1888
Standing from left to right: Alexander Emmanuilovich Dmitriev-Mamonov (artist's son), Misha and Maria Tolstoy, M. V. Mamonov, Madame Lambert (governess); sitting: Sasha Tolstaya, Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya, Alexander Mikhailovich Kuzminsky (husband of Tatyana Kuzminskaya), artist Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge, Andrey and Lev Tolstoy, Sasha Kuzminsky, Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskaya (sister of Sofya Andreevna Tolstoy), Mikhail Vladimirovich Islavin, Vera Alexandrovna Kuzminskaya, Misha Kuzminsky, Miss Chomel (governess of the Kuzminsky children); in the foreground - Vasya Kuzminsky, Lev and Tatiana Tolsty. For 12 years of friendship with Tolstoy, Ge painted only one pictorial portrait of Tolstoy. In 1890, at the request of Sofya Andreevna Tolstoy, Ge sculpted a bust of Tolstoy - the first sculptural image of the writer, and even earlier, in 1886, he completed a series of illustrations for Tolstoy's story "What makes people alive." 
August 1897
The photographs were taken at the request of Ilya Yakovlevich Gunzburg during his stay in Yasnaya Polyana, when he was working on a full-length sculptural portrait of Leo Tolstoy. Based on these photographs, the sculptor sculpted a figurine of the writer and then sculpted from nature, correcting what had been done earlier. 
Anton Chekhov at Leo Tolstoy's in Gaspra
1901 
Breakfast on the terrace of a house in Gaspra
December 1901 
Leo Tolstoy with his family on his 75th birthday
1903 Tula province., Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana
Standing from left to right: Ilya, Lev, Alexandra and Sergei Tolstoy; seated: Mikhail, Tatyana, Sofya Andreevna and Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Andrey. 
Leo Tolstoy with peasant children on Trinity Day. May 17, 1909 
Leo Tolstoy riding Dawn
1903 
Leo Tolstoy with his sister Maria Nikolaevna in Yasnaya Polyana
July 1908 
Leo Tolstoy near the terrace of the Yasnaya Polyana house
May 11, 1908 
Leo Tolstoy in his office at Yasnaya Polyana
1909 
1909 Tolstoy is photographed in Yuly Genrikhovich Zimmerman's music store on Kuznetsky Most while listening to the new Mignon musical apparatus, which reproduces the playing of famous pianists. 
1909 In the background on the left is the grandson of Ilya Andreevich Tolstoy, on the right is the servant's son Alyosha Sidorkov. “In my presence,” recalls Valentin Fedorovich Bulgakov, “Lev Nikolaevich, at 82, played towns with Alyosha Sidorkov ... the son of the old Yasnaya Polyana servant Ilya Vasilyevich Sidorkov. There is a photograph depicting Tolstoy's "blow". Of course, he could no longer play “seriously” for a long time: he just “tried his strength””. 
Leo and Sophia Tolstoy on their 48th wedding anniversary
September 25, 1910 
Leo Tolstoy, Alexandra Tolstaya, Chairman of the Moscow Literacy Society Pavel Dolgorukov, Tatyana Sukhotina, Varvara Feokritova, Pavel Biryukov are going to the opening of the People's Library in the village of Yasnaya Polyana
January 31, 1910 
May 19, 1910
One of the last portraits of the writer. Photographed by Vladimir Grigorievich Chertkov at a time when Tolstoy and his secretary Valentin Fedorovich Bulgakov were sorting through the mail. On the day of shooting, May 19, 1910, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: “Taking portraits. It's embarrassing that I can't say no." Lev Nikolaevich crossed out the last line, not wanting to upset Chertkov. 
Leo Tolstoy near the terrace of the Yasnaya Polyana house, May 11, 1908, Tula province., Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. Among Tolstoy's many visitors on the eve of his 80th birthday, a folk teacher from Siberia, IP Sysoev, who had previously visited America, came to Yasnaya Polyana. He asked Lev Nikolaevich for permission to photograph him for the Americans. The photographer Baranov, brought by Sysoev, took these photographs on May 11, the day when Tolstoy was strongly impressed by the report he had read in the newspaper Rus about the execution of twenty Kherson peasants. On that day, Lev Nikolaevich dictated into the phonograph the beginning of the article on the death penalty - the original version of "I can not be silent."
Photo Baranov S. A.
Leo Tolstoy playing gorodki, 1909, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village Yasnaya Polyana. In the background on the left is the grandson of Ilya Andreevich Tolstoy, on the right is the son of the servant Alyosha Sidorkov. “With me,” recalls Valentin Fyodorovich Bulgakov, “Lev Nikolaevich, at 82, played towns with Alyosha Sidorkov ... the son of the old Yasnaya Polyana servant Ilya Vasilyevich Sidorkov. There is a photograph depicting Tolstoy's "blow". Of course, he could no longer play “seriously” for a long time: he just “tried his strength””. 1909
Tapsel Thomas
Leo Tolstoy with his family, 1892, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village Yasnaya Polyana. From left to right: Misha, Leo Tolstoy, Lev, Andrey, Tatyana, Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya, Maria. Vanechka and Alexandra are in the foreground.
Photo studio "Scherer, Nabgolts and Kº"
Leo Tolstoy riding a Dawn, 1903, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. Many contemporaries of Leo Tolstoy admired his skill as a rider, including Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov: “But as soon as he sat down, it’s just a miracle! The whole will gather, the legs seem to have merged with the horse, the body is a real centaur, it will tilt its head a little, - and the horse ... and dances, and knocks under it with its feet, like a fly ... ".
Leo and Sophia Tolstoy, 1895, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. The first mention of Tolstoy riding a bicycle is in a letter to his daughter Tatyana Lvovna dated April 16, 1894: “We have a new hobby: cycling. Papa spends hours studying on it, riding and circling along the alleys in the garden ... This is Alexei Maklakov’s bicycle, and tomorrow we will send it to him so as not to break it, otherwise it will probably end like this.
Photo Tolstaya Sofia Andreevna
Leo Tolstoy with relatives and friends, including the artist Nikolai Ge, 1888, Tula province., Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. Standing from left to right: Alexander Emmanuilovich Dmitriev-Mamonov (artist's son), Misha and Maria Tolstoy, M. V. Mamonov, Madame Lambert (governess); sitting: Sasha Tolstaya, Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya, Alexander Mikhailovich Kuzminsky (husband of Tatyana Kuzminskaya), artist Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge, Andrey and Lev Tolstoy, Sasha Kuzminsky, Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskaya (sister of Sofya Andreevna Tolstoy), Mikhail Vladimirovich Islavin, Vera Alexandrovna Kuzminskaya, Misha Kuzminsky, Miss Chomel (governess of the Kuzminsky children); in the foreground - Vasya Kuzminsky, Lev and Tatyana Tolsty. For 12 years of friendship with Tolstoy, Ge painted only one pictorial portrait of Tolstoy. In 1890, at the request of Sofya Andreevna Tolstoy Ge, he sculpted a bust of Tolstoy - the first sculptural image of the writer, and even earlier, in 1886, he completed a series of illustrations for Tolstoy's story "What makes people alive"
Photo by Abamelek-Lazarev S.S.
Leo Tolstoy playing tennis, 1896, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village Yasnaya Polyana. From left to right: Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Maria Lvovna Tolstaya, Alexandra Lvovna Tolstaya, Nikolai Leonidovich Obolensky (son of Tolstoy's niece Elizaveta Valeryanovna Obolenskaya, from June 2, 1897 - husband of Maria Lvovna Tolstoy).
Photo Tolstaya Sofia Andreevna
Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky, October 8, 1900, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. This was the second meeting of the writers. “I was in Yasnaya Polyana. I took away a huge pile of impressions from there, which to this day I can’t figure out ... I spent the whole day there from morning to evening, ”Alexei Maksimovich Gorky wrote to Anton Pavlovich Chekhov in October 1900.
Tolstaya Sofia Andreevna
Leo Tolstoy, land surveyor and peasant Prokofy Vlasov, 1890, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village.
Yasnaya Polyana. Adamson Photos
Leo Tolstoy with his family under the "tree of the poor", September 23, 1899, Tula province., Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. Standing: Nikolai Leonidovich Obolensky (son of Tolstoy's niece Elizaveta Valeryanovna Obolenskaya, since June 2, 1897 - the husband of Maria Lvovna Tolstoy), Sofya Nikolaevna Tolstaya (Leo Tolstoy's daughter-in-law, since 1888 the wife of his son Ilya) and Alexandra Lvovna Tolstaya. From left to right sit: grandchildren Anna and Mikhail Ilyichi Tolstoy, Maria Lvovna Obolenskaya (daughter), Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya with her grandson Andrei Ilyich Tolstoy, Tatyana Lvovna Sukhotina with Volodya (Ilyich) in her arms, Varvara Valeryanovna Nagornova (niece of Leo Tolstoy, the eldest daughter of his sister Maria Nikolaevna Tolstoy), Olga Konstantinovna Tolstaya (wife of Andrei Lvovich Tolstoy), Andrei Lvovich Tolstoy with Ilya Ilyich Tolstoy (grandson of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy).
Photo Tolstaya Sofia Andreevna
Leo Tolstoy and Ilya Repin, December 17 - 18, 1908, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. The photograph refers to the last visit to Yasnaya Polyana by Ilya Efimovich Repin, taken at the request of his wife Natalya Borisovna Nordman-Severova. During almost thirty years of friendship, Tolstoy and Repin were photographed together for the first time.
Tolstaya Sofia Andreevna
Leo Tolstoy on a bench under the "tree of the poor", 1908, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. In the background Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya and four peasant boys.
Photo Kulakov P. E.
Leo Tolstoy and a peasant petitioner, 1908, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. Ivan Fedorovich Nazhivin wrote down the words of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy: “Loving distant people, humanity, people, wishing them well is not a tricky business ... No, you’re here to love your neighbors, love your neighbors, those you meet every day, who sometimes get bored, they annoy, they interfere, - love them, do good to them! .. Here I am walking in the park the other day and thinking. I hear some woman walking behind and asking for something. And I just had an idea that I needed to work on. “Well, what do you need?” I say impatiently to the woman. “What are you bothering about?” But it's good that now he came to his senses and recovered. And then it happens, you realize it too late.
Bulla Karl Karlovich
Leo Tolstoy, July 1907, Tula province., Der. Ash trees. Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy was filmed on one of the hot days of July 1907 in the village of Yasenki, where the Chertkovs lived at that time. According to an eyewitness, Bulgarian Hristo Dosev, the photo was taken after a heart-to-heart conversation between Tolstoy and one of his associates. “At the same time,” writes Dosev, “Chertkov prepared his photographic apparatus in the yard, wanting to take a portrait of L.N. But when he asked him to pose for him, L.N., who almost always peacefully agreed to this, this time did not want to. He furrowed his eyebrows and could not hide his unpleasant feeling. "There's an interesting, important conversation about a person's life, but here you're doing stupid things," he said irritably. But, having surrendered to the requests of VG, he went to stand. Apparently, having tamed himself, he joked with Chertkov. "He keeps shooting! But I'll take revenge on him. I'll take some car and, when he starts shooting, I'll douse him with water! And I laughed merrily."
Leo and Sofya Tolstoy on the 34th wedding anniversary, September 23, 1896, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana
Photo Tolstaya Sofia Andreevna
Leo Tolstoy plays chess with Vladimir Chertkov, June 28 - 30, 1907, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. On the right you can see the reverse of the portrait of Leo Tolstoy, on which the artist Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov was working at that time. During the sessions, Tolstoy often played chess. The eighteen-year-old son of Vladimir Chertkov Dima (Vladimir Vladimirovich Chertkov) was one of his most "unyielding" partners.
Photo Chertkov Vladimir Grigorievich
Leo Tolstoy with his granddaughter Tanya Sukhotina, 1908, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. In his diary, Lev Nikolaevich wrote: “If I were given a choice: to populate the earth with such saints as I can imagine, but only so that there are no children, or such people as now, but with children constantly arriving fresh from God, “I would choose the latter.”
Chertkov Vladimir Grigorievich
Leo Tolstoy with his family on the day of his 75th birthday, 1903, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. Standing from left to right: Ilya, Lev, Alexandra and Sergei Tolstoy; seated: Mikhail, Tatyana, Sofya Andreevna and Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Andrey.
Leo Tolstoy is having breakfast on the terrace of a house in Gaspra, December 1901, Tauride Gubernia, village. Gaspra. From the diary of Sofya Andreevna Tolstoy: “... it is difficult, terribly, sometimes unbearable with his stubbornness, tyranny and complete lack of knowledge of medicine and hygiene. For example, doctors tell him to eat caviar, fish, broth, but he is a vegetarian and this destroys himself ... ".
Photo Tolstaya Alexandra Lvovna
Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov in Gaspra, September 12, 1901, Tauride Province, village. Gaspra. The writers met in 1895 in Yasnaya Polyana. The photo was taken on the terrace of Sofya Vladimirovna Panina's dacha.
Photo by Sergeenko P.A.
Leo Tolstoy with his daughter Tatyana, 1902, Taurida province, pos. Gaspar
Photo Tolstaya Sofia Andreevna
Leo Tolstoy with his daughter Alexandra on the seashore, 1901, Taurida Province, village. Miskhor
Photo Tolstaya Sofia Andreevna
Leo Tolstoy and Dushan Makovitsky among patients and doctors of the Trinity District Psychiatric Hospital (talking to a patient who calls himself Peter the Great), June 1910, Moscow Province, p. Trinity. Tolstoy became interested in issues of psychiatry in particular after meeting in 1897 with the famous criminologist and psychiatrist Cesare Lombroso. Living in Otradnoye next door to the two best at that time, the Trinity District and Pokrovskaya Zemstvo Psychiatric Hospitals, he visited them several times. Tolstoy visited the Trinity Hospital twice: on June 17 and 19, 1910.
Photo Chertkov Vladimir Grigorievich
Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana, August 28, 1903, Tula province .., village. Yasnaya Polyana
Photo Protasevich Franz Trofimovich
Leo Tolstoy, Alexandra Tolstaya, chairman of the Moscow Literacy Society Pavel Dolgorukov, Tatyana Sukhotina, Varvara Feokritova, Pavel Biryukov, on January 31, 1910, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. The black poodle Marquis belonged to Tolstoy's youngest daughter Alexandra Lvovna.
Photo Saveliev A.I.
Leo and Sophia Tolstoy and their daughter Alexandra among the peasants of the village of Yasnaya Polyana on Trinity Day, 1909, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. Left: Alexandra Lvovna Tolstaya.
Photo Tapsel Thomas
Leo Tolstoy walks from the house along the Preshpekt alley, 1903, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. From the diary of Mikhail Sergeevich Sukhotin, 1903: “Each time I am more and more surprised by the health and strength of L.N. He is getting younger, fresher, stronger. There is no mention of his former fatal illnesses ... He again acquired his youthful, quick, cheerful gait, very peculiar, with his socks turned outward.
Photo Tolstaya Alexandra Lvovna
Leo Tolstoy among the peasants of the village of Krekshino, Moscow province, 1909, Moscow province, village. Krekshino. The peasants of the village of Krekshino came with bread and salt to welcome the arrival of Leo Tolstoy. He came out to them in a shirt with suspenders outside, as the day was very hot and, according to eyewitnesses, he talked with them for a long time. The talk turned to land, and Lev Nikolaevich expressed his view of landed property as a sin, all the evil from which he again resolved by moral perfection and refraining from violence.
Photo Tapsel Thomas
Leo Tolstoy in the office of the house in Yasnaya Polyana, 1909, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. Tolstoy is filmed in his office, in an armchair intended for visitors. Lev Nikolayevich sometimes liked to sit in this armchair in the evenings, reading a book by the light of a candle, which he placed next to him on a bookcase. The rotating bookcase was presented to him by Pyotr Alekseevich Sergeenko. On it were placed books that Tolstoy used in the near future and which therefore had to be “at hand”. A note was pinned on the bookcase: "Books from the right ones."
Photo Chertkov Vladimir Grigorievich
Leo Tolstoy on a walk, 1908, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village Yasnaya Polyana
Photo Chertkov Vladimir Grigorievich
Leo Tolstoy tells a fairy tale about a cucumber to his grandchildren Sonya and Ilyusha, 1909, Moscow province, village. Krekshino
Photo Chertkov Vladimir Grigorievich
Leo Tolstoy at the station in Krekshino, September 4 - 18, 1909, Moscow province., Der. Krekshino
Unknown author
Departure of Leo Tolstoy to Kochety to his daughter Tatyana Sukhotina, 1909, Tula province, Tula district, Kozlova Zasek station. In the last two years of his life, Tolstoy often left Yasnaya Polyana - sometimes for a short stay with his daughter Tatyana Lvovna in Kochety, then to Chertkov in Krekshino or in Meshcherskoye, Moscow province.
Photo Chertkov Vladimir Grigorievich
Leo Tolstoy, 1907, Tula province, Krapivensky district, village. Yasnaya Polyana. “Not a single photograph, not even portraits painted from him, can convey the impression that was obtained from his living face and figure. When Tolstoy looked at a person, he became motionless, concentrated, inquisitively penetrated inside him and as if sucking out everything that was hidden in him - good or bad. At that moment his eyes hid behind overhanging brows, like the sun behind a cloud. At other times, Tolstoy responded to a joke like a child, burst into a sweet laugh, and his eyes became cheerful and playful, came out of thick eyebrows and shone, ”wrote Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky.
Photo Chertkov Vladimir Grigorievich
Set of postcards "L. N. Tolstoy in the photographs of his contemporaries” with some comments…
Lev Nikolaevich, being the fourth child in the family, was born in 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana, the estate of Maria Nikolaevna's mother. Early enough, the children were left without parents and their father's relatives took care of them. Nevertheless, very bright feelings remained about the parents. Father, Nikolai Ilyich, was remembered as honest and never humiliated before anyone, a very cheerful and bright person, but with eternally sad eyes. About the mother, who died very early, I would like to note one found quote from the memoirs of Lev Nikolayevich:
“She seemed to me such a high, pure, spiritual being that often in the middle period of my life, during the struggle with the temptations that overwhelmed me, I prayed to her soul, asking her to help me, and this prayer always helped me”
P. I. Biryukov. Biography of L. N. Tolstoy.
This biography is also notable for the fact that L.N. himself took part in editing and writing it.
Moscow, 1851. Photo from Mather's daggerotype.
In the photo above, Tolstoy is 23 years old. This is the year of the first literary attempts, the sprees, maps and random companions in life familiar to that time, which, later, were described in War and Peace. However, the first school for serfs was opened by him four years before. Also, 1851 is the year of entry into military service in the Caucasus.
Tolstoy the officer was very successful and, if not for the reaction of the authorities to the sharp pamphlet in 1855, the future philosopher would have been under stray bullets for a long time.
1854 Photo from a daggerotype.
The brave warrior, who showed his best side during the Crimean War, was finishing the “Sevastopol Tales” already in the rear, in St. Petersburg. Acquaintance with Turgenev brought Tolstoy close to the editorial board of the Sovremennik magazine, where some of his stories were also published.
Editorial board of the journal "Sovremennik", St. Petersburg. Standing from left to right: L. N. Tolstoy, D. V. Grigorovich. Seated: I.A. Goncharov, I.S. Turgenev, A.V. Druzhinin, A.N. Ostrovsky. Photo by S.L.Levitsky.
1862, Moscow. Photo by M.B. Tulinov.
Perhaps, Tolstoy is characterized in an important way by the fact that while in Paris, he, a participant in the heroic defense of Sevastopol, was unpleasantly struck by the cult of Napoleon I and the guillotining, at which he happened to be present. Later, the characteristics of the orders that prevailed in the army will emerge in 1886, in the famous “Nikolai Palkin” - the story of the old veteran will again shock Tolstoy, who served only in the army and did not face the senseless cruelty of the army as a means of punishing the recalcitrant poor. The vicious judicial practice and their own inability to protect the innocent will also be mercilessly criticized in “Memoirs of the Trial of a Soldier”, which tells about 1966.
But a sharp and irreconcilable criticism of the existing order is yet to come, the 60s became years of enjoying a happy family life with a loving and beloved wife, who did not always accept, but always understood her husband’s thoughts and actions. At the same time, "War and Peace" was written - from 1865 to 68.
1868, Moscow.
It is difficult to find an epithet for Tolstoy's activities before the 80s. Anna Karenina is being written, and there are many other works that later earned a low rating from the author in comparison with later works. This is not yet the formulation of answers to fundamental questions, but the preparation of the foundation for them.
L. N. Tolstoy (1876)
And in 1879, the "Study of Dogmatic Theology" appeared. In the mid-80s, Tolstoy organized the publishing house of books for popular reading "Intermediary", many stories were written for him. One of the milestones in the philosophy of Lev Nikolaevich comes out - the treatise “What is my faith?”
1885, Moscow. Photo of Scherer and Nabholz firm.
LN Tolstoy with his wife and children. 1887
The 20th century was marked by a sharp controversy with the Orthodox Church and excommunication from it. Tolstoy took an active part in public life, criticizing the Russo-Japanese War and the social structure of the empire, which was already beginning to burst at the seams.
1901, Crimea. Photo by S.A. Tolstoy.
1905, Yasnaya Polyana. Leo Tolstoy returns from swimming on the Voronka River. Photo by V. G. Chertkov.
1908, Yasnaya Polyana. Leo Tolstoy with his beloved horse Delir. Photo by K.K.Bulla.
August 28, 1908, Yasnaya Polyana. Leo Tolstoy on his 80th birthday. Photo by V. G. Chertkov.
1908, Yasnaya Polyana. At the terrace of the Yasnaya Polyana house. Photo by S.A. Baranov.
1909 In the village of Krekshino. Photo by V. G. Chertkov.
1909, Yasnaya Polyana. LN Tolstoy in the office at work. Photo by V. G. Chertkov.
The entire large family of Tolstoy often gathered at the family estate of Yasnaya Polyana.
1908 Leo Tolstoy's house in Yasnaya Polyana. Photo by K.K.Bulla.
1892, Yasnaya Polyana. Leo Tolstoy with his family at the tea table in the park. Photo by Scherer and Nabholz.
1908, Yasnaya Polyana. Leo Tolstoy with his granddaughter Tanechka. Photo by V. G. Chertkov.
1908, Yasnaya Polyana. LN Tolstoy plays chess with MS Sukhotin. From left to right: T.L. Tolstaya-Sukhotina with M.L. Tolstoy's daughter Tanya Tolstaya, Yu.I. Igumnova, L.N. Tolstoy, A.B. Vanya Tolstoy, M.S. Sukhotin, M.L. Tolstoy, A.L. Tolstoy. Photo by K.K.Bulla.
L. N. Tolstoy tells the tale of the cucumber to the grandchildren Ilyusha and Sonya, 1909
Despite the pressure of the church, many famous and respected people maintained close relations with Lev Nikolayevich.
1900, Yasnaya Polyana. L.N. Tolstoy and A.M. Gorky. Photo by S.A. Tolstoy.
1901, Crimea. L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov. Photo by S.A. Tolstoy.
1908, Yasnaya Polyana. L.N. Tolstoy and I.E. Repin. Photo by S.A. Tolstoy.
In the last year of his life, Tolstoy secretly left his family in order to live the remaining time according to his own worldview. On the way, he fell ill with pneumonia and died at the Astapovo station in the Lipetsk region, which now bears his name.
Tolstoy with his granddaughter Tanya, Yasnaya Polyana, 1910
1910 In the village of Calm. Photo by V. G. Chertkov.
Most of the photographs presented above were taken by Karl Karlovich Bulla, Vladimir Grigorievich Chertkov and the wife of the writer Sofya Andreevna. Karl Bulla is a famous photographer of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, who left a colossal legacy, which today largely determines the visual representation of that bygone era.
Carl Bulla (from Wikipedia)
Vladimir Chertkov is one of Tolstoy's closest friends and associates, who became one of the leaders of Tolstoyism and the publisher of many of Leo Nikolayevich's works.
Leo Tolstoy and Vladimir Chertkov
Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana (1908).
Photographic portrait by S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky. First color photograph. First published in the Notes of the Russian Technical Society.
In the memoirs of another associate of Tolstoy - Pavel Alexandrovich Boulanger - a mathematician, engineer, writer, who introduced Russian readers to the biography of the Buddha (published to this day!) And the main ideas of his teaching, Tolstoy's words are quoted:
God gave me the highest happiness - he gave me such a friend as Chertkov.
Sofya Andreevna, nee Bers, was a faithful companion of Lev Nikolaevich and it is difficult to overestimate all the support she gave him.
S. A. Tolstaya, ur. Bers(from Wikipedia)
Aina Leon.
Officer Tolstoy in the Caucasus.
I must go back and tell about the appearance of Count Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy in the Sovremennik circle. He was then still an officer and the only Sovremennik employee who wore a military uniform. His literary talent had already manifested itself so much that all the luminaries of literature had to recognize him as their equal.
However, Count Tolstoy was not one of the timid people, and he himself was aware of the strength of his talent, and therefore behaved, as it seemed to me then, with some even feigned swagger.
I never entered into conversations with writers when they gathered with us, but only silently listened and watched everyone. It was especially interesting for me to follow Turgenev and Count Leo Tolstoy when they got together, argued or made their comments to each other, because both of them were very smart and observant.
I did not hear Count Tolstoy's opinion about Turgenev, and in general he did not express his opinion about any of the writers, at least not in my presence. But Turgenev, on the contrary, had some need to pour out his observations about everyone.
When Turgenev had just met Count Tolstoy, he said of him:
Not a single word, not a single movement in it is natural! He is always showing off in front of us, and I find it difficult how to explain this stupid arrogance in an intelligent person with my seedy county!
A. Ya. Panaeva. Memories. Moscow, Pravda. 1986.
Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy.
Portrait of Leo Tolstoy.
1873.
Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy.
Portrait of Leo Tolstoy.
1873.
Mystics believe, - says A.F. Okhatrin, - that any person is able to exert an energy-information effect on his image during nervous shocks. But the strongest impact happens at the time of death. No wonder Leo Tolstoy considered it the most important event for which one must prepare all one's life.
Stanislav Zigunenko. Programmed killers. Book of secrets-3. Moscow, "Mystery". 1993.
Aina Leon.
Portrait of Leo Tolstoy.
Until the age of fifty there was the first Tolstoy - a pure genius. And after fifty years there was a second Tolstoy - a crazy genius, mentally ill. It was this second Tolstoy who was excommunicated from the church. And this same second Tolstoy was praised by Lenin, saying that this is a mirror of the Russian revolution.
Gr. Klimov. Prince of this world. My name is legion. Rostov-on-Don, "Phoenix". 1995.
Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge.
Portrait of the writer Leo Tolstoy.
1884.
As you know, Tolstoy believed that the successes of science and technology do not bring good to people - "they only increase the power of the rich over enslaved workers and increase the horrors and atrocities of wars"; he saw the path of progress in the religious and moral self-improvement of people...
It is said that Tolstoy once said about Mechnikov: “He is a nice, simple person, but as people have weakness - the other drinks, - so does he with his science! .. What do you think, how many scientists counted different types of flies? Seven thousand! Well, where is the time for spiritual questions!
B. Tokin. Mechnikovs in Yasnaya Polyana. "Science and life".
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
Plowman. Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy on arable land.
1887.
Before we had time to sit down, L.N. came again, carrying a tray with his coffee and bread. He said that he wanted to sit with us and drink coffee here, and not at his place, as he usually does. They began to talk about the hygienic regime of vegetarianism. L. N. said that now it would be unthinkable for him to eat beef and that even the sight of it disgusted him. From non-vegetarian food, he eats only eggs and sour milk. Vina drinks a few sips, like medicine, at the insistence of the doctor ...
Then we went to the village. Apparently, the peasants are quite prosperous: almost all the huts are brick and some even have iron roofs. At the meeting, all the peasants stopped, talked in a friendly manner, reported their family and rural news, etc. Now it is clear that their relations with the Tolstoy are the best, without any sweetness or insincerity on any side.
The school, it turns out, is only a rural parochial school, very nasty. Paradoxical as it may seem, but Tolstoy is not allowed to have his own school because of the bad influence of the ideas of L.N.
We returned at about 12 o'clock, for breakfast, and in the garden Sofya Andreevna, LN's wife, was walking towards us. She is a tall, stout, still beautiful woman, very youthful. She has unusually lively, brilliant black eyes. There is something powerful and energetic about her. She met us very kindly and began to say that L. N. was now in an excellent period, cheerful and calm. Then she said that we probably heard a lot of bad things about her; everywhere it is widely believed that L.N. is the sky, and she is the earth. But what will inevitably happen when someone needs to take care of the material side, which would enable the same L. N. to work calmly, without the thought of earning money, a thought that would inevitably have a bad influence on his works, since he writes slowly and for a long time and must have peace of mind to be able to do it. In addition, they have 23 grandchildren! Therefore, she has to deal with everything - both the economy and publications - herself. She has been absorbed in this all day. At night, up to 3 o'clock. She writes notes “My Life”, in essence, a biography of L.N. She brought it up to 1892.
L. N. came again to breakfast. He ate oatmeal, potatoes, sour milk and compote.
They began to talk about literature, .. L. N. argued that writing in the form of a novel is dangerous, in the sense that the romantic side often obscures the main moral idea, since most readers pay attention to this side, and often, even worse, to one sensual. Thus, the result is just the opposite.
L.N. recognizes both art and science only insofar as they serve to unite people in goodness. On this occasion, we started talking about Anna Karenina and were terribly amazed when L.N. said that, frankly, he had forgotten its content!!! If it were not for the quite simple and sincere tone in which he said this, it would not be believed.
After breakfast we went to friends and neighbors - to the Chertkovs. L.N. ruled there himself, and back he moved to a horse, to a cat. His son had gone before. He rides superbly, like a young man (he even jumped over a wide ditch! The day before he rode to Tula - there and back 30 miles).
By 5 o'clock we returned to Yasnaya Polyana and LN, as usual, went to bed until 6 o'clock, when dinner was served. At this time Soph. Andr. showed us around the house...
The Tolstoy House is similar to all medium-sized landowner houses, but stands out for its simplicity. The furniture is the most necessary, old, if only there was something to sit on. No desire for luxury or even elegance. Everything - both the walls, and the floors, and the furnishings, apparently, have not been renewed for an infinitely long time and remain so until they completely cease to be suitable. How far all this is from what is said about the luxury and inconsistency of Tolstoy!
Letter from Olga Nikolaevna Mechnikova to Vera Alexandrovna Chistovich. "Science and life".
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
Plowman. L. N. Tolstoy on arable land.
1887.
One of the most zealous readers of Robinson was Tolstoy. In fact, he did not part with Defoe's book all his life. On the instructions of Tolstoy, one of the teachers at the Yasnaya Polyana school made a brief retelling of Robinson, published by Tolstoy. Tolstoy not only read "Robinson", he tried to "robinsonize" (Rousseau's expression) in practice. A simple working life - that's what attracted Tolstoy in the fate of Robinson, who was for Tolstoy an example of a "normal person".
M. and U. Urnov. Robinson Crusoe. (Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. The story of Colonel Jack. Chisinau, Lumina. 1981.)
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
Portrait of the writer Leo Tolstoy.
1887.
By the way, tell me, who do you think invented the concentration camp theory?
Well, perhaps, the GPU or the NKVD, - was heard from the audience. “Or later to the Gestapo.
No, comrades, it was not Dzerzhinsky or Yagoda, Hitler or Himmler who developed the theory of concentration camps. The philosophical background of the concentration camps was suggested by none other than the great humanist of the Russian land, Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy. If you read his philosophizing, you will find there also the preaching of "healing by work." Based on this, Count Tolstoy put on peasant bast shoes and went for a plow or made boots himself. He did not invent anything new or original. This has long been used in monasteries: hard work and a harsh life that mortifies the flesh, but saves the soul. And Count Tolstoy really needed the salvation of his soul: in his old age, his mind went beyond reason, and he went a little crazy.
- When hundreds of revolutionaries killed tsarist governors, counts and princes, then Count Tolstoy was silent as a fish. But when the tsarist government hanged several of these murderous revolutionaries in court, then the great humanist Tolstoy suddenly burst out into the whole world with the hysterical article “I can’t be silent.” Why? Where is the logic? Yes, because Count Tolstoy knew perfectly well that these revolutionaries were just as mentally ill degenerates as he himself, his brothers. By the way, tell me where was the first Soviet concentration camp?
On Solovki, someone said.
Yes, on the basis of the famous Solovetsky Monastery. Here is a direct link between monasteries and concentration camps. Leo Tolstoy received praise from Comrade Lenin himself in the article "Tolstoy as a Mirror of the Russian Revolution". The name itself says what role Count Tolstoy played in the preparation of this revolution, which destroyed the monasteries, but created concentration camps. If Tolstoy had not died, then, according to the law of the unity and struggle of opposites, he would have been in one of these camps. And they would drag him by the beard there: “Well, how is it, count? For that fought for it and ran?"
Gr. Klimov. Protocols of the Soviet Wise Men. Rostov-on-Don, "Phoenix". 1994, p. 75.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana's office.
1887.
Next to the complex of guilt and self-destruction is the complex of castration, which serves as a psychological motivation for the sect of eunuchs. After all, one could simply become a monk, and not engage in barbaric self-mutilation. These eunuchs were very interested in Leo Tolstoy, who at the end preached the mortification of the flesh, and in real life gave birth to 13 children.
Gr. Klimov. Protocols of the Soviet Wise Men. Rostov-on-Don, "Phoenix". 1994, p. 97.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
Portrait of Leo Tolstoy.
1891.
In his diary of June 12, 1900, Tolstoy writes: “I am seriously convinced that the world is ruled by completely crazy people. Those who are not crazy either abstain or cannot participate.”
Gr. Klimov. Protocols of the Soviet Wise Men. Rostov-on-Don, "Phoenix". 1994, p. 159.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
Etudes by L. N. Tolstoy.
1891.
Then Nordau takes on the great writer of the Russian land, Leo Tolstoy, and writes: “Whatever the merits of Tolstoy’s artistic talent, he does not owe his world fame and influence on his contemporaries to him. His novels were recognized as the most remarkable works of literature: and, nevertheless, for decades, "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" had almost no readers outside of Russia, and criticism admired the author only with great reservations ... Only appeared in 1889 " Kreutzer Sonata” spread his name to all corners of the globe; a short story was translated into all European languages, published in hundreds of thousands of copies; millions of people read them passionately. From that moment on, Western public opinion placed him in the forefront of modern writers; his name was on everyone's lips ... The Kreutzer Sonata, as a work of art, is far below most of his novels and stories; nevertheless, the glory that was not given for so long to the author of "War and Peace", "Cossacks" and "Anna Karenina", she won with one blow ... "
What is the mystery of this "Kreutzer Sonata"? There, the husband kills his wife, allegedly out of jealousy for his lover. But psychoanalysts, after reading this story, grin and say that the husband was in love not with his wife at all, but with her lover. And so he coccused his wife not out of jealousy for her, but out of jealousy for her lover. It's the other way around - like 69. You know, 69 ways to be unhappy. Therefore, this story is in all the reference books of psychopathology, as a vivid example of latent or repressed homosex. By the way, Tolstoy's wife could not stand this story...
Dr. Nordau believes that it was not his novels that brought Tolstoy the main fame, but his philosophy - a sick philosophy, the so-called "Tolstoyism", where the main commandment is "non-resistance to evil by violence", that is: "Do not resist vice, do not judge, do not kill. Down with, thus, the courts, troops, prisons, taxes "...
“The essential point of Tolstoy's teaching on morality is the mortification of the flesh. All intercourse with a woman is unclean; marriage is just as sinful as free cohabitation between the two sexes. The Kreutzer Sonata reproduces this teaching in artistic images. The murderer out of jealousy Pozdnyshev says: “Honeymoon! After all, the name is one thing that is vile! .. This is something like what I experienced when I learned to smoke, when I was tempted to vomit and drooled, and I swallowed them and pretended that I was pleased.
Then Pozdnyshev, through whose mouth Tolstoy preaches, admits that "he is considered crazy." By the way, Tolstoy copied the image of Pozdnyshev's wife from his own wife. It is possible that he also described his honeymoon - he was drawn to vomit and so on.
What's the matter? Tolstoy is considered a superman who had a whole bunch of children. But Tolstoy himself, in his diary dated November 29, 1851, at the age of 23, writes the following: “I never loved a woman ... but I fell in love with men quite often ... I fell in love with a man, not yet knowing what pederasty is ... For example, Dyakov - I wanted to strangle him with kisses and cry. This is published in many biographies of Tolstoy.
And Tolstoy's wife read all these diaries. When Tolstoy was already over 80, and his wife over 60, he took a certain Chertkov as his secretary. And the countess runs around the count, loudly accusing him of pederasty - and threatens to shoot the damn Chertkov. And all this in front of their adult children. Imagine - family happiness!
That is why, in his story “Family Happiness”, Tolstoy assures that a man and a woman, even if they marry for love, after marriage should become enemies. Tolstoy describes degenerates, but does not say it - and transfers this measure to all people. Here is the great truth seeker for you!
Let me add one more thing about Tolstoy. The famous German writer Stefan Zweig, in his book Three Singers of His Life, analyzing the life of Tolstoy, believes that after 50 years Tolstoy began what is called climacteric psychosis or climacteric insanity. Usually these psychoses occur in some women during the period when the activity of the gonads is dying down. But even for some men with a broken psyche, where masculine and feminine principles are mixed up in their souls, this period is like a push when mental illnesses, which before that seemed to have been dormant in their souls, become aggravated ...
Tolstoy wants to make the whole world happy. And he brings the person closest to him, his wife, to the brink of suicide and says that she has a "stone around his neck." The wife now wants to poison herself, then runs into the pond to drown herself. And Tolstoy himself hides guns and ropes from himself so as not to shoot himself or hang himself ...
The whole world admires the extraordinary kindness of Tolstoy. And Tolstoy's children then write in their memoirs that his kindness is worse than any meanness.
Towards the end of his life, Tolstoy's family life resembles a madhouse. Finally, the famous psychiatrist Rossolimo is called. He diagnoses: "Degenerative double constitution: paranoid and hysterical with a predominance of the first."
Gr. Klimov. Protocols of the Soviet Wise Men. Rostov-on-Don, "Phoenix". 1994, p. 176.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
LN Tolstoy at work at the round table.
1891.
During the period of his "spiritual transformation" Tolstoy was very interested in all kinds of sectarianism - Doukhobors, eunuchs, Molokans. Some will think that the Molokan sect takes its name from the word "milk", but in fact it originates from the Greek word "little", which means pederasty, as the apostle Paul already spoke about.
As for eunuchs, we can say that in psychiatry this corresponds to a complex of guilt and castration, where people try in such a barbaric way to escape from the devil that seduces them.
The Doukhobors now live in Canada and call themselves "Sons of Liberty". These freedom-loving people became famous mainly for refusing to send their children to schools, naked marches, explosions and arson. In general, the Canadian government is nothing but trouble from them. And for this we need to thank none other than the great philanthropist Tolstoy, who played a major role in the resettlement of the "Sons of Liberty" from Russia to Canada and even gave his entire fee for "Resurrection" - 40,000 rubles.
Gr. Klimov. Protocols of the Soviet Wise Men. Rostov-on-Don, "Phoenix". 1994. S. 182.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy reading.
1891.
Comparing Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, it should be noted that Tolstoy's evolution took place from God to the devil, while in Dostoevsky it is just the opposite - from the devil to God. Accordingly, Dostoevsky died a happy, enlightened man. And Tolstoy's life before his death was a living hell, where he constantly rushed about with the thought of suicide.
Gr. Klimov. Protocols of the Soviet Wise Men. Rostov-on-Don, "Phoenix". 1994. S. 268.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy on vacation in the forest.
1891.
He was visited by his stepsons, Counts Musins-Pushkins, military people under thirty years old, clanging sabers and spurs, strict and attentive. They also brought with them a childhood friend, Count Leo Tolstoy, who was Gorchakov's second cousin. Alexander Mikhailovich started a speech with Levushka about his "Sevastopol stories", emphatically calling them "essays" ... In response to criticism, the author replied:
But my "Sevastopol in May" was triple censored, out of eighty thousand printed characters, censorship threw out thirty thousand. How can one write the truth with such violence?
Valentin Pikul. Battle of the Iron Chancellors. "Lenizdat". 1978, p. 370.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
L. N. Tolstoy. Etude.
1891.
Leo Tolstoy wrote about his wife that she is for him a stone around his neck.
Gr. Klimov. Protocols of the Soviet Wise Men. Rostov-on-Don, "Phoenix". 1994, p. 56.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in the study under the vaults.
1891.
Leo Tolstoy began 22 times to write a novel from the time of Pyotr Vnliky and finally refused because, he said, "the souls of these people are already incomprehensible to me."
Ilya Feinberg. Reading Pushkin's notebooks. Moscow, "Soviet Writer". 1985, p. 451.
Leonid Osipovich Pasternak.
Reading the manuscript (L. N. Tolstoy and N. N. Ge in the hall under the arches).
1893.
The powerful, independent thinker Leo Tolstoy did not submit to any authorities and thought over every question, every problem in his own way. For some time he doubted the correctness of the teachings of Copernicus and even began to come up with his own theory of the motion of the Earth and planets. Wishing to discuss his constructions with one of the specialists, he once met with F. Bredikhin. After listening to Tolstoy, the famous astronomer said to him: "Count, write your stories better, and leave the care of the planets to us."
"Count, write your stories better ...". "Technique - youth" No. 9 1974.
Leonid Osipovich Pasternak.
LN Tolstoy at the Traveling Exhibition.
1893.
February 12, 1871 - the fifth child was born in the family of Leo Tolstoy - daughter Maria. “The birth was very difficult, and the mother, falling ill with puerperal fever, was near death. This illness had a strong effect on Sofya Andreevna, she was frightened by the possibility of a repetition of physical suffering during the next birth, and she had a desire to avoid a new pregnancy. This decision of his wife was completely unacceptable for Lev Nikolaevich. Marriage without childbearing seemed to him an ugly, vicious phenomenon, and he even had the thought of breaking up ... "
V. Zhdanov. Love in the life of Tolstoy.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
Leo Tolstoy at work in the office of the Khamovniki house in Moscow.
1893.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
L. N. Tolstoy barefoot.
1901.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
1901.
Leonid Osipovich Pasternak.
Lev Tolstoy. Sketch.
1901.
Leonid Osipovich Pasternak.
Lev Tolstoy.
1901.
Leonid Osipovich Pasternak.
Leo Tolstoy with his family in Yasnaya Polyana.
1902.
V. I. Plotnikov.
Portrait of Leo Tolstoy.
1978.
Elizaveta Merkuryevna Boehm (Endaurova).
LN Tolstoy among Yasnaya Polyana children.
T. L. Sukhotina.
Tolstoy. Yasnaya Polyana.
1905.
Leonid Osipovich Pasternak.
Portrait of Leo Tolstoy.
1906.
Mikhail Nesterov.
Portrait of Leo Tolstoy.
1907.
Leonid Osipovich Pasternak.
Portrait of Leo Tolstoy.
1908.
Ilya Efimovich Repin.
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy in a pink armchair.
1909.
V. N. Meshkov.
L. N. Tolstoy in the Yasnaya Polyana Library.
1910.
Vasily Shulzhenko.
Lev Tolstoy.
Leo Tolstoy is one of the most famous writers and philosophers in the world. His views and beliefs formed the basis of a whole religious and philosophical movement, which is called Tolstoyism. The literary heritage of the writer amounted to 90 volumes of fiction and journalistic works, diary notes and letters, and he himself was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Nobel Peace Prize.
"Fulfill all that you have determined to be fulfilled"
Genealogical 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 estate of Yasnaya Polyana, 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. The aunt, Alexandra Osten-Saken, became the guardian of the five Tolstoy children. The two older children moved in with their aunt in Moscow, while the younger ones stayed in Yasnaya Polyana. It is with the family estate that the most important and dearest memories of Leo Tolstoy's early childhood are connected.
In 1841 Alexandra Osten-Saken died and the Tolstoys moved in with their aunt Pelageya Yushkova in Kazan. Three years after the move, Leo Tolstoy decided to enter the prestigious Imperial Kazan University. However, he did not like to study, he considered exams a formality, and university professors - incompetent. Tolstoy did not even try to get a scientific degree, in Kazan he was more attracted to secular entertainment.
In April 1847, Leo Tolstoy's student life ended. He inherited his part of the estate, including his beloved Yasnaya Polyana, and immediately went home without receiving a higher education. In the family estate, Tolstoy tried to improve his life and start writing. He drew up his educational 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 carry them out.
Tolstoy's asceticism was often replaced by revelry and card games. Wanting to start the right, in his opinion, life, he made a daily routine. But he did not observe it either, and in his diary he again noted dissatisfaction with himself. All these failures prompted Leo Tolstoy to change his lifestyle. The opportunity presented itself in April 1851: the elder brother Nikolai arrived in Yasnaya Polyana. At that time he served in the Caucasus, where the war was going on. Leo Tolstoy decided to join his brother and went with him to a village on the banks of the Terek River.
On the outskirts of the empire, Leo Tolstoy served for almost two and a half years. He whiled away the time hunting, playing cards, and occasionally participating in raids on 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 am looking forward to your verdict. He will either encourage me to continue my favorite activities, or make me burn everything I started. ”. Editor Nikolai Nekrasov liked the work of the new author, and soon "Childhood" was published in the magazine. Encouraged by the first success, the writer soon began to continue the "Childhood". In 1854, he published a second story, Boyhood, 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 hostilities. Being in the thick of things, he created the story "Sevastopol in the month of 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 to work on the second story - "Sevastopol in May". By that time, nothing was 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 Petersburg. The success of the first Sevastopol story gave him a sense of purpose: “My career is literature, writing and writing! From tomorrow I work all my life or I give up everything, rules, religion, decency - everything ”. In the capital, Leo Tolstoy completed "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 truthful stories about the Crimean War, Tolstoy entered the St. Petersburg literary circle of the Sovremennik magazine. During this period, he wrote the story "Snowstorm", the story "Two Hussars", finished the trilogy with the story "Youth". However, after a while, relations with writers from the circle deteriorated: “These people disgusted me, and I disgusted myself”. To unwind, in early 1857, Leo Tolstoy went abroad. He visited Paris, Rome, Berlin, Dresden: he got acquainted with famous works of art, met with artists, observed how people live in European cities. Travel did not inspire Tolstoy: he created the story "Lucerne", in which he described his disappointment.
Leo Tolstoy at work. Image: kartinkinaden.ru
Leo Tolstoy at 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. In his native estate, he continued to work on the story "The 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 as follows: “The main thing is literary works, then family obligations, then household chores ... And to live for yourself is enough for a good deed every day”.
In 1899 Tolstoy wrote the novel The Resurrection. In this work, the writer criticized the judicial system, the army, the government. The contempt with which Tolstoy described the institution of the church in Resurrection provoked a backlash. In February 1901, the Holy Synod published a resolution on the excommunication of Count Leo Tolstoy from the Church in the journal Tserkovnye Vedomosti. This decision only increased Tolstoy's popularity and drew public attention to the writer's ideals and beliefs.
Tolstoy's literary and social activities became known abroad as well. 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 informed the Finnish writer Arvid Järnefelt to try to prevent the prize from being awarded, because, “if that 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 Nikolayevich and kindled condemnation, hatred, denial, which are felt in Lev Nikolayevich’s last articles years his foolish evil genius urged him on".
Tolstoy himself was burdened by the life of a landowner and a family man. He sought to bring his life in line with his convictions, and in early November 1910 he secretly left the Yasnaya Polyana estate. The road turned out to be unbearable for an elderly person: on the way he fell seriously ill and was forced to stay at the house of the keeper of the Astapovo railway station. Here the writer spent the last days of his life. Leo Tolstoy died on November 20, 1910. The writer was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.