Military service of Leo Tolstoy. Nikolai Tolstoy in the A. Belousenko Library
When people talk about L.N. Tolstoy, they immediately remember the wonderful epic works of the Russian classic, such as “War and Peace” or “Anna Karenina”. But Lev Nikolaevich is good in small forms. When he takes on a story or story, his talent does not change him at all. The focus is on “After the Ball.” This article will examine the characteristics of the characters in “After the Ball.”
Plot
The reason for the story is an old story, the eternal question: the environment makes a person or a person creates his environment. There is a conversation between familiar people, and it concerns personal improvement.
The main character, Ivan Vasilyevich, a man respected by everyone in the circle where the conversation is taking place, tells one story from his life, which refutes the fact that a person is shaped by his environment.
It was a long time ago, one of the main provincial officials was throwing a ball in honor of the last day of Maslenitsa. The entire provincial elite came to the ball.
Ivan Vasilyevich was then a university student from the same city. There was nothing to do, and the main entertainment was attending such events. At this ball he saw a girl - Varenka B. and fell madly in love with her. I only danced with her. Varenka was the daughter of Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich, who, together with his wife, honored all those gathered with their presence at the holiday.
Father had to go home. And to say goodbye, he danced with his daughter, so dashingly that everyone was absolutely delighted. Seeing this, young Ivan Vasilyevich was imbued with warm feelings towards the old man. The colonel left, but the young people (Varenka and Vanya) were still dancing. In the morning everyone left. Here the events of the work “After the Ball” calm down. The heroes of the story cannot yet be suspected of anything bad.
The hero couldn’t sleep, and he went wandering around the city. Accidentally, unconsciously, he came to the house of his sweetheart. In the field adjacent to the house there was a line of soldiers. Accompanied by the beating of drums and the sound of a flute, they let the fugitive Tatar pass through the ranks. He was beaten as hard as he could with sticks on his back. His back had already turned into a bloody mess, and he himself only repeated: “Lord, brothers, have mercy.” He said this quietly, because he no longer had enough strength to scream.
The torture was led by the “dear colonel,” who had recently danced with his daughter at a ball. After this event, Ivan Vasilyevich’s love for Varya passed. Every time he looked at her face, he saw the Tatar and his back.
Perhaps the reader is tired of the excessive detail of the plot, but its consideration is absolutely necessary in order to understand which characteristics of the characters in “After the Ball” most suit them.
Ivan Vasilyevich is a man whose conscience has awakened
What happened to Ivan Vasilyevich then? Then, after the ball, his conscience awoke, and he himself woke up from his sleep. So much so that it seems as if he was lashed with a whip, so sudden was the awareness of the baseness of the general, the “light”, which is no different from darkness in a moral sense. So, we can already say that the first characterization of the characters in “After the Ball” is ready: the main character can be defined as a person who has a conscience.
Colonel
Here everything is a little more complicated. It cannot be said that the colonel and his daughter are unscrupulous people. For them, the hierarchy that existed in Russia in the 19th century is simply normal. It is also normal that after the holiday they can warm up or calm their excited nerves by torturing a person. There is nothing out of the ordinary about this.
The reader can rightly say that if you really think about what characteristics of the heroes of “After the Ball” (meaning specifically the colonel), then you only need to blame the old soldier for everything. Oh no, that won't do. The colonel's women are no less to blame for his fanaticism than he himself. After all, they didn’t stop him from doing them.
Varenka
Nothing bad can be said about the daughter of a fanatic, but nothing good can be said about her either. She is a faceless character in the story. Only one memory will remain of her: she was stunningly beautiful, but it is difficult to define her meaningfully if we are talking about revealing the topic “Characteristics of the heroes “After the Ball”.”
Moral issues raised in the work
So, here at the center of the work is the eternal dispute about the confrontation between the individual and society. The author also focuses his attention (and the reader’s attention) on the abomination of human duplicity and double-mindedness.
L.N. Tolstoy in this story even indirectly gives an answer to the question of why, in fact, the Russian revolution happened: because the “tops” allowed themselves to treat the “bottoms” in such a way, and the “bottoms” took revenge. This is the brief moral content of “After the Ball.” In fact, this story may unfold with a fan of other moral problems, but that is a completely different story.
Nikolai Nikolaevich TOLSTOY
(1823-1860)
Nikolai Nikolaevich Tolstoy (1823-1860) - older brother of L.N. Tolstoy.
Of the brothers, Nikolai was more like his mother than others; he inherited from her not only character traits: “indifference to people’s judgments and modesty...” (L.N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 350), tolerance towards others. “The most dramatic expression of a negative attitude towards a person was expressed by his brother with subtle, good-natured humor and the same smile” (L.N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 350).
Like his mother, he had an inexhaustible imagination, the gift of telling extraordinary stories. About Nikolai Nikolaevich I.S. Turgenev said that “he did not have the shortcomings that are needed to be a great writer...” (L.N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 350). It was Nikolai who told his younger brothers “that he has a secret, through which, when it is revealed, all people will become happy, there will be no illnesses, no troubles, no one will be angry with anyone and everyone will love each other...
...The main secret... was, as he told us, written on a green stick, and this stick was buried by the road, on the edge of the Old Order ravine...” (L.N. Tolstoy, vol. 34, p. 386) .
Nikolai Nikolaevich studied at the Faculty of Mathematics of Moscow University, and in 1844 he graduated from Kazan University. In 1846 he entered military service and was enlisted in an artillery brigade going to the Caucasus. In 1858, he retired with the rank of staff captain and spent time in his small house in Moscow and Nikolskoye-Vyazemsky.
In May 1860 he went for treatment to Soden, Germany, then moved to the south of France, to Gier, where he died of tuberculosis on September 20, 1860 at the age of 37 years.
(From the project "Leo Tolstoy")
N.N. Tolstoy - the eldest, beloved, early deceased brother of L.N. Tolstoy. Lev Nikolaevich noted more than once in his diaries and letters that he was greatly influenced by the versatile mind, charming character and literary talent of his older brother-friend. About the literary talent of Nikolai Nikolaevich L.N. Tolstoy responded like this: “...the qualities of a writer that he had were, first of all, a subtle artistic sense, an extreme sense of proportion, good-natured, cheerful humor, an extraordinary, inexhaustible imagination...”.
In 1851-1854. The Tolstoy brothers served together in the Caucasus: Nikolai Nikolaevich - as an artillery officer, Lev Nikolaevich - as a cadet.
In 1857, in Nekrasov’s magazine “Sovremennik” (No. 2), a series of essays by N.N. appeared in first place. Tolstoy "Hunting in the Caucasus". Nekrasov expressed his impressions of the essays in a letter to Turgenev on April 22, 2857: “The task that the author set himself, he completed masterfully and, in addition, discovered himself to be a poet. Poetry is in place here and pops up on its own in passing... the talent for observation and description, in my opinion, is enormous - the figure of the old Cossack is at first slightly touched, but, what is important, not shrunken, the love for nature itself and the bird is visible, and not a description of both . This is a good thing...”
Turgenev also highly praised “Hunting in the Caucasus.”
Essays by N.N. Tolstoy - a colorful description of Caucasian nature and hunting (and partly life and people). The essays are written in a free, easy and figurative language, full of great lyrical feeling.
“Hunting in the Caucasus” is also interesting as a document characterizing the situation and environment in which the Tolstoy brothers lived and moved.
“Hunting in the Caucasus” is not the only work by N.N. Tolstoy. In 1926, a long story by N.N. was published in the magazine “Krasnaya Nov” (No. 5 and No. 7). Tolstoy’s “Plastun”, and in 1927 in the collection “Hunter’s Heart” - “Hunting Notes”.
The story “Plastun” (from the life of the Greben Cossacks) is remarkable for the fact that it was written in the artistic adventure genre, which was almost not typical of Russian literature of that time. It is very plot-driven, entertaining and heroic. “Hunting Notes” in its form is close to the type of Aksakov’s monographs.
(From the project "St. Petersburg Hunter")
Ivan Bunin about Nikolai Tolstoy
After thinking a little, he continued: “And while re-reading “The Cossacks,” I regretted only one thing: that at the same time I could not read “Hunting in the Caucasus” again, which you probably have never heard of. We know you..."
I muttered something incomprehensible, because I guessed what Ivan Alekseevich was talking about, although, in fact, I had never read the essay he named.
“But this is a truly beautiful thing, as if trying to convince me of something,” Bunin exclaimed almost with excitement in his voice. - Could it be otherwise, if its author was such an amazing person as Nikolai Tolstoy. If you get the chance, be sure to read this story, even if you don’t know anything about hunting. When I wrote my book about Tolstoy, I wanted to devote at least a few pages to his brother Nikolai, but I did not have enough materials at hand. After all, Nikolai Tolstoy died long before I was born. My father met him once or twice, and speaking about him, he could hardly hold back tears, but my father was not distinguished by sentimentality. Who remembers Nikolai Tolstoy now? Just read what Turgenev and Fet thought about him, who in their very unpretentious memoirs wrote that “Nikolai Tolstoy was a wonderful person, about whom it is not enough to say that all his acquaintances loved him - they adored him.” Nicholas, in fact, quietly put into practice many of the ideas that his brother developed in his theoretical constructs. And Turgenev argued that Nikolai did not become a writer because he was deprived of the shortcomings that are needed to become one. You, of course, have no idea that Tolstoy cites these Turgenev words somewhere in his diaries and you have no idea how often I think about them...<...>
“Don’t distract me from what I still want to say about The Hunt,” he smiled. - I repeat, try to read it and you will see how amazingly transparent it is written, with such light humor that, by all means, it’s worth “Notes of a Hunter.” Any professional can learn from this amateur. Without further ado, he writes about what he saw, but how poetically all this is conveyed, and his Epishka, of course, is the prototype of the more colorful Uncle Eroshka, to whom Lev Nikolaevich, after all, gave a certain tendentiousness, wanting to portray him as a representative of the natural principle. After all, it was not for nothing that both brothers lived for some time together in the same Grebenskaya village, met the same people - so coincidences are inevitable.
Well done to the editors of Sovremennik, Bunin reassured, for placing the hunting essay of the unknown Nikolai Tolstoy in first place in one of the issues of their magazine. It was not entirely in vain that Nekrasov admitted that “Nikolai Tolstoy’s hand has a stronger command of language than his brother’s” and that “being far from literary circles has its advantages.” What a clever girl Nekrasov is, whom you, of course, don’t like. Where are you? All you have to do is launch a pineapple into the sky! (This was Bunin’s favorite refrain when talking to me).
(From the page)
Works: (sent by David Titievsky)
Collection of essays "Hunting in the Caucasus" - April 2009
Excerpts from the book:
“During the grape harvest, you will certainly find the owner in each garden. All the Kizlyars, as a rule, move into the gardens. In general, they are very hospitable, but at this time, surrounded by an abundance of earthly fruits, when the grape harvest promises good profits, they receive with special cordiality everyone.
It must be said that the owners of the gardens are very happy when they hunt: since abreks hide in the gardens, often for several days, the presence of well-armed people and, in addition, good shooters, in some way, provides the owner of the garden...
One of my friends, a good hunting acquaintance, lived for several years in the Kizlyar gardens, now with one or another owner, who simply tried to entice him to join them, gave him full maintenance, i.e. tea, sugar, table, wine, dog food - in a word, everything he needed just so that he could live and hunt in their gardens."
“In his youth, Mamonov served in Russia as a cadet, - then, for some prank, he was demoted to non-commissioned officer and moved to the Caucasus, where he served for eleven years in the lower ranks. Despite the fact that Mamonov was really very brave and, to Moreover, he was a very kind man, despite the several wounds he received, he did not serve anything and retired the same as he was; that is, “from the nobility.” very easily, and an excellent hunter. “Mamon himself said this,” the hunters said among themselves, “and this often decided disputes. Mamonov’s passion for hunting, over the years, took on incredible proportions: he decisively lived for one hunt, for it he risked his life. , spoiled his service, quarreled with his superiors. Both the soldiers and the superiors loved him in the regiment; but both of them looked at him, it is true, as a truly brave man, but the most careless and useless for service. fought off, even from the Tatars, who were afraid of him and called Sheitan-agach (forest devil). Mamonov walked with his dogs through the most dangerous places alone, met with the mountaineers several times and always happily got rid of them. One day, while hunting, his ear was shot off; But this time he killed two or three people."
The story "Plastun. From the memories of a prisoner" - April 2009
Fragments from the story:
“I have never shot from it; I don’t like guns, I’m used to a bow. But now that everyone has a gun, remember that this is your main weapon, and use it rarely. Don’t shoot far, don’t shoot close. When the enemy close, take out your saber and cut, but remember that when you are on a horse, it is a shame to cut at the horse: try to hit the rider and always cut backhand from left to right, then the enemy will always remain under your right hand; if he is left behind, try hard; turn to the left and shoot while he also turns the horse. In general, whether you are shooting or cutting, never let go of the reins. If you are on foot and the enemy is on horseback, cut the horse; if you hit it, it will throw off the rider, then take out the dagger - this is the last weapon. However, the Cossacks love to meet sheep or cattle rather than Circassians; they go to steal, and not to fight. Just be careful, and in a foreign direction, he is afraid of everything. "You're not afraid of anything during a fight, old people say."
“From a young age, I began to hunt with Atalik, who was a hawk-watcher: he always had 5 or 6 wonderful hawks, hunters, balabans and Kyrgyz. At first I caught larks and various birds, catching them with a hawk, then I began to put springs and kalevs4 and catch pheasants, hares and partridges. I, I think, was no more than 8 years old when I started hunting, and I already spent entire nights sitting alone in the steppe. After that I hunted a lot, killed a lot of wild boars, wild goats, saigas, deer, aurochs, foxes and various animals, but even now I remember with pleasure how I guarded the pheasants then."
This epic of Sevastopol, of which the Russian people were the hero, will leave great traces in Russia for a long time.Tolstoy was a witness and participant in this epic of Sevastopol.
Tolstoy entered military service in the Caucasus when he was visiting his older brother Nikolai, who was an artillery officer in the Caucasian troops. In February 1852, he passed the exam for the rank of cadet and was enlisted as a volunteer fireworker (non-commissioned officer rank) of the 4th class in the 4th battery of the 20th artillery brigade. At the end of 1853, Tolstoy turned to General M.D. Gorchakov, who was a distant relative of him, with a request to transfer him to the active army on the Danube, and was soon transferred there.
After the enemy landed in Crimea, Lev Nikolaevich, as a true patriot, submitted a report on his transfer to Sevastopol. He wanted to test himself with Sevastopol, to make sure of his own spiritual powers.
It was the second month of the heroic defense of Sevastopol when Leo Tolstoy arrived in the besieged city on November 7 (19), 1854. He traveled to Crimea through Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson and Perekop. The roads were loaded with troops and convoys, drowning in opaque mud. Crowds of prisoners were coming towards them, carts with the wounded were pulling, and there were not enough horses at the road stations. With great difficulty we managed to get a place on the postal carriage. And finally, Tolstoy in Sevastopol. Recalling the feelings that possessed him in those minutes, the writer said in the story “Sevastopol in December”:
It cannot be that, at the thought that you are in Sevastopol, a feeling of some kind of courage, pride does not penetrate your soul, and that the blood does not begin to circulate faster in your veins...In Sevastopol, “...a strange mixture of camp and city life, a beautiful city and a dirty bivouac” did not hide from the observant gaze of the writer. And the people seemed to be no different from other Russian people. Neither any particular enthusiasm or heroism, nor fussiness and confusion were visible in them. Everyone calmly went about their business.
On November 10 (22), 1854, 26-year-old artillery second lieutenant Lev Tolstoy was appointed junior officer in the 3rd light battery of the 14th artillery field brigade. The battery at this time was in reserve and did not take part in the battles. Tolstoy had free time. The writer appeared in many places where his work did not require him to be, and with the passion of an artist he absorbed impressions that were new to him. In just a few days, he was able to explore the entire city, visit bastions and various fortifications, and talk with ordinary soldiers and defense leaders. Tolstoy expressed his opinion about Sevastopol, the moral state of the Russian troops, their resilience, and the historical significance of the Sevastopol defense in a letter to his brother Sergei Nikolaevich in November 1854:
The spirit in the troops is beyond description. During the times of ancient Greece there was not so much heroism. I was not able to be in action even once, but I thank God that I saw these people and live in this glorious time.
On November 15 (27), 1854, the battery in which Lev Nikolaevich served was withdrawn to rear positions near Simferopol in the Tatar village of Eski-Orda (now Lozovoye). Tolstoy stayed here for about two months.
In 1855, shortly after the New Year, Tolstoy was transferred from the 3rd battery of the 14th artillery brigade to the 3rd light battery of the 11th brigade, which was stationed at the Belbek positions, near Sevastopol. Lev Nikolaevich was disappointed with his translation. He was eager to fight, thirsted for activity, sought the use of his strength and energy, but ended up in the rear and did not participate in battles.
But Tolstoy often visited Sevastopol. Lev Nikolaevich saw his comrades there, went to the front lines, talked with prisoners of war and generally was aware of all the events taking place in the city.
On one of his trips to Sevastopol, on the night of March 10 (22) to March 11 (23), 1855, Tolstoy voluntarily, without permission from his superiors, took part in a night raid from the Kamchatka lunette under the leadership of General S. A. Khrulev.
In the spring of 1855, when the enemy was preparing for an assault and the fiercest battles were taking place for the 4th bastion, the 3rd light battery of the 11th artillery brigade, in which Tolstoy served, was transferred here. Appointed quartermaster, he arrived in Sevastopol 2 days earlier than his colleagues. On April 1 (13), 1855, he met the battery, transported across the Northern Bay, and was concerned about its placement in a new place - Yazonovsky redoubt (strengthening the left flank of the 4th bastion). This, according to Tolstoy, was a large, dug-out area, surrounded on all sides by turas (baskets with earth for constructing protective embankments), embankments, cellars, dugouts and platforms on which cast-iron guns stood.
Three hundred steps from the Yazonovsky redoubt was the most terrible place - the front line of the 4th bastion. Here, on an earthen rampart, large naval guns were installed. Around them are the same rounds of earth, and in front of them are rope barriers that protected the gun personnel from enemy bullets and shrapnel.
Tolstoy describes the 4th bastion:
Ahead of you on a steep mountain you see some kind of black, dirty space, pitted with ditches, and this ahead is the 4th bastion.Second Lieutenant L. Tolstoy was on duty at the Yazonovsky redoubt for a month and a half: from April 1 (13) to May 14 (26), 1855, changing every four days with other battery officers. Sometimes, due to attrition of officers, it was necessary to stand two watches in a row.
For being on the Yazonovsky redoubt of the fourth bastion during the bombardment, for his composure and orderly actions against the enemy, he was awarded the Order of St. Anna 4th degree with the signature “For bravery.” Later he received a silver medal “For the Defense of Sevastopol” and a bronze medal “In Memory of the War of 1853-1856.”
In the conditions of intense combat life, Tolstoy experienced a huge elation, a surge of strength and energy. In between shifts, he worked on the story “Youth” and wrote the first Sevastopol story, “Sevastopol in December.” The story was published in the Sovremennik magazine in June 1855.
Soon two other Sevastopol stories were published: “Sevastopol in May”, “Sevastopol in August 1855”. The stories were an extraordinary success among readers. And now there is probably not a single schoolchild who has not read them. One of the reasons for the popularity of “Sevastopol Stories” is the truth, which became the main character in the works of the great Tolstoy.
Olga Zavgorodnyaya
Lev Tolstoy is one of the most famous writers and philosophers in the world. His views and beliefs formed the basis of an entire religious and philosophical movement called Tolstoyism. The writer's literary heritage amounted to 90 volumes of fiction and journalistic works, diary notes and letters, and he himself was more than once nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Do everything that you have determined to be done.”
Family tree of Leo Tolstoy. Image: regnum.ru
Silhouette of Maria Tolstoy (nee Volkonskaya), mother of Leo Tolstoy. 1810s. Image: wikipedia.org
Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in the Yasnaya Polyana estate in the Tula province. He was the fourth child in a large noble family. Tolstoy was orphaned early. His mother died when he was not yet two years old, and at the age of nine he lost his father. Aunt Alexandra Osten-Saken became the guardian of Tolstoy's five children. The two older children moved to their aunt in Moscow, while the younger ones remained in Yasnaya Polyana. It is with the family estate that the most important and dear memories of Leo Tolstoy’s early childhood are associated.
In 1841, Alexandra Osten-Sacken died, and the Tolstoys moved to their aunt Pelageya Yushkova in Kazan. Three years after moving, Leo Tolstoy decided to enter the prestigious Imperial Kazan University. However, he did not like studying, he considered exams a formality, and university professors as incompetent. Tolstoy did not even try to get a scientific degree; in Kazan he was more attracted to secular entertainment.
In April 1847, Leo Tolstoy's student life ended. He inherited his part of the estate, including his beloved Yasnaya Polyana, and immediately went home, never receiving a higher education. On the family estate, Tolstoy tried to improve his life and start writing. He drew up his education plan: study languages, history, medicine, mathematics, geography, law, agriculture, natural sciences. However, he soon came to the conclusion that it is easier to make plans than to implement them.
Tolstoy's asceticism was often replaced by carousing and card games. Wanting to start what he thought was the right life, he created a daily routine. But he didn’t follow it either, and in his diary he again noted his dissatisfaction with himself. All these failures prompted Leo Tolstoy to change his lifestyle. An opportunity presented itself in April 1851: the elder brother Nikolai arrived in Yasnaya Polyana. At that time he served in the Caucasus, where there was a war. Leo Tolstoy decided to join his brother and went with him to a village on the banks of the Terek River.
Leo Tolstoy served on the outskirts of the empire for almost two and a half years. He whiled away his time by hunting, playing cards, and occasionally participating in raids into enemy territory. Tolstoy liked such a solitary and monotonous life. It was in the Caucasus that the story “Childhood” was born. While working on it, the writer found a source of inspiration that remained important to him until the end of his life: he used his own memories and experiences.
In July 1852, Tolstoy sent the manuscript of the story to Sovremennik magazine and attached a letter: “...I look forward to your verdict. He will either encourage me to continue my favorite activities, or force me to burn everything I started.”. Editor Nikolai Nekrasov liked the work of the new author, and soon “Childhood” was published in the magazine. Inspired by the first success, the writer soon began the continuation of “Childhood”. In 1854, he published a second story, “Adolescence”, in the Sovremennik magazine.
“The main thing is literary works”
Leo Tolstoy in his youth. 1851. Image: school-science.ru
Lev Tolstoy. 1848. Image: regnum.ru
Lev Tolstoy. Image: old.orlovka.org.ru
At the end of 1854, Leo Tolstoy arrived in Sevastopol - the epicenter of military operations. Being in the thick of things, he created the story “Sevastopol in December.” Although Tolstoy was unusually frank in describing battle scenes, the first Sevastopol story was deeply patriotic and glorified the bravery of Russian soldiers. Soon Tolstoy began working on his second story, “Sevastopol in May.” By that time, there was nothing left of his pride in the Russian army. The horror and shock that Tolstoy experienced on the front line and during the siege of the city greatly influenced his work. Now he wrote about the meaninglessness of death and the inhumanity of war.
In 1855, from the ruins of Sevastopol, Tolstoy traveled to sophisticated St. Petersburg. The success of the first Sevastopol story gave him a sense of purpose: “My career is literature - writing and writing! Starting tomorrow, I work all my life or give up everything, rules, religion, decency - everything.”. In the capital, Leo Tolstoy finished “Sevastopol in May” and wrote “Sevastopol in August 1855” - these essays completed the trilogy. And in November 1856, the writer finally left military service.
Thanks to his true stories about the Crimean War, Tolstoy entered the St. Petersburg literary circle of the Sovremennik magazine. During this period, he wrote the story “Blizzard”, the story “Two Hussars”, and finished the trilogy with the story “Youth”. However, after some time, relations with the writers from the circle deteriorated: “These people disgusted me, and I disgusted myself.”. To unwind, at the beginning of 1857 Leo Tolstoy went abroad. He visited Paris, Rome, Berlin, Dresden: he got acquainted with famous works of art, met with artists, and observed how people live in European cities. The journey did not inspire Tolstoy: he created the story “Lucerne”, in which he described his disappointment.
Leo Tolstoy at work. Image: kartinkinaden.ru
Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana. Image: kartinkinaden.ru
Leo Tolstoy tells a fairy tale to his grandchildren Ilyusha and Sonya. 1909. Krekshino. Photo: Vladimir Chertkov / wikipedia.org
In the summer of 1857, Tolstoy returned to Yasnaya Polyana. At his native estate, he continued to work on the story “Cossacks”, and also wrote the story “Three Deaths” and the novel “Family Happiness”. In his diary, Tolstoy defined his purpose for himself at that time: “The main thing is literary works, then family responsibilities, then farming... And living like this for yourself is a good deed a day and that’s enough.”.
In 1899, Tolstoy wrote the novel Resurrection. In this work, the writer criticized the judicial system, the army, and the government. The contempt with which Tolstoy described the institution of the church in the novel “Resurrection” provoked a response. In February 1901, in the journal “Church Gazette,” the Holy Synod published a resolution excommunicating Count Leo Tolstoy from the church. This decision only increased Tolstoy's popularity and attracted the public's attention to the writer's ideals and beliefs.
Tolstoy's literary and social activities became known abroad. The writer was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902 and 1909 and for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1902–1906. Tolstoy himself did not want to receive the award and even told the Finnish writer Arvid Järnefelt to try to prevent the award from being awarded because, “if this happened... it would be very unpleasant to refuse” “He [Chertkov] took the unfortunate old man into his hands in every possible way, he separated us, he killed the artistic spark in Lev Nikolaevich and kindled condemnation, hatred, denial, which can be felt in Lev Nikolaevich’s recent articles years, which his stupid evil genius egged him on".
Tolstoy himself was burdened by the life of a landowner and family man. He sought to bring his life into line with his beliefs and in early November 1910 secretly left the Yasnaya Polyana estate. The road turned out to be too much for the elderly man: on the way he became seriously ill and was forced to stay in the house of the caretaker of the Astapovo railway station. Here the writer spent the last days of his life. Leo Tolstoy died on November 20, 1910. The writer was buried in Yasnaya Polyana.
A distinctive feature of the life and work of the great Russian writer and thinker Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy is his constant moral quest. What is the true purpose of a person, how to relate to other people and generally accepted “truths” - all these questions are touched upon to one degree or another in his works. The writer speaks about them especially sharply and uncompromisingly in the novels, novellas and short stories he created after the spiritual crisis experienced in the late 70s of the 19th century. The story “After the Ball” is one of these.
History of creation
At the beginning of April 1903, a major Jewish pogrom took place in the city of Chisinau, Bessarabia province of the Russian Empire. L.N. Tolstoy sharply condemned the pogromists and the inactive authorities. The Committee to Help Victims of the Pogrom organized a fundraiser. At the end of April, the famous Jewish writer Sholom Aleichem asked Leo Tolstoy to “give something” for a literary collection he was preparing for the same purpose. In his response letter, Lev Nikolaevich promised to fulfill his request.
On June 9, Tolstoy decided to write a story about an incident in the life of his brother Sergei Nikolaevich, which evokes certain associations with the Chisinau pogrom. 75-year-old Lev Nikolaevich remembered this story from his student days spent with his brothers in Kazan.
The plan for the future story was sketched out in a diary entry dated June 18, 1903. The first version of the story, entitled “Daughter and Father,” was written on August 5-6. Then Tolstoy changed the title to “And you say.” The final edition of the story, entitled “After the Ball,” was completed on August 20, 1903. The work was published after the writer’s death in “Posthumous Works of L. N. Tolstoy” in 1911.
Description of the work
The narration is told on behalf of the main character - Ivan Vasilyevich. In familiar surroundings, he told two incidents from his life when he was a student at a provincial university. They were supposed to illustrate his statement that what determines a person’s fate is not the environment, but chance.
Most of the story is occupied by the experiences of the hero, who attended the provincial leader’s ball on the last day of Maslenitsa. All the “cream” of provincial society gathered there, including Varenka B., with whom the student was madly in love. She became the queen of the ball, and was admired not only by men, but also by women whom she pushed into the background. So, at least, it seemed to the student Vanya. The beautiful girl favored him and gave him most of the dances with her.
Varenka was the daughter of Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich, who was also at the ball with his wife. At the end, those present persuaded the colonel to dance with his daughter. The couple found themselves in the spotlight. Pyotr Vladislavovich remembered his former prowess and danced dashingly like a young man. Vanya watched the couple with increased attention. The old-fashioned colonel's boots especially touched his soul. They were seen to be saving on themselves so as not to deny their beloved daughter anything.
After the dance, the colonel said that he had to get up early tomorrow and did not stay for dinner. And Ivan danced with Varenka for a long time. An unearthly feeling of happiness and absolute harmony of existence gripped the main character. He loved not only Varenka, her father, but also the whole world, in which, as it seemed to him at those moments, there was nothing bad.
Finally, the ball ended. Returning home in the morning, Ivan realized that he would not be able to sleep from the excess of feelings. He went out into the street and his feet carried him to Varenka’s house, located on the outskirts of the city. As we approached the field adjacent to the house, drumming and unpleasant, shrill sounds of a flute began to sound, drowning out the dance melodies that were still sounding in Ivan’s soul. There they passed a fugitive Tatar soldier through the line. Other soldiers from both sides hit the unfortunate man on his bare back, and he only muttered exhaustedly: “Brothers, have mercy.” His back had long since turned into a bloody mess.
And Varenka’s father led the execution, and he did it as diligently as he had danced with his daughter the day before. When one short soldier did not hit the Tatar hard enough, the colonel, his face twisted with anger, began to hit him in the face for this. Ivan was shocked to the point of nausea by what he saw. His love for Varenka began to wane. The bloody back of the soldier tortured by her father stood between them.
Main characters
The hero of the story, Ivan Vasilyevich, is endowed with a sense of compassion and the ability to put himself in the place of another person. Human misfortunes did not become simple life decorations for him, as they were for the vast majority of representatives of the privileged classes. Ivan Vasilyevich’s conscience is not drowned out by false life expediency. These qualities were inherent to the highest degree in Tolstoy himself.
Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich is a caring father and a good family man. Most likely, he considers himself a true Christian, serving God, the sovereign and the fatherland. But he, like most people at all times, is absolutely deaf to the main thing in Christianity - the great moral law of Christ. According to this law, you must treat people the way you would like them to treat you. Regardless of class and property barriers.
It is difficult to create a psychological portrait of the beautiful Varenka. Most likely, it is unlikely that her external attractiveness was combined with the same soul. After all, she was raised by her father, who turned out to be a real fanatic in the public service.
Story Analysis
The compositional dominant of the story is the opposition of its two parts, which describe the events at the ball and after it. First, the ball sparkling with light colors is a celebration of youth, love and beauty. It takes place on the last day of Maslenitsa - Forgiveness Sunday, when believers must forgive each other mutual sins. Then - dark colors, “bad music” hitting the nerves, and cruel reprisals against the unfortunate soldiers, among whom the main victim is a non-religious (like the Chisinau Jews).
There are several main ideas in the story. First of all, it is an absolute rejection of any violence, including that justified by state necessity. Secondly, the division of people into those worthy of respect and those likened to cattle is contrary to the will of God.
Other motives are less obvious. In torturing a non-believer on Forgiveness Sunday, Tolstoy allegorically continues to reproach the official church for justifying state violence, from which he was excommunicated two years earlier.
The image of the loving and carefree Ivan Vasilyevich reminds Tolstoy of his own youth, which the writer was critical of. Oddly enough, young Tolstoy had similarities in common with the colonel. In another of his works (“Youth”), the writer writes about his own division of people into worthy and despised.
