Born a Russian Aristocrat

Leo Tolstoy was born Lev Nikolayevich on September 9, 1928 (August 28, on the old Russian calendar) on the family estate at Yasnaya Polyana. The estate, whose name means "bright or clear glade," is located in Tula Province, 130 miles south of Moscow. Leo's mother, Marya Volkonskaya Tolstoy, was five years older than his father, Count Nikolay Ilyich Tolstoy. Leo was Marya's fourth son.

Only six years before the birth of Leo, Marya had almost abandoned all hope of marriage and having children. But the handsome, yet financially-troubled nobleman, Count Nikolay Tolstoy, came into her life and charmed the lonely, wealthy heiress. Prior to marrying Marya, Count Nikolay was in love with his cousin, Tatyana Aleksandrovna Yergolskaya. Nikolay chose to marry Marya, however, in order to restore the fortunes of the Tolstoy family.

Leo's father's marriage for convenience instead of true love was repeated in Tolstoy's greatest novel, War and Peace. In the novel, the character Nikolay Ilyich chooses to marry the wealthy Princess Bolkonskaya instead of his beloved cousin, Sofiya.

A Motherless Child

Leo Tolstoy's parents created a happy family life for their children. As an infant, Leo was surrounded by his three adoring older brothers, his father Count Nikolay Ilyich Tolstoy, and his mother Countess Marya Volkonskaya Tolstoy. When Leo was two, his mother gave birth to her only daughter, whom they named Marya.

The Countess, exhausted from child bearing, fell ill and died several months later. Young Leo found it difficult to remember his mother as he was growing up. There was no portrait of Marya in the house, only a silhouette of her that had been made when she was ten or twelve. His only memories of his mother were the stories others told about her. Throughout his life he idealized his mother as the essence of saintliness and goodness.

The Ant Brothers

When Leo Tolstoy was five, the eldest Tolstoy brother, Nikolay, called him to join the Ant Brothers. The Ant Brothers were a part of ten-year-old Nikolay's enchanted world of make-believe, fun, story-telling, and games. Leo's imaginative brother told Leo that he knew a secret that would rid the world of all sickness and trouble. Love would conquer, he proclaimed, and all men would become what Nikolay called Ant Brothers.

As part of their games, the brothers believed that there was a carved green stick buried somewhere on the edge of a forest ravine. When the words on the stick were uncovered, all evil would be destroyed and the world transformed. To his death, Tolstoy continued to believe that somewhere a profound truth existed that had the potential to rid the world of all sickness and trouble.

Tragedy Strikes

In January 1837, Leo Tolstoy moved with his father, brothers, and sister to a spacious, rented house in Moscow. Eight-year-old Leo no longer was surrounded by the friendly farmland and forests of the village of Yasnaya Polyana, but instead found himself in Moscow, in the heart of the Russian winter. Leo's neighbors were now only ten feet away.

In Moscow, the Tolstoy children could pursue their education and find the best tutors. However, Leo had difficulty fitting into the standard educational mold. If he found a teacher or topic stimulating enough, he rapidly absorbed the information. If he didn't find the information interesting, he resisted instruction and generally made a poor impression on his teachers.

Leo preferred to learn on his own. He admired anyone who was good at telling stories and was certain that he also had wonderful stories to tell. He bound together a notebook and started his first story, "Grandfather's Tales."

Not long after moving to Moscow, Leo's life changed again when his father, Count Nikolay Ilyich Tolstoy, died suddenly. The guardianship of the Tolstoy children was entrusted to their father's sister, the strict and religious Aunt Alexandra Osten-Saken. Aunt Alexandra hired an overbearing head tutor who humiliated the sensitive Leo. At one point the tutor locked Leo in a closet and threatened to whip him if he continued to defy his instructions. This traumatic incident had a lasting effect on Leo. He began to have his first doubts about religion and his first yearnings for a nonviolent world.

New Home in Kazan

Leo Tolstoy was an orphan at the age of 13. With the sudden death of his guardian, Aunt Alexandra, the guardianship of the Tolstoy children was passed to their Aunt Pelageya, who lived in Kazan, a city near the Volga River. This move separated the Tolstoy brothers and their sister from their beloved Tatyana, their father's unmarried cousin.

Tatyana had lived with the Tolstoys for twelve years, loving and caring for Count Nikolay Ilyich Tolstoy's children as though they were her own. But the jealous Aunt Pelageya told Tatyana that she was no longer welcome in the Tolstoy home. The children were heartbroken to see Tatyana leave.

Once settled into their new home in Kazan, the Tolstoy children were largely ignored by Aunt Pelegaya and her good-humored husband, Vladimir. Although Vladimir was fond of Leo and his brothers, he did not make an effort to guide them. Leo was left to pursue his own studies.

Kazan University

Leo Tolstoy failed his first entrance exams for Kazan University, but on the second try was admitted into the university. He spent his first year studying foreign languages, believing that he would pursue a diplomatic career.

About the time that Tolstoy entered Kazan University, he began to question the Orthodox religion in which he had been raised. He found its rituals empty and its doctrines senseless. At almost the same time, he developed an interest in the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau's Emile was said to have been his mother's favorite book. Because Tolstoy so idealized his deceased mother, he read Rousseau's writings with great reverence. Tolstoy felt that Rousseau's works were filled with clarity and truth. He agreed with Rousseau's opinion that the old religions, although false, still contain a core of spiritual truth, that all men are created equal, and that humans can only learn wisdom in solitude.

While making philosophical discoveries, Tolstoy was also drawn to the pleasures of social life. Life in Kazan became a series of parties. As grandson of Kazan's former governor and nephew of two of its prominent citizens, Tolstoy was highly popular. Although he went to the parties, Tolstoy tended to withdraw from the crowds. He felt awkward and shy at dances and often brooded silently in a corner.

The Pursuit of Law

After his first year at Kazan University, Leo Tolstoy returned to the family estate at Yasnaya Polyana where he had grown up. Tolstoy enjoyed his homecoming and found himself wondering how he and his house in the country "managed to live so long without each other." His father's cousin, Tatyana, who had lovingly cared for the Tolstoy children for twelve years, greeted him. Country living prompted Tolstoy to contemplate his future. He resolved that when he returned to Kazan he would give up the social life and transfer to law school.

Despite his determination to pursue law, Tolstoy found the coursework dull and uninspiring. He received poor grades and was even confined in a barred cell by his history professor for not being able to explain his absence from class.

A Goal-Oriented Drop-Out

Leo Tolstoy found that the Kazan University limited him to studying things that did not interest him. One professor, aware of Tolstoy's restless mind, assigned him the task of writing a paper comparing Empress Catherine the Great's code of laws with the teachings of the French philosopher, Montesquieu. Enthusiastically, Tolstoy did extensive research and offered a thorough analysis of Catherine's position as it related to Montesquieu's republican ideas. While doing his research, Tolstoy discovered that what he wanted most of all was to study the things that interested him. He began to see the university not as a place of learning, but as an obstacle to his personal pursuit of knowledge.

So, he decided to leave the university and settle down at the family estate at Yasnaya Polyana to pursue a program of self-improvement. He laid out an entire curriculum for himself, covering many of the studies he would have taken at the university. He created a rigorous daily schedule to develop his will power, memory, and physical condition. He also developed for himself a moral standard to scorn wealth, honors, and unreasonable opinions of society, and to express his love for everyone each day. He wrote in his diary and made harsh comments about any of his failures to follow his own self-improvement program.

While living at Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy took charge of the estate. He tried to introduce ideas to improve the life of the serfs who worked there. They would respectfully murmur, "Master, our young master," but as soon as he was out of hearing distance, they called him a madman.

Disappointment and Temptation

In the years after leaving the Kazan University to return to his family estate at Yasnaya Polyana, Leo Tolstoy read everything he could, followed a rigorous daily schedule, and listened to the endless complaints of the serfs who worked the estate. But Tolstoy feared that the best years of his life were slipping away. So leaving the estate in the hands of Tatyana, his father's cousin and his childhood caretaker, he followed a couple of friends he had met in Moscow to St. Petersburg.

After arriving in St. Petersburg, Tolstoy began studying law again. Although he passed his law examinations with ease, he became distracted by the social whirl around him. He began gambling heavily, and quickly amassed a large debt.

Although unsure of what he wanted to do with his life, Tolstoy once again abandoned thoughts of a legal career. Heavily in debt, he returned to Yasnaya Polyana accompanied by a German pianist named Rudolph. Tolstoy believed that with Rudolph as a tutor, he, Leo, could become a composer. Rudolph, however, had a fondness for vodka and household servant girls and was asked to leave the estate.

Tolstoy returned to Moscow's temptations, and his gambling debts mounted again. He struggled to find his identity. He briefly thought about writing a book on Tatyana's life, but decided instead to write about his own childhood. He abandoned the project after a few pages.

A Warrior and a Writer

While living in Moscow, Leo Tolstoy decided to write about his struggle between his conscience and his reckless, gambling lifestyle. He felt he needed a change that would force him to live a purer, more righteous way of life. Once and for all, he decided to leave the gambling tables and temptations of Moscow.

Tolstoy accepted an invitation from his oldest brother, Nikolay, to come to the Caucasus Mountains and get involved in the struggle to subdue the Chechen rebels, who were Muslim tribesman engaged in a Holy War against the Russians.

Tolstoy, as a non-commissioned officer to the artillery battery, narrowly escaped death in the fight against the Chechens. When he was not engaged in conflict, however, he found the same temptations in the Caucasus Mountains that he had left in Moscow. Tolstoy pursued the local women, drank, and gambled. But, during long, idle moments in the army barracks, he did fulfill his urge to write by taking up his pen and completing the story of his childhood.

Publication and Recognition

Leo Tolstoy was overjoyed when Childhood was accepted by the distinguished editor N. A. Nekrasov for publication in his magazine, The Contemporary. Tolstoy published two sequels to Childhood, titled Boyhood and Youth. All three stories appeared in The Contemporary. Tolstoy's writing drew the attention of the writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who noted that Tolstoy seemed to be a remarkable talent.

A Raid on Tolstoy's School

Leo Tolstoy believed that peasants should be educated and that literature should be written for everyone to read. He developed progressive theories about how to teach the peasants. He soon opened his own school at his family estate in Yasnaya Polyana using experience and conversation rather than lecturing to teach. According to Tolstoy's diary notes, the school's teachers and students thrived. Yet traditional educators felt threatened by Tolstoy's new school and his idea of educating peasants.

His experimental school at Yasnaya Polyana attracted the attention of Russian officials who had received a report that there was a plan to publish anti-government propaganda at the school. In 1862, the police raided the school at dawn. They terrified Tolstoy's aunt and sister, burst into their apartments, searched every drawer and cupboard, and dredged the pond in the park. The police said they were looking for a secret printing press. When they failed to find a printing press or incriminating documents, the police left and no charges were filed. Tolstoy, however, developed a hatred of the government, even though some of his own family members served as its leaders.

Marriage to Sonya

Leo Tolstoy fell in love with Sonya Andreyevna Bers, the daughter of a German physician who lived in Moscow. When Sonya first met Leo, she was an 18-year-old city girl who was used to wearing the latest fashions and making appearances in high society. After marrying Leo, Sonya moved to Yasnaya Polyana and in the beginning felt very homesick for Moscow and city life. The romance of her marriage to a famous count who was 16 years older than she was quickly wore off. Too soon, Sonya found herself struggling to find happiness and fulfillment with a man who was clearly preoccupied with other things.

After the first few months of marriage, Tolstoy closed his school to educate the peasants. Sonya disliked his involvement in educating the peasants and considered this a victory.

One Success Leads to Another

Leo Tolstoy delivered his story The Cossacks to the Russian Herald for publication. Although it received mixed reviews, the story again put Tolstoy's name in the limelight. The St. Petersburg Times called it "a capital achievement" in Russian literature.

Encouraged by the success of The Cossacks, Tolstoy started work on a historical novel about the French Emperor Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Tolstoy's wife, Sonya, assisted him by deciphering his difficult handwriting and making a clean copy of the manuscript.

A Long Story, An Immense Task

In 1865 the first part of Leo Tolstoy's war epic, War and Peace, was published under the title The Year of 1805. It drew disappointing public response. Nevertheless, Tolstoy continued writing, saying, "the immensity of the task ahead is frightening."

Two years later, Tolstoy researched one of the book's most unforgettable scenes. For two days, he trudged back and forth over the vast, muddy battlefield of Borodino, outside Moscow. In 1812, Napoleon had proclaimed a victory in Borodino. So had the Russians. The monumental collision of the two great armies came to life in Tolstoy's mind. He had studied the books, poured over the maps, and talked to the peasants who remembered the great battle. "God grant me health and peace and quiet," he wrote to his wife, "and I shall describe the battle of Borodino as it has never been described before."

During the summer of 1867, Tolstoy labored over The Year of 1805. He made extensive revisions and added a substantial amount of new material to the original text. With the work now close to completion, Tolstoy needed a more appropriate title for the book. He first thought that he would call it All's Well That Ends Well. But a work by French social philosopher, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, finally gave Tolstoy the name he needed. On December 17, 1867, the Moscow News printed its first advertisement for War and Peace.

Much to Tolstoy's delight, War and Peace sold briskly in the bookstores. It is now generally regarded as one of the greatest novels in world literature.

Epic's End

In 1869, the final six-volume set of the epic war novel, War and Peace, became a huge success. Reviews were mixed because its social commentaries and political statements prompted strong reactions from liberals and conservatives. After completing this long narrative work, Tolstoy wondered if he would ever write anything else. Describing how he felt, he said, "I don't think, I don't write, I feel pleasantly stupid."

Charity and Compassion

After the success of his epic war novel, War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy thought about writing a similar novel about Peter the Great of Russia. When warm weather came, however, he began wandering in the fields and playing with his children. He returned to his earlier interest of educating peasants and reopened the school in Yasnaya Polyana that he had closed in 1862.

During a trip to Samara, where he bought a farm, he and his family found themselves in the middle of a devastating famine. Tolstoy published an appeal in the Moscow newspapers on behalf of the hungry victims. The publicity resulted in an outpouring of charitable donations.

Tolstoy returned to his writing, fascinated with an idea for a new novel based on a real event. The previous year, he had learned of a woman named Anna who had thrown herself under a freight train. Tolstoy had watched the coroner perform the examination of Anna's body. The incident haunted him for some time. In a flash of inspiration, however, Tolstoy saw the pitiful Anna in his mind and created Anna Karenina.

Anna Karenina Completed

Five years after beginning his novel Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy completed the work. After appearing as several continuing installments in the Russian Herald from 1874 to 1878, Anna Karenina was finally published in book form. It has since taken its place, along with Tolstoy's epic war novel, War and Peace, as one of the great classics of world literature. The immense popularity of the work was gratifying to Tolstoy.

Tolstoy ignored any criticism of the novel. When he looked at himself and the meaning of his life, he often felt uncertainty, doubt, and confusion. He sensed a greater purpose in life and began to look for it. He examined religion, morality, and the state of his own soul, and wrote about his self-examination in A Confession, the first of four philosophical commentaries. His wife, Sonya, wanted him to write novels again and was dismayed by Tolstoy's new direction. She confided in her sister her feelings that he would "soon get over it, and it will pass, like a disease."

The Assassination of the Czar

Leo Tolstoy was shocked and horrified when he heard that the Russian Czar, Alexander II, had been assassinated. Tolstoy had not been paying much attention to politics and felt unprepared for news of this great national tragedy. He wondered how to respond, as a Christian and pacifist.

Tolstoy decided to write to the new Czar and ask him to spare the lives of the assassins. He argued that the death penalty violated Christian principles and that the young Czar should return good for evil. Czar Alexander III ignored Tolstoy's pleas for mercy, and the six assassins were executed by hanging.

The Tolstoys Move to Moscow

To continue the education of his eight children, Leo Tolstoy moved his family from the family estate in the village of Yasnaya Polyana to a rented home in Moscow. Two of his children, Ilya and Leo, now required an education to prepare them for college. Of his other children, Sergey, age 18, was enrolled in the University of Moscow, and Tanya, age 17, studied painting.

Tolstoy was accustomed to the quiet life of the country and disliked Moscow. It was too dirty and crowded. Because he needed something to occupy his time and give him a chance to examine the human condition, Tolstoy volunteered to be a census-taker and count the number of people living in the area.

For three days, he traveled the filthiest streets of Moscow. Later, he published a thought-provoking article titled "On the Moscow Census." It documented the appalling conditions he found, but his appeal to Christian charity went unheeded by others.

Tolstoy's Portrait of the Common Man

Tolstoy still wrote, but he no longer wrote monumental novels. After years of dabbling as a shoemaker while studying the teachings of different faiths, Tolstoy finished writing "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" and his essay "What Then Must We Do?," in which he describes his experiences in the slums of Moscow.

Tolstoy returned to Yasnaya Polyana in the summer, and was happy to see his children follow his example by working in the fields alongside the peasants. Although Tolstoy's writing during this time idealizes the common people, one of his works, The Power of Darkness , shows his revulsion at the filthy conditions in which the poor live.

The Kreutzer Sonata: Banned in Russia

After a period of time of writing social commentaries, Leo Tolstoy returned to writing fiction. He was captivated by Beethoven's Kreutzer S onata and asked Repin, a leading realist painter, and Andreyev-Burlak, an actor, to interpret the musical piece through their own art forms. Tolstoy decided he would write a story based on the sonata. Then the actor would read the story aloud in front of a painting created by Repin. Unfortunately, Andreyev-Burlak died, and Repin forgot his promise to paint the picture. Tolstoy carried out the project alone.

When the story was completed, the Russian government's official censor condemned it for "immorality," and would not allow it to be published. Tolstoy was outraged. Tolstoy's wife, Sonya, was also disturbed by the story. She saw too many parallels between herself and the victim in the story. She retaliated by writing her own novel, Who Is To Blame?, which is her version of the story.

Whether she agreed with the story or not, Sonya disliked the fact that the government had banned Tolstoy's work, and she appealed directly to the Czar to have the prohibition removed. The Kreutzer Sonata was eventually allowed to be published as part of Tolstoy's Complete Works .

Delivered from the Evils of Ownership

Tolstoy decided that in order to live according to his own teachings, he would have to get rid of all the property in his name. He wanted to give his property to the peasants, but his wife, Sonya, and his older sons opposed this idea. As a compromise, Tolstoy let his wife and children divide all his worldly goods. He also decreed that anyone would have the right to publish, without payment to him, all the works he had written since his spiritual "rebirth" in 1881. Sonya was outraged by his decision. She argued that the only people to benefit would be the publishers, not the poor and needy.

Despite the fact that he was now free of the "evils" of owning property, very little changed in Tolstoy's life. His fame continued to grow; he lived in the same large house; he sat at the same place at the same table and was served by the same bowing attendants. Life continued to be comfortable for Tolstoy and his family.

Speaking Against the Government

In the middle of the summer of 1891, the central and southwestern provinces of Russia were ravaged by an unusually long drought that caused a famine over the land. Tolstoy was asked to help in the relief effort, but instead of helping, he criticized those who offered assistance, saying that their reasons for helping were conceit, vanity, and fear. "A good deed does not consist in giving bread to feed the famished, but in loving the famished as much as the overfed," he said.

As reports continued about the severity of the famine, Tolstoy decided to travel to the affected regions to see for himself. Accompanied by his daughters, Tatyana and Masha, Tolstoy found himself not only helping but organizing the relief effort. Tolstoy wrote articles attacking his government's failure to respond to the famine. Food began arriving from Europe and America, much to the Russian government's embarrassment. Russia took the official position of claiming that there was no famine, only a "poor harvest."

Tolstoy's every move was watched by government spies. But with the international press on his side, he continued to speak out. His cousin, Alexandra, begged the Czar to stop the order to imprison Tolstoy in a monastery. The Emperor told his minister to not touch Tolstoy for it could make "a martyr out of him and provoke a general uprising."

Life Goes On

The death of six-year-old Ivan, one of Leo and Sonya Tolstoy's thirteen children, brought a deep and profound grief to his entire family. Tolstoy found consolation in his faith, but his daughters and wife were devastated. Sonya felt numbed by the experience.

For Tolstoy, life went on. He worked in the fields, played tennis, and rode his bicycle. He began work on Hadji Murad and Resurrection, which was to be his final novel. He also met with all kinds of visitors, ranging from distinguished scholars to followers who came to learn about his teachings. Occasionally, aspiring writers such as Anton Chekhov came to visit.

Ill in Body and Spirit

Leo Tolstoy was officially expelled from the Orthodox church and called a "false prophet" after the publication of his novel, Resurrection. Ill in body and perhaps also in spirit, Tolstoy agreed to go to the Crimea on the northern coast of the Black Sea to recover in the warmer climate. While staying in the Crimea, he came into contact with the Russian writers Maxim Gorky and Anton Chekhov.

His work continued on Hadji Murad, a short novel that lacked the religious themes of his previous work. He completed Hadji Murad four years later, but it was banned in Russia and Tolstoy never saw it in print.

Intellectuals Do More Harm than Good

As socialism began to take hold in Russia, workers revolted and chanted revolutionary slogans against the government of the emperor Nicholas II. The Russo-Japanese war was taking Russian lives, and there was widespread unrest among the people. Riots broke out in Moscow.

Tolstoy spoke out against the use of force on both sides but was pressured by the socialists to take sides. Intellectuals, Tolstoy said, have "brought a hundred times more harm than good to people's lives."

The Jubilee of Tolstoy's 80th Birthday

As Leo Tolstoy's eightieth birthday approached, his admirers began to organize a major celebration a Jubilee. A committee was formed in St. Petersburg to plan a party that would honor Russia's greatest author, and contributions for the Jubilee came from as far away as England.

Plans for the celebration created excitement among Tolstoy enthusiasts and the press, but his enemies in the government and the church did not want to see him in the spotlight. Tolstoy himself opposed the idea for a celebration and pleaded with a friend on the planning committee to put a stop to the celebration. He wrote to one follower that rather than attend the event, he would prefer to go to "a good, proper prison that stinks, where people suffer from cold and hunger."

Despite Tolstoy's protests and poor health, plans for the Jubilee had progressed too far to cancel the event. On August 28, 1908, visitors began arriving early in the morning at the Tolstoy family estate, Yasnaya Polyana. The local post office was swamped with letters, telegrams, and packages from all over the world. Writers such as Thomas Hardy, H.G. Wells, and George Bernard Shaw sent messages of congratulations.

Tolstoy, who was ill, appeared in a wheelchair. Despite his earlier complaints, he could not help but feel deeply touched by the outpouring of affection and appreciation.

To Seek

Leo Tolstoy's relationship with his wife, Sonya, deteriorated after the death of their youngest son, Ivan, in 1896. When Tolstoy returned to the family estate in Yasnaya Polyana after his trip to the Crimea, Sonya grew jealous of his relationship with his followers and, in particular, with Vladimir Chertkov. The family feared that Tolstoy would name Chertkov as the main beneficiary in his will. Tolstoy also developed a following in other countries. Tolstoy wrote a letter to the young Mahatma Gandhi, who was then a lawyer living in South Africa, explaining to Gandhi his principle of non-violence.

Peace seemed harder to maintain on the home front, with frequent flare-ups between Tolstoy and his wife. Eventually, Tolstoy decided to leave Yasnaya Polyana. He made preparations to journey to his sister Marya's house. After reaching Marya's, he sent a telegram to his daughter, Alexandra. She immediately followed after him. Tolstoy died seven days later after collapsing at a train stop at Astapovo. His last words to his daughter were, "To seek, always to seek."

Tolstoy was buried in the woods at the spot where, as children, he and his brother, Nikolay, searched for the mysterious carved green stick that would bring happiness to all people.

Samara

At a time when Leo Tolstoy was concerned that he would fall victim to tuberculosis, he went to Samara, a province on the banks of the Volga River, where he received treatments to strengthen his lungs. He later bought a large farm there, which he visited regularly.

During a visit to Samara, Tolstoy and his family found themselves in the midst of a horrible famine. Tolstoy succeeded in raising a substantial amount of money for the famine relief effort when he wrote an article for the Moscow press, appealing for aid.

Kazan

Kazan, an inland port on the Volga River, is an ethnically diverse city known for its rich history. For years, the Muslim Tartars waged battles with the Orthodox Russians for control of beautiful Kazan. These fierce battles yielded many heroes, legends, and monuments for both the Muslim Tartars and the Orthodox Russians. Because of its eclectic history, two languages Russian and Arabic are spoken in Kazan.

Tolstoy lived in Kazan from 1841\endash 1847. He was brought there after the death of his father to live with his Aunt Pelageya. As a member of an aristocratic family, he was soon swept up into the city's active social life.

Tolstoy studied European languages and the basics of the Arabic language at the Kazan University, where he later switched to law. He also wrestled with metaphysics and began to study the writings of the French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who greatly influenced his thinking. Determined to study philosophy and other subjects on his own, Tolstoy dropped out of the university in 1847, left Kazan, and returned to the family home at Yasnaya Polyana.

Moscow

As a child, Leo Tolstoy was wrenched away from his beloved Yasnaya Polyana to learn from tutors in Moscow, many of whom he despised. Later, as a young man, he would travel to Moscow, 130 miles north of his estate, to meet young women, gamble, go to parties with friends, and contact publishers. When he tired of his fast-paced life in Moscow, he would return to the solitude of Yasnaya Polyana.

After their children were born, Leo's wife, Sonya, insisted that Leo move the family to Moscow so that their children could receive an education. With great reluctance, Leo agreed to move; by this time, he despised Moscow and all its temptations. In his diary, he described the city as only "stench, stone, opulence, poverty, debauchery."

The Crimea

The Crimean peninsula, which extends into the Black Sea, was the scene of a bloody conflict between Russia and Turkey. The Crimean War, which also involved Turkey's allies, Britain and France, awakened Leo Tolstoy to the horrors of armed conflict and the need to find peaceful approaches to resolving conflicts between nations.

Tolstoy wrote a series of magazine stories about his war experiences while serving as an artillery soldier in the defense of Sevastopol, a port city in the Crimea. His first story, "Sevastopol in December," was patriotic in tone, but his later sequel, "Sevastopol in May," was censored by the government for its anti-war sentiments. Eventually, the two stories appeared together as Sevastopol Sketches.

Tolstoy returned to the Crimea later in life for health reasons, meeting up a number of times with Maxim Gorky and Anton Chekhov, two of Russia's up-and-coming writers.

St. Petersburg

Before Tolstoy had gained public recognition, he once attended the University of St. Petersburg and planned to enter the civil service. At first he was attracted by the stately avenues and palaces. He was impressed with the fact that everyone had a job and seemed to know just where they were going.

Later, when he visited the capital as an army courier, he learned to dislike St. Petersburg for its intellectuals and their lack of "true conviction." He felt uncomfortable around his fellow writers there.

Paris

In February, 1887, Tolstoy traveled to Paris with his friend Ivan Turgenev and his publisher, Nikolay Nekrasov. Tolstoy, who spoke fluent French, enjoyed the liveliness of the Parisian cafes and attended nightly concerts, lectures, and plays. By day, Tolstoy visited the museums, galleries, and cathedrals of Paris.

With a group of Russian friends, Tolstoy visited the tomb of Napoleon I. While there, he expressed his great hatred for the Emperor who had invaded Russia. He left the tomb in a fury when he saw that "Moscow" was inscribed on the walls as one of Napoleon's conquests. Later, in his book War and Peace, Tolstoy wrote of the horrible effects of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. In this novel, Tolstoy celebrates Russia's ultimate triumph over the French.

Tolstoy also developed a hatred for the death penalty during his visit to Paris. Out of curiosity, he attended the public execution by guillotine of a man who had been convicted of robbery and murder. The condemned man kissed the Bible right before the moment of death. The scene made a deep and lasting impression on Tolstoy, who wrote in his book A Confession that no theory of the established order could ever justify the horror of what he had witnessed.

Tula

Leo Tolstoy lived his early childhood at the rural estate of Yasnaya Polyana (which means Bright or Clear Glade) in Tula Province, 130 miles south of Moscow. Surrounded by quiet fields and forests, he was absorbed by the wonders of nature in a boyhood paradise. He enjoyed riding the horses, feeding the farm animals, playing outdoor games, and swimming in the nearby Voronka River. Tolstoy's father took his family out of this happy setting to move to Moscow where the children could be better educated.

Later in his life, after his first year at Kazan University, Leo Tolstoy returned to the family estate at Yasnaya Polyana. Tolstoy enjoyed his homecoming and found himself wondering how he and his house in the country "managed to live so long without each other." He found that his own rural setting fit in perfectly with the teachings of French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, that only in solitude could a man learn wisdom. In 1861, he opened his own school at Yasnaya Polyana.

Yasnaya Polyana was a pastoral backdrop for Tolstoy's intense creativity, and the place where he and his wife, Sonya, raised their family.

Tolstoy left Yasnaya Polyana in 1910, hoping to find refuge in a monastery and to be near his sister, Marya. His daughter Alexandra followed him on the train to bring him back home. But Tolstoy died on the journey. After his death in 1910, Alexandra carried out her father's wish to give Yasnaya Polyana to the peasants.

Ilya Yefimovich Repin

In 1889, Leo Tolstoy proposed a three-way project between an artist, writer, and actor. He asked the leading Russian realist painter of the nineteenth century, Ilya Yefimovich Repin (1844, to paint his interpretation of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. Tolstoy would write the story, and an actor would read it aloud in front of Repin's painting. Unfortunately, the actor died, and Repin forgot his promise to paint the picture. Tolstoy carried out his part of the project alone, resulting in the novella, The Kreutzer Sonata.

Repin belonged to the group of artists known as the Wanderers, realistic painters committed to creating art that confronted social issues. These artists organized their own traveling exhibitions. The Volga Boatmen was Repin's first major work. It presented peasants harnessed like oxen, symbolizing oppression.

Repin achieved widespread acclaim for his colorful historical canvases and large-scale genre paintings, many of which conveyed political messages. His well-known painting, They Did Not Expect Him, depicts a political exile's homecoming. Repin was also a well-regarded portrait painter. As a favor, Repin painted Tolstoy's portrait on a number of occasions. The painter visited Tolstoy frequently both at his home in Moscow and at the Tolstoy family estate in Yasnaya Polyana.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

After reading Leo Tolstoy's novella, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote, "I am convinced that the greatest author-painter that ever lived is Leo Tolstoy."

Tchaikovsky developed a tremendous admiration for the writer and wrote in his diary that he was frightened and self-conscious when he found himself face to face with him. "It seemed to me that none of the filth that lies hidden in the heart of man could be kept secret from this great authority."

When Tchaikovsky and the great pianist Nikolay Rubenstein arranged a private recital at the Moscow Conservatoire in Tolstoy's honor in 1886, Tchaikovsky was deeply flattered to see Tolstoy shedding tears during his performance.

Michael Alexander Stakhovich Michael Alexander Stakhovich, a land owner and actor, was a close friend of Leo Tolstoy's. Once, during a visit with Tolstoy at the family estate at Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy asked Stakhovich for a favor. He had just written a play called The Power of Darkness about a peasant family, and wanted Stakhovich to read it aloud to the peasants. Stakhovich completed the performance, but, to Tolstoy's dismay, the peasants did not understand a word of it.

Stakhovich also read the play to Czar Alexander III and his court. Alexander was impressed and declared the play a marvelous thing.

Later, Stakhovich helped organize Tolstoy's Jubilee, an event to celebrate Tolstoy's eightieth birthday. Tolstoy hated anniversaries of every kind and pleaded with his friend to stop the event, but due to widespread enthusiasm in the press and among Tolstoy's admirers, the celebration went on as planned.

William Jennings Bryan

William Jennings Bryan, who shared Leo Tolstoy's commitment to peace, was influential in American politics as a journalist, U.S. Congressman, three-time Democratic presidential nominee, and U. S. Secretary of State. Failing in a bid for a U.S. Senate seat in 1894, he returned to newspapers and became editor of the Omaha World-Herald.

Bryan visited Tolstoy at the Tolstoy family estate Yasnaya Polyana on Tolstoy's eightieth birthday. Tolstoy wrote him a letter wishing the "great Commoner" success in his bid for the presidency. Bryan did not win, but he did continue his efforts toward peace.