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Leo Tolstoy biography for children 4. Leo Tolstoy: biography, briefly, the most important

Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich(August 28, 1828, the estate of Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province - November 7, 1910, Astapovo station (now Lev Tolstoy station) of the Ryazan-Ural railway) - count, Russian writer.

Tolstoy was the fourth child in a large noble family. His mother, nee Princess Volkonskaya, died when Tolstoy was not yet two years old, but according to the stories of family members, he had a good idea of ​​\u200b\u200b"her spiritual appearance": some features of the mother (brilliant education, sensitivity to art, a penchant for reflection and even a portrait resemblance Tolstoy gave Princess Marya Nikolaevna Bolkonskaya ("War and Peace") Tolstoy's father, a participant in the Patriotic War, remembered by the writer for his good-natured and mocking character, love of reading, hunting (served as the prototype for Nikolai Rostov), ​​also died early (1837). a distant relative T. A. Ergolskaya, who had a huge influence on Tolstoy, was engaged: “she taught me the spiritual pleasure of love.” Childhood memories always remained the most joyful for Tolstoy: family traditions, first impressions of the life of a noble estate served as rich material for his works, reflected in the autobiographical story "Childhood".

Kazan University

When Tolstoy was 13 years old, the family moved to Kazan, to the house of P. I. Yushkova, a relative and guardian of the children. In 1844 Tolstoy entered Kazan University in the Department of Oriental Languages ​​of the Faculty of Philosophy, then transferred to the Faculty of Law, where he studied for less than two years: classes did not arouse a lively interest in him and he passionately indulged in secular entertainment. In the spring of 1847, having filed a letter of resignation from the university "due to poor health and domestic circumstances", Tolstoy left for Yasnaya Polyana with the firm intention of studying the entire course of legal sciences (in order to pass the exam as an external student), "practical medicine", languages, agriculture, history, geographical statistics, write a dissertation, and "achieve the highest degree of perfection in music and painting."

"The turbulent life of adolescence"

After a summer in the countryside, disappointed by the unsuccessful experience of managing on new, favorable conditions for serfdom (this attempt is captured in the story "The Morning of the Landowner", 1857), in the fall of 1847 Tolstoy went first to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg, to take the candidate's exams at the university. His way of life during this period often changed: either he prepared for days and passed exams, then he passionately devoted himself to music, then he intended to start a bureaucratic career, then he dreamed of becoming a cadet in a horse guard regiment. Religious moods, reaching asceticism, alternated with revelry, cards, trips to the gypsies. In the family, he was considered "the most trifling fellow", and he managed to repay the debts he had made then only many years later. However, it was these years that were colored by intense introspection and struggle with oneself, which is reflected in the diary that Tolstoy kept throughout his life. At the same time, he had a serious desire to write and the first unfinished artistic sketches appeared.

"War and Freedom"

In 1851, his elder brother Nikolai, an officer in the army, persuaded Tolstoy to travel together to the Caucasus. For almost three years, Tolstoy lived in a Cossack village on the banks of the Terek, traveling to Kizlyar, Tiflis, Vladikavkaz and participating in hostilities (at first voluntarily, then he was hired). The Caucasian nature and the patriarchal simplicity of the Cossack life, which struck Tolstoy in contrast with the life of the noble circle and with the painful reflection of a man of an educated society, provided material for the autobiographical story The Cossacks (1852-63). Caucasian impressions were also reflected in the stories "Raid" (1853), "Cutting the Forest" (1855), as well as in the late story "Hadji Murad" (1896-1904, published in 1912). Returning to Russia, Tolstoy wrote in his diary that he fell in love with this "wild land, in which two most opposite things - war and freedom - are so strangely and poetically combined." In the Caucasus, Tolstoy wrote the story "Childhood" and sent it to the journal "Sovremennik" without revealing his name (published in 1852 under the initials L. N.; together with the later stories "Boyhood", 1852-54, and "Youth", 1855 -57, compiled an autobiographical trilogy). The literary debut immediately brought real recognition to Tolstoy.

Crimean campaign

In 1854 Tolstoy was assigned to the Danube army, in Bucharest. Boring staff life soon forced him to transfer to the Crimean army, to the besieged Sevastopol, where he commanded a battery on the 4th bastion, showing rare personal courage (he was awarded the Order of St. Anne and medals). In the Crimea, Tolstoy was captured by new impressions and literary plans (he was going to publish a magazine for soldiers), here he began to write a cycle of “Sevastopol stories”, which were soon published and had a huge success (Even Alexander II read the essay “Sevastopol in December” ). Tolstoy's first works struck literary critics with their courageous psychological analysis and a detailed picture of the "dialectics of the soul" (N. G. Chernyshevsky). Some of the ideas that appeared during these years make it possible to guess in the young artillery officer the late Tolstoy the preacher: he dreamed of "founding a new religion" - "the religion of Christ, but purified from faith and mystery, a practical religion."

In the circle of writers and abroad

In November 1855, Tolstoy arrived in St. Petersburg and immediately entered the Sovremennik circle (N. A. Nekrasov, I. S. Turgenev, A. N. Ostrovsky, I. A. Goncharov, etc.), where he was greeted as a “great hope of Russian literature" (Nekrasov). Tolstoy took part in dinners and readings, in the establishment of the Literary Fund, was involved in disputes and conflicts of writers, but he felt like a stranger in this environment, which he described in detail later in Confession (1879-82): “These people disgusted me, and I disgusted myself." In the autumn of 1856, after retiring, Tolstoy went to Yasnaya Polyana, and at the beginning of 1857 went abroad. He visited France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany (Swiss impressions are reflected in the story "Lucerne"), returned to Moscow in the fall, then to Yasnaya Polyana.

folk school

In 1859, Tolstoy opened a school for peasant children in the village, helped set up more than 20 schools in the vicinity of Yasnaya Polyana, and this activity fascinated Tolstoy so much that in 1860 he went abroad again to get acquainted with the schools of Europe. Tolstoy traveled a lot, spent a month and a half in London (where he often saw A. I. Herzen), was in Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, studied popular pedagogical systems, which basically did not satisfy the writer. Tolstoy outlined his own ideas in special articles, arguing that the basis of education should be the "student's freedom" and the rejection of violence in teaching. In 1862 he published the pedagogical journal Yasnaya Polyana with books for reading as an appendix, which became in Russia the same classic examples of children's and folk literature as those compiled by him in the early 1870s. Alphabet and New Alphabet. In 1862, in the absence of Tolstoy, a search was conducted in Yasnaya Polyana (they were looking for a secret printing house).

"War and Peace" (1863-69)

In September 1862, Tolstoy married the eighteen-year-old daughter of a doctor, Sofya Andreevna Bers, and immediately after the wedding, he took his wife from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana, where he devoted himself completely to family life and household chores. However, already in the autumn of 1863, he was captured by a new literary idea, which for a long time bore the name "Year 1805". The time of the creation of the novel was a period of spiritual uplift, family happiness and quiet solitary work. Tolstoy read the memoirs and correspondence of people of the Alexander era (including the materials of Tolstoy and Volkonsky), worked in the archives, studied Masonic manuscripts, traveled to the Borodino field, moving slowly in his work, through many editions (his wife helped him a lot in copying the manuscripts, refuting the fact the very jokes of friends that she is still so young, as if playing with dolls), and only at the beginning of 1865 he published the first part of War and Peace in the Russkiy Vestnik. The novel was read avidly, caused a lot of responses, striking with a combination of a wide epic canvas with a subtle psychological analysis, with a lively picture of private life, organically inscribed in history. Heated debate provoked the subsequent parts of the novel, in which Tolstoy developed a fatalistic philosophy of history. There were reproaches that the writer "entrusted" to the people of the beginning of the century the intellectual demands of his era: the idea of ​​the novel about the Patriotic War was indeed a response to the problems that worried Russian post-reform society. Tolstoy himself characterized his plan as an attempt to “write the history of the people” and considered it impossible to determine its genre nature (“it will not fit into any form, neither a novel, nor a short story, nor a poem, nor a history”).

"Anna Karenina" (1873-77)

In the 1870s, still living in Yasnaya Polyana, continuing to teach peasant children and develop his pedagogical views in print, Tolstoy worked on a novel about the life of his contemporary society, building a composition on the opposition of two storylines: the family drama of Anna Karenina is drawn in contrast with the life and domestic idyll of the young landowner Konstantin Levin, who is close to the writer himself in terms of lifestyle, convictions, and psychological drawing . The beginning of work coincided with the enthusiasm for Pushkin's prose: Tolstoy strove for simplicity of style, for outward nonjudgmental tone, paving his way to the new style of the 1880s, especially folk stories. Only tendentious criticism interpreted the novel as a love story. The meaning of the existence of the “educated class” and the deep truth of peasant life - this circle of questions, close to Levin and alien to most of the heroes even sympathetic to the author (including Anna), sounded acutely publicistic for many contemporaries, primarily for F. M. Dostoevsky, who highly appreciated “Anna Karenin" in "A Writer's Diary". “Family thought” (the main one in the novel, according to Tolstoy) is translated into a social channel, Levin’s merciless self-disclosures, his thoughts about suicide are read as a figurative illustration of the spiritual crisis experienced by Tolstoy himself in the 1880s, but matured in the course of work on the novel .

Fracture (1880s)

The course of the revolution that took place in Tolstoy's mind was reflected in artistic creativity, primarily in the experiences of the characters, in that spiritual insight that refracts their lives. These heroes occupy a central place in the stories "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" (1884-86), "Kreutzer Sonata" (1887-89, published in Russia in 1891), "Father Sergius" (1890-98, published in 1912), drama " Living Corpse" (1900, unfinished, published 1911), in the story "After the Ball" (1903, published 1911). Tolstoy's confessional journalism gives a detailed idea of ​​his spiritual drama: drawing pictures of social inequality and the idleness of the educated strata, Tolstoy in a pointed form posed questions of the meaning of life and faith to himself and to society, criticized all state institutions, reaching the denial of science, art, court , marriage, achievements of civilization. The writer's new worldview is reflected in Confession (published in 1884 in Geneva, in 1906 in Russia), in the articles On the Census in Moscow (1882), and So What Should We Do? (1882-86, published in full in 1906), On the Famine (1891, published in English in 1892, in Russian in 1954), What is Art? (1897-98), Slavery of Our Time (1900, published in full in Russia in 1917), On Shakespeare and Drama (1906), I Cannot Be Silent (1908).

Tolstoy's social declaration is based on the idea of ​​Christianity as a moral doctrine, and the ethical ideas of Christianity are interpreted by him in a humanistic key as the basis of the worldwide brotherhood of people. This set of problems involved the analysis of the Gospel and critical studies of theological writings, which are devoted to Tolstoy's religious and philosophical treatises "Study of dogmatic theology" (1879-80), "Combining and translating the four Gospels" (1880-81), "What is my faith" ( 1884), "The kingdom of God is within you" (1893). A stormy reaction in society was accompanied by Tolstoy's calls for direct and immediate adherence to Christian commandments.

In particular, his preaching of non-resistance to evil by violence was widely discussed, which became the impetus for the creation of a number of works of art - the drama "The Power of Darkness, or the Claw Got Stuck, the Abyss of the Bird" (1887) and folk stories written in a deliberately simplified, "artless" manner. Along with the congenial works of V. M. Garshin, N. S. Leskov and other writers, these stories were published by the Posrednik publishing house, founded by V. G. Chertkov on the initiative and with the close participation of Tolstoy, who defined the task of the Intermediary as "an expression in artistic images of the teachings of Christ", "so that you can read this book to an old man, a woman, a child, and so that both of them become interested, touched and feel kinder."

As part of the new worldview and ideas about Christianity, Tolstoy opposed Christian dogma and criticized the rapprochement of the church with the state, which led him to complete separation from the Orthodox Church. In 1901, the reaction of the Synod followed: the world-renowned writer and preacher was officially excommunicated, which caused a huge public outcry.

"Resurrection" (1889-99)

Tolstoy's last novel embodied the whole range of problems that worried him during the years of the turning point. The main character, Dmitry Nekhlyudov, who is spiritually close to the author, goes through the path of moral purification, leading him to active goodness. The narration is built on a system of emphatically evaluative oppositions, exposing the unreasonableness of the social structure (the beauty of nature and the falsity of the social world, the truth of peasant life and the falsehood that prevails in the life of the educated strata of society). The characteristic features of the late Tolstoy - a frank, highlighted "tendency" (in these years Tolstoy was a supporter of deliberately tendentious, didactic art), sharp criticism, a satirical beginning - appeared in the novel with all clarity.

Departure and death

The years of change abruptly changed the writer's personal biography, turning into a break with the social environment and leading to family discord (the rejection of private property proclaimed by Tolstoy caused sharp discontent among family members, especially his wife). The personal drama experienced by Tolstoy is reflected in his diary entries.

Late autumn 1910, at night, secretly from the family, 82-year-old Tolstoy, accompanied only by the personal doctor D.P. Makovitsky, left Yasnaya Polyana. The road turned out to be unbearable for him: on the way, Tolstoy fell ill and had to get off the train at the small Astapovo railway station. Here, in the stationmaster's house, he spent the last seven days of his life. The whole of Russia followed the news about Tolstoy's health, who by this time had already gained world fame not only as a writer, but also as a religious thinker, a preacher of the new faith. Tolstoy's funeral in Yasnaya Polyana became an event of all-Russian scale.

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Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) - Russian writer, publicist, thinker, educator, was a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Considered one of the world's greatest writers. His works have been repeatedly screened at world film studios, and plays are staged on world stages.

Childhood

Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana, Krapivinsky district, Tula province. Here was the estate of his mother, which she inherited. The Tolstoy family had very branched noble and count roots. In the higher aristocratic world, there were relatives of the future writer everywhere. Whom only was not in his relatives - an adventurer and an admiral, a chancellor and an artist, a maid of honor and the first secular beauty, a general and a minister.

Leo's father, Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, was a man with a good education, took part in the foreign campaigns of the Russian military against Napoleon, fell into French captivity, from where he escaped, and retired as a lieutenant colonel. When his father died, solid debts were inherited, and Nikolai Ilyich was forced to get a bureaucratic job. To save his frustrated financial component of the inheritance, Nikolai Tolstoy was legally married to Princess Maria Nikolaevna, who was no longer young and came from the Volkonsky family. Despite a small calculation, the marriage turned out to be very happy. The couple had 5 children. The brothers of the future writer Kolya, Seryozha, Mitya and sister Masha. The lion was the fourth among all.

After the last daughter, Maria, was born, the mother began to have "delivery fever." She died in 1830. Leo was not even two years old then. What a wonderful storyteller she was. Perhaps this is where such an early love of Tolstoy for literature came from. Five children were left without a mother. Their upbringing had to deal with a distant relative, T.A. Ergolskaya.

In 1837, the Tolstoys left for Moscow, where they settled on Plyushchikha. The older brother, Nikolai, was going to enter the university. But very soon and quite unexpectedly, the father of the Tolstoy family died. His financial affairs were not completed, and the three smallest children had to return to Yasnaya Polyana to be raised by Yergolskaya and his paternal aunt, Countess Osten-Saken A.M. It was here that Leo Tolstoy spent his entire childhood.

The young years of the writer

After the death of Aunt Osten-Saken in 1843, the children were waiting for another move, this time to Kazan under the guardianship of their father's sister P. I. Yushkova. Leo Tolstoy received his primary education at home, his teachers were the good-natured German Reselman and the French tutor Saint-Thomas. In the autumn of 1844, following his brothers, Lev became a student at the Kazan Imperial University. At first he studied at the Faculty of Oriental Literature, later transferred to the Faculty of Law, where he studied for less than two years. He understood that this was absolutely not the occupation to which he would like to devote his life.

In the early spring of 1847, Leo dropped out of school and went to Yasnaya Polyana, which he inherited. At the same time, he began to keep his famous diary, adopting this idea from Benjamin Franklin, whose biography he was well acquainted with at the university. Just like the wisest American politician, Tolstoy set certain goals for himself and tried with all his might to fulfill them, analyzed his failures and victories, actions and thoughts. This diary went with the writer through his whole life.

In Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy tried to build new relationships with the peasants, and also engaged in:

  • learning English;
  • jurisprudence;
  • pedagogy;
  • music;
  • charity.

In the autumn of 1848, Tolstoy went to Moscow, where he planned to prepare for and pass his candidate's exams. Instead, a completely different secular life opened up for him, with its excitement and card games. In the winter of 1849, Leo moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg, where he continued to lead revelry and a wild lifestyle. In the spring of this year, he began taking exams for a candidate of rights, but, having changed his mind about going to the last exam, he returned to Yasnaya Polyana.

Here he continued to lead an almost metropolitan lifestyle - cards and hunting. Nevertheless, in 1849, Lev Nikolayevich opened a school for the children of peasants in Yasnaya Polyana, where he sometimes taught himself, but mostly the lessons were taught by the serf Foka Demidovich.

Military service

At the end of 1850, Tolstoy began work on his first work, the famous Childhood trilogy. At the same time, Lev received an offer from his older brother Nikolai, who served in the Caucasus, to join the military service. The elder brother was an authority for Leo. After the death of his parents, he became the writer's best and most faithful friend and mentor. At first, Lev Nikolaevich thought about the service, but a large gambling debt in Moscow accelerated the decision. Tolstoy left for the Caucasus and in the autumn of 1851 he entered the service of a cadet in an artillery brigade near Kizlyar.

Here he continued to work on the work "Childhood", which he finished writing in the summer of 1852 and decided to send it to the most popular literary magazine of that time, Sovremennik. He signed with the initials "L. N. T.” and attached a small letter along with the manuscript:

“I look forward to your verdict. He will either encourage me to write more or make me burn everything.”

At that time, N. A. Nekrasov was the editor of Sovremennik, and he immediately recognized the literary value of the Childhood manuscript. The work was published and was a huge success.

The military life of Lev Nikolaevich was too eventful:

  • more than once he was in danger in skirmishes with the mountaineers commanded by Shamil;
  • when the Crimean War began, he transferred to the Danube army and took part in the battle of Oltenitsa;
  • participated in the siege of Silistria;
  • in the battle of Chernaya he commanded a battery;
  • during the assault on Malakhov Kurgan came under bombardment;
  • held the defense of Sevastopol.

For military service, Lev Nikolaevich received the following awards:

  • Order of St. Anne 4th degree "For Bravery";
  • medal "In memory of the war of 1853-1856";
  • Medal "For the Defense of Sevastopol 1854-1855"

The brave officer Leo Tolstoy had every chance of a military career. But he was only interested in writing. During the service, he did not stop writing and sending his stories to Sovremennik. The Sevastopol Tales, published in 1856, finally approved him as a new literary trend in Russia, and Tolstoy left military service forever.

Literary activity

He returned to St. Petersburg, where he made close acquaintances with N. A. Nekrasov, I. S. Turgenev, I. S. Goncharov. During his stay in St. Petersburg, he released several of his new works:

  • "Blizzard",
  • "Youth",
  • Sevastopol in August
  • "Two Hussars".

But very soon the secular life got sick of him, and Tolstoy decided to travel around Europe. He visited Germany, Switzerland, England, France, Italy. All the advantages and disadvantages he saw, the emotions he received, he described in his works.

Returning from abroad in 1862, Lev Nikolaevich married Sofya Andreevna Bers. The brightest period began in his life, his wife became his absolute assistant in all matters, and Tolstoy could calmly do his favorite thing - composing works that later became world masterpieces.

Years of work on the work Title of the work
1854 "Boyhood"
1856 "Morning of the landowner"
1858 "Albert"
1859 "Family happiness"
1860-1861 "Decembrists"
1861-1862 "Idyll"
1863-1869 "War and Peace"
1873-1877 "Anna Karenina"
1884-1903 "Diary of a Madman"
1887-1889 "Kreutzer Sonata"
1889-1899 "Sunday"
1896-1904 "Hadji Murad"

Family, death and memory

In marriage with his wife and love, Lev Nikolayevich lived for almost 50 years, they had 13 children, five of whom died while still young. There are a lot of descendants of Lev Nikolaevich all over the world. Once every two years they gather in Yasnaya Polyana.

In life, Tolstoy always adhered to his certain principles. He wanted to be as close to the people as possible. He was very fond of ordinary people.

In 1910, Lev Nikolaevich left Yasnaya Polyana, setting off on a journey that would correspond to his life views. Only his doctor went with him. There were no specific goals. He went to Optina Hermitage, then to the Shamorda Monastery, then he went to his niece in Novocherkassk. But the writer became ill, after suffering a cold, pneumonia began.

In the Lipetsk region, at the Astapovo station, Tolstoy was taken off the train, taken to the hospital, six doctors tried to save his life, but Lev Nikolaevich quietly answered their proposals: "God will arrange everything." After a whole week of heavy and painful shortness of breath, the writer died at the house of the head of the station on November 20, 1910 at the age of 82.

The estate in Yasnaya Polyana, together with the natural beauty that surrounds it, is a museum-reserve. Three more museums of the writer are located in the village of Nikolskoye-Vyazemskoye, in Moscow and at the Astapovo station. Moscow also has the State Museum of Leo Tolstoy.

The classic of Russian literature, Leo Tolstoy, was born on September 9, 1828, into the noble family of Nikolai Tolstoy and his wife Maria Nikolaevna. The father and mother of the future writer were nobles and belonged to revered families, so the family lived comfortably in their own estate, Yasnaya Polyana, located in the Tula region.

Leo Tolstoy spent his childhood in the family estate. In these places, for the first time, he saw the course of life of the working people, heard the abundance of old legends, parables, fairy tales, and here his first attraction to literature arose. Yasnaya Polyana is a place to which the writer returned at all stages of his life, drawing wisdom, beauty, and inspiration.

Despite his noble origin, Tolstoy had to learn the bitterness of orphanhood since childhood, because the mother of the future writer died when the boy was only two years old. The father passed away not much later, when Leo was seven years old. First, the grandmother took custody of the children, and after her death - aunt Palageya Yushkova, who took the four children of the Tolstoy family with her to Kazan.

growing up

Six years of living in Kazan became the informal years of the writer's growing up, because at this time his character and worldview are formed. In 1844, Leo Tolstoy entered Kazan University, first at the eastern department, then, not finding himself in the study of Arabic and Turkish, at the Faculty of Law.

The writer did not show significant interest in studying law, but he understood the need for a diploma. After passing the exams externally, in 1847 Lev Nikolayevich received a long-awaited document and returned to Yasnaya Polyana, and then to Moscow, where he began to engage in literary work.

Military service

Not having time to finish the two conceived stories, in the spring of 1851 Tolstoy went to the Caucasus with his brother Nikolai and began military service. The young writer takes part in the military operations of the Russian army, acts among the defenders of the Crimean peninsula, liberates his native land from Turkish and Anglo-French troops. Years of service gave Leo Tolstoy invaluable experience, knowledge of the life of ordinary soldiers and citizens, their characters, heroism, aspirations.

The years of service are vividly reflected in Tolstoy's stories "The Cossacks", "Hadji Murad", as well as in the stories "Degraded", "Cutting the Forest", "Raid".

Literary and social activities

Returning to St. Petersburg in 1855, Leo Tolstoy was already well-known in literary circles. Remembering the respectful attitude towards serfs in his father's house, the writer strongly supports the abolition of serfdom, clarifying this issue in the stories "Polikushka", "Morning of the landowner", etc.

In an effort to see the world, in 1857 Lev Nikolayevich went on a trip abroad, visiting the countries of Western Europe. Getting acquainted with the cultural traditions of the peoples, the master of the word fixes the information in his memory in order to display the most important moments in his work later.

Actively engaged in social activities, Tolstoy opens a school in Yasnaya Polyana. The writer strongly criticizes corporal punishment, which was widely practiced at that time in educational institutions in Europe and Russia. In order to improve the educational system, Lev Nikolaevich publishes a pedagogical magazine called Yasnaya Polyana, and in the early 70s he compiled several textbooks for younger students, including Arithmetic, ABC, Books for Reading. These developments were effectively used in the education of several more generations of children.

Personal life and creativity

In 1862, the writer connected his fate with the daughter of the doctor Andrei Bers, Sophia. The young family settled in Yasnaya Polyana, where Sofya Andreevna diligently tried to provide an atmosphere for her husband's literary work. At this time, Leo Tolstoy is actively working on the creation of the epic "War and Peace", and also, reflecting life in Russia after the reform, writes the novel "Anna Karenina".

In the 1980s, Tolstoy moved with his family to Moscow, seeking to educate his growing children. Observing the hungry life of ordinary people, Lev Nikolayevich contributes to the opening of about 200 free tables for those in need. Also at this time, the writer publishes a number of topical articles about the famine, vividly condemning the policies of the rulers.

The period of literature of the 80-90s includes: the story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", the drama "The Power of Darkness", the comedy "The Fruits of Enlightenment", the novel "Sunday". For a bright attitude against religion and autocracy, Leo Tolstoy is excommunicated from the church.

last years of life

In 1901-1902 the writer was seriously ill. For the purpose of a speedy recovery, the doctor strongly recommends a trip to the Crimea, where Leo Tolstoy spends six months. The prose writer's last trip to Moscow took place in 1909.

Beginning in 1881, the writer seeks to leave Yasnaya Polyana and retire, but remains, not wanting to hurt his wife and children. On October 28, 1910, Leo Tolstoy still decides to take a conscious step and live the rest of the years in a simple hut, refusing all honors.

An unexpected illness on the road becomes an obstacle to the writer's plans and he spends his last seven days of his life in the house of the head of the station. The day of death of an outstanding literary and public figure was November 20, 1910.

Tolstoy Lev Nikolayevich was born on 08/28/1828 (or 09/09/1828 according to the old style). Died - 11/07/1910 (11/20/1910).

Russian writer, philosopher. Born in Yasnaya Polyana, Tula province, in a wealthy aristocratic family. Entered Kazan University, but then left it. At the age of 23 he went to war with Chechnya and Dagestan. Here he began to write the trilogy "Childhood", "Boyhood", "Youth".

In the Caucasus

In the Caucasus, he participated in hostilities as an artillery officer. During the Crimean War, he went to Sevastopol, where he continued to fight. After the end of the war, he left for St. Petersburg and published Sevastopol Tales in the Sovremennik magazine, which clearly reflected his outstanding writing talent. In 1857 Tolstoy went on a journey through Europe, which disappointed him.

From 1853 to 1863 He wrote the story "The Cossacks", after which he decided to interrupt his literary activity and become a landowner, doing educational work in the village. To this end, he left for Yasnaya Polyana, where he opened a school for peasant children and created his own system of pedagogy.

In 1863-1869. Wrote his fundamental work "War and Peace". In 1873-1877. He wrote the novel "Anna Karenina". In the same years, the writer's worldview, known as "Tolstoyism", was fully formed, the essence of which can be seen in the works: "Confession", "What is my faith?", "The Kreutzer Sonata".

The doctrine is set forth in the philosophical and religious works "Study of dogmatic theology", "Combining and translating the four Gospels", where the main emphasis is on the moral improvement of a person, denunciation of evil, non-resistance to evil by violence.
Later, a dilogy was published: the drama "The Power of Darkness" and the comedy "The Fruits of Enlightenment", then a series of stories-parables about the laws of being.

From all over Russia and the world, admirers of the writer's work came to Yasnaya Polyana, whom they treated as a spiritual mentor. In 1899 the novel "Resurrection" was published.

The last works of Tolstoy

The last works of the writer are the stories "Father Sergius", "After the Ball", "The Posthumous Notes of the Elder Fyodor Kuzmich" and the drama "The Living Corpse".

Tolstoy's confessional journalism gives a detailed idea of ​​his spiritual drama: drawing pictures of social inequality and the idleness of the educated strata, Tolstoy in a harsh form posed questions of the meaning of life and faith to society, criticized all state institutions, reaching the denial of science, art, court, marriage, achievements of civilization. Tolstoy's social declaration is based on the idea of ​​Christianity as a moral doctrine, and the ethical ideas of Christianity are comprehended by him in a humanistic key, as the basis of the universal brotherhood of people. In 1901, the reaction of the Synod followed: the world famous writer was officially excommunicated, which caused a huge public outcry.


Death

On October 28, 1910, Tolstoy secretly left Yasnaya Polyana from his family, fell ill on the way and was forced to leave the train at the small Astapovo railway station of the Ryazan-Ural Railway. Here, in the stationmaster's house, he spent the last seven days of his life.

Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828. The family of the writer belonged to the nobility. After his mother died, Leo and his sisters and brothers were raised by their father's cousin. Their father died 7 years later. For this reason, the children were given to be raised by an aunt. But soon the aunt died, and the children went to Kazan, to the second aunt. Tolstoy's childhood was difficult, but, however, in his works he romanticized this period of his life.

Lev Nikolaevich received his basic education at home. Soon he entered the Imperial Kazan University at the Faculty of Philology. But in his studies, he was not successful.

While Tolstoy served in the army, he would have quite a lot of free time. Even then, he began to write an autobiographical story "Childhood". This story contains good memories from the publicist's childhood.

Lev Nikolayevich also participated in the Crimean War, and during this period he created a number of works: "Boyhood", "Sevastopol Stories" and so on.

Anna Karenina is Tolstoy's most famous work.

Leo Tolstoy fell asleep forever on November 20, 1910. He was interred in Yasnaya Polyana, the place where he grew up.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is a famous writer who, in addition to recognized serious books, created works useful for children. These were, first of all, "ABC" and "Book for reading".

He was born in 1828 in the Tula province in the Yasnaya Polyana estate, where his house-museum is still located. Lyova became the fourth child in this noble family. His mother (nee princess) soon died, and seven years later his father. These terrible events led to the fact that the children had to move to their aunt in Kazan. Later, Lev Nikolayevich will collect memories of these and other years in the story "Childhood", which will be the first to be published in the Sovremennik magazine.

At first, Lev studied at home with German and French teachers, he was also fond of music. He grew up and entered the Imperial University. Tolstoy's older brother convinced him to serve in the army. The lion even took part in real battles. They are described by him in "Sevastopol stories", in the stories "Adolescence" and "Youth".

Tired of the wars, he declared himself an anarchist and went to Paris, where he lost all the money. Having changed his mind, Lev Nikolaevich returned to Russia, married Sophia Burns. Since then, he began to live in his native estate and engage in literary work.

His first major work was the novel War and Peace. The writer wrote it for about ten years. The novel was well received by both readers and critics. Further, Tolstoy created the novel "Anna Karenina", which received even greater public success.

Tolstoy wanted to understand life. Desperate to find an answer in his work, he went to church, but was disappointed there too. Then he renounced the church, began to think about his philosophical theory - "non-resistance to evil." He wanted to give all his property to the poor… The secret police even began to follow him!

Going on a pilgrimage, Tolstoy fell ill and died - in 1910.

Biography of Leo Tolstoy

In different sources, the date of birth of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy is indicated in different ways. The most common versions are August 28, 1829 and September 09, 1828. Born as the fourth child in a noble family, Russia, Tula province, Yasnaya Polyana. There were 5 children in the Tolstoy family.

His family tree originates from the Ruriks, his mother belonged to the Volkonsky family, and his father was a count. At the age of 9, Leo and his father went to Moscow for the first time. The young writer was so impressed that this trip gave rise to such works as Childhood'', Boyhood'', Youth''.

In 1830, Leo's mother died. The upbringing of children, after the death of the mother, was taken over by their uncle - the cousin of the father, after whose death, the aunt became the guardian. When the guardian aunt died, the second aunt from Kazan began to take care of the children. In 1873 my father died.

Tolstoy received his first education at home, with teachers. In Kazan, the writer lived for about 6 years, spent 2 years preparing to enter the Imperial Kazan University and he was enrolled in the Faculty of Oriental Languages. In 1844 he became a university student.

Learning languages ​​for Leo Tolstoy was not interesting, after that he tried to link his fate with jurisprudence, but even here the training did not work out, so in 1847 he dropped out of school, received documents from an educational institution. After unsuccessful attempts to study, he decided to develop farming. In this regard, he returned to his parents' house in Yasnaya Polyana.

I did not find myself in agriculture, but it was not bad to keep a personal diary. Having finished working in the field of farming, he went to Moscow to focus on creativity, but all his plans have not yet been implemented.

Very young, he managed to visit the war, along with his brother Nikolai. The course of military events influenced his work, this is noticeable in some works, for example, in the stories, Cossacks '', Hadji - Murat '', in the stories, Degraded '', Woodcutting '', Raid ''.

From 1855, Lev Nikolaevich became a more skillful writer. At that time, the right of serfs was relevant, about which Leo Tolstoy wrote in his stories: “Polikushka”, “Morning of the landowner” and others.

1857-1860 fell on travel. Under their impression, he prepared school textbooks and began to pay attention to the publication of a pedagogical journal. In 1862, Leo Tolstoy married the young Sophia Bers, the daughter of a doctor. Family life, at first, benefited him, then the most famous works were written, War and Peace '', Anna Karenina ''.

The mid-80s were fruitful, dramas, comedies, and novels were written. The writer was worried about the topic of the bourgeoisie, he was on the side of the common people, in order to express his thoughts on this matter, Leo Tolstoy created many works: “After the Ball”, “For what”, “The Power of Darkness”, “Sunday”, etc.

Roman, Sunday”, deserves special attention. To write it, Lev Nikolayevich had to work hard for 10 years. As a result, the work was criticized. The local authorities, so afraid of his pen that they installed surveillance on him, were able to remove him from the church, but despite this, the common people supported Leo as best they could.

In the early 90s, Leo began to get sick. In the autumn of 1910, at the age of 82, the writer's heart stopped. It happened on the road: Leo Tolstoy was on a train, he became ill, he had to stop at the Astapovo railway station. Sheltered the patient, at home, the head of the station. After 7 days of visiting, the writer died.

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