The Presidential Library’s materials portray Leo Tolstoy

September 9 marks the 194th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian writer and thinker Leo Tolstoy. Not only in Russia, but throughout the world, many studies have been devoted to his work and philosophical views.

The multifaceted personality of Tolstoy is spotlighted in various materials of the collection Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) on the Presidential Library’s portal, which includes digital copies of the first journal editions of the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, the writer's journalism, his pedagogical articles, correspondence, works of his supporters and opponents, research papers dedicated to his work.

The Biography subsection of the collection includes memoirs and diaries of the writer's relatives and close acquaintances, thanks to which it is possible to find out what he was like in everyday life.

Tolstoy's brother-in-law, Stepan Bers, who spent all his holidays in Yasnaya Polyana from 1866 to 1878, in his Memoirs of Count Leo Tolstoy (1893) said: "His private life is bright and beautiful in all respects".

Starting the story about Leo Tolstoy, Bers cited the testimony of his late aunt Pelageya Yushkova: “...As a child, he was very playful, and as a teenager he was distinguished by strangeness, and sometimes unexpected actions, liveliness of character and a wonderful heart”.

In the upbringing of children, said Stepan Bers, Tolstoy, in accordance with the views of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, considered it necessary to provide them with the greatest possible freedom, the absence of any violence, their acquaintance with nature and the development of love for her in them. Lying was severely punished and could lead to punishment in the form of cold treatment by parents of children for their misdeeds.

In general conversations on any topic, Tolstoy's judgment was always the most interesting; he enlivened the game of croquet, the walk with humor, and at the same time, according to the writer and literary critic Pyotr Sergeenko in the publication How Count Lives and Works. Leo Tolstoy (1898).

Maxim Gorky in his Memoirs of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1919) wrote that many were deceived by Tolstoy’s external democratism, and suddenly “an old Russian gentleman, a magnificent aristocrat” rose from under a peasant’s beard and wrinkled blouse.

Stepan Bers reports other habits of his famous relative. For example, during his work, no one was supposed to enter the room - not even his wife.

Leo Tolstoy never read newspapers, considering them useless, and if they contained false information, then harmful. He also did not like photography, he rarely took pictures and then he always destroyed the negative himself.

The writer did not like neatness in his external life, did not know how and did not try to put his things in order. Bers packed things on the road for him, and when Tolstoy once had to pack his suitcase himself, then, according to Bers, “one can’t deliberately put things in such a terrible mess as they were packed in a suitcase by Leo Nikolayevich”.

Tolstoy was a passionate hunter. For this love, he paid twice - he was almost bullied by a bear and he barely made it home with a seriously injured arm after his horse fell into the ditch.

Tolstoy possessed amazing tact and delicacy, distinguished by gentleness in handling. He never reprimanded the servants, and she "always deeply respected, loved and for some reason was afraid of him".

But the main feature of Leo Tolstoy is love and the desire for truth. All his life he expressed only the truth and therefore often said: “I have no secrets from anyone in the world! Let everyone know what I'm doing!"