Video: The disgraced Countess: Why the name of Leo Tolstoy's daughter was banned at home
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
It is not worth talking about the role of Leo Tolstoy in the history of literature once again - his works still do not lose their relevance throughout the world. Much less fans of his work know about the fate of his heirs, and the name of his youngest daughter was completely forgotten in his homeland for many years. Alexandra Lvovna Tolstaya went down in history not only as the daughter of the great writer, but also as the creator of the Tolstoy Foundation and curator of the museum-estate of her father. For what she was sentenced to 3 years in prison, and why in the USSR it was forbidden to mention her name even during museum excursions - further in the review.
Alexandra Lvovna was the 12th child of Leo Tolstoy. Already by her birth, she changed the life of the family: on June 18, 1884, the writer was going to leave Yasnaya Polyana forever, but he was stopped by the birth of his wife. The girl's talent was the first to be noticed by her godmother, the cousin of the writer Alexandra Andreevna, after whom the youngest daughter was named. When she was 3 years old, the godmother wrote to Tolstoy: "".
Alexandra's mother, Sofya Andreevna, did not indulge the girl with attention and affection. After her birth, she confessed: "". The lack of parental tenderness and care was compensated by increased attention to her education - the best governesses and teachers were hired for Alexandra. She spoke English, German and French, studied drawing, music and dance, rode horseback and skated.
As a child, Alexandra did not receive attention from her father either. Her rapprochement with him began at the age of 15, when Alexandra began to rewrite his manuscripts and helped to correspond with correspondents. Later she said: "". At the age of 16, she actually became the personal secretary of the writer, and in the last decade of his life she was especially close to him, becoming not only his chargé d'affaires, but also a faithful assistant and like-minded person. She created an outpatient clinic in Yasnaya Polyana, where she treated peasants, and also taught at a local school. Leo Tolstoy did not hide that the youngest daughter was his favorite, and in one of his letters he admitted: "". According to the writer's will, Alexandra became the steward of his literary heritage.
When Lev Tolstoy made the decision to leave Yasnaya Polyana, Alexandra was the only family member dedicated to his plans and fully supported her father. On the night of October 27-28, 1910, she accompanied him, and after 10 days she joined him and remained with him until the last days. With his departure, the happiest and most carefree period of her life ended. Alexandra wrote: "". After the writer's death, she prepared a three-volume edition of Leo Tolstoy's Posthumous Works of Art.
With the outbreak of the First World War, Alexandra Tolstaya graduated from a short course for sisters of mercy and volunteered for the front. She explained her decision as follows: "". In 1915, Alexandra, as part of the Red Cross detachment, fought the typhus epidemic in the Russian army, created a mobile hospital, and organized canteen schools for refugee children. In late 1916, Tolstaya was hospitalized after being poisoned during a German gas attack. A year later, she returned to Moscow with the rank of colonel, with two St. George medals.
For the first time, Alexandra Tolstaya was arrested in the summer of 1919.- the reason was that her address was found in the records of one of the counter-revolutionaries. Then she was released the day after her arrest and apologized. In the spring of 1920, the writer's daughter was arrested again and charged with counter-revolutionary activities. And although there was no evidence of her guilt, she was sentenced to 3 years in prison in the camp of the Novospassky monastery.
Desperate, Tolstaya wrote from there to Lenin himself: "". After 8 months, Tolstaya was released under an amnesty.
After the nationalization of Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstaya was appointed curator of the estate museum. In addition, she continued to work on the publication of her father's creative legacy. Alexandra Lvovna opened a school in Yasnaya Polyana, but she was not able to teach there according to the Tolstoy program due to the intensified anti-religious propaganda. Meanwhile, Soviet newspapers were publishing articles about the countess who had "entrenched" in Yasnaya Polyana. In one of the letters she confessed: "".
Having never found her place in the Soviet state, Alexandra Tolstaya decided to emigrate. In 1929 she went to Japan, then to the USA, and never returned to her homeland. For 48 years spent in America, the writer's daughter did not stop promoting his ideas, lectured and wrote articles about Tolstoy, published several books: "Tolstoy's Tragedy", "My Life with Father", "My Life in the Land of Soviets", " Father. The Life of Leo Tolstoy ". This activity did not bring income, and the Countess settled on a farm, where she raised chickens, milked cows and even learned to drive a tractor.
Her emigre everyday life was very difficult, about which she wrote to her sister: "". Tolstoy's personal life did not work out. She never got married or had children. According to her, "".
In 1939, Alexandra Lvovna founded a charitable organization, the Tolstoy Foundation, to help emigrants from Russia in difficult situations. Under her leadership, an orphanage, a hospital, a nursing home, a church, and a library were built. Meanwhile, at home, her name was banned - there the writer's daughter was accused of links with the CIA, espionage and treason. The Tolstoy Foundation was called the "robber's nest." Her photographs were removed from all museum expositions; she was not mentioned in publications about Tolstoy.
The situation changed only in the late 1970s. - then Alexandra Lvovna was first invited to Moscow to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the writer's birth. But Tolstaya was already bedridden after a heart attack and could not come. And a year later, in September 1979, she was gone. Once she uttered the words that became her life credo: "". Unfortunately, compatriots were able to assess her contribution to the development of Russian culture only after her death …
Of all the writer's children, only 8 survived to adulthood: How did the fate of the heirs of Leo Tolstoy.
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