Biography Category
Name :
Leo Tolstoy
Date :
Views :
8300
Category :
Birth Date :
28/08/1828
Birth Place :
-
Death Date :
-
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[b]His Education[/b][br /]
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Time passed by for the Tolstoy. Leo was five and his education was the responsibility of a German tutor, Fyodor Ivanovich Rossel. In the beginning, little Leo was frightened by the change. Fyodor seemed an obvious terror with his pale eyes behind big spectacles, an aquiline nose and a tasseled cap. But this awesome person was good-natured and soft-spoken. His German accent made him sound comical when he spoke Russian. When he lost his temper, he struck his pupils with a ruler or a pair of braces. At five, Leo knew the French and Russian alphabets.[br /]
[br /]
Leo admired his elder brothers. On one occasion, he promised to take them up Fafaron Mountain but kept three conditions. He said nobody should think of a white bear, one must walk without missing a step along a crack between the floorboards and not see a hare, dead, alive or roasted for a whole year. Their father was less close to the children but he appeared as a model of perfection to Leo.[br /]
[br /]
The children's schedule was fine. In the morning, their time went by quickly with their mentor in the classroom. After this, they would go to play. In warm weather, they would go out fishing. The children visited horses in stables and dogs in kennels. As soon as they came indoor, they had to wash and change. Then, they would go to the drawing room, where aunt Alexandra, aunt Toinette, little Pashenka and Fyodor Ivanovich Rossel would talk to them. In the evening, they would all wait for the childrens' papa to come and then go for dinner.[br /]
[br /]
In the winter, the entire family would remain closeted in the main house where tile stoves crackled. Leo thought his house was the most beautiful in the world. Time went by. Leo was now nine years old. The family was now to move to Moscow. On January 10, 1837, grandmother, aunt Toinette, aunt Aline and an adopted child Pashenka, the five Tolstoy children, their tutor and 30 servants moved away to Moscow. Leo was very sad to leave the place where he had spent his early childhood.[br /]
[br /]
Leo's father had now been worried about his health for sometime. He drank a good deal, coughed and spat blood. Meanwhile, he had signed a fictitious sale contract for his neighbor's estate. The other party involved in the contract died shortly after. Nicholas realized that the dead man's sister would immediately take away the property. So he rushed to the site accompanied by two servants, carrying papers of the deal. The next day, on June 21, 1837, he died of a sudden attack of apoplexy. Leo was sad and terrified. After this incident, Leo's grandmother lost her mental balance. It took few days to recover from this tragic episode.[br /]
[br /]
The guardianship of the children was entrusted to aunt Aline. Later, the children were allowed to go to the theatre for a change. At the same time, a new mentor M. Prosper de St Thomas was assigned the job, which was previously assigned to Fyodor Ivanovich Rossel. He was a short, muscular, active, good-looking man of 25, with a better education. He had dreamt of marrying a rich heiress. He had a stiff sarcastic exterior and yet a sound judgement. He gave frank opinions about his pupils. According to him Nicholas was both willing and able to learn, Sergey was able but not willing. Leo was neither; he was a poor student. He did not understand mathematics, and also did not make any effort to understand the subject.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]His Education[/b][br /]
[br /]
Time passed by for the Tolstoy. Leo was five and his education was the responsibility of a German tutor, Fyodor Ivanovich Rossel. In the beginning, little Leo was frightened by the change. Fyodor seemed an obvious terror with his pale eyes behind big spectacles, an aquiline nose and a tasseled cap. But this awesome person was good-natured and soft-spoken. His German accent made him sound comical when he spoke Russian. When he lost his temper, he struck his pupils with a ruler or a pair of braces. At five, Leo knew the French and Russian alphabets.[br /]
[br /]
Leo admired his elder brothers. On one occasion, he promised to take them up Fafaron Mountain but kept three conditions. He said nobody should think of a white bear, one must walk without missing a step along a crack between the floorboards and not see a hare, dead, alive or roasted for a whole year. Their father was less close to the children but he appeared as a model of perfection to Leo.[br /]
[br /]
The children's schedule was fine. In the morning, their time went by quickly with their mentor in the classroom. After this, they would go to play. In warm weather, they would go out fishing. The children visited horses in stables and dogs in kennels. As soon as they came indoor, they had to wash and change. Then, they would go to the drawing room, where aunt Alexandra, aunt Toinette, little Pashenka and Fyodor Ivanovich Rossel would talk to them. In the evening, they would all wait for the childrens' papa to come and then go for dinner.[br /]
[br /]
In the winter, the entire family would remain closeted in the main house where tile stoves crackled. Leo thought his house was the most beautiful in the world. Time went by. Leo was now nine years old. The family was now to move to Moscow. On January 10, 1837, grandmother, aunt Toinette, aunt Aline and an adopted child Pashenka, the five Tolstoy children, their tutor and 30 servants moved away to Moscow. Leo was very sad to leave the place where he had spent his early childhood.[br /]
[br /]
Leo's father had now been worried about his health for sometime. He drank a good deal, coughed and spat blood. Meanwhile, he had signed a fictitious sale contract for his neighbor's estate. The other party involved in the contract died shortly after. Nicholas realized that the dead man's sister would immediately take away the property. So he rushed to the site accompanied by two servants, carrying papers of the deal. The next day, on June 21, 1837, he died of a sudden attack of apoplexy. Leo was sad and terrified. After this incident, Leo's grandmother lost her mental balance. It took few days to recover from this tragic episode.[br /]
[br /]
The guardianship of the children was entrusted to aunt Aline. Later, the children were allowed to go to the theatre for a change. At the same time, a new mentor M. Prosper de St Thomas was assigned the job, which was previously assigned to Fyodor Ivanovich Rossel. He was a short, muscular, active, good-looking man of 25, with a better education. He had dreamt of marrying a rich heiress. He had a stiff sarcastic exterior and yet a sound judgement. He gave frank opinions about his pupils. According to him Nicholas was both willing and able to learn, Sergey was able but not willing. Leo was neither; he was a poor student. He did not understand mathematics, and also did not make any effort to understand the subject.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Ancestry & Birth[/b][br /]
[br /]
Prince Nicholas Sergeyevich Volkonsky had been living in his family estate of Yasnaya Polyana. It was the time when slavery was common. Volkonsky was a hard taskmaster but also reasonable. As a head of the estate he saw that the peasants and tradesmen were well fed and dressed. They, in turn, loved and feared him. The prince loved nature, books, music and some rare flowers, which he grew in his greenhouse. He hated hunting. He believed that inactivity and superstitions were the roots of evil.[br /]
[br /]
He was married to Princess Katerina Dmitrievna Trubetskoy. They had their one and only child, a daughter named Marya. On November 10, 1790, when Marya was barely two years old, her mother passed away. The prince remained a widower, and, grew to dote on this docile child. He devoted most of his time educating his daughter, who was very obedient to him. Though he could not make her a good mathematician, she had an inherent logical mind. He taught her self-control. But living with her domineering father, Marya had to often hide some of her feelings, as she was a very emotional girl; she frequently involved herself in daydreaming. She cared for the poor and read French novels. The idea of marriage never crossed her mind as she grew up. Marya believed that her stern father, with his steely looks, would turn away all young men around.[br /]
[br /]
As her advanced, she started becoming more frustrated; she wished to end her life, as it appeared meaningless. Marya's father died on February 3, 1821. Marya was now left alone in the world. She was then 31 years old, and had till that day, followed the code of conduct of the master of Yasnaya Polyana. Then she attended the wedding of a close family member. At the ceremony, on seeing the young couple together, she became very emotional. She was filled with thoughts of love, marriage and motherhood.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Moving to Moscow[/b][br /]
[br /]
Marya now lived in Moscow in her family house. The house was too big for this lonely lady. Her friends exhorted her to go out and enjoy. One fine day, a young man with average height and a melancholic expression on his face came to meet Marya. He wore a uniform and spoke French. He was Count Nicholas Ilich Tolstoy. Marya found him to be attractive and pleasant but, as usual, tried to hide her real feelings. But the meeting was intentional. Matrimony was discussed between the two who were not so young. Actually, the count was on the verge of bankruptcy, and saw the solution in this rich wedlock. Soon, Count Nicholas Ilich Tolstoy married Marya who was not beautiful but also five years older to him. The count had nothing but his name and descendant to bank on. His father Ilya Tolstoy had lost his wealth over wife's squandering money and wasteful lifestyle.[br /]
[br /]
Count Nicholas, seeing no other better option, married Marya on July 9, 1822. Marya brought him a dowry of 800 male serfs in the government of Tula and Orel. Her husband offered her nothing except his elegant name. The marriage turned out to be loveless. Marya felt no passion for her husband but was
moved by a sense of gratitude. She also needed patience to get along well with her in-laws. Now that her son's position was secure, his mother regretted that he had married someone so ungainly, and homely. She was also jealous of the couple's wedded bliss.[br /]
[br /]
But Marya was had immense patience and was a contented lady. She put up with things as they came. On July 31, 1823, Countess Marya gave birth to her first child. The son was named Nicholas and fondly called 'Coco'. Marya's world was full of joy; in fact he was her only 'world' then. She asked her husband to resign, and in 1824, the entire family moved to Moscow. Nicholas Tolstoy, who took little interest in agriculture, now became an active countryman. Before their first son was three, they had a second son, Sergey, on February 17, 1826. The following year another son, Dmitry, was born on April 23.[br /]
[br /]
On August 28, 1828, in the village Yasnaya, at the home of count Nicholas Ilich Tolstoy, a son, Leo, was born, and baptized the next day by priest Vasily Mazhaishy, who was assisted by Arkhip Ivanov. Marya Tolstoy was a very affectionate mother. She loved her children more than anybody else in the world. She doted more on her last son, Leo. She wanted him to become a man of exceptional abilities.[br /]
[br /]
Successive childbirths led to the deterioration of Marya. She ran a continual fever and complained of violent headaches. She was soon bed-ridden and had to wear a mask. As she wished to see her loved ones, all family came to her bedside. Leo was, at that time, only 23 months old and in the arms of his nurse. The child screamed with terror at the sight of the livid mask. He could not recognize that the same woman was his mother. The nurse took the violently crying Leo back to his bedroom, where the baby grew calm amidst his toys. On August 4, 1930, Marya died. Nicholas Tolstoy, now a widower, realized the vacuum created in his life by the absence of the woman whom he married selfishly and who, occupied his life for eight years.
The child soon lost memories of his mother. He tried hard to remember her but memories eluded him. He tried to question those who knew her, to get her picture in the mind-frame but sans success. They told him that she was good, gentle, upright, intelligent and an excellent storyteller. But he could not associate these qualities with her, as he did not even have a portrait of her. Only a silhouette cut out of black paper, showing her at the age of ten or twelve, with a round forehead and a round chin, her hair in a veil at the nape of her neck.[br /]
[br /]
[b]His Education[/b][br /]
[br /]
Time passed by for the Tolstoy. Leo was five and his education was the responsibility of a German tutor, Fyodor Ivanovich Rossel. In the beginning, little Leo was frightened by the change. Fyodor seemed an obvious terror with his pale eyes behind big spectacles, an aquiline nose and a tasseled cap. But this awesome person was good-natured and soft-spoken. His German accent made him sound comical when he spoke Russian. When he lost his temper, he struck his pupils with a ruler or a pair of braces. At five, Leo knew the French and Russian alphabets.[br /]
[br /]
Leo admired his elder brothers. On one occasion, he promised to take them up Fafaron Mountain but kept three conditions. He said nobody should think of a white bear, one must walk without missing a step along a crack between the floorboards and not see a hare, dead, alive or roasted for a whole year. Their father was less close to the children but he appeared as a model of perfection to Leo.[br /]
[br /]
The children's schedule was fine. In the morning, their time went by quickly with their mentor in the classroom. After this, they would go to play. In warm weather, they would go out fishing. The children visited horses in stables and dogs in kennels. As soon as they came indoor, they had to wash and change. Then, they would go to the drawing room, where aunt Alexandra, aunt Toinette, little Pashenka and Fyodor Ivanovich Rossel would talk to them. In the evening, they would all wait for the childrens' papa to come and then go for dinner.[br /]
[br /]
In the winter, the entire family would remain closeted in the main house where tile stoves crackled. Leo thought his house was the most beautiful in the world. Time went by. Leo was now nine years old. The family was now to move to Moscow. On January 10, 1837, grandmother, aunt Toinette, aunt Aline and an adopted child Pashenka, the five Tolstoy children, their tutor and 30 servants moved away to Moscow. Leo was very sad to leave the place where he had spent his early childhood.[br /]
[br /]
Leo's father had now been worried about his health for sometime. He drank a good deal, coughed and spat blood. Meanwhile, he had signed a fictitious sale contract for his neighbor's estate. The other party involved in the contract died shortly after. Nicholas realized that the dead man's sister would immediately take away the property. So he rushed to the site accompanied by two servants, carrying papers of the deal. The next day, on June 21, 1837, he died of a sudden attack of apoplexy. Leo was sad and terrified. After this incident, Leo's grandmother lost her mental balance. It took few days to recover from this tragic episode.[br /]
[br /]
The guardianship of the children was entrusted to aunt Aline. Later, the children were allowed to go to the theatre for a change. At the same time, a new mentor M. Prosper de St Thomas was assigned the job, which was previously assigned to Fyodor Ivanovich Rossel. He was a short, muscular, active, good-looking man of 25, with a better education. He had dreamt of marrying a rich heiress. He had a stiff sarcastic exterior and yet a sound judgement. He gave frank opinions about his pupils. According to him Nicholas was both willing and able to learn, Sergey was able but not willing. Leo was neither; he was a poor student. He did not understand mathematics, and also did not make any effort to understand the subject.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Liking for Sonya[/b][br /]
[br /]
As a boy, he was not good looking but he genuinely hoped that his features would improve with time. But as boy of nine by now, he still had a cauliflower nose and little steely eyes set deep in their sockets. Weary of asking God in his nightly prayers to make him handsome as his brother Sergey, Leo thought he could at least try to look different. So, seizing a pair of scissors, he cut off his eyebrows, which he thought, were too thick. But the eyebrows grew back gradually but even coarser this time. Leo was conscious of his "unsightliness", more so in the presence of Sonya Koloshin, a distant cousin, who was also of his age. The girl had silky, blonde hair and beautiful eyes. Leo had taken a deep liking for her and dreamt of marrying Sonya. When he innocently put forth his idea to his brother one night, the latter sneered at him for being too platonic. Leo also took a liking for yet another girl named Lyubov Islavin. But once jealous of her looks, Leo pushed her off. The girl was injured and limped for a few weeks after the incident.[br /]
[br /]
It was not as if Leo was attracted only to girls. He was subjugated by physical beauty regardless of gender. He was obsessed with two Musin - Pushin Brothers, Sasha and Alyosha. But life was not smooth for him. On May 25, 1838, while Leo and other children were engaged in their amusements, Prosper de St Thomas broke in suddenly and announced the shocking news of their grandmother's death. She had been ailing for weeks. Leo was really sad and at the same time obsessed with the thought of death.[br /]
[br /]
After their grandmother's death, it was decided that the two eldest Tolstoy children, Nicholas and Sergey, would remain in Moscow with aunt Aline, and the three younger ones Dmitry, Leo and Marya could return to Yasnaya Polyana with aunt Toinette. Leo was 10 then. He was glad to get back to his big house and in the care of his old mentor Fyodor. In autumn, the three younger children and aunt Toinette, returned to Moscow. They were to attend the ceremony of the laying of the cornerstone of Holy Savior Cathedral by Tsar Nicholas I, and to congratulate the eldest Tolstoy son, who had just been admitted to the Department of Philosophy in Moscow. [br /]
[br /]
[b]His Precocity[/b][br /]
[br /]
As a young boy, he was taught to have complete faith in God. But he was prepared to believe the opposite - that everything about God that was taught to him was false and made up. This was the influence of Volodya Milyutin, one of his comrades. At this time, Nicholas led several debates as a university student. Leo, unsure of these high-powered brains of the University of Moscow, sought explanations of deeper mysteries. Even Prosper de St Thomas, who thought of Leo as "lazy and good for nothing," was astonished at his precocity. History and geography interested Leo, but he sought answers to the deeper questions. Between two games of hide-and-seek, Leo meditated on his own character, man's destiny, immorality of the soul and other heavy ideas. This degree of insight was uncanny for a boy of 12.[br /]
[br /]
Leo would dream and see himself as a poet, adulated and worshipped like Pushkin, who had been killed in a duel by a Frenchman three years before. When Leo returned to Yasnaya Polyana, he wrote a poem of five stanzas, expressing his affection for aunt Toinette, and gave it to her on January 12, 1840. Leo's unpolished verses delighted the grown-ups. Prosper de St Thomas wrote a letter to congratulate Leo, saying that he had read the poem to Princess Gorchakov. She and her family were highly delighted by these verses. This was the first major encouragement for Leo. And with this, his writing career began. Napoleonic wars, the exploits of Marfa Pozadnitsa leading the people of Novgorod, and a lot more - nothing seemed out of the reach for Leo's pen. Leo spent the summer of 1841 with his family at Yasnaya Polyana. Aunt Aline, who had been ailing for sometime, passed away on August 30, 1841.[br /]
[br /]
After this tragedy, a new guardian had to be found for the Tolstoy children. The responsibility fell on aunt Pelagya Yushkov, sister of Aline. The children were to leave for Kazan. Their separation from aunt Toinette was heart-rending. The Tolstoy children grew up but Leo framed a new a difficult code of conduct for himself. He wanted to achieve the caricature of Sergey. Meanwhile, Dmitry grew up to be a sober and determined boy, who paid little attention to his appearance. He fell for Lyubor Sergeyevna. She was said to be "one of the ugliest creatures God could have made". For Leo and Sergey, going to church, was a custom to be respected but not taken seriously. But Dmitry prayed at every service with equal fervor. In 1844, Leo enrolled in the University of Kazan as a student of Orient Language. His first contact with a new academic world increased his awareness. He had to face dozens of boisterous students, who shoved into him, exchanged rough handshakes and made evil-sounding comments and unintelligible jokes. Gradually, he liked the atmosphere in lecture halls, the lecturer's monotonous voice, the jostling in the corridors, the glasses of vodka tossed off on the sly. He wasted unknowingly a lot of time in all this. He could have made up for the loss at home but there were temptations of the society.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Visits Brothel[/b][br /]
[br /]
Youth had dawned on Leo. The young chap was now beginning to take interest in beautiful, young women, though he always remained conscious of his own ugly looks. In February 1845, Leo, despite, the fear of appearing awful on stage, agreed to act in some theatricals. Leo made friends with a member of the theatre company, whose name was Dmitry Dyakov. He soon took a liking for Dmitry's beautiful, 25- year-old sister. At another time, he made friends with two Lybin brothers. Soon, he took a liking for the young, beautiful maid at their place Matryona. Sergey had also fallen for the fair maid. But all this apart, Leo was in the company of his brothers, forced to visit a brothel, at the young age of 16. There, he had the first ever physical encounter with a whore. The next morning, the boy was shocked and sad. He found the experience so distasteful that he could not get close to another woman for a long time.[br /]
[br /]
At the university, his end-term exams were ensuing and he was unprepared. He was also lacking sufficient attendance. Leo failed in history. Leo was full of remorse and nostalgia. He opened that notebook in which he had written 'Rules of Life', and decided to revise them. He promised himself that he would never do wrong again, never waste time, and above all, never violate the principle laid down for himself. Filled with these noble thoughts, he left for Yasnaya Polyana with his brothers. On reaching home, aunt Toinette welcomed him warmly. He felt happy by the warm atmosphere there. At home, Leo spent time studying about philosophers, meditating and reading heavy stuff. In mid-August, 1845, he and his brother returned for Kazan. Here, rather than repeat his first year in the Department of Orient Languages, he asked for transfer to the Law Department. On August 25, 1845, he wrote a letter to aunt Toinette informing her about this change.
Soon after this, Leo took liking for more subjects - music, drawing, languages and also other courses at the university. Leo was then working on three books - Miscellany, What is the Need for Welfare of Russia ? and Studies of Russian Customs. Since January 1847, without waiting to take his exams, he asked the rector, for permission to withdraw from the university for health reasons. This was an excuse though. His request was granted. On April 23, 1847, Leo packed up and left. He had drawn a course of action for himself for the next two years. He wanted to study the entire course of law, practical medicine, a part of medical theory and also French, Russian, German, English, Italian and Latin languages.[br /]
[br /]
Leo was back home to Yasnaya Polyana. Here, a division of property took place between Leo and his siblings. Leo inherited Yasnaya Polyana and a few neighboring villages. As a landlord, Leo shouldered his responsibilities well. He introduced modern techniques of farming and modernized equipment. He was a kind landlord. His serfs respected him for the care he took. Meanwhile, he also began to prepare for his law exams. In January 1849, Leo abruptly left for St Petersburg. He passed the law examination there. After this, Leo was back to Yasnaya Polyana, where aunt Toinette welcomed her with open arms. Leo had left sizeable debts at Petersburg, owing to his gambling habit.[br /]
[br /]
Leo was now with his aunt, who had now begun to associate him with his father very closely. Thus, aunt Toinette loved her nephew. Leo too felt unknown warmth in this affection. But aunt Toinette was above any kind of jealously for any young woman who might enter Leo's life. Shortly after this, Leo fell for a maid, Gasha, at aunt's place. The two had an intimate relationship. When the aunt discovered this, she fired the maid immediately. Gasha's memory haunted Leo for a long time. Dunyasha, another maid, also received Leo's attention and favors. But soon Leo regretted his being a weakling and giving in into temptations so easily. He decided that he could lead a life of virtue in Moscow.[br /]
[br /]
Leo rented a small apartment at Moscow and furnished it. He was working on the script of Childhood, but abandoned it after writing a few pages. He had an irregular schedule and also realized that it had kept him away from writing. By late 1850, Leo was back in Yasnaya Polyana. In 1851, Leo joined his elder brother Nicholas, an army officer, in the Caucasus. He served in the Russian army. He took part in campaigns against the native Caucasus tribes and, soon thereafter in the German war from 1853 to 1856. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Dog's Loyalty[/b][br /]
[br /]
When Tolstoy stayed in Caucasus, he brought along his dog Bulk with him. Actually, Leo did not want Bulk along. When he was leaving, he locked the dog in a room but Bulk jumped out of the window, injured himself and yet followed its master's horse faithfully for over 14 miles. It was then that Leo realized it. Touched by Bulk's love and faithfulness, Leo decided to take it along to Caucasus.[br /]
[br /]
By early 1851, Leo had vowed self-control. But it broke for a serf girl again. Leo was feeling guilty. Short after this, Leo and his eldest brother went on a tour. Leo visited several places with his brother. He also dropped at Kazan to meet a childhood friend, and then went to Starogladkovskaya. Here, he stayed with a 90-year-old Cossack named Epishka. He took immediate liking for Leo. But Leo was trying to control his passion even while facing native girls. When he came across a beautiful girl named Maryanka, he thought of marrying her. But how far this affair went is not known. Life at Starogladkovskaya moved on with nothing significant. On his 24th birthday, Leo was full of regret for not having achieved anything worthwhile all these years.[br /]
[br /]
[b]First Publication[/b][br /]
[br /]
The very next day, he received a letter from an editor named Nekrasov. As Childhood was being printed, Leo was overjoyed. This was one of first works in which he had given a detailed account of his playmates and early days. The work was original and became an instant success. Critics praised it, too. But throughout that year and the next one, Leo had an overall dull life - no friends, no occupation and no interest in anything around him. In early 1854, Leo was back in the care of aunt Toinette. There he met all his siblings. The family was together after a long a time and it was perfect bliss. By March 3, 1854 Leo was off on a tour. Leo had several meetings with the Russian military. He lived with them and had very close look at their working.[br /]
[br /]
In 1856, just before departure from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana, his childhood friend, Lyubov Behrs, the very lady whom Leo had pushed away from the balcony, invited him for a dinner. The lady had three daughters. These little girls of 10,11 and 12 years charmed Leo. Little did Leo then know that the second daughter Sonya, 11-year-old then, would be his wife six years later.[br /]
[br /]
Dmitry was in love with a prostitute Masha. He bought her and the two stayed together happily. But fate willed otherwise. He was suffering from tuberculosis. Leo castigated his brother on staying with a prostitute. Dmitry then sent Masha away but soon brought her back. He knew that he was going to die. So, he wanted to be with Masha in his last days. Dmitry died on February 2, 1856. Leo did not go for the funeral. The same day, a lady whom he was very fond of, invited him for a dinner. Initially, he sent a message to her saying that he would not be able to come since there had been a death in the family. But when it was time, Leo dressed up and went to her house. She was surprised and asked him why he had come. Leo lied this time telling her whatever he had said that morning was untrue.[br /]
[br /]
At Yasnaya Polyana, Leo fell for Valerya Arsenyev, a pretty 26-year old. He was madly in love with her. During that time he did not lose control over pretty serf girls, too. But Leo realized that Valerya had fallen in love with Mortier de Fontaine, a pianiSt Leo's relation with Valerya remained just friendly. But for a long time after that, Leo could not forget her. He realized that Valerya was far different from him. Love and marriage would give them nothing but misery. Friendship was certainly good for both. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Visit to Paris[/b][br /]
[br /]
Leo then went to Paris. He met another Russian named Turgenev. Though they were good companions earlier, the friendship did not last long. During his stay in Paris, he squandered a lot of money on gambling.[br /]
[br /]
From Paris, Leo went to Switzerland, where he met two of his no-so-old, aunts, Elizabeth and Alexandra Tolstoy. Both were not married. Alexandra, the younger of the two sisters was 40. Alexandra was too young to be called an aunt but Leo called her 'Babushka' meaning grandmother, just to avoid any temptation. Leo later wrote to her conveying his feelings.[br /]
[br /]
After returning to Russia, Tolstoy took up pedagogy as a profession. He had already opened one school at Yasnaya Polyana in 1848 but was forced to close it when he went to Caucasus. He wanted to try it again. But there were impediments. Initially, a parent withdrew his ward from Leo's school, as no there was no flogging : the boy would lose the habit of being beaten. Leo's education system was based on complete freedom. There was to be no rigidity in the teacher-pupil relationship. Only those who wanted to learn this way came to his school. There were no compulsions, no lessons to be memorized, no surprise quizzes to dread.[br /]
[br /]
It was 1860 when Leo's sister Marya was ailing. Leo, Marya and her there children went to Berlin to consult a lung specialiSt The doctor assured them that Marya was not suffering from tuberculosis. But the same year, Leo was sad to discover that Nicholas, his brother was ill and suffering from tuberculosis. Two of Leo's most beloved people were aunt Toinette and Nicholas, and now one of them was going to die. It was painful for Leo when Nicholas died on September 2, 1860. Leo felt helpless that he could not do help his siblings.[br /]
[br /]
Leo's interest in pedagogy continued. In order to complete his documentation, he visited Marseilles. He also went to eight other state schools. Leo toured western Europe to know more about education there. He published 12 issues of a journal on pedagogy. These included Progress and the Definition of Education and Who should learn writing of whom : Peasant Children of us or we of Peasant children? His opined that education was spontaneous and without any kind of compulsion. Around this time, Leo directed all his energies to one of his most famous masterpieces War and Peace.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Ties with Behrs[/b][br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy had a close association with the Behrs family. Mrs Lyubov Behrs (Lyubov Alexandrovna Islavin before marriage), three years older to Leo, was his childhood sweetheart whom he had once pushed away. Lyubov's father was a known gambler. He had had a checkered domestic life. He married Sofya Petrovna Iavadovsky, who was separated from her first husband. The marriage was extremely successful. Six children were born to them. After this, Alexander Mikhailovick Islenyev had the marriage annulled. This made all the six children illegitimate in the eyes of law. After their mother died, their father married Sofya Alexandrovna Lhdanov. This lady was the beauty of the day. By her, Islenyev had three more daughters. So much addition to domestic responsibilities did not deter Islenyev from gambling. Driven to bankruptcy, the man finally retired to his second wife's estate.[br /]
[br /]
Lyubov Alexandrovna married a German doctor. She was 16 and he was 34. The two fell in love while the doctor was treating Lyubov for brain fever. Lyubov had 11 children - eight boys and three girls. Out of theme, eight survived. Lyubov's daughters grew up to be pretty ladies. Their mother brought them up very strictly. Sonya was the most pliant and least mercurial. She was reserved and had a melancholic mood. It was Lisa who got Leo's attention at firSt But she was haughty. Sonya was very submissive. She thought she could please Leo more and serve him better. Sonya also remembered that she had been a great admirer of Leo ever since she saw him first at the age of 11. She had even memorized several verses of his Childhood.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Diary Episode [/b][br /]
[br /]
Leo was not handsome. He was a man of average height, stocky, bony and brawny. His face seemed overgrown by a bushy chestnut beard and he had thick lips. At 34, he had lost almost all his teeth. Sonya was a beautiful, young maiden, only 17 years then. Sonya was an innocent girl and had been unknowingly drawn to Leo. After some hiccups, Leo and Sonya were engaged on September 16, 1862. Leo wanted to get married within a week. Sonya was even asked where she would like to go for her honeymoon. She modestly opted to go to Yasnaya Polyana, Leo's native village.[br /]
[br /]
Leo was a matured man. Leo valued truth and gave to Sonya his private diary in which he had written about eccentricities, his erotic dreams, his false engagement with Valerya etc. It was wrapped in a dirty linen. Sonya read it all and realized that he was the most 'contradictory figure' in the world, sort of a two-faced Janus. When Sonya met Leo, who had come to know her reaction, she handed the notebook to him reassuring him of her love and admiration.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Marriage Solemnized[/b][br /]
[br /]
The marriage was sermonized on September 23, 1862 at eight in the evening in the Imperial Church of Nativity of the Virgin in the Kremlin. On that day, in the morning, Leo suddenly burst into the girls' room. Sonya's heart missed a beat. Was he there to drop a new bombshell? No, he was there only to seek her acceptance, wholly and entirely. And he got it. She loved him dearly. After getting the acceptance of his beloved, Leo left. Sonya wiped her tears. Her sisters and friends helped her to get dressed. The wedding was sermonized.[br /]
[br /]
Soon after this, everyone was back home. They gathered in the drawing room to bid farewell to the newly wed. Sonya and her family sobbed even as Tolstoy stood silent and restless. As is a
custom in Russia, everyone sat for a one-minute of silent prayer. Sonya met her sisters and mother and cried more. Then she came out of her mother's warm embrace and boarded the coach without looking back. In the coach, Tolstoy, now her husband, was her sole companion. She still continued to cry. Tolstoy tried to console her but in vain. Tolstoy's bride was a virgin. It took some time before she could adopt herself to the new lifestyle.[br /]
[br /]
The couple got along well despite the vast age difference. Tolstoy's 'child-wife' soon took charge of the entire household. She had decided that the house was going to be run her way. She even changed some of her husband's unruly habits. Sonya got busy in her work. She had the heavy bunch of keys hanging from her waist-belt, signifying the important role she had in the Tolstoys' household. Aunt Toinette also stayed with the young couple. Sonya respected her but did not have any particular liking. Sonya pitied the old aunt. Sonya was a possessive wife. Although she knew everything about Tolstoy's past, she could not tolerate his affection for Babushka or Alexandra Tolstoy. Alexandra understood this and kept a reasonable distance from him. Sonya conceded later that Alexandra was a remarkable person. Sonya was a sensitive woman. She felt offended when she read Tolstoy's sensual descriptions in his books. [br /]
[br /]
[b]First Son Born[/b][br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy was often excessively demanding. His appetite for physical love was voracious. For this reason, he sometimes feared that he would lose Sonya because she was young and inexperienced. She found it tough to keep up with Tolstoy's demands. Sonya, on the other hand, feared that she would lose him because she felt that she could not keep up with Tolstoy's never-ending demands. In June 1863, the first son of Leo and Sonya was born. He was named Sergey. Sonya had difficult time both before and after childbirth. Unable to nurse her baby, she delegated the vital task to a wet nurse. Tolstoy never approved of this. Unable to empathize with his wife, he taunted her for not being able to shoulder her most vital responsibility. Time passed by and Sonya got more involved in her household work. She took care of her son's education single-handedly. At the age of 20, Sonya was responsible for everything and anything related to Tolstoy and his household.[br /]
[br /]
The couple could never achiever perfect understanding but Leo would look up to his wife for big or small needs. He would even discuss his writings and literary characters with her. In the following year, Tolstoy was working on The Year 1805. During this time, his right arm got dislocated after an accident. He went over to Behrs at Kremlin for treatment. Sonya gave birth to their second child, a daughter, during this period. She was weak after the childbirth and so could not go with Tolstoy. At Kremlin, he had to undergo a surgery for the arm. During this time, Tanya, younger sister of Sonya, took very good care of him. After the surgery, even while Tolstoy had recovered, he could not use his right hand to write. So he asked Tanya to be his secretary. While Sonya and Tolstoy were separated, they missed each other desperately. Tolstoy loved his wife and had even developed attachment to his children, which he did not feel earlier.[br /]
[br /]
Meanwhile, Tanya had fallen deeply in love with Leo's brother Sergey. Her parents did not mind their second daughter too marrying in the Tolstoy family. There was a vast age difference in the duo - she was 19 and he was 39. But Sergey was living with gypsy girl Marya, who was his mistress. They two had nine children. It was presumed that Sergey would put an end to this illegitimate relationship to marry Tanya but he did not. Finally, Tanya and Sergey broke. Poor Tanya was really heart-broken for a long time and spent sleepless nights. Sonya and Tolstoy took her with them for a change. But she wanted to go back to her parents. Finally, the bad time was over. Tanya met Tolstoy's friend Dmitry Dyakov. The two took a liking for each other and got married on July 24, 1867.[br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy was, by then, father of three children. His third child, a son named Ilya, was born in May 1866. His writing was temporarily halted by the illness of his children. He was working on the sixth volume of War and Peace, which
finally appeared in December 4, 1869. It was a phenomenal success and surpassed Tolstoy's expectations. After this, Tolstoy started reading voraciously. In early 1870, Tolstoy spent time on leisure activities. The next year was another addition to his family. On February 12, 1871, Sonya gave birth to a delicate little girl with pale blue eyes. She was named Marya. Shortly after this, Sonya fell ill. She recovered but still looked weak. Leo himself was ill for sometime after that. On June 13, 1872, Petya was born to the Tolstoy couple.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Tolstoy as Tutor[/b][br /]
[br /]
With six little children to look after, Sonya and Tolstoy had tremendous responsibility. Sonya, who had received a teacher's certificate, taught her sons Leo and Ilya, and her daughter Tanya, to read and write. Tolstoy taught them arithmetic's and Greek. Two instructors namely, Miss Hannah and Mr Rey, were also engaged to teach the children. Tolstoy was a stern person but loved his children dearly. With such a large family, the house seemed small and a wing was added to it to overcome the space shortage. Successive childbirths had left Sonya weak. She was constantly ailing. Tolstoy was worried about her condition. Tragedy struck the family when Petya died of croup on November 9, 1873. Sonya took a very long time recover from the shock. In the same year, Tolstoy had started the writing of Anna Karenina. On April 22, 1874, a fifth son, Nicholas, was born. Shortly after this, old aunt Toinette died. She was Tolstoy's 'emotional mother'. [br /]
[br /]
The main cause of despair in the Tolstoy family was successive births and deaths of children. Nicholas, the newborn boy is said to have water in his brain and he died on February 20, 1875. After this, Sonya gave birth to yet another child. A girl was prematurely born on October 30, 1875 and died within half-an-hour of birth. The deaths of her children made Sonya's condition worse. She was coughing and suffered from migraine. She spat blood. Tolstoy was sad but pursued work on Anna Karenina.[br /]
[br /]
In early 1877, Sonya's health deteriorated. She was taken to Moscow and examined Dr Botkin. The doctor assured her that she only had trouble with her nerves and that it was nothing serious. The same year Sonya gave birth to their ninth child, a son Andrey. The family was large but Tolstoy earned enough to support it. Royalties from War and Peace and Anna Karenina and revenues from land, put together exceeded the annual expenditure of the family.[br /]
[br /]
With the passage of time, Tolstoy increasingly felt the need to stay alone. For him, solitude was bliss. Sonya, on the other hand, was deeply engrossed in domestic work and her children. Soon after the birth of Andrey, Sonya decided that her family must stay in Moscow. There was a conflict between Tolstoy and his wife on the issue. In August 1881, Tolstoy turned 53 but none of his family members wished him on the birthday. Sad and forlorn, Tolstoy felt neglected and misunderstood. On September 15, 1881 Sonya and the children moved to Moscow. Here, she gave birth to yet another son Alexis. Tolstoy was at Samara. He was now working in solitude. People were now following his ideas. They called it Tolstoyism. Soon Sonya realized that the expenses of her family were rising. In order to meet with them, she took up the power of attorney, which entitled her to some extra revenue.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Sonya's Twelfth Pregnancy[/b][br /]
[br /]
Sonya was pregnant for the twelfth time. Successive pregnancies were very humiliating for her. She felt like her only task was to bring forth a child every year. She felt physically and mentally tried. This time, she was so fed up that she secretly went up to a midwife and requested abortion but the lady was surprised on hearing the famous Tolstoy name and refused to do it. Sonya herself tried to drop the baby but in vain. On June 18, 1884, she gave birth to a daughter. Childbirth, which is generally a happy and welcome occasion in a family, was a painful for the Tolstoys. He even confessed to his brother that he was unhappy with the marriage. At the same time, he met a new thinker Chertkov. Tolstoy grew really fond of Chertkov much to the anger of Sonya. Vladimir Chertkov was a wealthy army officer from St Petersburg.[br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy and his wife had already been leading a distraught life. On December 18, 1885, a quarrel broke out between Tolstoy and Sonya at their dinner table. The older children in the family, Tanya, Ilya, Leo and Masha, came down alarmed by the loud voices. Tolstoy threatened to leave his wife and set off to Paris and America. The couple maintained harmony for sometime after that, allowing each other to recover from the shock. On January 28, 1888, Ilya Tolstoy married Sofya Philosofov, the girl whom he loved while studying at the university.[br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy's daughters were a source of comfort to him. The eldest daughter, Tanya, was a keen admirer of her father. She assisted him in all his work. But her mother Sonya was often annoyed at this. She could not tolerate another person doing what she had once been doing for her husband. Marya, Tolstoy's younger daughter, also admired him a lot.[br /]
[br /]
In 1890, Tolstoy started talking seriously about complete abstinence. He was increasingly obsessed with the notion of chastity. In the following year, he distributed all his property among his children. Marya refused her share honoring her father's values. Sonya kept Marya's share aside, predicting a change of heart in her. After the death of Ivan, the relationship of Tolstoy and Sonya, became even more strained. Tolstoy was increasing involved in his work. Sonya felt frustrated. During this period, she met Tanayev, a musician and took a liking for him. The relationship was merely a platonic one, and yet, her eldest daughter, Tanya, and the 13-year-old Sasha, took objection to this relationship. By September 1897, Sonya and Tolstoy separated again. He stayed at Yasnaya Polyana while his family returned to Moscow. Sonya rebuked her husband for not coming along but soon after reaching Moscow, she started meeting Tanayev under false pretexts. She attended his concerts, invited him for tea and even went to his place.[br /]
[br /]
The same year Marya decided to marry Prince Nicholas Obolensky. She decided to get her share of the property in dowry from her parents. Soon after this, Tanya announced that she was wanted to marry Sukhotin. Michael
Sukhotin was a married man and a father of six children. His wife was seriously ill. Tanya was contemplating marriage with him. Tolstoy tried to dissuade Tanya and put forth the age-gap factor but in vain. The marriage took place on November 14, 1899.[br /]
[br /]
By now, Tolstoy's fame grew and his ideas influenced many people. But the imperial government did not approve it. Two of Tolstoy's close associates, Chertkov and Paul Biryukov, were exiled for their work on behalf of the Dukhobors in the Caucasus. After being under surveillance in the government of Kurland, Biryukov was allowed to go to Switzerland. Biryukov reached Geneva and arranged with Chertkov, who was staying at London to launch the Tolstoyan review 'Free Thought'.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Tolstoy Excommunicated[/b][br /]
[br /]
In a letter dated April 4, 1901, Tolstoy condemned the decree of the Holy Synod (a special group of members of the Church), as unlawful and slanderous. In his Resurrection he attacked the Russian Orthodox Church. As a result he was excommunicated. Tolstoy published his own set of principles. This excited the public. But Tolstoy's health was declining. His enemies hoped that he would soon relieve them of his unwelcome presence without necessitating any police action. In June 1901, Tolstoy suffered from malaria. It left him very weak. At this time, when he felt as if he was almost oscillating between life and death even as his wife nursed him. A new bond of love redeveloped between the two.[br /]
[br /]
After recovering from the illness, Tolstoy returned to the Crimea. He then sent a letter to the Czar warning him that aristocracy was doomed. He also wrote that the citizens must get complete freedom to avoid a civil war. Soon after, he returned to his native village and stayed there for about a year. During this time, he produced on anthology of the major moralists entitled Thoughts of the Wise Men, a few short stories including The False Coupons and some plays. He also wrote essays on Shakespeare. During Tolstoy's stay at Yasnaya Polyana, his brother Sergey, aged 70, was on the deathbed with cancer of the tongue. Sergey had an estranged relationship with Tolstoy. But seeing him in such condition made Tolstoy very sad. After Sergey's death, Tolstoy supported his brother's gypsy mistress and three daughters.[br /]
[br /]
In August 1906, Sonya fell ill. For long, she had been complaining of pain in stomach. It suddenly grew worse. The doctors diagnosed it as fibroma and recommended surgery. But she was too weak to be taken to the hospital. So an eminent surgeon, Professor Snegirev, came home with his nurses and assistants, and performed the surgery. All her children were informed. With everyone in the family around her, Sonya really thought that she was going to die. But the surgery was a success. Sonya recovered soon. But her daughter, Marya, fell ill. While coming from an evening walk, she would complain of chill and headaches. She had bouts of cough and cold and remained bedridden. On November 27, 1906, she died. Her husband, parents and siblings were beside her. [br /]
[br /]
In 1908, Tolstoy wrote a will to relinquish all copyrights. The very next year, Tolstoy wrote a new will, without the knowledge of Sonya. Chertkov was its sole witness. This will gave Chertkov rights to Tolstoy's works and diaries. All these days, Tolstoy's health was failing but he was resilient by nature.[br /]
[br /]
It was October 28, 1910. At the three in the morning, Tolstoy woke up startled. He heard the creaking of the door and he knew that his wife was ransacking his desk. He was furious. Why was she constantly spying on him? he asked himself. He sat up on his bed, lit a candle even as his wife realized that Tolstoy was awake. She inquired about his health, and then, quietly went back. Tolstoy controlled his anger. But he decided that he could not live on like that. He made up his mind to leave home. He told Dr Makovitsky to accompany him. Without any questions, the doctor did as he was told. They packed up few bare essential things. Tolstoy wrote a note for his wife and informed about it to his daughter Sasha. He instructed her to gather all his papers and forward them to him whenever asked for. Tolstoy and his doctor left.[br /]
[br /]
When Sonya woke up late on that day, she realized that Tolstoy had gone. Sonya was delirious. Tolstoy received a message about Sonya's condition. He was horror-struck. He also received a note from Chertkov. Sonya was sad without her life companion. She wrote an affectionate letter to him, entreating him to come back. She did not know where he would be but guessed that he could be at his sister's place. Sasha was the only one who knew where her father was. So she was sent to him with the letter. She reached the monastery where her father was staying, and told him about Sonya's condition. But Tolstoy did not go back. He wrote another letter to Sonya.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Tolstoy's Illness[/b][br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy decided to move from the monastery but on his way by train, he fell sick. Dr Makovitsky realized that he was running high temperature. His daughter was also with him. They took him to village Astapovo. They took shelter in a station master's house. The fever increased and Tolstoy's heartbeats were erratic. Sasha was nursing her father. By now, Sonya realized the vacuum. Sonya again wrote affectionate letter to her husband but Sasha kept Sonya away considering that her presence might disturb Tolstoy. On November 3, 1910, Dr Nikitin arrived from Moscow but Tolstoy's condition worsened. The fever did not come down. Sonya and other family members were sent for. On her arrival, she saw her husband - an old man, his skeletal body with a white beard. She walked up to him, kissed him, and urged him to forgive her. She lost control of her and was taken to the next room. His heart was weak. His breathing was irregular. Everyone in the house was around. Sonya knelt in front of Tolstoy and began to recite prayers. His eyes opened for a while. The doctor held out a glass of water tinged with red wine. He swallowed it feebly. Shortly after this, his breathing stopped. It was November 7, 1910, six in the morning. Leo Nicholas Tolstoy had died.[br /]
[br /]
Ironically, Sonya was not allowed to be beside him when he breathed his laSt At 8.30 a.m. that day, the station master's house was opened for all friends, acquaintances, railway employees and others who filed past the body with folded hands. The body was taken to his native village, Zasyeka by train on November 9, 1910 and buried there. Hundreds of peasants from Yasnaya Polyana attended the funeral with a heavy heart. Leo Tolstoy was now just a name on the many books.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]Ancestry & Birth[/b][br /]
[br /]
Prince Nicholas Sergeyevich Volkonsky had been living in his family estate of Yasnaya Polyana. It was the time when slavery was common. Volkonsky was a hard taskmaster but also reasonable. As a head of the estate he saw that the peasants and tradesmen were well fed and dressed. They, in turn, loved and feared him. The prince loved nature, books, music and some rare flowers, which he grew in his greenhouse. He hated hunting. He believed that inactivity and superstitions were the roots of evil.[br /]
[br /]
He was married to Princess Katerina Dmitrievna Trubetskoy. They had their one and only child, a daughter named Marya. On November 10, 1790, when Marya was barely two years old, her mother passed away. The prince remained a widower, and, grew to dote on this docile child. He devoted most of his time educating his daughter, who was very obedient to him. Though he could not make her a good mathematician, she had an inherent logical mind. He taught her self-control. But living with her domineering father, Marya had to often hide some of her feelings, as she was a very emotional girl; she frequently involved herself in daydreaming. She cared for the poor and read French novels. The idea of marriage never crossed her mind as she grew up. Marya believed that her stern father, with his steely looks, would turn away all young men around.[br /]
[br /]
As her advanced, she started becoming more frustrated; she wished to end her life, as it appeared meaningless. Marya's father died on February 3, 1821. Marya was now left alone in the world. She was then 31 years old, and had till that day, followed the code of conduct of the master of Yasnaya Polyana. Then she attended the wedding of a close family member. At the ceremony, on seeing the young couple together, she became very emotional. She was filled with thoughts of love, marriage and motherhood.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Moving to Moscow[/b][br /]
[br /]
Marya now lived in Moscow in her family house. The house was too big for this lonely lady. Her friends exhorted her to go out and enjoy. One fine day, a young man with average height and a melancholic expression on his face came to meet Marya. He wore a uniform and spoke French. He was Count Nicholas Ilich Tolstoy. Marya found him to be attractive and pleasant but, as usual, tried to hide her real feelings. But the meeting was intentional. Matrimony was discussed between the two who were not so young. Actually, the count was on the verge of bankruptcy, and saw the solution in this rich wedlock. Soon, Count Nicholas Ilich Tolstoy married Marya who was not beautiful but also five years older to him. The count had nothing but his name and descendant to bank on. His father Ilya Tolstoy had lost his wealth over wife's squandering money and wasteful lifestyle.[br /]
[br /]
Count Nicholas, seeing no other better option, married Marya on July 9, 1822. Marya brought him a dowry of 800 male serfs in the government of Tula and Orel. Her husband offered her nothing except his elegant name. The marriage turned out to be loveless. Marya felt no passion for her husband but was
moved by a sense of gratitude. She also needed patience to get along well with her in-laws. Now that her son's position was secure, his mother regretted that he had married someone so ungainly, and homely. She was also jealous of the couple's wedded bliss.[br /]
[br /]
But Marya was had immense patience and was a contented lady. She put up with things as they came. On July 31, 1823, Countess Marya gave birth to her first child. The son was named Nicholas and fondly called 'Coco'. Marya's world was full of joy; in fact he was her only 'world' then. She asked her husband to resign, and in 1824, the entire family moved to Moscow. Nicholas Tolstoy, who took little interest in agriculture, now became an active countryman. Before their first son was three, they had a second son, Sergey, on February 17, 1826. The following year another son, Dmitry, was born on April 23.[br /]
[br /]
On August 28, 1828, in the village Yasnaya, at the home of count Nicholas Ilich Tolstoy, a son, Leo, was born, and baptized the next day by priest Vasily Mazhaishy, who was assisted by Arkhip Ivanov. Marya Tolstoy was a very affectionate mother. She loved her children more than anybody else in the world. She doted more on her last son, Leo. She wanted him to become a man of exceptional abilities.[br /]
[br /]
Successive childbirths led to the deterioration of Marya. She ran a continual fever and complained of violent headaches. She was soon bed-ridden and had to wear a mask. As she wished to see her loved ones, all family came to her bedside. Leo was, at that time, only 23 months old and in the arms of his nurse. The child screamed with terror at the sight of the livid mask. He could not recognize that the same woman was his mother. The nurse took the violently crying Leo back to his bedroom, where the baby grew calm amidst his toys. On August 4, 1930, Marya died. Nicholas Tolstoy, now a widower, realized the vacuum created in his life by the absence of the woman whom he married selfishly and who, occupied his life for eight years.
The child soon lost memories of his mother. He tried hard to remember her but memories eluded him. He tried to question those who knew her, to get her picture in the mind-frame but sans success. They told him that she was good, gentle, upright, intelligent and an excellent storyteller. But he could not associate these qualities with her, as he did not even have a portrait of her. Only a silhouette cut out of black paper, showing her at the age of ten or twelve, with a round forehead and a round chin, her hair in a veil at the nape of her neck.[br /]
[br /]
[b]His Education[/b][br /]
[br /]
Time passed by for the Tolstoy. Leo was five and his education was the responsibility of a German tutor, Fyodor Ivanovich Rossel. In the beginning, little Leo was frightened by the change. Fyodor seemed an obvious terror with his pale eyes behind big spectacles, an aquiline nose and a tasseled cap. But this awesome person was good-natured and soft-spoken. His German accent made him sound comical when he spoke Russian. When he lost his temper, he struck his pupils with a ruler or a pair of braces. At five, Leo knew the French and Russian alphabets.[br /]
[br /]
Leo admired his elder brothers. On one occasion, he promised to take them up Fafaron Mountain but kept three conditions. He said nobody should think of a white bear, one must walk without missing a step along a crack between the floorboards and not see a hare, dead, alive or roasted for a whole year. Their father was less close to the children but he appeared as a model of perfection to Leo.[br /]
[br /]
The children's schedule was fine. In the morning, their time went by quickly with their mentor in the classroom. After this, they would go to play. In warm weather, they would go out fishing. The children visited horses in stables and dogs in kennels. As soon as they came indoor, they had to wash and change. Then, they would go to the drawing room, where aunt Alexandra, aunt Toinette, little Pashenka and Fyodor Ivanovich Rossel would talk to them. In the evening, they would all wait for the childrens' papa to come and then go for dinner.[br /]
[br /]
In the winter, the entire family would remain closeted in the main house where tile stoves crackled. Leo thought his house was the most beautiful in the world. Time went by. Leo was now nine years old. The family was now to move to Moscow. On January 10, 1837, grandmother, aunt Toinette, aunt Aline and an adopted child Pashenka, the five Tolstoy children, their tutor and 30 servants moved away to Moscow. Leo was very sad to leave the place where he had spent his early childhood.[br /]
[br /]
Leo's father had now been worried about his health for sometime. He drank a good deal, coughed and spat blood. Meanwhile, he had signed a fictitious sale contract for his neighbor's estate. The other party involved in the contract died shortly after. Nicholas realized that the dead man's sister would immediately take away the property. So he rushed to the site accompanied by two servants, carrying papers of the deal. The next day, on June 21, 1837, he died of a sudden attack of apoplexy. Leo was sad and terrified. After this incident, Leo's grandmother lost her mental balance. It took few days to recover from this tragic episode.[br /]
[br /]
The guardianship of the children was entrusted to aunt Aline. Later, the children were allowed to go to the theatre for a change. At the same time, a new mentor M. Prosper de St Thomas was assigned the job, which was previously assigned to Fyodor Ivanovich Rossel. He was a short, muscular, active, good-looking man of 25, with a better education. He had dreamt of marrying a rich heiress. He had a stiff sarcastic exterior and yet a sound judgement. He gave frank opinions about his pupils. According to him Nicholas was both willing and able to learn, Sergey was able but not willing. Leo was neither; he was a poor student. He did not understand mathematics, and also did not make any effort to understand the subject.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Liking for Sonya[/b][br /]
[br /]
As a boy, he was not good looking but he genuinely hoped that his features would improve with time. But as boy of nine by now, he still had a cauliflower nose and little steely eyes set deep in their sockets. Weary of asking God in his nightly prayers to make him handsome as his brother Sergey, Leo thought he could at least try to look different. So, seizing a pair of scissors, he cut off his eyebrows, which he thought, were too thick. But the eyebrows grew back gradually but even coarser this time. Leo was conscious of his "unsightliness", more so in the presence of Sonya Koloshin, a distant cousin, who was also of his age. The girl had silky, blonde hair and beautiful eyes. Leo had taken a deep liking for her and dreamt of marrying Sonya. When he innocently put forth his idea to his brother one night, the latter sneered at him for being too platonic. Leo also took a liking for yet another girl named Lyubov Islavin. But once jealous of her looks, Leo pushed her off. The girl was injured and limped for a few weeks after the incident.[br /]
[br /]
It was not as if Leo was attracted only to girls. He was subjugated by physical beauty regardless of gender. He was obsessed with two Musin - Pushin Brothers, Sasha and Alyosha. But life was not smooth for him. On May 25, 1838, while Leo and other children were engaged in their amusements, Prosper de St Thomas broke in suddenly and announced the shocking news of their grandmother's death. She had been ailing for weeks. Leo was really sad and at the same time obsessed with the thought of death.[br /]
[br /]
After their grandmother's death, it was decided that the two eldest Tolstoy children, Nicholas and Sergey, would remain in Moscow with aunt Aline, and the three younger ones Dmitry, Leo and Marya could return to Yasnaya Polyana with aunt Toinette. Leo was 10 then. He was glad to get back to his big house and in the care of his old mentor Fyodor. In autumn, the three younger children and aunt Toinette, returned to Moscow. They were to attend the ceremony of the laying of the cornerstone of Holy Savior Cathedral by Tsar Nicholas I, and to congratulate the eldest Tolstoy son, who had just been admitted to the Department of Philosophy in Moscow. [br /]
[br /]
[b]His Precocity[/b][br /]
[br /]
As a young boy, he was taught to have complete faith in God. But he was prepared to believe the opposite - that everything about God that was taught to him was false and made up. This was the influence of Volodya Milyutin, one of his comrades. At this time, Nicholas led several debates as a university student. Leo, unsure of these high-powered brains of the University of Moscow, sought explanations of deeper mysteries. Even Prosper de St Thomas, who thought of Leo as "lazy and good for nothing," was astonished at his precocity. History and geography interested Leo, but he sought answers to the deeper questions. Between two games of hide-and-seek, Leo meditated on his own character, man's destiny, immorality of the soul and other heavy ideas. This degree of insight was uncanny for a boy of 12.[br /]
[br /]
Leo would dream and see himself as a poet, adulated and worshipped like Pushkin, who had been killed in a duel by a Frenchman three years before. When Leo returned to Yasnaya Polyana, he wrote a poem of five stanzas, expressing his affection for aunt Toinette, and gave it to her on January 12, 1840. Leo's unpolished verses delighted the grown-ups. Prosper de St Thomas wrote a letter to congratulate Leo, saying that he had read the poem to Princess Gorchakov. She and her family were highly delighted by these verses. This was the first major encouragement for Leo. And with this, his writing career began. Napoleonic wars, the exploits of Marfa Pozadnitsa leading the people of Novgorod, and a lot more - nothing seemed out of the reach for Leo's pen. Leo spent the summer of 1841 with his family at Yasnaya Polyana. Aunt Aline, who had been ailing for sometime, passed away on August 30, 1841.[br /]
[br /]
After this tragedy, a new guardian had to be found for the Tolstoy children. The responsibility fell on aunt Pelagya Yushkov, sister of Aline. The children were to leave for Kazan. Their separation from aunt Toinette was heart-rending. The Tolstoy children grew up but Leo framed a new a difficult code of conduct for himself. He wanted to achieve the caricature of Sergey. Meanwhile, Dmitry grew up to be a sober and determined boy, who paid little attention to his appearance. He fell for Lyubor Sergeyevna. She was said to be "one of the ugliest creatures God could have made". For Leo and Sergey, going to church, was a custom to be respected but not taken seriously. But Dmitry prayed at every service with equal fervor. In 1844, Leo enrolled in the University of Kazan as a student of Orient Language. His first contact with a new academic world increased his awareness. He had to face dozens of boisterous students, who shoved into him, exchanged rough handshakes and made evil-sounding comments and unintelligible jokes. Gradually, he liked the atmosphere in lecture halls, the lecturer's monotonous voice, the jostling in the corridors, the glasses of vodka tossed off on the sly. He wasted unknowingly a lot of time in all this. He could have made up for the loss at home but there were temptations of the society.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Visits Brothel[/b][br /]
[br /]
Youth had dawned on Leo. The young chap was now beginning to take interest in beautiful, young women, though he always remained conscious of his own ugly looks. In February 1845, Leo, despite, the fear of appearing awful on stage, agreed to act in some theatricals. Leo made friends with a member of the theatre company, whose name was Dmitry Dyakov. He soon took a liking for Dmitry's beautiful, 25- year-old sister. At another time, he made friends with two Lybin brothers. Soon, he took a liking for the young, beautiful maid at their place Matryona. Sergey had also fallen for the fair maid. But all this apart, Leo was in the company of his brothers, forced to visit a brothel, at the young age of 16. There, he had the first ever physical encounter with a whore. The next morning, the boy was shocked and sad. He found the experience so distasteful that he could not get close to another woman for a long time.[br /]
[br /]
At the university, his end-term exams were ensuing and he was unprepared. He was also lacking sufficient attendance. Leo failed in history. Leo was full of remorse and nostalgia. He opened that notebook in which he had written 'Rules of Life', and decided to revise them. He promised himself that he would never do wrong again, never waste time, and above all, never violate the principle laid down for himself. Filled with these noble thoughts, he left for Yasnaya Polyana with his brothers. On reaching home, aunt Toinette welcomed him warmly. He felt happy by the warm atmosphere there. At home, Leo spent time studying about philosophers, meditating and reading heavy stuff. In mid-August, 1845, he and his brother returned for Kazan. Here, rather than repeat his first year in the Department of Orient Languages, he asked for transfer to the Law Department. On August 25, 1845, he wrote a letter to aunt Toinette informing her about this change.
Soon after this, Leo took liking for more subjects - music, drawing, languages and also other courses at the university. Leo was then working on three books - Miscellany, What is the Need for Welfare of Russia ? and Studies of Russian Customs. Since January 1847, without waiting to take his exams, he asked the rector, for permission to withdraw from the university for health reasons. This was an excuse though. His request was granted. On April 23, 1847, Leo packed up and left. He had drawn a course of action for himself for the next two years. He wanted to study the entire course of law, practical medicine, a part of medical theory and also French, Russian, German, English, Italian and Latin languages.[br /]
[br /]
Leo was back home to Yasnaya Polyana. Here, a division of property took place between Leo and his siblings. Leo inherited Yasnaya Polyana and a few neighboring villages. As a landlord, Leo shouldered his responsibilities well. He introduced modern techniques of farming and modernized equipment. He was a kind landlord. His serfs respected him for the care he took. Meanwhile, he also began to prepare for his law exams. In January 1849, Leo abruptly left for St Petersburg. He passed the law examination there. After this, Leo was back to Yasnaya Polyana, where aunt Toinette welcomed her with open arms. Leo had left sizeable debts at Petersburg, owing to his gambling habit.[br /]
[br /]
Leo was now with his aunt, who had now begun to associate him with his father very closely. Thus, aunt Toinette loved her nephew. Leo too felt unknown warmth in this affection. But aunt Toinette was above any kind of jealously for any young woman who might enter Leo's life. Shortly after this, Leo fell for a maid, Gasha, at aunt's place. The two had an intimate relationship. When the aunt discovered this, she fired the maid immediately. Gasha's memory haunted Leo for a long time. Dunyasha, another maid, also received Leo's attention and favors. But soon Leo regretted his being a weakling and giving in into temptations so easily. He decided that he could lead a life of virtue in Moscow.[br /]
[br /]
Leo rented a small apartment at Moscow and furnished it. He was working on the script of Childhood, but abandoned it after writing a few pages. He had an irregular schedule and also realized that it had kept him away from writing. By late 1850, Leo was back in Yasnaya Polyana. In 1851, Leo joined his elder brother Nicholas, an army officer, in the Caucasus. He served in the Russian army. He took part in campaigns against the native Caucasus tribes and, soon thereafter in the German war from 1853 to 1856. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Dog's Loyalty[/b][br /]
[br /]
When Tolstoy stayed in Caucasus, he brought along his dog Bulk with him. Actually, Leo did not want Bulk along. When he was leaving, he locked the dog in a room but Bulk jumped out of the window, injured himself and yet followed its master's horse faithfully for over 14 miles. It was then that Leo realized it. Touched by Bulk's love and faithfulness, Leo decided to take it along to Caucasus.[br /]
[br /]
By early 1851, Leo had vowed self-control. But it broke for a serf girl again. Leo was feeling guilty. Short after this, Leo and his eldest brother went on a tour. Leo visited several places with his brother. He also dropped at Kazan to meet a childhood friend, and then went to Starogladkovskaya. Here, he stayed with a 90-year-old Cossack named Epishka. He took immediate liking for Leo. But Leo was trying to control his passion even while facing native girls. When he came across a beautiful girl named Maryanka, he thought of marrying her. But how far this affair went is not known. Life at Starogladkovskaya moved on with nothing significant. On his 24th birthday, Leo was full of regret for not having achieved anything worthwhile all these years.[br /]
[br /]
[b]First Publication[/b][br /]
[br /]
The very next day, he received a letter from an editor named Nekrasov. As Childhood was being printed, Leo was overjoyed. This was one of first works in which he had given a detailed account of his playmates and early days. The work was original and became an instant success. Critics praised it, too. But throughout that year and the next one, Leo had an overall dull life - no friends, no occupation and no interest in anything around him. In early 1854, Leo was back in the care of aunt Toinette. There he met all his siblings. The family was together after a long a time and it was perfect bliss. By March 3, 1854 Leo was off on a tour. Leo had several meetings with the Russian military. He lived with them and had very close look at their working.[br /]
[br /]
In 1856, just before departure from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana, his childhood friend, Lyubov Behrs, the very lady whom Leo had pushed away from the balcony, invited him for a dinner. The lady had three daughters. These little girls of 10,11 and 12 years charmed Leo. Little did Leo then know that the second daughter Sonya, 11-year-old then, would be his wife six years later.[br /]
[br /]
Dmitry was in love with a prostitute Masha. He bought her and the two stayed together happily. But fate willed otherwise. He was suffering from tuberculosis. Leo castigated his brother on staying with a prostitute. Dmitry then sent Masha away but soon brought her back. He knew that he was going to die. So, he wanted to be with Masha in his last days. Dmitry died on February 2, 1856. Leo did not go for the funeral. The same day, a lady whom he was very fond of, invited him for a dinner. Initially, he sent a message to her saying that he would not be able to come since there had been a death in the family. But when it was time, Leo dressed up and went to her house. She was surprised and asked him why he had come. Leo lied this time telling her whatever he had said that morning was untrue.[br /]
[br /]
At Yasnaya Polyana, Leo fell for Valerya Arsenyev, a pretty 26-year old. He was madly in love with her. During that time he did not lose control over pretty serf girls, too. But Leo realized that Valerya had fallen in love with Mortier de Fontaine, a pianiSt Leo's relation with Valerya remained just friendly. But for a long time after that, Leo could not forget her. He realized that Valerya was far different from him. Love and marriage would give them nothing but misery. Friendship was certainly good for both. [br /]
[br /]
[b]Visit to Paris[/b][br /]
[br /]
Leo then went to Paris. He met another Russian named Turgenev. Though they were good companions earlier, the friendship did not last long. During his stay in Paris, he squandered a lot of money on gambling.[br /]
[br /]
From Paris, Leo went to Switzerland, where he met two of his no-so-old, aunts, Elizabeth and Alexandra Tolstoy. Both were not married. Alexandra, the younger of the two sisters was 40. Alexandra was too young to be called an aunt but Leo called her 'Babushka' meaning grandmother, just to avoid any temptation. Leo later wrote to her conveying his feelings.[br /]
[br /]
After returning to Russia, Tolstoy took up pedagogy as a profession. He had already opened one school at Yasnaya Polyana in 1848 but was forced to close it when he went to Caucasus. He wanted to try it again. But there were impediments. Initially, a parent withdrew his ward from Leo's school, as no there was no flogging : the boy would lose the habit of being beaten. Leo's education system was based on complete freedom. There was to be no rigidity in the teacher-pupil relationship. Only those who wanted to learn this way came to his school. There were no compulsions, no lessons to be memorized, no surprise quizzes to dread.[br /]
[br /]
It was 1860 when Leo's sister Marya was ailing. Leo, Marya and her there children went to Berlin to consult a lung specialiSt The doctor assured them that Marya was not suffering from tuberculosis. But the same year, Leo was sad to discover that Nicholas, his brother was ill and suffering from tuberculosis. Two of Leo's most beloved people were aunt Toinette and Nicholas, and now one of them was going to die. It was painful for Leo when Nicholas died on September 2, 1860. Leo felt helpless that he could not do help his siblings.[br /]
[br /]
Leo's interest in pedagogy continued. In order to complete his documentation, he visited Marseilles. He also went to eight other state schools. Leo toured western Europe to know more about education there. He published 12 issues of a journal on pedagogy. These included Progress and the Definition of Education and Who should learn writing of whom : Peasant Children of us or we of Peasant children? His opined that education was spontaneous and without any kind of compulsion. Around this time, Leo directed all his energies to one of his most famous masterpieces War and Peace.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Ties with Behrs[/b][br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy had a close association with the Behrs family. Mrs Lyubov Behrs (Lyubov Alexandrovna Islavin before marriage), three years older to Leo, was his childhood sweetheart whom he had once pushed away. Lyubov's father was a known gambler. He had had a checkered domestic life. He married Sofya Petrovna Iavadovsky, who was separated from her first husband. The marriage was extremely successful. Six children were born to them. After this, Alexander Mikhailovick Islenyev had the marriage annulled. This made all the six children illegitimate in the eyes of law. After their mother died, their father married Sofya Alexandrovna Lhdanov. This lady was the beauty of the day. By her, Islenyev had three more daughters. So much addition to domestic responsibilities did not deter Islenyev from gambling. Driven to bankruptcy, the man finally retired to his second wife's estate.[br /]
[br /]
Lyubov Alexandrovna married a German doctor. She was 16 and he was 34. The two fell in love while the doctor was treating Lyubov for brain fever. Lyubov had 11 children - eight boys and three girls. Out of theme, eight survived. Lyubov's daughters grew up to be pretty ladies. Their mother brought them up very strictly. Sonya was the most pliant and least mercurial. She was reserved and had a melancholic mood. It was Lisa who got Leo's attention at firSt But she was haughty. Sonya was very submissive. She thought she could please Leo more and serve him better. Sonya also remembered that she had been a great admirer of Leo ever since she saw him first at the age of 11. She had even memorized several verses of his Childhood.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Diary Episode [/b][br /]
[br /]
Leo was not handsome. He was a man of average height, stocky, bony and brawny. His face seemed overgrown by a bushy chestnut beard and he had thick lips. At 34, he had lost almost all his teeth. Sonya was a beautiful, young maiden, only 17 years then. Sonya was an innocent girl and had been unknowingly drawn to Leo. After some hiccups, Leo and Sonya were engaged on September 16, 1862. Leo wanted to get married within a week. Sonya was even asked where she would like to go for her honeymoon. She modestly opted to go to Yasnaya Polyana, Leo's native village.[br /]
[br /]
Leo was a matured man. Leo valued truth and gave to Sonya his private diary in which he had written about eccentricities, his erotic dreams, his false engagement with Valerya etc. It was wrapped in a dirty linen. Sonya read it all and realized that he was the most 'contradictory figure' in the world, sort of a two-faced Janus. When Sonya met Leo, who had come to know her reaction, she handed the notebook to him reassuring him of her love and admiration.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Marriage Solemnized[/b][br /]
[br /]
The marriage was sermonized on September 23, 1862 at eight in the evening in the Imperial Church of Nativity of the Virgin in the Kremlin. On that day, in the morning, Leo suddenly burst into the girls' room. Sonya's heart missed a beat. Was he there to drop a new bombshell? No, he was there only to seek her acceptance, wholly and entirely. And he got it. She loved him dearly. After getting the acceptance of his beloved, Leo left. Sonya wiped her tears. Her sisters and friends helped her to get dressed. The wedding was sermonized.[br /]
[br /]
Soon after this, everyone was back home. They gathered in the drawing room to bid farewell to the newly wed. Sonya and her family sobbed even as Tolstoy stood silent and restless. As is a
custom in Russia, everyone sat for a one-minute of silent prayer. Sonya met her sisters and mother and cried more. Then she came out of her mother's warm embrace and boarded the coach without looking back. In the coach, Tolstoy, now her husband, was her sole companion. She still continued to cry. Tolstoy tried to console her but in vain. Tolstoy's bride was a virgin. It took some time before she could adopt herself to the new lifestyle.[br /]
[br /]
The couple got along well despite the vast age difference. Tolstoy's 'child-wife' soon took charge of the entire household. She had decided that the house was going to be run her way. She even changed some of her husband's unruly habits. Sonya got busy in her work. She had the heavy bunch of keys hanging from her waist-belt, signifying the important role she had in the Tolstoys' household. Aunt Toinette also stayed with the young couple. Sonya respected her but did not have any particular liking. Sonya pitied the old aunt. Sonya was a possessive wife. Although she knew everything about Tolstoy's past, she could not tolerate his affection for Babushka or Alexandra Tolstoy. Alexandra understood this and kept a reasonable distance from him. Sonya conceded later that Alexandra was a remarkable person. Sonya was a sensitive woman. She felt offended when she read Tolstoy's sensual descriptions in his books. [br /]
[br /]
[b]First Son Born[/b][br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy was often excessively demanding. His appetite for physical love was voracious. For this reason, he sometimes feared that he would lose Sonya because she was young and inexperienced. She found it tough to keep up with Tolstoy's demands. Sonya, on the other hand, feared that she would lose him because she felt that she could not keep up with Tolstoy's never-ending demands. In June 1863, the first son of Leo and Sonya was born. He was named Sergey. Sonya had difficult time both before and after childbirth. Unable to nurse her baby, she delegated the vital task to a wet nurse. Tolstoy never approved of this. Unable to empathize with his wife, he taunted her for not being able to shoulder her most vital responsibility. Time passed by and Sonya got more involved in her household work. She took care of her son's education single-handedly. At the age of 20, Sonya was responsible for everything and anything related to Tolstoy and his household.[br /]
[br /]
The couple could never achiever perfect understanding but Leo would look up to his wife for big or small needs. He would even discuss his writings and literary characters with her. In the following year, Tolstoy was working on The Year 1805. During this time, his right arm got dislocated after an accident. He went over to Behrs at Kremlin for treatment. Sonya gave birth to their second child, a daughter, during this period. She was weak after the childbirth and so could not go with Tolstoy. At Kremlin, he had to undergo a surgery for the arm. During this time, Tanya, younger sister of Sonya, took very good care of him. After the surgery, even while Tolstoy had recovered, he could not use his right hand to write. So he asked Tanya to be his secretary. While Sonya and Tolstoy were separated, they missed each other desperately. Tolstoy loved his wife and had even developed attachment to his children, which he did not feel earlier.[br /]
[br /]
Meanwhile, Tanya had fallen deeply in love with Leo's brother Sergey. Her parents did not mind their second daughter too marrying in the Tolstoy family. There was a vast age difference in the duo - she was 19 and he was 39. But Sergey was living with gypsy girl Marya, who was his mistress. They two had nine children. It was presumed that Sergey would put an end to this illegitimate relationship to marry Tanya but he did not. Finally, Tanya and Sergey broke. Poor Tanya was really heart-broken for a long time and spent sleepless nights. Sonya and Tolstoy took her with them for a change. But she wanted to go back to her parents. Finally, the bad time was over. Tanya met Tolstoy's friend Dmitry Dyakov. The two took a liking for each other and got married on July 24, 1867.[br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy was, by then, father of three children. His third child, a son named Ilya, was born in May 1866. His writing was temporarily halted by the illness of his children. He was working on the sixth volume of War and Peace, which
finally appeared in December 4, 1869. It was a phenomenal success and surpassed Tolstoy's expectations. After this, Tolstoy started reading voraciously. In early 1870, Tolstoy spent time on leisure activities. The next year was another addition to his family. On February 12, 1871, Sonya gave birth to a delicate little girl with pale blue eyes. She was named Marya. Shortly after this, Sonya fell ill. She recovered but still looked weak. Leo himself was ill for sometime after that. On June 13, 1872, Petya was born to the Tolstoy couple.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Tolstoy as Tutor[/b][br /]
[br /]
With six little children to look after, Sonya and Tolstoy had tremendous responsibility. Sonya, who had received a teacher's certificate, taught her sons Leo and Ilya, and her daughter Tanya, to read and write. Tolstoy taught them arithmetic's and Greek. Two instructors namely, Miss Hannah and Mr Rey, were also engaged to teach the children. Tolstoy was a stern person but loved his children dearly. With such a large family, the house seemed small and a wing was added to it to overcome the space shortage. Successive childbirths had left Sonya weak. She was constantly ailing. Tolstoy was worried about her condition. Tragedy struck the family when Petya died of croup on November 9, 1873. Sonya took a very long time recover from the shock. In the same year, Tolstoy had started the writing of Anna Karenina. On April 22, 1874, a fifth son, Nicholas, was born. Shortly after this, old aunt Toinette died. She was Tolstoy's 'emotional mother'. [br /]
[br /]
The main cause of despair in the Tolstoy family was successive births and deaths of children. Nicholas, the newborn boy is said to have water in his brain and he died on February 20, 1875. After this, Sonya gave birth to yet another child. A girl was prematurely born on October 30, 1875 and died within half-an-hour of birth. The deaths of her children made Sonya's condition worse. She was coughing and suffered from migraine. She spat blood. Tolstoy was sad but pursued work on Anna Karenina.[br /]
[br /]
In early 1877, Sonya's health deteriorated. She was taken to Moscow and examined Dr Botkin. The doctor assured her that she only had trouble with her nerves and that it was nothing serious. The same year Sonya gave birth to their ninth child, a son Andrey. The family was large but Tolstoy earned enough to support it. Royalties from War and Peace and Anna Karenina and revenues from land, put together exceeded the annual expenditure of the family.[br /]
[br /]
With the passage of time, Tolstoy increasingly felt the need to stay alone. For him, solitude was bliss. Sonya, on the other hand, was deeply engrossed in domestic work and her children. Soon after the birth of Andrey, Sonya decided that her family must stay in Moscow. There was a conflict between Tolstoy and his wife on the issue. In August 1881, Tolstoy turned 53 but none of his family members wished him on the birthday. Sad and forlorn, Tolstoy felt neglected and misunderstood. On September 15, 1881 Sonya and the children moved to Moscow. Here, she gave birth to yet another son Alexis. Tolstoy was at Samara. He was now working in solitude. People were now following his ideas. They called it Tolstoyism. Soon Sonya realized that the expenses of her family were rising. In order to meet with them, she took up the power of attorney, which entitled her to some extra revenue.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Sonya's Twelfth Pregnancy[/b][br /]
[br /]
Sonya was pregnant for the twelfth time. Successive pregnancies were very humiliating for her. She felt like her only task was to bring forth a child every year. She felt physically and mentally tried. This time, she was so fed up that she secretly went up to a midwife and requested abortion but the lady was surprised on hearing the famous Tolstoy name and refused to do it. Sonya herself tried to drop the baby but in vain. On June 18, 1884, she gave birth to a daughter. Childbirth, which is generally a happy and welcome occasion in a family, was a painful for the Tolstoys. He even confessed to his brother that he was unhappy with the marriage. At the same time, he met a new thinker Chertkov. Tolstoy grew really fond of Chertkov much to the anger of Sonya. Vladimir Chertkov was a wealthy army officer from St Petersburg.[br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy and his wife had already been leading a distraught life. On December 18, 1885, a quarrel broke out between Tolstoy and Sonya at their dinner table. The older children in the family, Tanya, Ilya, Leo and Masha, came down alarmed by the loud voices. Tolstoy threatened to leave his wife and set off to Paris and America. The couple maintained harmony for sometime after that, allowing each other to recover from the shock. On January 28, 1888, Ilya Tolstoy married Sofya Philosofov, the girl whom he loved while studying at the university.[br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy's daughters were a source of comfort to him. The eldest daughter, Tanya, was a keen admirer of her father. She assisted him in all his work. But her mother Sonya was often annoyed at this. She could not tolerate another person doing what she had once been doing for her husband. Marya, Tolstoy's younger daughter, also admired him a lot.[br /]
[br /]
In 1890, Tolstoy started talking seriously about complete abstinence. He was increasingly obsessed with the notion of chastity. In the following year, he distributed all his property among his children. Marya refused her share honoring her father's values. Sonya kept Marya's share aside, predicting a change of heart in her. After the death of Ivan, the relationship of Tolstoy and Sonya, became even more strained. Tolstoy was increasing involved in his work. Sonya felt frustrated. During this period, she met Tanayev, a musician and took a liking for him. The relationship was merely a platonic one, and yet, her eldest daughter, Tanya, and the 13-year-old Sasha, took objection to this relationship. By September 1897, Sonya and Tolstoy separated again. He stayed at Yasnaya Polyana while his family returned to Moscow. Sonya rebuked her husband for not coming along but soon after reaching Moscow, she started meeting Tanayev under false pretexts. She attended his concerts, invited him for tea and even went to his place.[br /]
[br /]
The same year Marya decided to marry Prince Nicholas Obolensky. She decided to get her share of the property in dowry from her parents. Soon after this, Tanya announced that she was wanted to marry Sukhotin. Michael
Sukhotin was a married man and a father of six children. His wife was seriously ill. Tanya was contemplating marriage with him. Tolstoy tried to dissuade Tanya and put forth the age-gap factor but in vain. The marriage took place on November 14, 1899.[br /]
[br /]
By now, Tolstoy's fame grew and his ideas influenced many people. But the imperial government did not approve it. Two of Tolstoy's close associates, Chertkov and Paul Biryukov, were exiled for their work on behalf of the Dukhobors in the Caucasus. After being under surveillance in the government of Kurland, Biryukov was allowed to go to Switzerland. Biryukov reached Geneva and arranged with Chertkov, who was staying at London to launch the Tolstoyan review 'Free Thought'.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Tolstoy Excommunicated[/b][br /]
[br /]
In a letter dated April 4, 1901, Tolstoy condemned the decree of the Holy Synod (a special group of members of the Church), as unlawful and slanderous. In his Resurrection he attacked the Russian Orthodox Church. As a result he was excommunicated. Tolstoy published his own set of principles. This excited the public. But Tolstoy's health was declining. His enemies hoped that he would soon relieve them of his unwelcome presence without necessitating any police action. In June 1901, Tolstoy suffered from malaria. It left him very weak. At this time, when he felt as if he was almost oscillating between life and death even as his wife nursed him. A new bond of love redeveloped between the two.[br /]
[br /]
After recovering from the illness, Tolstoy returned to the Crimea. He then sent a letter to the Czar warning him that aristocracy was doomed. He also wrote that the citizens must get complete freedom to avoid a civil war. Soon after, he returned to his native village and stayed there for about a year. During this time, he produced on anthology of the major moralists entitled Thoughts of the Wise Men, a few short stories including The False Coupons and some plays. He also wrote essays on Shakespeare. During Tolstoy's stay at Yasnaya Polyana, his brother Sergey, aged 70, was on the deathbed with cancer of the tongue. Sergey had an estranged relationship with Tolstoy. But seeing him in such condition made Tolstoy very sad. After Sergey's death, Tolstoy supported his brother's gypsy mistress and three daughters.[br /]
[br /]
In August 1906, Sonya fell ill. For long, she had been complaining of pain in stomach. It suddenly grew worse. The doctors diagnosed it as fibroma and recommended surgery. But she was too weak to be taken to the hospital. So an eminent surgeon, Professor Snegirev, came home with his nurses and assistants, and performed the surgery. All her children were informed. With everyone in the family around her, Sonya really thought that she was going to die. But the surgery was a success. Sonya recovered soon. But her daughter, Marya, fell ill. While coming from an evening walk, she would complain of chill and headaches. She had bouts of cough and cold and remained bedridden. On November 27, 1906, she died. Her husband, parents and siblings were beside her. [br /]
[br /]
In 1908, Tolstoy wrote a will to relinquish all copyrights. The very next year, Tolstoy wrote a new will, without the knowledge of Sonya. Chertkov was its sole witness. This will gave Chertkov rights to Tolstoy's works and diaries. All these days, Tolstoy's health was failing but he was resilient by nature.[br /]
[br /]
It was October 28, 1910. At the three in the morning, Tolstoy woke up startled. He heard the creaking of the door and he knew that his wife was ransacking his desk. He was furious. Why was she constantly spying on him? he asked himself. He sat up on his bed, lit a candle even as his wife realized that Tolstoy was awake. She inquired about his health, and then, quietly went back. Tolstoy controlled his anger. But he decided that he could not live on like that. He made up his mind to leave home. He told Dr Makovitsky to accompany him. Without any questions, the doctor did as he was told. They packed up few bare essential things. Tolstoy wrote a note for his wife and informed about it to his daughter Sasha. He instructed her to gather all his papers and forward them to him whenever asked for. Tolstoy and his doctor left.[br /]
[br /]
When Sonya woke up late on that day, she realized that Tolstoy had gone. Sonya was delirious. Tolstoy received a message about Sonya's condition. He was horror-struck. He also received a note from Chertkov. Sonya was sad without her life companion. She wrote an affectionate letter to him, entreating him to come back. She did not know where he would be but guessed that he could be at his sister's place. Sasha was the only one who knew where her father was. So she was sent to him with the letter. She reached the monastery where her father was staying, and told him about Sonya's condition. But Tolstoy did not go back. He wrote another letter to Sonya.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Tolstoy's Illness[/b][br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy decided to move from the monastery but on his way by train, he fell sick. Dr Makovitsky realized that he was running high temperature. His daughter was also with him. They took him to village Astapovo. They took shelter in a station master's house. The fever increased and Tolstoy's heartbeats were erratic. Sasha was nursing her father. By now, Sonya realized the vacuum. Sonya again wrote affectionate letter to her husband but Sasha kept Sonya away considering that her presence might disturb Tolstoy. On November 3, 1910, Dr Nikitin arrived from Moscow but Tolstoy's condition worsened. The fever did not come down. Sonya and other family members were sent for. On her arrival, she saw her husband - an old man, his skeletal body with a white beard. She walked up to him, kissed him, and urged him to forgive her. She lost control of her and was taken to the next room. His heart was weak. His breathing was irregular. Everyone in the house was around. Sonya knelt in front of Tolstoy and began to recite prayers. His eyes opened for a while. The doctor held out a glass of water tinged with red wine. He swallowed it feebly. Shortly after this, his breathing stopped. It was November 7, 1910, six in the morning. Leo Nicholas Tolstoy had died.[br /]
[br /]
Ironically, Sonya was not allowed to be beside him when he breathed his laSt At 8.30 a.m. that day, the station master's house was opened for all friends, acquaintances, railway employees and others who filed past the body with folded hands. The body was taken to his native village, Zasyeka by train on November 9, 1910 and buried there. Hundreds of peasants from Yasnaya Polyana attended the funeral with a heavy heart. Leo Tolstoy was now just a name on the many books.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Leo Tolstoy was one of the greatest Russian writers and thinkers of the nineteenth century. In his long life, he wrote some unparalleled masterpieces - War and Peace and Anna Karenina.[br /]
[br /]
In his early life, Tolstoy was obsessed with physical love and had many close companions. But after marriage, he was a loving husband to Sonya who was nearly half as old as he was then. They had 12 children. Tolstoy was a kind-hearted person.[br /]
[br /]
The grief expressed after his death by the peasants of Yasnaya Polyana, his native village, and all at a stationmaster's house showed that he was also a benign landlord and an affectionate person.[br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy's views and writings radical during that period in Russia and are commended even today.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Leo Tolstoy was one of the greatest Russian writers and thinkers of the nineteenth century. In his long life, he wrote some unparalleled masterpieces - War and Peace and Anna Karenina.[br /]
[br /]
In his early life, Tolstoy was obsessed with physical love and had many close companions. But after marriage, he was a loving husband to Sonya who was nearly half as old as he was then. They had 12 children. Tolstoy was a kind-hearted person.[br /]
[br /]
The grief expressed after his death by the peasants of Yasnaya Polyana, his native village, and all at a stationmaster's house showed that he was also a benign landlord and an affectionate person.[br /]
[br /]
Tolstoy's views and writings radical during that period in Russia and are commended even today.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]1828[/b][br /]
Leo Tolstoy is born August 28,1828 at his family's estate Yasnaya Polyana.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1830[/b] [br /]
Leo's mother dies.[br /]
His aunt becomes the head mother figure of the house.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1835[/b] [br /]
Tolstoy's older brother Nikolai tells an impressionable Tolstoy he has written the secret that will make all men happy on a 'Green stick' and buried by the ravine in the Kakaz foreSt[br /]
[br /]
[b]June 21 1837[/b][br /]
Father dies. He passes away leaving the eldest daughter as the legal guardian.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1844[/b][br /]
Formal education begins. Tolstoy then enters the University of Kazan but is a poor student. In the same year, his brothers take him to a brothel where he loses his virginity. This has a profound impact on him.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1847[/b][br /]
Tolstoy leaves the university without a degree. He inherits the 4,000-acre estate of Yasnaya Polyana. Begins to keep a journal. In the same year, he moves to Moscow and becomes obsessed with gambling.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1849[/b][br /]
He moves to St Petersburg. Tolstoy moves to St Petersburg to take his law exams but incurs a huge gambling debt. He sells some of his estate to cover the coSt[br /]
[br /]
[b]1850[/b][br /]
He returns to Moscow. His gambling debts continue to grow forcing him to log his forests and pawn his watch. He is unable to live the virtuous life he wants and spends many nights drinking and gambling.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1852[/b][br /]
Joins the army. He is transferred with his brother to the Caucuses. He begins to write Childhood.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1856[/b][br /]
His brother Dmitry dies of tuberculosis. Tolstoy tries to free his serfs and transfer the land they work. Suspicious, they refuse the offer.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1859[/b][br /]
At Yasnaya Polyana, he starts a school founded on his own pedagogical ideas. Has a relationship with a married peasant who bears him a son, Timothy.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1862[/b][br /]
Tolstoy falls in love with Sonya, aged 17. Much of their courtship is reflected in Levin and Kitty's relationship in Anna Karenina.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1863[/b][br /]
His first son from Sonya is born in June. He begins to write War and Peace.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1864[/b][br /]
Tanya, his first daughter, is born.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1866[/b][br /]
Another son, Ilya, is born.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1869[/b][br /]
Third son, second from Sonya, is born. He is named Leo. Finishes War and Peace after six years.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1871[/b][br /]
Second daughter and fifth child is born. She is named Marya.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1872[/b][br /]
Fourth Son Petya is born but dies 18 months later.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1873[/b][br /]
Begins to write Anna Karenina.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1874[/b][br /]
Fifth son Nicholas is born. Nicholas is born in June but dies the following year.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1875[/b][br /]
Third daughter Sonya gives birth to their eighth child prematurely who does not survive.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1877[/b][br /]
Sixth son Andrey is born. Finishes Anna Karenina.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1878[/b][br /]
Converts to Christianity. At age 50, Tolstoy is finally able to resolve a significant internal conflict and accepts Christianity. Most scholars divide his life into pre and post-conversion.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1881[/b][br /]
Seventh son Alexis is born.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1883[/b][br /]
To prevent Sonya from leaving, she is given power of attorney. Tolstoy meets and forms a close bond with Chertkov, an officer in the army, who becomes Sonya's main rival.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1884[/b][br /]
Alexandra is born. She becomes the eleventh child and third daughter of Tolstoy.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1886[/b][br /]
Alexis dies. Sonya and Leo bury their fourth child.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1888[/b][br /]
Ivan is born. This makes him the eighth son and the last among 12 children.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1891[/b][br /]
Renounces his copyrights. Tolstoy declares he will give all his possessions to his serfs. After his sons and Sonya object it, he agrees to leave the estate to the family.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1895[/b][br /]
In March, Ivan dies of scarlet fever. This deeply affects Sonya. Tolstoy writes, but does not sign a letter releasing his copyrights.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1901[/b][br /]
Excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church. After writing Resurrection the church excommunicates Tolstoy. He writes his own religious model and others follow it.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1902[/b][br /]
He writes a letter to the Tsar warning him of civil war unless he grants Russia its freedom.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1907[/b][br /]
Having been exiled 10 years earlier, Tolstoy and Chertkov resume their friendship. Tolstoy grants him increasingly more editorial privileges. Sonya and Chertkov remain enemies.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1908[/b][br /]
Tolstoy writes a will relinquishing all copyrights.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1909[/b][br /]
Behind Sonya's back, Chertkov writes a new will for Tolstoy. This will gives Chertkov rights to Tolstoy's works and diaries.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1910[/b][br /]
To escape from his wife's clutches, Tolstoy travels in a train, falls ill and is forced to stop in a small town Astapovo. A few days later, he passes away. He is buried, as desired, by the 'Green stick' his brother told him about in his childhood.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]1828[/b][br /]
Leo Tolstoy is born August 28,1828 at his family's estate Yasnaya Polyana.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1830[/b] [br /]
Leo's mother dies.[br /]
His aunt becomes the head mother figure of the house.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1835[/b] [br /]
Tolstoy's older brother Nikolai tells an impressionable Tolstoy he has written the secret that will make all men happy on a 'Green stick' and buried by the ravine in the Kakaz foreSt[br /]
[br /]
[b]June 21 1837[/b][br /]
Father dies. He passes away leaving the eldest daughter as the legal guardian.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1844[/b][br /]
Formal education begins. Tolstoy then enters the University of Kazan but is a poor student. In the same year, his brothers take him to a brothel where he loses his virginity. This has a profound impact on him.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1847[/b][br /]
Tolstoy leaves the university without a degree. He inherits the 4,000-acre estate of Yasnaya Polyana. Begins to keep a journal. In the same year, he moves to Moscow and becomes obsessed with gambling.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1849[/b][br /]
He moves to St Petersburg. Tolstoy moves to St Petersburg to take his law exams but incurs a huge gambling debt. He sells some of his estate to cover the coSt[br /]
[br /]
[b]1850[/b][br /]
He returns to Moscow. His gambling debts continue to grow forcing him to log his forests and pawn his watch. He is unable to live the virtuous life he wants and spends many nights drinking and gambling.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1852[/b][br /]
Joins the army. He is transferred with his brother to the Caucuses. He begins to write Childhood.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1856[/b][br /]
His brother Dmitry dies of tuberculosis. Tolstoy tries to free his serfs and transfer the land they work. Suspicious, they refuse the offer.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1859[/b][br /]
At Yasnaya Polyana, he starts a school founded on his own pedagogical ideas. Has a relationship with a married peasant who bears him a son, Timothy.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1862[/b][br /]
Tolstoy falls in love with Sonya, aged 17. Much of their courtship is reflected in Levin and Kitty's relationship in Anna Karenina.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1863[/b][br /]
His first son from Sonya is born in June. He begins to write War and Peace.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1864[/b][br /]
Tanya, his first daughter, is born.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1866[/b][br /]
Another son, Ilya, is born.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1869[/b][br /]
Third son, second from Sonya, is born. He is named Leo. Finishes War and Peace after six years.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1871[/b][br /]
Second daughter and fifth child is born. She is named Marya.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1872[/b][br /]
Fourth Son Petya is born but dies 18 months later.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1873[/b][br /]
Begins to write Anna Karenina.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1874[/b][br /]
Fifth son Nicholas is born. Nicholas is born in June but dies the following year.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1875[/b][br /]
Third daughter Sonya gives birth to their eighth child prematurely who does not survive.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1877[/b][br /]
Sixth son Andrey is born. Finishes Anna Karenina.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1878[/b][br /]
Converts to Christianity. At age 50, Tolstoy is finally able to resolve a significant internal conflict and accepts Christianity. Most scholars divide his life into pre and post-conversion.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1881[/b][br /]
Seventh son Alexis is born.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1883[/b][br /]
To prevent Sonya from leaving, she is given power of attorney. Tolstoy meets and forms a close bond with Chertkov, an officer in the army, who becomes Sonya's main rival.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1884[/b][br /]
Alexandra is born. She becomes the eleventh child and third daughter of Tolstoy.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1886[/b][br /]
Alexis dies. Sonya and Leo bury their fourth child.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1888[/b][br /]
Ivan is born. This makes him the eighth son and the last among 12 children.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1891[/b][br /]
Renounces his copyrights. Tolstoy declares he will give all his possessions to his serfs. After his sons and Sonya object it, he agrees to leave the estate to the family.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1895[/b][br /]
In March, Ivan dies of scarlet fever. This deeply affects Sonya. Tolstoy writes, but does not sign a letter releasing his copyrights.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1901[/b][br /]
Excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church. After writing Resurrection the church excommunicates Tolstoy. He writes his own religious model and others follow it.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1902[/b][br /]
He writes a letter to the Tsar warning him of civil war unless he grants Russia its freedom.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1907[/b][br /]
Having been exiled 10 years earlier, Tolstoy and Chertkov resume their friendship. Tolstoy grants him increasingly more editorial privileges. Sonya and Chertkov remain enemies.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1908[/b][br /]
Tolstoy writes a will relinquishing all copyrights.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1909[/b][br /]
Behind Sonya's back, Chertkov writes a new will for Tolstoy. This will gives Chertkov rights to Tolstoy's works and diaries.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1910[/b][br /]
To escape from his wife's clutches, Tolstoy travels in a train, falls ill and is forced to stop in a small town Astapovo. A few days later, he passes away. He is buried, as desired, by the 'Green stick' his brother told him about in his childhood.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
"For a good life, a certain order of good action is inevitable."[br /]
[br /]
"I have no recollection of what we call nature. Probably one has to leave it in order to see it."[br /]
[br /]
"If you want to be happy you have to live for others."[br /]
[br /]
"It is better to actually labor for and with the poor, than it is to give the poor the results of your labor."[br /]
[br /]
"It is by those who have suffered, not by those who have struck the world have advanced."[br /]
[br /]
"The closer we come to death, the more important becomes this single indispensable thing called life."[br /]
[br /]
"The proper way to resist evil is to absolutely refuse to do evil either for one's self or for others."[br /]
[br /]
"The proper way to resist evil is to absolutely refuse to do evil either for one's self or for others."[br /]
[br /]
"To remember death means to remember our true life - that is a life independent of death."[br /]
[br /]
[b]On Vegetarianism:[/b] That movement has during the last ten years advanced more and more rapidly. More and more books and periodicals on this subject appear every year; one meets more and more people who have given up meat; and abroad, especially Germany, England and America, the number of vegetarian hotels and restaurants increases year by year."[br /]
[br /]
[b]On biography:[/b] I have tried to think about it, and I saw what a dreadful difficulty it is to avoid the Charybdis of self-praise (by keeping silence about all that is bad) and the Scylla of cynical frankness about all the abomination of one's life. Were a man to describe all his odiousness, stupidity, viciousness, vileness - quite truthfully, even more truthfully than Rousseau - it would be a seductive book or article. People would say : 'Here is a man whom many place high, but look what a scoundrel he was; if so, then for us ordinary folk it is all the more admissible'."[br /]
[br /]
[b]ANECDOTES (Tolstoyspeak)[/b][br /]
[br /]
Not long ago I had a talk with a retired soldier, a butcher, and he was surprised at my assertion that it was a pity to kill, and said the usual things about it's being ordained. But afterwards he agreed with me : 'Especially when they are quiet, tame cattle. They come, poor things, trusting you. It is very pitiful'.[br /]
[br /]
"This is dreadful! Not the suffering and death of the animals, but that a man surpresses in himself, unnecessarily, the highest spiritual capacity - that of sympathy and pity towards living creatures like himself - and by violating his own feelings becomes cruel. And how deeply seated in the human heart is the injunction not to take life!"[br /]
[br /]
"Once, when walking from Moscow, I was offered a lift by some carters who were going from Serpukhov to a neighboring forest to fetch wood. It was Thursday before Easter. I was seated in the first cart with a strong, red, coarse cartman, who evidently drank. On entering a village we saw a well-fed, naked, pink pig being dragged out of the first yard to be slaughtered. It squealed in a dreadful voice, resembling the shriek of a man. Just as we were passing they began to kill it. A man gashed its throat with a knife. The pig squealed still more loudly and piercingly, broke away from the men, and ran off covered with blood.[br /]
[br /]
"Being near-sighted I did not see all the details. I saw only the human-looking pink body of the pig and heard its desperate squeal, but the carter saw all the details and watched closely. They caught the pig, knocked it down, and finished cutting its throat. When its squeals ceased the carter sighed heavily. 'Do men really not have to answer for such things ?" he said.[br /]
[br /]
"So strong is humanity's aversion to all killing. But by example, by encouraging greediness, by the assertion that God has allowed it, and above all by habit, people entirely lose this natural feeling."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
"For a good life, a certain order of good action is inevitable."[br /]
[br /]
"I have no recollection of what we call nature. Probably one has to leave it in order to see it."[br /]
[br /]
"If you want to be happy you have to live for others."[br /]
[br /]
"It is better to actually labor for and with the poor, than it is to give the poor the results of your labor."[br /]
[br /]
"It is by those who have suffered, not by those who have struck the world have advanced."[br /]
[br /]
"The closer we come to death, the more important becomes this single indispensable thing called life."[br /]
[br /]
"The proper way to resist evil is to absolutely refuse to do evil either for one's self or for others."[br /]
[br /]
"The proper way to resist evil is to absolutely refuse to do evil either for one's self or for others."[br /]
[br /]
"To remember death means to remember our true life - that is a life independent of death."[br /]
[br /]
[b]On Vegetarianism:[/b] That movement has during the last ten years advanced more and more rapidly. More and more books and periodicals on this subject appear every year; one meets more and more people who have given up meat; and abroad, especially Germany, England and America, the number of vegetarian hotels and restaurants increases year by year."[br /]
[br /]
[b]On biography:[/b] I have tried to think about it, and I saw what a dreadful difficulty it is to avoid the Charybdis of self-praise (by keeping silence about all that is bad) and the Scylla of cynical frankness about all the abomination of one's life. Were a man to describe all his odiousness, stupidity, viciousness, vileness - quite truthfully, even more truthfully than Rousseau - it would be a seductive book or article. People would say : 'Here is a man whom many place high, but look what a scoundrel he was; if so, then for us ordinary folk it is all the more admissible'."[br /]
[br /]
[b]ANECDOTES (Tolstoyspeak)[/b][br /]
[br /]
Not long ago I had a talk with a retired soldier, a butcher, and he was surprised at my assertion that it was a pity to kill, and said the usual things about it's being ordained. But afterwards he agreed with me : 'Especially when they are quiet, tame cattle. They come, poor things, trusting you. It is very pitiful'.[br /]
[br /]
"This is dreadful! Not the suffering and death of the animals, but that a man surpresses in himself, unnecessarily, the highest spiritual capacity - that of sympathy and pity towards living creatures like himself - and by violating his own feelings becomes cruel. And how deeply seated in the human heart is the injunction not to take life!"[br /]
[br /]
"Once, when walking from Moscow, I was offered a lift by some carters who were going from Serpukhov to a neighboring forest to fetch wood. It was Thursday before Easter. I was seated in the first cart with a strong, red, coarse cartman, who evidently drank. On entering a village we saw a well-fed, naked, pink pig being dragged out of the first yard to be slaughtered. It squealed in a dreadful voice, resembling the shriek of a man. Just as we were passing they began to kill it. A man gashed its throat with a knife. The pig squealed still more loudly and piercingly, broke away from the men, and ran off covered with blood.[br /]
[br /]
"Being near-sighted I did not see all the details. I saw only the human-looking pink body of the pig and heard its desperate squeal, but the carter saw all the details and watched closely. They caught the pig, knocked it down, and finished cutting its throat. When its squeals ceased the carter sighed heavily. 'Do men really not have to answer for such things ?" he said.[br /]
[br /]
"So strong is humanity's aversion to all killing. But by example, by encouraging greediness, by the assertion that God has allowed it, and above all by habit, people entirely lose this natural feeling."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
