(1828 ~ 19 10) Russian writer. 1828 was born in Jasna Ya Pogliana, Wenxian County, Clapiz City, Tula Province (now Xiaojin District, Tula Province). Tolstoy's family is an aristocratic family, whose lineage can be traced back to16th century. The distant ancestor was knighted from Peter I, and his father Count ilych participated in the 18 12 Great Patriotic War and retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Mother Maria nikolayev is the daughter of Duke Xie Ni Volkonski. Tolstoy lost his mother at the age of one and a half and his father at the age of nine. 184 1 year, after the death of his guardian aunt A.I. Osjian-Saken, he was transferred to the custody of his aunt Pi.I. Yushko who lived in Kazan. So his family moved to Kazan.

Life description

Tolstoy received a typical aristocratic family education from an early age. 1844 He was admitted to the Oriental Department of Kazan University, studied Turkish and Arabic, and prepared to be a diplomat. I failed the final exam and transferred to the law department the next year. He didn't concentrate on his studies and was addicted to social life. At the same time, he became interested in philosophy, especially moral philosophy, loved Rousseau's theory and his personality, and widely read literary works. In college, he has noticed the superiority of his classmates from civilian backgrounds. Dropped out of school in April, 1847, and returned to Jasna and Polynesia. This is his mother's dowry industry, which belonged to him when his brother analyzed the property. He spent most of his long life here.

After returning to the manor, he tried to improve the lives of farmers, but he stopped because he could not get the trust of farmers. (The result was satirized by Nicholas Nikolai Gogol and written as "Dead Soul". )1In April of 849, I went to Petersburg to take the LLB exam, and suddenly went home after only two courses. It was in the autumn of 1998 that a school was established for the children of farmers. 1 1 nominally worked in Tula provincial administrative bureau, and the following year 12 was promoted to the 14th grade civil servant, but actually he wandered between relatives and friends and the upper class in Moscow. However, he is getting tired of this kind of life and environment. At the end of April, 185 1 went to the Caucasus with his eldest brother Nikolai, who was in military service, to take part in the battle against the mountain people as a volunteer, and then served in the Caucasus army as a "fourth-class artillery corporal" for two and a half years. Although he performed well, he was promoted to warrant officer only with the support of his relatives. /kloc-0 joined the danube army in March, 854. After the Crimean War began, he voluntarily moved to Sevastopol, served as the artillery company commander in the most dangerous fortress No.4, and participated in the last defensive war in the city. In all kinds of battles, seeing the heroism and excellent quality of officers and men from civilian background strengthened his sympathy for ordinary people and his critical attitude towards serfdom.

Creation and works

Tolstoy began to write when he was in the Caucasus, and published novels such as Childhood, Teenager and The Story of Sevastopol in Modern People magazine. 1855165438+1October, he came to Petersburg from Sevastopol. As a famous new writer, he was welcomed by Turgenev and Necrasov, and gradually got to know writers and critics such as Goncharov, Fett, ostrovsky, Drujinin, Annenkov and Botequim. Here, he is regarded as an eccentric because he is unsophisticated and bohemian, and his dislike of Homer and Shakespeare surprises everyone. Before long, he got to know Chernyshevski, but he didn't agree with the latter's literary views. At that time, Drew Ning Ji and others advocated the so-called "beautiful art" for art's sake and opposed the so-called "teaching art", which was actually the exposed literature advocated by the revolutionary Democrats. Tolstoy was inclined to the views of Druzinin and others, but he thought that any art could not be divorced from social life. By 1859, he broke up with Modern People magazine.

/kloc-retired with the rank of lieutenant at the end of 0/856. At the beginning of the following year, I went to France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. France's "social freedom" won his admiration, and seeing the guillotine execute the death penalty in Paris made him deeply disgusted. Seeing the selfishness and ruthlessness of the British bourgeois gentleman in Switzerland also aroused his great indignation. However, this trip abroad broadened his literary and artistic horizons and enhanced his sober understanding of the backwardness of Russian society.

Tolstoy's thought is extremely contradictory to the serfdom reform and revolutionary situation at the turn of 1950s and 1960s. As early as 1856, he drafted a plan to liberate farmers by means of labor rent, and tried it in his own manor, but it was not realized because farmers did not accept it. He sympathized with the peasants and hated serfdom, but thought that according to "historical justice", the land should be owned by the landlord, and he was deeply worried about whether the landlord wanted his life or the land. He disagreed with the ideas of liberals, Slavs and even serf-owners die-hards. He also saw the hypocritical nature of the top-down "reform" carried out by the tsar, but he opposed the revolutionary method of eliminating serfdom and fantasized about finding a way himself. Unable to solve the ideological contradiction, he tried to escape from reality in philosophy and art, but he was soon disappointed. 1860, the death of his eldest brother Nicholas deepened his pessimism. From 1859 to 1862, he almost dropped out of school. He founded more than 20 schools for children of farmers in Jasna, Paulia and nearby rural areas, studied the education system in Russia and Western Europe, and visited schools in Germany, France, Italy, Britain and Belgium from 1860 to 1. Later, he founded an educational magazine, Jasna Ya Pogliana. These activities attracted the attention of the czar government. In addition, in the reform of serfdom, as a peace mediator in this county, he often sympathized with the peasants when mediating disputes between landlords and peasants, which also aroused the hostility of aristocratic serf owners. 1862 When he was out in July, his home was searched by military police for two days. Soon, he closed the school. During this period, the shock in his mind and their views on things were accepted by farmers who had frequent contact, which became the opportunity and beginning of his world outlook change.

From the summer solstice of 1856 to the winter solstice of 1857, Tolstoy once fell in love with Eva Chanier next door, and then made a lot of efforts for marriage, but all failed. 1in September, 862, he married Sophia andreyev, daughter of Ann Ye Bells, who was a physician and a civil servant with eight qualities. When his wife was alive, she not only took care of the housework and industry for him, but also copied manuscripts for him, such as War and Peace. However, she failed to get rid of secular prejudice, considered the interests of family and children too much, and could not understand Tolstoy's thought after the drastic change of world outlook. The discord between husband and wife leads to family tragedy.

After the wedding, the revolutionary situation gradually turned into a low tide, and he gradually overcame the ideological crisis. He divorced from social life, settled in the manor, bought real estate and lived a simple, quiet, harmonious and happy life. From 65438 to 0863, he wrote his masterpiece War and Peace in six years. The most important event during this period was that he attended the military court in 1866 to defend private Spening. Spinning was slapped by an officer because he couldn't bear to be abused. Although Tolstoy escaped, he was shot in the end. This incident formed his opinion against the court and the death penalty.

Tolstoy's inner peace and harmony did not last long. 1In September, 869, I passed by Al Zamasu on business, and suddenly felt an unprecedented sadness and horror in the hotel late at night. This is the so-called "terror of Zamasu". Before and after this, he talked about his gloomy mood of waiting for death recently in a letter to a friend. From the autumn of 1868 to the summer of 1869, he became interested in Schopenhauer's philosophy and was once influenced. Since the early 1970s, "the destruction of all the' old foundations' in Russian countryside" has intensified, and the rise of social movements such as "depopulation" has led him to start a new ideological crisis and a new exploration period. He was nervous, doubted the purpose and significance of his existence, and was deeply distressed by the "terrible position" of his aristocratic parasitic life, and didn't know what to do. He studied all kinds of philosophical and religious books, but he couldn't find the answer. In order to get rid of it, he even hid the rope without a shotgun for fear of suicide. These thoughts and feelings were clearly reflected in Anna karenin. After that, he visited priests, bishops, monks and hermits, and got to know Kang Xiutayev, a farmer and independent. Finally, he completely denied the official church and accepted the belief of patriarchal farmers. Finally, under the strong influence of the new revolutionary situation and the great national famine at the turn of 1970s and 1980s, he abandoned his class, completed the transformation of the world outlook brewed in 1960s and turned to the position of patriarchal peasants. What is my belief in confessions (Rousseau's book) (1879 ~ 1880)? (1882 ~ 1884) and other papers, he extensively expounded the process of his ideological transformation, strongly denied the life of the wealthy and educated class and its foundation-private ownership of land, and lashed out at the state and the church. However, he opposed violent revolution, advocated Christian fraternity and self-cultivation, and sought ways to solve social contradictions from religion and ethics. This is because he not only reflects the peasants' hatred and anger towards the ruling class, but also accepts the idea that peasants can't fight violence with violence because of their political immaturity. Lenin analyzed this amazing contradiction and said: "As a prophet who invented new technology to save the world, Tolstoy is ridiculous ... As a manifestation of the thoughts and feelings of millions of Russian farmers when the Russian bourgeois revolution is coming, Tolstoy is great. Tolstoy is original, because all his viewpoints, on the whole, only show the characteristics of China Revolution as a peasant bourgeois revolution. From this perspective, the contradiction in Tolstoy's viewpoint is indeed a mirror that reflects various contradictions in the historical activities of farmers in our revolution. "

From then on, Tolstoy hated himself and the aristocratic life around him, engaged in manual labor from time to time, farmed and sewed shoes by himself, built houses for farmers, refused luxury and became a vegetarian. He also changed his view of literature and art, denouncing his past works of art, including War and Peace, as a "master's game". Of course, Dostoevsky also said so. He also shifted his creative focus to papers and political opinions, directly publicized his social, philosophical and religious views, and exposed the evils of landlord and bourgeois society. The scripts, short stories and folk stories written at that time were also for this purpose. He also engaged in a wide range of social activities: 188 1 year, because his children were studying, his family moved to Moscow, he visited slums, participated in the 1882 Moscow population survey, and got a deeper understanding of the life of the lower classes in the city; 188 1 year, he wrote to Alexander III, requesting pardon for the revolutionaries who assassinated Alexander II. 1884, his follower and friend F. Cserto-kov founded the "Media" publishing house to publish books close to Tolstoy's theory; 189 1, he wrote to the editorial departments of Russian News and New Times, renouncing the copyright of his works written after 188 1; From 189 1 to 1893 and 1898, we organized rescue activities for the affected farmers in Ryazan and Tula provinces. He also worked hard to protect the Morokan and Du Hobl persecuted by the official church, and decided in 1898 to use all the manuscript fees of Resurrection to help Du Hobl immigrate to Canada.

Since the mid-1990s, Tolstoy has strengthened his critical attitude towards social reality, and he often doubts his thoughts of fraternity and non-resistance. This is reflected in Haze-Miao La and other works. The czar's government had long tried to imprison or exile him because of his article "On Famine", but it stopped because of his prestige and public opinion. At this time, because of the publication of Resurrection, he was accused of opposing God and not believing in the afterlife. 190 1 was excommunicated in the name of Russian Orthodox Church. This decision caused protests all over the world, but Tolstoy took it in stride. In the same year, because the Tsar government suppressed the student movement, he wrote "To the Tsar and His Assistant". The following year, he sent a letter to Nicholas II, demanding people's freedom and abolishing private ownership of land. 1904 writing against the Russo-Japanese War. He sympathized with the revolutionaries and welcomed the revolution, but he did not understand and avoid the 1905 revolution. After the failure of the revolution, he opposed the cruel killing of revolutionaries by the czar government and wrote I Can't Be Silent.

Tolstoy tried to run away from home again and again in 1882 and 1884 after his world outlook changed dramatically. This intention is reflected in his works in the 1980s and 1990s. In the last few years of his life, he realized the awakening of farmers and was pessimistic and disappointed because he was far away from their thoughts and emotions. I feel very uneasy about the lifestyle of the landlord manor that I don't believe in. The dispute between disciple Tolstoy and his wife made him feel more bitter. Finally, he left Jasna Ya Pogliana secretly at191010. He suffered from pneumonia on the way and died in Astabovo Station on the 20th. According to his last words, the body was buried in the forest of Jasna Ya Pogliana. There are no tombstones and crosses on the grave.

Tolstoy's creation can be roughly divided into three periods:

1. Early Works

The early period (185 1 ~ 1862) was his period of exploration, experiment and growth. Ideas and artistic styles are developing and changing, and individual works have traces of imitation. Some keynote and features in his later works have also taken shape.

Tolstoy began to keep a diary as early as 1847, and persisted in his later years. A large number of diaries and letters account for almost half of his literary heritage. Diary is a record of his soul reflection and exploration day and night, and it is also a means to write and study the secrets of people's inner life through his own exercise. Early works like yesterday's story (185 1) were made through diary expansion and artistic processing.

Many of Tolstoy's works are autobiographical, including the first published work, the novella Childhood written in Caucasus (185 1 ~ 1852) and Youth (1852 ~ 1854). This trilogy shows how the protagonist grows up under the influence of the surrounding environment. He is dissatisfied with himself, obsessed with introspection and self-analysis, and pursues moral perfection. The works are permeated with the pastoral sentiment of aristocratic manor life, but they also show a certain democratic tendency, although the writer said in his later years that this was insincere. During the same period, military novels such as Attack (1853), Deforestation (1853 ~ 1855) and The Story of Sevastopol were all written according to the author's personal experience and knowledge. These works overcome the false romantic tendency of war description in Russian literature, show the real scenes of bloodshed and death, describe the simple but tragic true patriotism of ordinary soldiers and officers, and reveal the vanity and posturing of aristocratic officers. Chernyshevski pointed out that two characteristics of Tolstoy's talent: "dialectics of mind" (that is, the process of writing psychology) and the purity of moral emotion were mainly summarized according to the above works.

Judging from the clues of his spiritual exploration and development, the trilogy is followed by A Landlord's Morning (1856), which discusses the way to coordinate the relationship between landlords and farmers by improving the life of farmers under serfdom. This is what he personally observed, so he can "drill into the hearts of farmers" (in Chernyshevski). Family Happiness (1858 ~ 1859) reflects his love relationship with Eva Chanelle, but it also shows his fantasy of escaping from reality and pursuing a "happy little world" in his isolated family. He quickly denied the work. Cossack (1853 ~ 1863, the first half of the original plan, the second half was not written) expresses the writer's initial attempt to leave his own environment and take the road of "popularization". Olenin, the hero, hates the emptiness and hypocrisy of the upper class. He realized that the true meaning of happiness lies in love and self-sacrifice, lived for others, but failed to get rid of aristocratic habits. This fantasy ended in disillusionment. This theme of "running away" appeared in the works of the writer in his later years. In art, "Cossack" began to turn from a detailed description of psychology to an objective and extensive description of the epic picture of real life, in preparation for the creation of "War and Peace".

Other works of this period: Two Hussars (1856) were written by father and son. The author appreciates the warm and heroic chivalrous spirit of his parents, but despises the obscene and selfish utilitarian view of his children. Albert (1857 ~ 1858) and Lucerne (1857) are all about artists. The central idea of the former is the problem of "free creation", and his works claim that "beauty is the only unquestionable happiness in the world", which is the product of the author's obsession with "art for art's sake". Based on the writer's experience in traveling in Switzerland, Lucerne reveals the selfish nature of the bourgeoisie and the hostile nature of capitalism to art, but there has always been a tendency to deny the relative progressive significance of capitalist civilization, and its criticism is based on abstract religious and moral truth, which is the initial expression of Tolstoy's doctrine. The yearning for nature and the idea of returning to nature in this work are fully displayed in Cossack and Three Deaths (1859). The latter two works take nature and the consciousness of people close to nature as the measure of truth. There is Rousseau's influence here.

From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, he began to describe farmers' lives directly, because he was very close to farmers. The unfinished works Pastoral Poetry (1860 ~ 18 1) and Ji Hong and Malania (1860 ~ 1862) excessively beautify the old peasant lifestyle. Polly Kuska (186 1 ~ 1863) expressed the idea that it was impossible to benefit farmers under serfdom, but the "kindness" of the hostess led to Polly's suicide, and her works were full of dark colors. In this work, the author first raised the question that money is evil.