"The Unexpected End of the Literary Giant Tolstoy" His wife revealed his past affairs with women, their relationship deteriorated, and he ran away from home at the age of 82
A)
1)
Tolstoy is known as one of the great writers and thinkers of Imperial Russia.
Many have probably heard of his most famous works, "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina".
Tolstoy pursued the ideals of nonviolence and humannonviolencethroughout his life, and his ideas significantly impacted literature, politics, and society.
He was born into a noble family and showed exceptional talent, but his life ended unexpectedly.
B)
2)
Born into an aristocratic family
Tolstoy was born on 9 September 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana, a town in the Tula region of Russia.
His family, both on his father's and mother's side, were of the highest rank, having served the Emperor for generations, and his mother belonged to the Volkonsky family, the highest-ranking aristocracy.
The highest ranking aristocrats. His grandfather was commander-in-chief of Catherine the Great's army, and Tolstoy came from this noble lineage.
3)
However, he lost his mother and then his father at a young age, leading to a lonely childhood. Nevertheless, he grew up in a materially privileged environment, thanks to the vast land he inherited and the many serfs he owned.
Tolstoy enrolled at Kazan University as a young man but dropped out due to poor academic performance.
After socialising and having fun, he volunteered for military service in the Caucasus in 1851. This experience would later influence his fiction.
4)
In the 1850s, he began writing novels and demonstrated his talent.
Works such as Childhood and War and Peace brought Tolstoy worldwide fame and wealth.
Surprisingly, however, Tolstoy only spent a limited amount of time writing novels during his 80-plus years.
5)
Apart from the 1860s, when he wrote War and Peace, and the 1870s when he completed Anna Karenina, he spent his time on education, rural reform, and religious and philosophical pursuits.
In this sense, he was a great thinker rather than a professional writer.
C)
6)
AMarriedlife difficult for ordinary people to understand
1862, at age 34, Tolstoy married Sophia Bers, 16 years his junior. He had known her for many years, and the marriage promised a happy future. However, their rift grew more profound, and their lives became constant discord.
Tolstoy's idea was this.
" As a married couple, we shouldn't keep secrets from each other.
7)
This seemed reasonable initially, but based on this belief, he encouraged Sophia to read the diary he had kept for 15 years.
What the 18-year-old newlywed Sophia saw was shocking.
The diary detailed his promiscuous sex life,
including frequent visits to prostitutes, sleeping with nomadic women and seducing peasant serfs, among countless other affairs.
8)
Sophia was profoundly shocked and tearfully accused Tolstoy of making her read such a horrible thing.
This incident caused a deep rift between the couple, and Tolstoy's ideal marriage began to crumble.
D)
9)
They ran away from home at the age of 82
Despite their marital discord, Tolstoy was prolific, fathering 13 children with Sophia.
10)
However, he also had mixed feelings about the large family he had created: Tolstoy saw the family as an obstacle to his ideals of political and social reform and even an abhorrent entity.
At times, Tolstoy declared that he would give up all his wealth, tried to set up a charity to help people experiencing poverty, and even threatened to give up his title of Count.
E)
11)
Even between spouses, unilateral assertions and statements continue, such as "From now on, I want to sleep in separate bedrooms and live like siblings".
These unexpected comments and actions often overwhelmed Sophia, who was trying to maintain a practical family life and placed a significant strain on her.
In this situation, Tolstoy's diary entries became increasingly critical of Sophia. He broke the rule he had set regarding the publication of his diary and began hiding it from her.
F)
12)
Meanwhile, Tolstoy began digging through Sophia's diaries to see if they had any hidden secrets, and their relationship became increasingly strained.
After living this conflicted life for over thirty years, Tolstoy suddenly left home at 82.
One early winter morning, he packed his belongings into a sack, got into a carriage and left home.
G)
13)
To die without ever understanding the people closest to you.
After running away from home, Tolstoy went to his sister's convent.
But when he tried to board the train, it was complete, and he had to stand on the deck, exposed to the cold wind.
The harsh Russian winter cold relentlessly attacked his old body, and he was forced to give up on going to his sister's house.
14)
He boarded another train, but his cold became so severe that it became pneumonia. En route, he collapsed at a small station and was taken to the stationmaster's house, where he died.
The news that the great writer Tolstoy had fallen quickly spread worldwide, and many people tried to visit him.
As a result, the gendarmerie, wary of fomenting revolution, placed the area under heavy security.
15)
His wife Sophia arrived on a special train, but Tolstoy refused to see her.
Sophia was forced to wait on the train, and by the time she was allowed to see him, Tolstoy was in a coma.
Tolstoy's last words before he lost consciousness were:
"The truth... I love the truth. Let's go somewhere where no one will bother us...".
16)
Although he could never understand his closest family members, as his last words suggest, Tolstoy may have ascended to heaven in pursuit of his ideals of nnonviolenceand the truth of humanitarianism.
"The Unexpected End of the Literary Giant Tolstoy" His wife revealed his past affairs with women, their relationship deteriorated, and he ran away from home at the age of 82
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