The Presidential Library’s rarities revile a lyric depth and the philosophical might of the writings of Count A. K. Tolstoy

September 5, 2017, marks the 200 years since the birth of Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817-1875), one of the most heartfelt lyrics in poetry and the deep thinkers in historical and dramatic works. The electronic copies of dedicated to Tolstoy books on the Presidential Library website entirely prove it: The history of Russian statehood. Vol. 1. The main features of the ancient Russian state with an epigraph from the poem of A. K. Tolstoy, written by Baron S. A. Korf (1908); Herald of Europe. 1905, Vol. 1 (Book 1, January); Following Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy: in search for truth (2013) by V. D. Zakharova, an electronic copy of the same author's book A. K. Tolstoy: a chronicle of life and creative work, etc.

Basing on these publications, it is possible to create a fairly complete image of such a powerful and integral character as Count Tolstoy was. Born in St. Petersburg and taken away six-week-old baby from the northern capital to Pogoreltsy Village after his parents’ divorce, A. Tolstoy considered Krasny Rog his home.

Krasny Rog in the destiny of Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy was just like Yasnaya Polyana for Leo Tolstoy, Spasskoe-Lutovinovo for Turgenev, the estate near Bryansk Ovstug for Tyutchev. This ancient village in the historical and statistical description of the Chernigov Eparchy was first mentioned around 1694. Krasny Rog belonged once to the hetman Mazepa, in 1750 was given to the younger brother of the favorite of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna Kirill Razumovsky, appointed a hetman. In Krasny Rog Razumovsky arranged a kind of suburban residence, — according to the book by V. D. Zakharova A. K. Tolstoy: a chronicle of life and creative work, the electronic copy of which is presented on the Presidential Library website. According to the local legend, the “castle” was built according to a project of Rastrelli, during the Great Patriotic War it was burned to the ground by fascist invaders and was reinstated again in the early 90s of the last century for allocated by the Russian Cultural Foundation’s money upon the initiative of Academician D. S. Likhachev.

After the death of K. G. Razumovsky, the extensive possessions in the Bryansk Oblast were reassigned to the son of the hetman A. K. Razumovsky. He left the estate to his illegitimate son A. A. Perovsky, known in literature under the pseudonym Antony Pogorelsky (from the name of the neighboring estate Pogoreltsy). And the latter handed down Krasny Rog manor to his gifted nephew Alexei Tolstoy.

Formerly, there was the border of Muscovy and Lithuania here. Now the shallow, quiet little river Rozhok, on which the village stands, once was a deep, proud river, called Rog. There is a legend explaining the name of the village: after one brutal border battle between the Russian squad and Vitovt warriors, the ice on the river became ruby-colored because of the blood… This land from the gray times was Russia's Northwest outpost. The monk Peresvet, who stepped out of the arrayal to challenge the awful enemy in reply to its call on the Battle of Kulikovo, was originally from here. The land that breathes history, where the main events of the “The tale of Igor's campaign” were going on, where Peter I laid the first factories… The territory with such a glorious “biography” could not miss inspiring the writer of such power as Alexei Tolstoy on creation the historical dramas.

Little Alexey loved these places and evoked his happy, not yet overshadowed with anything childhood in a letter written to the Italian translator and biographer A. Gubernatis (dated February 20, 1874): “My distinct inclination with a poetry was influenced by nature, among which I lived; the air and the sight of our large forests, which I passionately loved, made a overwhelming impression on me, leaving an imprint on my character for all my life and left in me up to this day.”(Herald of Europe. 1905, Vol. 1 (Book 1, January)).

And, of course, reading books and first poetry experiments captured him. “From the age of six I began to stain scribble a paper and to write poetry, — he confessed to the same Gubernatis, — so impressed my imagination was with some of our best poets’ works that I found in some poorly printed book of collected works in a dirty brown cover. The appearance of this book crashed into my memory, and my heart would be hammered harder, if I saw it again. I’ve been taking it with me everywhere, hiding in the garden or in the grove, lying under the trees, and studied it for hours. Soon I already knew it by heart, I reveled in the music of various rhythms and tried to learn their technique. My first experiments were, certainly, ridiculous, but metrically they were spotless.”

The earliest maturing of the creative personality as the “sorrowful notes of the heart” accumulated was contributed by the story of his own origin, which his mother and uncle considered to be best revealed to theirs rapidly growing adolescent. “A. K. Tolstoy was destined for an unusual fate, — V. D. Zakharova writes in the book Alexei Tolstoy and the mythmakers. — Born from marriage with no love and separated from his father in infancy, he spent a happy childhood under the care of his mother and uncle A. A. Perovsky, who both loved the child dearly. Childhood in a shady forest estate broke off in 1826. Upon the initiative of V. A. Zhukovsky, the boy was chosen as a playmate for the children's games with the heir to the throne of Alexander II, with whom they were one-year-olds and kept warm relations for their entire lives. For many years A. K. Tolstoy was tied to court. He returned in Krasny Rog only in 1868, along with his wife Sophia Andreyevna, nee Bakhmetieva. The same one with which he met in St. Petersburg “amid a noisy ball, by accident…” Later P. I. Tchaikovsky will write the music to these poems by Count Tolstoy — the romance will become one of the most performed and beloved in Russia.

Sophia Andreyevna became the first reader and critic of her husband's works. She had a deep analytical mind, an encyclopedic reading background, and knowledge of all the main European languages. In June 1869 A. A. Fet, who left detailed memories of this stay, visited in Krasny Rog: “It was difficult to choose between the conversations with Count in his office, where, speaking of the most serious subjects, he was able to suddenly light up the conversation with a surprise “a la” Prutkov, and the salon, where Countess was able to revive her tea table with some subtle remark about the ancient painter or some historical person, or, going to the piano, masterfully playing and singing, to make the listener breathe a better life.”(Fet A. A., “Memoirs.” 1964. Vol. 2. P. 185).

In Krasny Rog, Count wrote his main works: the historical tale of the times of Ivan the Terrible entitled Prince Serebryany, the dramatic trilogy “Death of Ivan the Terrible,” “Tsar Feodor Ioannovich,” “Tsar Boris,” historical ballads, and his best poems. Long-standing solitude in the small cozy Krasny Rog was not a complete lyrical idyll for Alexei Konstantinovich. He knew life well, having constant contacts with Europe, where he often visited, from where at the end of the 1840s revolutionary rumblings began to be heard. He had an accurate vision of everything that was happening around Russia and right there in his native Penates. “Hunger is universal, many people die of famine in many villages… — he wrote in February 1869 to his friend, the writer B. Markevich. — To look at all that what is happening is terrible.”

“Unwashed Russia” was his heartache. At the same time, apart from just empathizing, he also acted: contributed to the release of I. S. Turgenev from exile in Spasskoe-Lutovinovo, helped to return from the Central Asian exile and rescued from the soldiering T. G. Shevchenko. That was A. K. Tolstoy who on the question of Alexander II “What is going on in literature?” replied: “Russian literature mourned over the unjust condemnation of Chernyshevsky.” No wonder that comparing Tolstoy and Tyutchev, a philosopher, a literary critic, a publicist Vl. Solovyov (as he signed his works) wrote in the article “Poetry of the count A. K. Tolstoy,” that, “in contrast to Tyutchev — a poet of exclusively contemplative thought, — Count A. K. Tolstoy was a poet of up in arms thought, a poet-fighter… Our poet fought with a weapon of a free speech for the right of beauty, which is a tangible form of truth, and for the vital rights of the human being.”

The philosopher Solovyov was not the only person who paid tribute to the Bryansk hermit. At different times, B. M. Markevich, A. Fet, Y. Polonsky, the Zhemchuzhnikov brothers visited him in the Krasny Rog estate, along with whom he, as it were for fun, from a boredom, created a literary hoax of all times and peoples: juicy and almost real, a tangible (so alive) satirical character — the writer Kozma Prutkov with his verses full of worldly wisdom and up to this day not disappeared from everyday life with his aphorisms: “Want to be happy — just do it!,” “Keep an eye open!”, “The devil is in the details!”

Much later, the literary critic and that other hoaxer Viktor Shklovsky will say as if on another occasion, but so appropriate to our case: “Common sense is nothing but the sum of the prejudices of the current time.”

As we see, the part of Count A. Tolstoy with the philosophers of the current and subsequent times continues. His creative legacy “works,” sprinkled with the living water of his beloved Krasny Rog, which has become the outpost of the Russian spirit already in modern history.