Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is a famous Russian writer, the greatest novelist of the 19th century, the golden age of Russian literature. Author worldwide famous works such as the novels "" and "Anna Karenina". He is currently considered one of the best authors in the world. His works are filmed, staged in the theater, and many contemporary authors refer to them.

Leo Tolstoy was a member of the nobility class, whose roots date back to the times of Peter the Great. The writer had many influential relatives among the representatives of the highest aristocracy. On the part of the mother, who bore the surname Volkonskaya in her maiden name, the same was a lot of noble people.

Lev Nikolaevich passionately loved his relatives, especially his grandfather, Ilya Andreevich, who later served as a prototype for one of the heroes of the novel War and Peace.

Childhood and adolescence of the writer

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in the family estate Yasnaya Polyana, not far from Tula, in a family of hereditary nobles. Future great writer was the middle son in a large family with four children. In 1830, little Leo lost his mother, who died of childbirth fever, and seven years later the boy lost his father as well. So, Tolstoy took over the custody of cousin father and aunt, after whose death the boy left for Kazan.

Count Leo Tolstoy received his primary education at home, he was taught by French and German governors. In 1843, the count entered the university in Kazan, the faculty for the study of oriental culture. However, the future beacon of Russian literature did not manage to cope with the difficulties of the curriculum, which forced him to transfer to an easier law faculty. However, difficulties did not leave him at this faculty. As a result, Tolstoy could not even graduate with a degree.

The young count returned to his native estate, where he began to deal with the organization of agriculture. True, this undertaking was not crowned with success due to constant departures to Moscow and Tula. However, all this time Tolstoy kept a diary, which inspired him to write many future works. The writer carried the habit of writing down the events taking place with him throughout his life.

One day, Lev's elder brother, Nikolai, returning home to spend his vacation, which was due to him as an army officer, persuaded his brother to join the troops. So, Leo Tolstoy with the rank of cadet went to serve in the south, to the Caucasus Mountains, from where he was later transferred to Sevastopol, where the future writer took part in the Crimean War. The main event of the war, which was reflected in the works of the author, is heroic defense Sevastopol. The work "Sevastopol Stories" is dedicated to her.

The literary path of the author

During military service Tolstoy had a lot of free time, and he began to engage in literary work. During periods of calm, the autobiographical work "Childhood" was written, which became the first book in the trilogy of Tolstoy's autobiographical books. Childhood was published in Sovremennik, a popular literary magazine, in 1852. The work received flattering reviews, critics began to put Lev Nikolaevich on a par with such writers as Turgenev, Ostrovsky and Goncharov.

During the Crimean campaign, Tolstoy wrote several more works:

1. "Cossacks". A piece about Everyday life at the army outpost. It began during the Crimean War, but ended only in 1862, after the writer left the active forces.
2. "Adolescence". The second book from the autobiographical trilogy. Surprisingly, the work was written during the active conduct of hostilities.
3. "Sevastopol Stories". In them, the author expresses his attitude to the war, shows its inconsistency. In this cycle, the writer experiments with style, in particular, changes the narrative from the first person, moving to the third. So, in the second story, we see the view of an ordinary soldier at the events taking place.

After the end of the war, Tolstoy left military establishment and returned to his homeland.

Having left for the front as an unknown cadet, he returned to Petersburg as a recognized literary talent. In 1857, Lev Nikolayevich left for Paris, at this time publishing the final part of the trilogy - "Youth". Returning to his homeland in 1862, he marries the doctor's daughter Sofia Andreevna Bers.

A small part of the work was published in the Russian Bulletin magazine in the mid-sixties. It was originally called "Year 1805". Three more chapters saw the light of day. In 1869, work on the novel was completed. The work was a tremendous success.

At the same time, the writer was engaged in the translation of Aesop's fables into Russian. Many still wonder if Leo Tolstoy wrote stories for children. Just in the period from 1872 to 1875, the author creates children's works "ABC", "Arithmetic", "Fool" (a fairy tale-verse) and several books for children to read.

Late prose

At a certain period of his life, Leo Tolstoy plunged deeply into religious teachings and wrote many treatises on the essence of faith. However, in the 1880s and 1890s, the author continued to work on fiction. At this time, the writer leaves the genre of the novel. A story with deep morality becomes the main story. Realism in works also comes to the fore.

So, the late works of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy include:

Death and legacy

The numerous pilgrimages that Leo Tolstoy made in his old age greatly undermined his health. So, the great writer in November 1910 stopped for the night at the remote Astapovo railway station. However, the lung disease, which had bothered Tolstoy for some time, made itself felt with a sudden exacerbation, and on November 20, the greatest Russian writer died. He was buried in the ancestral cemetery in Yasnaya Polyana.

He left a wife and ten children, who, however, were provided for the rest of his life at the expense of Tolstoy's literary fees.

Leo Tolstoy was considered, is and will be considered one of the greatest Russian and world writers. He created truly magnificent works, on which more than one generation of young people has grown up. "War and Peace" is a novel that is familiar to almost every person, not only in our country, but throughout the world. The scientific community highly appreciates Tolstoy as a person with an amazing gift for describing human nature and recreating the historical era in all its detail and diversity. study the link.

This is a large-scale work telling about the life of a Russian noble society in years Patriotic War, includes many storylines. Here you can find love stories, battle scenes, and morally difficult situations, and several human types of that time. The work is very multifaceted, it contains several ideas characteristic of Tolstoy, and all are written out with amazing accuracy.

It is known that the work on the work lasted about 6 years, and its initial volume was not 4, but 6 volumes. Leo Tolstoy used a huge number of sources to make the events look authentic. He read the works of Russian and French historians, private for the period from 1805 to 1812. However, Tolstoy himself regarded his work with a certain degree of skepticism. So, he wrote in his diary: "People love me for those trifles -" War and Peace ", etc., which seem very important to them."

Researchers have counted 559 heroes in the novel War and Peace.

"Anna Karenina" - a tragic love story

Not everyone has read this famous novel, but everyone knows its tragic ending. The name of Anna Karenina has already become a household name in conversations about unhappy love. Meanwhile, Tolstoy shows in the novel not so much the tragedy of events, as, for example, in Shakespeare, as psychological tragedy... This novel is not dedicated to pure and sublime love, which does not give a damn about all conventions, but to the breaking psyche of a secular woman who suddenly found herself abandoned by everyone because of an "indecent" connection.

Tolstoy's work is popular because it is relevant at any time. Instead of the reasoning of earlier authors about enthusiastic and bright feelings, it shows the wrong side of blinding love and the consequences of relationships that are dictated by passion, not reason.

One of the heroes of the novel "Anna Karenina", Konstantin Levin, is an autobiographical character. Tolstoy put his thoughts and ideas into his mouth.

"Childhood. Adolescence. Youth "- an autobiographical trilogy

Three stories, united by one hero, are partly based on the memories of Tolstoy himself. These works are a kind of diary of a growing up boy. Despite the good upbringing and care from the elders, the hero is faced with problems typical of his age.

As a child, he experiences his first love, prepares for confession with fear, and faces injustice for the first time. A teenage hero, growing up, learns what betrayal is, and also finds new friends and experiences a breakdown of old stereotypes. In the story "Youth" the hero faces social problems, acquires the first mature judgments, enters the university and thinks about his future destiny.

This writer and philosopher is undoubtedly one of the key figures in pre-revolutionary Russian literature. What did Leo Tolstoy write? He left behind a diverse artistic legacy in the form of novels and stories, short stories and journalism. Also, a special place in his work is occupied by philosophical considerations expressed in letters and articles, the writer's diary.

Novels

The most famous works of a wide circle of readers in our country and abroad are such novels of the writer as "War and Peace", "Anna Karenina", "The Decembrists", "Resurrection", the trilogy "Childhood. Adolescence. Youth". These works have been translated into many languages ​​of the world, are deeply revered by literary scholars in many countries, are used in the university and school curriculum... The epic "War and Peace", written over the course of a decade (1863 -1873), is a kind of cross-section of Russian society in the 19th century. In terms of its globality, it occupies one of the first places in Russian literature.

Stories and stories

The most famous stories are "The Morning of a Landowner" (a film was even made based on the work), "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", "The Kreutzer Sonata", "Notes of a Madman", "Hadji Murad". Tolstoy also wrote shorter forms - stories. The most famous - the cycle "Sevastopol Stories", "Stories from Countryside Life" and others, depicting the life of the Russian hinterland and the characters of the peasants. The most famous drama work is The Living Corpse.

For kids

Leo Tolstoy wrote for a younger age as well. The stories "Filippok", "Three Bears", "ABC" for children entered the treasury of children's literature, are studied in the elementary grades.

Fables and parables, diaries and articles

The writer was engaged in translating Aesop's fables into Russian, giving traditional heroes a peculiar flavor: "The Wolf and the Lamb", "The Wolf and the Fox", "The Dragonfly and Ants", "The Fox and the Grapes". And in philosophical parables ("How do people live", "The Three Elders", "The Wolf", for example) he expressed his philosophical views in an allegorical form. In articles he expressed his socio-political preferences ("I Can't Be Silent", "On Socialism"), and in his diaries he frankly described his creative and life quests.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was a little over twenty years old when he began teaching peasant children to read and write on his estate. He continued his work at the Yasnaya Polyana school with interruptions until the end of his life; he worked on the compilation of educational books for a long time and with enthusiasm. In 1872, the "ABC" was published - a book set containing the alphabet itself, texts for the original Russian and Church Slavonic reading, arithmetic and a teacher's manual. Three years later, Tolstoy published The New Alphabet. When teaching, he used proverbs, sayings, riddles. He composed many "proverbial stories": in each of them the proverb developed into a short plot with morality. "New alphabet" was supplemented by "Russian books for reading" - several hundred works: stories and were, retellings folk tales and classical fables, natural history descriptions and reasoning.

Tolstoy strove for an extremely simple and precise language. But it is difficult for a modern child to understand even the simplest texts about the old peasant life.

So what is it? Leo Tolstoy's works for children become a literary monument and leave Russian children's reading, the basis of which they have been for a whole century?

There is no shortage of modern editions. Publishers try to make books interesting and understandable for today's children.

1. Tolstoy, L. N. Stories for children / Leo Tolstoy; [foreword V. Tolstoy; comp. Yu. Kublanovsky]; drawings by Natalia Paren-Chelpanova. - [Yasnaya Polyana]: Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate "Yasnaya Polyana", 2012. - 47 p. : ill.

The children's stories by Leo Tolstoy, illustrated by the Russian artist in exile Natalia Paren-Chelpanova, were translated into French in Paris by the Gallimard publishing house in 1936. In the Yasnaya Polyana booklet, they are, of course, printed in Russian. There are both stories that are usually included in modern collections and indisputable in children's reading ("Fire Dogs", "Kitten", "Filipok"), and rare, even amazing. For example, the fable "The Owl and the Hare" - how an arrogant young owl wanted to catch a huge hare, grabbed his back with one paw, the other into a tree, and that "Rushed and tore an owl"... Reading on?

What is true is true: Tolstoy's literary means are strong; impressions after reading will remain deep.

Natalia Paren's illustrations brought the texts closer to the little readers of her time: the heroes of the stories are drawn as if they were the artist's contemporaries. There are French inscriptions: for example, "Pinson" on the grave of a sparrow (to the story "How the aunt talked about how she had a tame sparrow - Zhivchik").

2. Tolstoy, L. N. Three bears / Leo Tolstoy; artist Yuri Vasnetsov. - Moscow: Melik-Pashaev, 2013 .-- 17 p. : ill.

In the same 1936, Yuri Vasnetsov illustrated Leo Tolstoy, retold in Russian english fairy tale... Initially, the illustrations were in black and white, but here is a later colorful version. Yuri Vasnetsov's fabulous bears, although Mikhail Ivanovich and Mishutka are in vests, and Nastasya Petrovna with a lace umbrella, are pretty scary. The child understands why “one girl” was so scared of them; but she managed to escape!

Color correction of illustrations was made for the new edition. You can see the first edition, as well as reprints that differ from one another, in the National Electronic Children's Library (books are copyrighted, registration is required to view).

3. Tolstoy, LN Lipunyushka: stories and fairy tales / Leo Tolstoy; illustrations by A. F. Pakhomov. - St. Petersburg: Amphora, 2011 .-- 47 p. : ill. - (Library of the younger student).

Many adults have preserved in their memory Leo Tolstoy's "ABC" with illustrations by Alexei Fyodorovich Pakhomov. The artist knew the peasant way of life very well (he himself was born in a pre-revolutionary village). He painted peasants with great sympathy, children - sentimentally, but always with a firm, confident hand.

Petersburg "Amphora" more than once published in small collections stories from "ABC" by L. N. Tolstoy with illustrations by A. F. Pakhomov. This book contains several stories from which peasant children learned to read. Then the fairy tales - "How a man divided geese" (about a cunning man) and "Lipunyushka" (about a resourceful son that "Hatched in cotton").

4. Tolstoy, LN About animals and birds / LN Tolstoy; artist Andrey Bray. - St. Petersburg; Moscow: Rech, 2015 .-- 19 p. : ill. - (Mom's favorite book).

Stories "Eagle", "Sparrow and Swallows", "How Wolves Teach Their Children", "What Mice Are For", "Elephant", "Ostrich", "Swans". Tolstoy is not at all sentimental. The animals in his stories are predators and prey. But, of course, morality should be read in an elementary story; not every story is straightforward.

Here is "Swans" - a true poem in prose.

It must be said about the artist that he painted animals expressively; among his teachers was V.A.Vatagin. "Stories about Animals" with illustrations by Andrey Andreevich Brey, published by "Detgiz" in 1945, digitized and available in the National Electronic Children's Library (registration is also required to view).

5. Tolstoy, L. N. Kostochka: stories for children / Leo Tolstoy; drawings by Vladimir Galdyaev. - St. Petersburg; Moscow: Rech, 2015 .-- 79 p. : ill.

The book contains mainly the most often published and read children's stories by Leo Tolstoy: "Fire", "Fire dogs", "Filipok", "Kitten" ...

"The bone" is also a well-known story, but few are ready to agree with the radical educational method shown in it.

The content of the book and the layout are the same as in the collection "Stories and Were", published in 1977. More texts and drawings by Vladimir Galdyaev were in Leo Tolstoy's "Book for Children", published by the publishing house "Moskovsky Rabochy" in the same 1977 (publications, of course, were being prepared for the 150th anniversary of the writer). The severity of the drawing and the character of the characters fit well with Tolstoy's literary style.

6. Tolstoy, L. N. Children: stories / L. Tolstoy; drawings by P. Repkin. - Moscow: Nigma, 2015 .-- 16 p. : ill.

Four stories: "The Lion and the Dog", "The Elephant", "The Eagle", "The Kitten". They are illustrated by Pyotr Repkin, graphic artist and animator. It is interesting that the lion, eagle, elephant and its little owner depicted by the artist obviously resemble the characters of the cartoon "Mowgli", the production designer of which was Repkin (together with A. Vinokurov). This cannot harm either Kipling or Tolstoy, but it does suggest the differences and similarities in the views and talents of the two great writers.

7. Tolstoy, LN Lev and the dog: true story / LN Tolstoy; drawings by G.A.V. Traugot. - St. Petersburg: Rech, 2014 .-- 23 p. : ill.

On the flyleaf there is a drawing depicting Count Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy in London in 1861 and, as it were, confirming that this story is a reality. The story itself is given in the form of captions to illustrations.

First line: "Wild animals were shown in London ..." An ancient colorful, almost fabulous Western European city, townspeople and townspeople, curly-haired children - all in a manner that has long been characteristic of the artists “G. A. V. Traugot ". The meat thrown into the lion's cage does not look naturalistic (like Repkin's). The lion, yearning for the dead dog (Tolstoy honestly writes that she "died"), is drawn very expressively.

More details about the book "Biblioguide" told.

8. Tolstoy, L. N. Filipok / L. N. Tolstoy; artist Gennady Spirin. - Moscow: RIPOL classic, 2012 .--: ill. - (Masterpieces of book illustration).

Filipok from Novaya Azbuka is one of the most famous stories by Leo Tolstoy and all Russian children's literature. The figurative meaning of the word "textbook" here coincides with the direct one.

The RIPOL Classic Publishing House has already republished the book with illustrations by Gennady Spirin several times and included it in the gift “New Year's collection”. This "Filipok" was previously published on English language(see on the artist's website: http://gennadyspirin.com/books/). In the drawings of Gennady Konstantinovich, there is a lot of affection for the old peasant life and winter Russian nature.

It is noteworthy that in "Novaya Azbuka" behind this story (at the end of which Filipok “Began to speak to the Mother of God; but every word was not spoken like that ") followed by "Slavic letters", "Slavic words with titles" and prayers.

9. Tolstoy, L. N. My first Russian book for reading / Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. - Moscow: White City,. - 79 p. : ill. - (Russian books for reading).

White City undertook a complete publication of Russian Books for Reading. The second, third and fourth books were published in the same way. There are no abbreviations here. There were stories, fairy tales, fables, descriptions and reasoning were given in the order in which Lev Nikolaevich arranged them. There are no comments on the texts. Illustrations are used instead of verbal explanations. Basically, these are reproductions of paintings, famous and not so famous. For example, to the description of "The Sea" - "The Ninth Wave" by Ivan Aivazovsky. To the reasoning "Why is there wind?" - "Children Running from the Thunderstorm" by Konstantin Makovsky. To the story "Fire" - "Fire in the Village" by Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky. For the story "Prisoner of the Caucasus" - landscapes by Lev Lagorio and Mikhail Lermontov.

The range of ages and interests of the readers of this book can be very wide.

10. Tolstoy, L. N. More: description / Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy; artist Mikhail Bychkov. - St. Petersburg: Azbuka, 2014 .-- p. : ill. - (Good and eternal).

Of these books, this one seems to be the most belonging to our time. Artist Mikhail Bychkov says: "A few lines by Leo Tolstoy gave me a wonderful opportunity to draw the sea"... On the large-format spreads, the artist depicted the southern and northern seas, calm and stormy, day and night. To the short text of Tolstoy, he made a drawn supplement about all kinds of sea vessels.

The work captivated Mikhail Bychkov, and he illustrated three stories from Tolstoy's "Alphabet", combining them with a fictional round-the-world voyage on a sailing warship. In the story "Leap" such a journey is mentioned. The Shark story begins with the words: "Our ship was anchored off the coast of Africa." The action of the story "Fire Dogs" takes place in London - and the artist painted a Russian corvette under the St. Andrew's flag against the background of the construction of the Tower Bridge (built from 1886 to 1894; The ABC was compiled earlier, but in the same era, especially if you look from our time) ...

The book "Were" was published by the Rech publishing house in 2015. In the spring of 2016 in State Museum Leo Tolstoy on Prechistenka hosted an exhibition of illustrations by Mikhail Bychkov for these two children's books.

“The sea is wide and deep; there is no end in sight to the sea. In the sea the sun rises and in the sea sets. Nobody has reached the bottom of the sea and does not know. When there is no wind, the sea is blue and smooth; when the wind blows, the sea will shake and become uneven ... "

"Sea. Description"

“… Water from the sea rises in fog; the fog rises higher and clouds are formed out of the fog. The clouds are driven by the wind and carried along the ground. From the clouds, water falls to the ground. From the ground it flows into swamps and streams. From streams flows into rivers; from the rivers to the sea. From the sea again the water rises into clouds, and the clouds spread over the land ... "

“Where does the water from the sea go? Reasoning "

Leo Tolstoy's stories from ABC and Russian Books for Reading are laconic, even lapidary. In many ways, archaic, in today's opinion. But what is essential in them is this: a rare now not playful, serious attitude to the word, a simple, but not simplified attitude to everything around.

Svetlana Malaya

Information sheet:

Wonderful cute tales of Leo Tolstoy make an indelible impression on children. Little readers and listeners make unusual discoveries for themselves about wildlife, which are given to them in a fabulous form. At the same time, they are interesting to read and easy to understand. For better perception, some of the previously written author's tales were later released in processing.

Who is Leo Tolstoy?

It was famous writer of its time and remains so to this day. He had an excellent education, he knew foreign languages, was fond of classical music... He traveled a lot in Europe, served in the Caucasus.

His books have always been published in large editions. Great novels and novellas, short stories and fables - the list of publications amazes with the richness of the author's literary talent. He wrote about love, war, heroism and patriotism. He personally took part in military battles. I saw a lot of grief and complete self-denial of soldiers and officers. He often spoke with bitterness not only about the material, but also about the spiritual poverty of the peasantry. And quite unexpected against the background of his epic and social works were wonderful creations for children.

Why did you start writing for children?

Count Tolstoy did a lot of charity work. On his estate, he opened a school for peasants for free. The desire to write for children arose when the first few poor children came to school. To open the world around them, simple language to teach what is now called natural history, Tolstoy and began to write fairy tales.

Why do people love a writer these days?

It turned out so well that even now, children of a completely different generation are happy to perceive the works of the count of the 19th century, learn love and kindness to the world around them and animals. As in all literature, in fairy tales Leo Tolstoy was also talented and loved by his readers.