Leo Tolstoy is one the “main Russian writers” along with Dostoevsky and Chekhov. His late works have a peculiar moral edge to them, which turns off some of the potential readers. But nonetheless his novels “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina” are a part of world literature treasury.
Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born in an aristocratic family in the Yasnaya Polyana estate in the Tula Province. His relations with his family members (he had three brothers and a sister) and atmosphere at home are depicted in Tolstoy’s book “Childhood. Boyhood. Youth”.
The future classic of Russian literature got his elementary education at home. Then he studied at the Philosophy Faculty and then Law Faculty in the Kazan University. However, he quit from the university and returned to his family manor.
Leo Tolstoy served the army in the Caucasus, where his creativity blossomed even more. After the defense of Sevastopol he traveled across Europe. Tolstoy opened several schools, where he taught children in his own special methods.
Tolstoy’s greatest works – “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina” were written during that period. Then the writer moved to Moscow and founded his own religious-philosophical system. following this system Tolstoy’s essays and short stories expressed ideas of universal love and aspiration for improvement. His novels Resurrection, and The Kreutzer Sonata carry implications of the kind.
In the evening of his life he developed a close relationship with a young Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was very impressed with Tolstoy’s belief in non-violent resistance, vegetarianism and brand of ‘anarchist Christianity’.
Throughout all his life Leo Tolstoi aspired to help poor people and struggled injustice in various ways. At the end of his life he voluntarily renounced his riches and left his home: however, on the way he caught a cold, fell badly ill and died.
Leo Tolstoy was buried on the edge of a ravine in wood in Yasnaya Polyana on November, 10th (23), 1910. Since 1921 the Yasnaya Polyana Estate has been the Leo Tolstoi Museum.
