Morning of the Landowner” (the completed story was only a fragment of “The Romance of a Russian Landowner”), “The Raid”, and “The Cossacks” are swarming in his head. “Childhood”, published in Sovremennik on September 18, 1852, signed with the modest initials L.N., had extraordinary success; the author immediately began to be ranked among the luminaries of the young literary school along with Turgenev, Goncharov, Grigorovich, Ostrovsky, who already enjoyed great literary fame. Criticism - Apollo Grigoriev, Annenkov, Druzhinin, Chernyshevsky - appreciated the depth of psychological analysis, the seriousness of the author's intentions, and the bright salience of realism.

Tolstoy remained in the Caucasus for two years, participating in many skirmishes with the mountaineers and being exposed to the dangers of war. Caucasian life. He had rights and claims to the St. George Cross, but did not receive it. When the Crimean War broke out at the end of 1853, Tolstoy transferred to the Danube Army, participated in the battle of Oltenitsa and the siege of Silistria, and from November 1854 to the end of August 1855 he was in Sevastopol.

Tolstoy lived for a long time on the dangerous 4th bastion, commanded a battery at the Battle of Chernaya, and was during the bombardment during the assault on Malakhov Kurgan. Despite all the horrors of the siege, Tolstoy wrote at this time the story “Cutting Wood,” which reflected Caucasian impressions, and the first of the three “Sevastopol stories” - “Sevastopol in December 1854.” He sent this story to Sovremennik. Immediately printed, the story was read with interest throughout Russia and made a stunning impression with the picture of the horrors that befell the defenders of Sevastopol. The story was noticed by Emperor Alexander II; he ordered to take care of the gifted officer.

For the defense of Sevastopol, Tolstoy was awarded the Order of St. Anne with the inscription “For Honor,” medals “For the Defense of Sevastopol 1854-1855” and “In Memory of the War of 1853-1856.” Surrounded by the brilliance of fame, enjoying the reputation of a brave officer, Tolstoy had every chance of a career, but he ruined it for himself by writing several satirical songs, stylized as soldiers' songs. One of them is dedicated to the failure of the military operation on August 4 (16), 1855, when General Read, misunderstanding the order of the commander-in-chief, attacked the Fedyukhin Heights. A song called “Like the fourth, we had a hard time taking away mountains,” which touched whole line important generals, was a huge success. Leo Tolstoy answered for her to the assistant chief of staff A. A. Yakimakh. Immediately after the assault on August 27 (September 8), Tolstoy was sent by courier to St. Petersburg, where he completed “Sevastopol in May 1855.” and wrote “Sevastopol in August 1855,” published in the first issue of Sovremennik for 1856 with the author’s full signature.

"Sevastopol Stories" finally strengthened his reputation as a representative of the new literary generation, and in November 1856 the writer parted with military service forever.

Traveling around Europe

In St. Petersburg he was warmly welcomed in high society salons and literary circles; He became especially close friends with Turgenev, with whom he lived in the same apartment for some time. The latter introduced him to the Sovremennik circle, after which Tolstoy established friendly relations with Nekrasov, Goncharov, Panaev, Grigorovich, Druzhinin, Sollogub.

At this time, “Blizzard”, “Two Hussars” were written, “Sevastopol in August” and “Youth” were completed, and the writing of the future “Cossacks” continued.

The cheerful life was not slow to leave a bitter aftertaste in Tolstoy’s soul, especially since he began to have a strong discord with the circle of writers close to him. As a result, “people became disgusted with him and he became disgusted with himself” - and at the beginning of 1857, Tolstoy left St. Petersburg without any regret and went abroad.

On his first trip abroad, he visited Paris, where he was horrified by the cult (“The idolization of a villain, terrible”), at the same time he attends balls, museums, and is fascinated by the “sense of social freedom.” However, his presence at the guillotine made such a grave impression that Tolstoy left Paris and went to places associated with Rousseau - to Lake Geneva.

Lev Nikolaevich writes the story “Albert”. At the same time, his friends never cease to be amazed at his eccentricities: in his letter to I. S. Turgenev in the fall of 1857, P. V. Annenkov tells of Tolstoy’s project to plant forests throughout Russia, and in his letter to V. P. Botkin, Leo Tolstoy reports how very happy he was the fact that he did not become only a writer, contrary to Turgenev’s advice. However, in the interval between the first and second trips, the writer continued to work on “Cossacks”, wrote the story “Three Deaths” and the novel “Family Happiness”.

His last novel was published in “Russian Bulletin” by Mikhail Katkov. Tolstoy's collaboration with the Sovremennik magazine, which lasted from 1852, ended in 1859. In the same year, Tolstoy took part in organizing the Literary Fund. But his life was not limited to literary interests: on December 22, 1858, he almost died on a bear hunt. Around the same time, he began an affair with the peasant woman Aksinya, and plans for marriage were ripening.

On his next trip, he was mainly interested in public education and institutions aimed at raising the educational level of the working population. He closely studied issues of public education in Germany and France, both theoretically and practically, and through conversations with specialists. Of the outstanding people in Germany, he was most interested in Auerbach as the author of dedicated people's life"Black Forest Stories" and as a publisher of folk calendars. Tolstoy paid him a visit and tried to get closer to him. In addition, he also met with the German teacher Disterweg. During his stay in Brussels, Tolstoy met Proudhon and Lelewell. In London he visited Herzen and attended a lecture by Dickens.

Tolstoy’s serious mood during his second trip to the south of France was also facilitated by the fact that his beloved brother Nikolai died of tuberculosis in his arms. The death of his brother made a huge impression on Tolstoy.

The stories and essays he wrote in the late 1850s include “Lucerne” and “Three Deaths.” Gradually, criticism for 10-12 years, before the appearance of “War and Peace,” cooled towards Tolstoy, and he himself did not strive for rapprochement with writers, making an exception for Afanasy Fet.

One of the reasons for this alienation was the quarrel between Leo Tolstoy and Turgenev, which occurred while both prose writers were visiting Fet on the Stepanovo estate in May 1861. The quarrel almost ended in a duel and ruined the relationship between the writers for 17 long years.

Treatment in the Bashkir nomadic camp Karalyk

In 1862, Lev Nikolaevich was treated with kumis in the Samara province. Initially, I wanted to be treated at Postnikov’s kumiss hospital near Samara, but due to the large number of vacationers, I went to the Bashkir nomadic camp Karalyk, on the Karalyk River, 130 versts from Samara. There he lived in a Bashkir tent (yurt), ate lamb, basked in the sun, drank kumiss, tea and played checkers with the Bashkirs. The first time he stayed there for a month and a half. In 1871, Lev Nikolaevich came again due to deteriorating health. Lev Nikolaevich lived not in the village itself, but in a tent near it. He wrote: “The melancholy and indifference have passed, I feel myself returning to the Scythian state, and everything is interesting and new... Much is new and interesting: the Bashkirs, who smell of Herodotus, and Russian men, and villages, especially charming in the simplicity and kindness of the people.” . In 1871, having fallen in love with this region, he bought from Colonel N.P. Tuchkov an estate in the Buzuluk district of the Samara province, near the villages of Gavrilovka and Patrovka (now Alekseevsky district), in the amount of 2,500 dessiatines for 20,000 rubles. Lev Nikolaevich spent the summer of 1872 on his estate. A few fathoms from the house there was a felt tent in which lived the family of the Bashkir Muhammad Shah, who made kumiss for Lev Nikolaevich and his guests. In general, Lev Nikolaevich visited Karalyk 10 times in 20 years.

Pedagogical activity

Tolstoy returned to Russia shortly after the liberation of the peasants and became a peace mediator. Unlike those who looked at the people as a younger brother who needed to be raised to their level, Tolstoy thought, on the contrary, that the people were infinitely higher than the cultural classes and that the gentlemen needed to borrow the heights of spirit from the peasants. He actively began setting up schools in his Yasnaya Polyana and throughout the Krapivensky district.

The Yasnaya Polyana school belonged to the number of original pedagogical attempts: in the era of admiration for the German pedagogical school, Tolstoy resolutely rebelled against any regulation and discipline in the school. According to him, everything in teaching should be individual - both the teacher and the student, and their mutual relationships. At the Yasnaya Polyana school, the children sat where they wanted, as much as they wanted, and as they wanted. There was no specific teaching program. The only task The teacher's job was to get the class interested. The classes went well. They were led by Tolstoy himself with the help of several regular teachers and several random ones, from his closest acquaintances and visitors.

Since 1862, he began publishing the pedagogical magazine “Yasnaya Polyana”, where he himself was the main employee. In addition to theoretical articles, Tolstoy also wrote a number of stories, fables and adaptations. Combined together, Tolstoy's pedagogical articles made up an entire volume of his collected works. At one time they went unnoticed. Nobody paid attention to the sociological basis of Tolstoy’s ideas about education, to the fact that Tolstoy saw only simplified and improved ways of exploiting the people by the upper classes in education, science, art and technological successes. Moreover, from Tolstoy’s attacks on European education and “progress,” many concluded that Tolstoy was a “conservative.”

Soon Tolstoy left teaching. Marriage, the birth of his own children, plans related to writing the novel “War and Peace” push back his pedagogical activities by ten years. Only in the early 1870s did he begin to create his own “ABC” and publish it in 1872, and then release the “New ABC” and a series of four “Russian books for reading”, approved as a result of long ordeals by the Ministry of Public Education as manuals for primary educational institutions. Classes at the Yasnaya Polyana school resume briefly.

It is known that the Yasnaya Polyana school had a certain influence on other domestic teachers. For example, it was S. T. Shatsky who initially took it as a model when creating his own school “Cheerful Life” in 1911.

Acting as a defense attorney in court

In July 1866, Tolstoy appeared at a military court as a defender of Vasil Shabunin, a company clerk stationed near Yasnaya Polyana of the Moscow Infantry Regiment. Shabunin hit the officer, who ordered him to be punished with canes for being drunk. Tolstoy argued that Shabunin was insane, but the court found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Shabunin was shot. This case made a great impression on Tolstoy.

From his youth, Lev Nikolaevich knew Lyubov Alexandrovna Islavina, married to Bers (1826-1886), and loved to play with her children Lisa, Sonya and Tanya. When the Bersov daughters grew up, Lev Nikolaevich thought about marrying eldest daughter Lise, hesitated for a long time until he made a choice in favor of his middle daughter Sophia. Sofya Andreevna agreed when she was 18 years old, and the count was 34 years old. On September 23, 1862, Lev Nikolaevich married her, having previously admitted his premarital affairs.

For a certain period of time, the brightest period of his life begins for Tolstoy - the rapture of personal happiness, very significant thanks to the practicality of his wife, material well-being, outstanding literary creativity and in connection with it all-Russian and world-wide fame. It would seem that in his wife he found an assistant in all matters, practical and literary - in the absence of a secretary, she rewrote her husband’s drafts several times. But very soon happiness is overshadowed by inevitable petty disagreements, fleeting quarrels, mutual misunderstandings, which only worsened over the years.

The wedding of Sergei Nikolaevich Tolstoy’s elder brother was also planned with younger sister Sofia Andreevna - Tatyana Bers. But Sergei’s unofficial marriage to a gypsy woman made the marriage of Sergei and Tatyana impossible.

In addition, Sofia Andreevna’s father, physician Andrei Gustav (Evstafievich) Bers, even before his marriage to Islavina, had a daughter, Varvara, from V.P. Turgeneva, the mother of I.S. Turgenev. On her mother’s side, Varya was the sister of I. S. Turgenev, and on her father’s side, S. A. Tolstoy, thus, together with marriage, Leo Tolstoy acquired a relationship with I. S. Turgenev.

From the marriage of Lev Nikolaevich with Sofia Andreevna, a total of 13 children were born, five of whom died in childhood. Children:
- Sergei (July 10, 1863 - December 23, 1947), composer, musicologist.
- Tatiana (October 4, 1864 - September 21, 1950). Since 1899 she has been married to Mikhail Sergeevich Sukhotin. In 1917-1923 she was the curator of the Yasnaya Polyana museum-estate. In 1925 she emigrated with her daughter. Daughter Tatyana Mikhailovna Sukhotina-Albertini (1905-1996).
- Ilya (May 22, 1866 - December 11, 1933), writer, memoirist
- Lev (1869-1945), writer, sculptor.
- Maria (1871-1906) Buried in the village. Kochaki of Krapivensky district (modern Tula region, Shchekinsky district, village of Kochaki). Since 1897 she has been married to Nikolai Leonidovich Obolensky (1872-1934).
- Peter (1872-1873).
- Nikolai (1874-1875).
- Varvara (1875-1875).
- Andrey (1877-1916), civil servant special assignments under the Tula governor. Participant Russo-Japanese War.
- Mikhail (1879-1944).
- Alexey (1881-1886).
- Alexandra (1884-1979).
- Ivan (1888-1895).

As of 2010, there were a total of more than 350 descendants of Leo Tolstoy (including both living and deceased), living in 25 countries around the world. Most of them are descendants of Lev Lvovich Tolstoy, who had 10 children, the third son of Lev Nikolaevich. Since 2000, once every two years, meetings of the writer’s descendants have been held in Yasnaya Polyana.

Creativity flourishes

During the first 12 years after his marriage, he created War and Peace and Anna Karenina. At the turn of this second era literary life Tolstoy are conceived back in 1852 and completed in 1861-1862. “Cossacks” is the first of the works in which Tolstoy’s talent was most realized.

"War and Peace"

Unprecedented success befell War and Peace. An excerpt from the novel entitled "1805" appeared in the Russian Messenger of 1865; in 1868 three of its parts were published, soon followed by the remaining two. The release of War and Peace was preceded by the novel The Decembrists (1860-1861), to which the author returned several times, but which remained unfinished.

In Tolstoy's novel all classes of society are represented, from emperors and kings to the last soldier, all ages and all temperaments throughout the entire reign of Alexander I.

"Anna Karenina"

The endlessly happy rapture of the bliss of existence is no longer present in Anna Karenina, which dates back to 1873-1876. There are still many gratifying experiences in almost autobiographical novel Levin and Kitty, but there is already so much bitterness in the depiction of Dolly’s family life, in the unhappy ending of the love of Anna Karenina and Vronsky, so much anxiety in Levin’s mental life that in general this novel is already a transition to the third period of Tolstoy’s literary activity.

In January 1871, Tolstoy sent a letter to A. A. Fet: “ How happy I am... that I will never write verbose rubbish like “War” again» .

On December 6, 1908, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: “ People love me for those trifles - “War and Peace”, etc., which seem very important to them»

In the summer of 1909, one of the visitors to Yasnaya Polyana expressed his delight and gratitude for the creation of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Tolstoy replied: “ It’s the same as if someone came to Edison and said: “I really respect you because you dance the mazurka well.” I attribute meaning to completely different books of mine (religious!)».

In the sphere of material interests, he began to say to himself: “ Well, okay, you will have 6,000 acres in the Samara province - 300 heads of horses, and then?"; in the literary field: " Well, okay, you will be more famous than Gogol, Pushkin, Shakespeare, Moliere, all the writers in the world - so what!" As he began to think about raising children, he asked himself: “ For what?"; discussing “how the people can achieve prosperity,” he “ suddenly he said to himself: what does it matter to me?"In general, he " felt that what he stood on had given way, that what he had lived on was no longer there.” The natural result was thoughts of suicide.

« I, happy man, hid the cord from myself so as not to hang myself on the crossbar between the closets in my room, where I was alone every day, undressing, and stopped going hunting with a gun so as not to be tempted by too easy a way to rid myself of life. I myself didn’t know what I wanted: I was afraid of life, I wanted to get away from it and, meanwhile, I hoped for something else from it.».

Other works

In March 1879, in the city of Moscow, Leo Tolstoy met Vasily Petrovich Shchegolenok and in the same year, at his invitation, he came to Yasnaya Polyana, where he stayed for about a month and a half. The Goldfinch told Tolstoy many folk tales and epics, of which more than twenty were written down by Tolstoy, and Tolstoy, if he didn’t write them down on paper, remembered the plots of some (these notes are published in Volume XLVIII of the Anniversary Edition of Tolstoy’s Works). Six works written by Tolstoy are sourced from legends and stories of Shchegolenok (1881 - “How People Live”, 1885 - “Two Old Men” and “Three Elders”, 1905 - “Korney Vasiliev” and “Prayer”, 1907 - “Old Man in the Church”) . In addition, Count Tolstoy diligently wrote down many sayings, proverbs, individual expressions and words told by the Goldfinch.

Last journey, death and funeral

On the night of October 28 (November 10), 1910, L.N. Tolstoy, fulfilling his decision to live his last years in accordance with his views, secretly left Yasnaya Polyana, accompanied by his doctor D.P. Makovitsky. Yours last trip he started at Shchyokino station. On the same day, having transferred to another train at the Gorbachevo station, he reached the Kozelsk station, hired a coachman and headed to Optina Pustyn, and from there the next day to the Shamordino Monastery, where Tolstoy met his sister, Maria Nikolaevna Tolstoy. Later, Tolstoy’s daughter, Alexandra Lvovna, came to Shamordino with her friend.

On the morning of October 31 (November 13) L.N. Tolstoy and his entourage went from Shamordino to Kozelsk, where they boarded train No. 12, which had already arrived at the station, heading south. There was no time to buy tickets upon boarding; Having reached Belyov, we purchased tickets to Volovo station. According to the testimony of those accompanying Tolstoy, the trip had no specific purpose. After the meeting, we decided to go to Novocherkassk, where we would try to get foreign passports and then go to Bulgaria; if this fails, go to the Caucasus. However, on the way, L.N. Tolstoy fell ill with pneumonia and was forced to get off the train that same day at the first large station near populated area. This station turned out to be Astapovo (now Lev Tolstoy, Lipetsk region), where on November 7 (20) L. N. Tolstoy died in the house of the station chief I. I. Ozolin.

On November 10 (23), 1910, he was buried in Yasnaya Polyana, on the edge of a ravine in the forest, 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.

In January 1913, a letter from Countess Sophia Tolstoy dated December 22, 1912 was published, in which she confirms the news in the press that his funeral service was performed at the grave of her husband by a certain priest (she refutes rumors that he was not real) in her presence. In particular, the countess wrote: “I also declare that Lev Nikolaevich never once before his death expressed a desire not to be buried, and earlier he wrote in his diary in 1895, as if a will: “If possible, then (bury) without priests and funeral services. But if this will be unpleasant for those who will bury, then let them bury as usual, but as cheaply and simply as possible."

Report of the head of the St. Petersburg security department, Colonel von Kotten, to the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire:

« In addition to the reports of November 8th, I am reporting to Your Excellency information about the unrest of student youth that took place on November 9th... on the occasion of the burial day of the deceased L.N. Tolstoy. At 12 o'clock in the afternoon it was served in Armenian Church a memorial service for the late L.N. Tolstoy, which was attended by about 200 people praying, mostly Armenians, and a small part of students. At the end of the funeral service, the worshipers dispersed, but a few minutes later students and female students began to arrive at the church. It turned out that on entrance doors University and Higher Women's Courses posted announcements that a memorial service for L.N. Tolstoy would take place on November 9 at one o'clock in the afternoon in the above-mentioned church. The Armenian clergy performed a requiem service for the second time, by the end of which the church could no longer accommodate all the worshipers, a significant part of whom stood on the porch and in the courtyard of the Armenian Church. At the end of the funeral service, everyone on the porch and in the church yard sang “Eternal Memory”...»

There is also an unofficial version of the death of Leo Tolstoy, stated in emigration by I.K. Sursky from the words of a Russian police official. According to it, the writer, before his death, wanted to reconcile with the church and came to Optina Pustyn for this. Here he awaited the order of the Synod, but, feeling unwell, was taken away by his arriving daughter and died at the Astapovo post station.

Russian cultural heritage the nineteenth century includes many world famous musical works, achievements choreographic art, masterpieces genius poets. The work of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy - a great prose writer, humanist philosopher and public figure occupies a special place not only in Russian, but also in world culture.

The biography of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is contradictory. It indicates that he did not immediately come to his philosophical views. And the creation of artistic literary works, which made him a world-famous Russian writer, was far from his main activity. And the beginning of his life’s journey was not cloudless. Here are the main ones milestones in the writer's biography:

• Tolstoy's childhood years.
• Military service and the beginning of a creative career.
• European travel and teaching activities.
• Marriage and family life.
• Novels "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina".
• One thousand eight hundred and eighties. Moscow census.
• Novel "Resurrection", excommunication.
• The final years of life.

Childhood and adolescence

The writer's date of birth is September 9, 1828. He was born into a noble aristocratic family, on his mother’s estate “Yasnaya Polyana”, where Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy spent his childhood until he was nine years old. Leo Tolstoy's father, Nikolai Ilyich, came from the ancient Tolstoy count family, which traced its family tree back to the mid-fourteenth century. Lev's mother, Princess Volkonskaya, died in 1830, some time after the birth of her only daughter, whose name was Maria. Seven years later, my father also died. He left five children in the care of his relatives, among whom Leo was the fourth child.

Having changed several guardians, little Leva settled in the Kazan house of his aunt Yushkova, his father’s sister. Live in new family turned out to be so happy that she pushed the tragic events into the background early childhood. Later, the writer recalled this time as one of the best in his life, which was reflected in his story “Childhood,” which can be considered part of the writer’s autobiography.

Having received, as was customary at that time in most noble families, home elementary education, Tolstoy entered Kazan University in 1843, choosing to study oriental languages. The choice turned out to be unsuccessful; due to poor academic performance, he changes the Oriental Faculty to study law, but with the same result. As a result, after two years, Lev returns to his homeland in Yasnaya Polyana, deciding to take up farming.

But the idea, which required monotonous, continuous work, failed, and Lev leaves for Moscow, and then to St. Petersburg, where he tries again to prepare for entering the university, alternating this preparation with carousing and gambling, increasingly accumulating debts, as well as music lessons and keeping a diary. Who knows how all this could have ended if not for the visit of his brother Nikolai, an army officer, to him in 1851, who persuaded him to enlist in military service.

The army and the beginning of a creative journey

Army service contributed to the writer's further reassessment of the social relations existing in the country. This is where it was started writing career, which consisted of two important stages:

• Military service in the North Caucasus.
• Participation in the Crimean War.

For three years L.N. Tolstoy lived among the Terek Cossacks, took part in battles - first as a volunteer, and later officially. Impressions of that life were subsequently reflected in the writer’s work, in works dedicated to the life of the North Caucasian Cossacks: “Cossacks”, “Hadji Murat”, “Raid”, “Cutting Wood”.

It was in the Caucasus, in between military skirmishes with the highlanders and while waiting to be accepted into official military service, that Lev Nikolaevich wrote his first published work - the story “Childhood”. The creative growth of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy as a writer began with her. Published in Sovremennik under the pseudonym L.N., it immediately brought fame and recognition to the aspiring author.

Having spent two years in the Caucasus, L. N. Tolstoy, with the beginning of the Crimean War, was transferred to the Danube Army, and then to Sevastopol, where he served in the artillery troops, commanding a battery, participated in the defense of the Malakhov Kurgan and fought at Chernaya. For his participation in the battles for Sevastopol, Tolstoy was awarded several times, including the Order of St. Anne.

Here the writer begins work on " Sevastopol stories", which he completed in St. Petersburg, where he was transferred in the early autumn of 1855, and published them under his own name in Sovremennik. This publication gives him the name of a representative of a new generation of writers.

At the end of 1857, L.N. Tolstoy resigns with the rank of lieutenant and sets off on his European journey.

Europe and pedagogical activity

Leo Tolstoy's first trip to Europe was a fact-finding, tourist trip. He visits museums, places associated with the life and work of Rousseau. And although he was delighted by the sense of social freedom inherent in the European way of life, general impression he had a negative impression of Europe, mainly because of the contrast between wealth and poverty hidden under a cultural veneer. The characteristics of Europe at that time were given by Tolstoy in the story “Lucerne”.

After his first European trip, Tolstoy spent several years studying public education, opening peasant schools in the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana. He already had his first experience in this when, leading a rather chaotic lifestyle in his youth, in search of its meaning, during an unsuccessful farming career, he opened the first school on his estate.

At this time, work continues on “Cossacks” and the novel “Family Happiness”. And in 1860-1861, Tolstoy again traveled to Europe, this time with the goal of studying the experience of introducing public education.

After returning to Russia, he develops his own pedagogical system, based on personal freedom, writes many fairy tales and stories for children.

Marriage, family and children

In 1862 the writer married Sophia Bers, who was eighteen years younger than him. Sophia, who had a university education, later helped her husband a lot in his writing work, including completely rewriting draft manuscripts. Although family relationships were not always ideal, they lived together for forty-eight years. Thirteen children were born into the family, of whom only eight survived to adulthood.

L. N. Tolstoy’s lifestyle contributed to the growth of problems in family relationships. They became especially noticeable after the completion of Anna Karenina. The writer plunged into depression and began to demand from his family to lead a lifestyle close to peasant life, which led to constant quarrels.

"War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina"

It took Lev Nikolayevich twelve years to work on his most famous works “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina”.

The first publication of an excerpt from “War and Peace” appeared back in 1865, and already in sixty-eight the first three parts were published in full. The success of the novel was so great that an additional edition of the already published parts was required, even before the completion of the last volumes.

No less success was experienced next novel Tolstoy - “Anna Karenina”, published in 1873-1876. In this work of the writer, signs of a mental crisis are already felt. The relationships between the main characters of the book, the development of the plot, and its dramatic ending testified to L. N. Tolstoy’s transition to the third stage of his literary work, reflecting the strengthening of the writer’s dramatic view of existence.

1880s and Moscow census

At the end of the seventies, L. N. Tolstoy met V. P. Shchegolenok, based on folklore stories of which the writer creates some of his works “How People Live,” “Prayer” and others. The change in his worldview by the eighties was reflected in the works “Confession”, “What is My Faith?”, “The Kreutzer Sonata”, which are characteristic of the third stage of Tolstoy’s work.

Trying to improve the lives of the people, the writer in 1882 took part in the Moscow census, believing that the official publication of data on the plight ordinary people will help change their destiny. According to the plan issued by the Duma, he collects statistical information for several days on the territory of the most difficult site, located in Protochny Lane. Impressed by what he saw in the Moscow slums, he wrote an article “On the census in Moscow.”

The novel "Resurrection" and excommunication

In the nineties, the writer wrote a treatise “What is Art?”, in which he substantiates his view of the purpose of art. But the pinnacle of Tolstoy’s writing of this period is considered the novel “Resurrection.” The image in it church life as a mechanical routine later became the main reason for Leo Tolstoy’s excommunication from the church.

The writer’s response to this was his “Response to the Synod,” which confirmed Tolstoy’s break with the church, and in which he justifies his position by pointing out the contradictions between church dogmas and his understanding of the Christian faith.

The public reaction to this event was contradictory - part of society expressed sympathy and support for L. Tolstoy, while others heard threats and abuse.

Final years of life

Deciding to live the rest of his life without contradicting his beliefs, L.N. Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana in early November 1910, accompanied only by his personal doctor. The departure did not have a specific end goal. It was supposed to go to Bulgaria or the Caucasus. But a few days later, feeling unwell, the writer was forced to stop at the Astapovo station, where doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia.

Attempts by doctors to save him failed, and the great writer died on November 20, 1910. The news of Tolstoy's death caused excitement throughout the country, but the funeral took place without incident. He was buried in Yasnaya Polyana, in his favorite place of childhood play - at the edge of a forest ravine.

The spiritual quest of Leo Tolstoy

Despite the recognition literary heritage writer all over the world, himself Tolstoy treated the works he wrote with disdain. He considered the dissemination of his philosophical and religious views, which were based on the idea of ​​“non-resistance to evil through violence,” known as “Tolstoyism,” to be truly important. In search of answers to the questions that worried him, he communicated a lot with people of clergy, read religious treatises, and studied the results of research in the exact sciences.

In everyday life, this was expressed by a gradual renunciation of the luxury of landowner life, of one’s property rights, and a transition to vegetarianism—“simplification.” In Tolstoy’s biography, this was the third period of his work, during which he finally came to the denial of all the then social, state, and religious forms of life.

World recognition and heritage study

And in our time Tolstoy is considered one of greatest writers peace. And although he himself considered his literary pursuits to be a secondary matter, and even in certain periods of his life insignificant and useless, it was his stories, tales and novels that made his name famous and contributed to the spread of the religious and moral teaching he created, known as Tolstoyism, which for Lev Nikolaevich was the main outcome of life.

In Russia, a project to study creative heritage Tolstoy has been launched since junior classes secondary school. The first presentation of the writer’s work begins in the third grade, when an initial acquaintance with the writer’s biography takes place. In the future, as they study his works, students write abstracts on the theme of the classic’s work, make reports both on the biography of the writer and on his individual works.

Many museums in the region contribute to the study of the writer’s work and the preservation of his memory. memorable places countries associated with the name of L. N. Tolstoy. First of all, such a museum is the Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Reserve, where the writer was born and buried.

In August 1828, a talented writer and also a philosopher, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, was born. His parents died early, and almost from birth he was raised by a guardian from Kazan.

At the age of sixteen, Lev Nikolaevich entered the philological faculty of Kazan University; later he transferred to the law faculty. But still he did not study for long and left the university altogether. He began to look for himself, living in Yasnaya Polyana, which he inherited from his father. A little later I took part in Caucasian war against the Chechens. During these years, Lev Nikolaevich began to write his autobiographical trilogy “Childhood” (1852) and “Adolescence” (1852-1854). And it was this period of life that was reflected in large quantities works of Tolstoy, for example, the story “Raid” (1853), “Cutting Wood” (1855), the story “Cossacks” (1852-1863), in which a young nobleman wants to live ordinary life, close to nature.

After the start of the Crimean War, at the request of Lev Nikolaevich, he was transferred to Sevastopol. There he wrote many works, which soon greatly impressed his readers. Tolstoy received many awards for bravery and for the defense of Sevastopol. In the same years, namely 1855-1857, Lev Nikolaevich wrote the last part of the “Youth” trilogy.

In 1855, Lev Nikolaevich returned to St. Petersburg and resigned due to the fact that he did not like fighting. He meets big amount writers. During this period, he traveled a lot in France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. He opens schools for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana and the surrounding area. Travels a lot because of this event. In the year of the abolition of serfdom, he began to actively defend the peasants from the landowners who wanted to take away the land from the freed. Because of this, many complaints were received that demanded that Tolstoy be fired. They searched his house, watched him, tried to find incriminating evidence on Tolstoy, but soon his life became very quiet.

In 1862, Lev Nikolaevich married Sofya Andreevna Bers. After some time, his family was very large; Tolstoy had nine children. He wrote his two most popular works: in 1863-1869 “War and Peace”, and in 1873-1877 “Anna Karenina”, a story about a woman who was subjected to criminal passion.

A little later, he and his family moved to Moscow for a while to educate their children, but this trip gave Tolstoy a little more than the education of his children. It was in Moscow that Lev Nikolaevich changed his attitude to work. He saw ordinary hard workers struggling for a piece of bread, and decided to be like them. Tolstoy renounces the authorship of all his written works and begins to earn a living with his hands. But soon the need for money forced Tolstoy to return his authorship. For for long years he writes again. Between 1879 and 1882 writes the work “Confession”, in 1884 “What is my faith?”, and from 1884 to 1886 “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”. In 1886, the drama “The Power of Darkness” was published, and by 1890 the play “The Fruits of Enlightenment” was written. Also during this period, namely from 1887 to 1889, Lev Nikolaevich wrote the story “The Kreutzer Sonata”, and immediately began the novel “Resurrection”, which he completed in 1899. In 1890, Tolstoy wrote the work “Father Sergius.”

In the early 1900s, he wrote a number of articles exposing the entire system government controlled. The government of Nicholas II issued a resolution according to which Holy Synod(the highest church institution in Russia) excommunicated Tolstoy from the church, which caused a wave of indignation in society.

Tolstoy's last decade gave readers such works as the story "Hadji Murat" (1896-1904), the drama "The Living Corpse" (1900), and the story "After the Ball" (1909, but published in 1911).

Before his death, Lev Nikolaevich lived in Crimea for a long time. He was very ill and began to draw up a will, which caused quarrels in his family over the division of the inheritance.

In 1910, Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana and on the way he catches a cold, and also while on the road, namely at the Astapov station, Ryazan-Ural Railway, on November 20 Lev Nikolaevich dies.