Lev Tolstoy, one of the most important writers of Russian literature, has left countless works in his long life, and as these works have been translated into different languages, he has revealed that he is one of the most important writers not only in his country but in the world. His life is full of extraordinary details. Let’s take a closer look at interesting information about Tolstoy, some of which you will hear for the first time.
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, also known as Leo Tolstoy, was born in 1828 and lived a very long and active life until he died in 1910. According to experts, the author’s life should be examined from time to time. Because the first youth years of his life passed with bad habits and vagrancy, but after coming to maturity Tolstoy underwent a great change and began to live almost like a dervish.
In fact, if you are an avid Tolstoy reader, you can already see this change with your own eyes. Because the works of the author bear important traces of his life. He became one of the rare writers whose value was known while he was alive, and in the last years of his life, he also managed to influence people spiritually. Interesting information about Tolstoy, some of which you will hear for the first time. let’s take a closer look.
Interesting facts about Tolstoy:
- He talks about childhood traumas in his first novel.
- Tolstoy was a true expert on languages.
- He became a soldier with the force of his brother.
- He had a gambling addiction big enough to lose his legacy.
- The handwriting was unreadable.
- He had a terrible relationship with his wife.
- Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church and established his own belief system.
- He never liked Shakespeare.
- It is said that Tolstoy refused the Nobel Prize for Literature.
- The author had numerous pen pals.
He talks about childhood traumas in his first novel:
The first novel written by Leo Tolstoy was published under the pseudonym LN in the November 1852 issue of The Contemporary. Childhood name is novel. Written by the author at a young age, this work has an autobiographical narrative. Because he lost his mother and then his father at a young age and grew up with his relatives. In this traumatic period he lived, his interest in literature and languages began.
Tolstoy was a true expert on languages:
Tolstoy’s interest in language and literature, which started in his childhood, continued throughout his life. other than mother tongue speaks fluently English, French, German; He could read and write proficiently in Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian, Turkish and Bulgarian. Of course, these are just the known ones, probably because the author was fluent in many more languages, because at the time of his death his library had more than 23,000 works written in 39 different languages.
He became a soldier with the force of his brother:
Tolstoy came from an aristocratic family, and military service was a popular occupation among the Russian nobility at that time. He was drafted into the army in 1854 at the urging of his older brother and started to work in the Caucasus. In the same year he was sent to Ukraine and He found himself in the middle of the Crimean War. He resigned at the age of 27 after serving as a soldier until the end of the war. The master writer never forgot what he went through during his military service and talked about these years at length in his famous novel War and Peace.
He had a gambling addiction big enough to lose his legacy:
Dostoevsky’s notorious real gambling addict was Tolstoy. It is known that he was addicted to alcohol, women and gambling, especially during his military service. He was losing all his military pay in gambling. In a game like it’s not enough He also lost a large estate he inherited from his family. Fortunately, he eventually repented and never picked up a card again.
The handwriting was unreadable:
Tolstoy loved to talk and write. This is the reason why he produced countless works. But the man who wrote so much had a curse, his writing was terrible. Considering that all the works were handwritten at that time, this was a big problem. Fortunately, he had a wife, Sophia. Almost all of the author’s works, including War and Peace, before they are sent to publisher editors It was meticulously written by his wife, Sophia. Who knows, perhaps without Sophia, most of these works would not have been published.
He had a terrible relationship with his wife:
Sophia and Leo Tolstoy were 16 years apart when they married in 1862. But Tolstoy was an extremely attractive man, and there was a passionate love between them. Unfortunately, this spell was broken when the author had his wife read his diary full of sexual perverts. Over the years, Tolstoy’s focus on spiritual matters and his neglect of his family of 13 children has made matters worse.
Tolstoy was excommunicated from the church and established his own belief system:
Tolstoy was a Catholic, but he did not like the Catholic church and wrote and said things that rejected it. at one point The church became uncomfortable with this and excommunicated the famous writer. Tolstoy was not bothered by this situation, he had been dealing with spiritual matters for many years and was developing a belief system of his own. According to this system, he had withdrawn from worldly affairs and praised poverty. He wore shoes made of tree bark. So much so that at one point he decided to reject all the copyrights he received from his novels. Fortunately, his wife intervened and saved his children’s sustenance.
He never liked Shakespeare:
Tolstoy; He liked the works of names such as Laurence Sterne, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Charles Dickens, but His star did not reconcile with Shakespeare, the important name of English literature. He said he could not stand her and even disgusted her with his work. Anton Chekhov has an interesting comment on the subject. According to him, Tolstoy criticized Shakespeare so harshly for fearing his genius.
It is said that Tolstoy refused the Nobel Prize for Literature:
There is no definitive source on this subject, but according to a rumor, the Russian Academy of Sciences contacted the Nobel committee in 1906. He proposed Tolstoy as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The famous writer got very angry at this situation and talked to his friends from the higher authorities. His reaction was so harsh that Tolstoy’s name and Nobel were never mentioned together again.
The author had numerous pen pals:
As Tolstoy’s works began to be translated into different languages, he gradually became a world-renowned author. He read the fan letters from all over the world one by one. He was getting pen pals by answering them. Strangely enough, one of these friends was Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was impressed by the author’s spiritual thoughts. Gandhi even described him as the greatest non-violent apostle of his age.
One of the most important figures of Russian and world literature. Talking about interesting facts about Lev Tolstoy We told the details of the writer’s extraordinary life story. You can share your thoughts about Tolstoy in the comments.