Leo Tolstoy and Sofya Bers "It can't be that all this ends only in life." Sofia Tolstaya

Tolstoy demanded an explanation, his wife Sofya Andreevna was touched: "What do you want from a 53-year-old woman." The hero of a family quarrel, composer Taneyev, quipped: “What have you all done: Tolstoy, Tolstoy! I saw your Tolstoy in the bath. Very bad." great writer I knew why all families are happy in the same way, but each is unhappy in its own way.

Golden Boy

Tolstoy went to marriage for a long time, stayed in the bobs until the age of 34. At sixteen, Leo chooses a diplomatic field for himself and enters Kazan University at the Faculty of Oriental Studies. Despite the ability to study foreign languages, Tolstoy transferred to the Faculty of Law. After studying for three years, leaving the university, nineteen-year-old Leo returns to Moscow. From where, at the age of 12, together with three siblings and a younger sister, after the death of his father, Yushkov's father's sister took him to Kazan.

The Yushkovs' house was one of the most cheerful in Kazan; all members of the family highly valued external brilliance. “My good aunt,” says Tolstoy, “the purest being, always said that she would want nothing more for me than for me to have a connection with married woman". The grandson of the former governor of Kazan was a welcome guest in many noble houses. rake with passionate nature he led the life of a "golden youth" - went out into the world, caroused, danced, fenced, rode horseback, often visited gypsies, whose singing he loved. Even moved to family estate, Yasnaya Polyana, a whole camp. Songs, romances, revelry until the morning. The gypsies settled in the greenhouse, which was built by his grandfather Volkonsky, and with pleasure ate greenhouse peaches intended for sale. The young count almost married a gypsy, even learned gypsy language. Among the neighbors, the landowners, he gained a reputation as "a trifling fellow." Tolstoy played cards a lot and lost a lot. His condition melted, sometimes card debts there was nothing to pay. Hiding from debts, in 1851 he "expelled himself to the Caucasus." He was taken with him by his older brother Nikolai, an artillery officer.

Caucasian turn

In the Caucasus, Leo Tolstoy takes part in military operations against the highlanders. For bravery presented to George Cross, but lost it to a soldier - the award provided him with a lifetime pension.

However, you can’t run away from yourself: secular drinking parties have been replaced by officers with indispensable card games and billiards. Nevertheless, the war years dramatically changed the fate of Tolstoy.

In November 1855, a young officer, who arrived in St. Petersburg from Sevastopol, enjoyed extraordinary attention. The powerful of this world were looking for his acquaintances, invited to dinners. Success is not due to military exploits, the public recognized the new rising star of Russian literature. The fame of Count Leo Tolstoy grew rapidly, as did interest in the stories written in the Caucasus "Raid", "Cutting a Forest", "Notes of a Marker", "Cossacks", "Sevastopol Tales". The well-known novelist and playwright Pisemsky said: “This officer will peck us all, even throw a pen ...”.

Instead of a wedding

At the end of 1856, Lev Nikolaevich took off his uniform and plunged into secular passions even almost got married. Visiting his estate, he often turned to the neighboring Sudakovo to the young Valeria Arsenyeva. The governess, who was raising an orphan, had a plan to marry Valeria to a young count. But then Tolstoy began to be overwhelmed with doubts, and he decided to experience the feeling of a two-month separation. Suddenly I went "instead of the church, to St. Petersburg." At a distance, Tolstoy admitted to himself that he did not so much love as he tried to arouse love for himself. The groom wrote about this in Sudakovo. The rejected young lady did not suffer long, soon got married and gave birth to four children.

Grandma temptress

The young count went to Switzerland in 1857, where he spent his time stormily. In the poetic setting of a Swiss spring on the shores of Lake Geneva, he first met his distant relatives, Countess Elizabeth and Alexandra Tolstoy. Both served at the court of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna. Alexandra had a pleasant appearance and a great voice. Tolstoy flirted with pleasure, considering the sweet "grandmother" a head taller than all the women he had ever met. But this rapprochement did not go beyond simple friendship. The countess was older, he noticed the first wrinkles on her face and more than once in the diary, admiring a relative, exclaimed sadly: “If only she were ten years younger! ..”

Subsequently, they parted on the basis of religious disagreements. But even in the year of his death, Lev Nikolaevich, rereading his long-term correspondence with Countess Tolstoy, told others: “Just as in a dark corridor there is light from under some door, so when I look back at my long, dark life, the memory of Alexandrine - always a bright streak.

cute girls

In 1859, courting several young ladies in Moscow society, he finally decided to make an offer to one of them - Princess Lvova, but was refused. Other girls whom he courted found that it was “interesting, but difficult” with him, and besides, outwardly the candidate for grooms was not very attractive. An ugly face with a wide nose and thick lips was softened by the look of light gray, deep-set, kind, expressive eyes. The young count noticed the first signs of impending old age and almost abandoned family happiness. The girls he met, he made high demands of intelligence, simplicity, sincerity, beauty. At the same time, his wife should be a healthy mother of his children, look at everything through the eyes of her husband, be his assistant in everything. Possessing a secular gloss, she is obliged to forget the world, settle with her husband in the village and devote herself entirely to the family.

Only a strong passion could make him believe that he had met the personification of such an ideal. And it happened.

In the summer of 1861, returning to Russia from a second trip abroad, Tolstoy stopped by the Bers family. The pretty daughters of the Kremlin doctor Bers bustled about laying the table. In the evening in Moscow, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: "What lovely, cheerful girls." For five years, "cute girls" have grown into beautiful young ladies. The two older ones had already passed their exams, wore long dresses, hairstyles. Lev Nikolaevich became a frequent guest in their house. With sentimental Sonya Tolstoy played four hands, sat with her at chess. Once he brought with him Turgenev's story "First Love", having read it aloud, he said instructively: "The love of a sixteen-year-old son, a young man, was true love, which a person experiences only once in a lifetime, and the love of a father is an abomination and debauchery.

Once Tolstoy remarked to his sister: "If I marry, then one of the Bers."

- Well, marry Lisa, - the countess answered, - she will be a wonderful wife: solid, serious, well-mannered.

These conversations reached the Berse family. Parents never dreamed of such a gift. Their daughter - a dowry - could become a countess, the wife of a wealthy landowner, a famous writer.

Lev Nikolaevich, feeling the atmosphere that was being created, began to be weary of this: “The Bers have a pleasant day, but I don’t dare to marry Lisa,” and later: “Lisa Bers is tempting me; but it won't. One calculation is not enough, there is no feeling.

He was much more attracted younger sisters, full of life and enthusiasm. "Tatyanchik" was still a child. But Sofya Andreevna grew prettier every day. She passed the exams at Moscow University, began to go out into the world. A ruddy girl with large dark brown eyes and a dark braid, with a lively character that easily turned into sadness. She loved literature, painting, music, but she herself did not show any special talents. From the age of 11, she carefully kept a diary and even tried to write stories.

Poor Sonechka

Sophia's first admirer was a student teacher. Lively and fast, he wore glasses and shaggy thick hair. Once, while helping Sonechka to carry something, a desperate fellow grabbed her hand and kissed it.

- How dare you?! she cried, squeamishly wiping the place of the kiss with her handkerchief.

The nihilist was replaced by a senior cadet, Mitrofan Polivanov, from a wealthy, well-connected noble family. This time, Sophia no longer took her hands in disgust when the young man kissed them at rehearsals for a home performance. Leaving for St. Petersburg, to the academy, Polivanov made an offer, received consent.

Meanwhile, Professor Nil Alexandrovich Popov appeared in the Bers family. Powerful, with slow movements and expressive gray eyes. He willingly spent time in Sonya's company, never taking his eyes off the graceful figure and lively face of the young girl. He even rented a dacha not far from Pokrovsky. Unexpectedly for himself, Tolstoy felt jealousy. He began to appear in the family almost every day. Sonechka greeted him now cheerfully and joyfully, now sadly and dreamily, now sternly. An eighteen-year-old girl deftly manipulated a brilliant writer.

"... She said about Professor Popov and the blouse... is it really all by accident?" “I am in love, as I did not believe that it was possible to love. She is adorable in every way. And I'm disgusting. I should have taken care first. Now I can't stop."

Tolstoy came to the Bers in the evening. He was agitated and then sat down at the piano, without finishing what he had begun, got up and walked around the room, approached Sofya, called to play four hands. She meekly sat down. Tolstoy's excitement confused and captured her. Tolstoy, not daring to speak, handed Sophia the letter. "Sofya Andreevna! ... Your family's false view of me is, it seems to me, that I am in love with your sister Lisa. This is unfair ... I would have died of laughter if a month ago they told me that you can suffer, as I suffer, and happily suffer this time. Tell me how fair man do you want to be my wife? ... But if I will never be a husband, loved the way I love, it will be terrible ... "

Sofya went up to the agitated Tolstoy, his face seemed paler than pale, and said:

– Of course, yes!

Old Dr. Bers, grieved for his eldest daughter, at first did not want to give consent. But Sonechka's tears decided the matter. At the insistence of Tolstoy, they decided to get married in a week. In his diary, he writes: “It is not clear how the week went. I do not remember anything; just a kiss at the piano... Doubts about her love and the thought that she is deceiving herself. Lev Nikolaevich dedicates it to his diary. Sophia read about his hobbies and wept bitterly over these "terrible" notebooks. They had everything: gambling debts, drunken parties, a gypsy with whom her fiancé intended to live, girls with whom he went with friends, a Yasnaya Polyana peasant woman Aksinya, with whom he spent summer nights and who became pregnant from him, the young lady Valery Arsenyev, whom he almost married, his aunt's maid, the peasant woman Glasha who became pregnant from him, and Tolstoy's promise: “In my village I will not have a single woman, except for some cases that I will not look for, but I won't miss it."

Cell Tolstoy

On the day of the wedding, Lev Nikolaevich unexpectedly arrived in the morning, breaking the tradition: the groom was not supposed to come to the bride. But Tolstoy needs Last straw truth, ”he asks Sonya if she loves him, if her memories of Polivanov bother her, if it’s not more honest to disperse.

The wedding took place in the Kremlin court church. The bride's face was tear-stained; one of her best men was Polivanov.

After congratulations, champagne, formal tea with Dr. Bers, Sofya Andreevna changed into a dark blue traveling dress for a trip to Yasnaya Polyana. There, on two floors of the wing, young people settled down. Not the slightest trace of luxury. Table setting is more than modest. The husband immediately changed the magnificent Scharmer dress for a warm blouse, which later became his suit.

His habits surprised his young wife. For example, he slept on a dark red morocco pillow that looked like a carriage seat, and he didn't even cover it with a pillowcase. In the garden - not a single flower, around the house - burdocks, on which a small number of servants threw rubbish.

From the first day Sofya Andreevna tried to "help her husband." But she liked riding in troikas more. Joined the fun and Tolstoy. And then the two of them, like little children, amused themselves with each other - and were happy.

We love how we can

Three and a half months after the wedding (January 5, 1863), Tolstoy writes in his diary: "Family happiness absorbs everything in me ...". “I love her when I wake up at night or in the morning and see: she looks at me and loves me. And no one - most importantly I - do not interfere with her love, as she knows, in her own way. I love it when she sits close to me, and we know that we love each other as best we can; and she will say: “Lyovochka!” ... and stop: “why are the pipes in the fireplace straight?” or "why don't horses die for a long time?" “... I love it when I see her head thrown back, and a serious, and frightened, and childish, and passionate face; I love it when...

Everyone admired the Tolstoy idyll. But jealousy started. They were jealous and both suffered deeply. Sofya Andreevna refused to even introduce herself in writing to Countess Alexandra Tolstaya, as she was jealous of her husband for her "dear grandmother." In Moscow, Sophia does not want to go to Princess Obolenskaya, whom Tolstoy was once fond of. Later, she notes in her diary: “We also went to Princess A.A. Obolenskaya, M.A. Sukhotina and E.A. Zhemchuzhnikova. The first two sisters took on a tone of contempt for … the wife of their former suitor.”

It would seem that in the rural wilderness there is no one to be jealous of. But as soon as her cousin, Olga Islenyeva, who was visiting Yasnaya Polyana, played four hands with Lev Nikolaevich, Sophia was already jealous and hated the guest.

The husband was even more jealous. Polivanov's presence in Moscow in January 1863 was "unpleasant" to him. He is jealous of the teacher at the Yasnaya Polyana school or of an almost unfamiliar young guest.

Dreams Come True

“I often dream about how to have an apartment in Moscow on Sivtsev Vrazhek. Send a wagon train along the winter route and live for 3-4 months in Moscow. Your world, theater, music, books, library and sometimes exciting conversation with a new smart person, here are our hardships in Yasnaya. But the deprivation, which is much stronger, is to count every penny, to be afraid that I will not have enough money. Wanting to buy something and not being able to. Therefore, until I am able to set aside so much for a trip to Moscow, until then this dream will be a dream, ”he wrote to Sophia’s father. And Tolstoy rolls up his sleeves. Sophia is entrusted with the office, settlements with hired workers, household, barns, cattle breeding. Before last days During pregnancy, she ran around the estate with a large bunch of keys at her waist, carried breakfast to Lev Nikolayevich two miles away for a bee-keeper, or in a field or garden. Tolstoy was happy. He begins work on War and Peace. The novel took Tolstoy five years of hard work, but brought fame and money to the writer.

By the end of the seventies, Tolstoy was quite well off. With his literary work, he significantly increased his fortune. In the early 80s, he estimated it at 600 thousand rubles. All the elements of "good, honest happiness", as Tolstoy understood it at that time, were present. Glory, which not a single Russian writer used during his lifetime; funds are more than sufficient; the family is friendly and cheerful.

Children

The first child was born to the Tolstoys on June 28, 1863. The birth was difficult. Tolstoy was nearby - he wiped his wife's forehead, kissed her hands. The count wanted to name the premature, weak boy Nikolai. But Sofya Andreevna was frightened. This name did not bring happiness to anyone in the family: Tolstoy's grandfather, and father, and brother, and even his nephew, who bore it, all died early. In the end, we settled on Sergei. “Sergulevich,” Lev Nikolaevich called him.

Sonya could not feed - her chest hurt very much, and the doctors did not allow it. Tolstoy was angry. “Pain oppresses me in three deaths. Lyova is murderous... Nothing is cute. Like a dog, I got used to his caresses - he cooled off ... I'm bored, I'm alone, all alone ... I am satisfaction, I am a nanny, I am familiar furniture, I am a woman, ”she writes. “... Sonya, my dear, I'm to blame, but I'm disgusting ... I have a great person in me who sometimes sleeps. You love him and do not reproach him,” he replies.

The family took him in. At the end of 1865, he interrupted the diary for 13 years. Happy couples have no secrets.

Lev Nikolayevich demanded an underlined simplicity: the boy must walk in a linen shirt. He treated his little daughter cordially, but could not stand kisses, caresses and tenderness. He kept a good distance from newborns.

- Something like convulsions is happening to me, so I'm afraid to pick up small children ...

Ten years after their marriage, the Tolstoys had six children. Sergey, Tatyana, Ilya, Leo, Masha, Peter. Parents took an active part in their upbringing. Sofya Andreevna taught them Russian literacy, French and German, dancing. Lev Nikolaevich taught mathematics. Later, when the eldest son needed to learn the Greek language, and there was no suitable teacher, Tolstoy dropped everything and set to work on the Greeks. Not even knowing the alphabet, he quickly overcame difficulties and after six weeks he was fluent in reading Xenophon.

The father also taught the children to swim, trained them in horseback riding, arranged a skating rink on the pond and ice slides. In jumping, running, gymnastics, Lev Nikolaevich did not know his rivals and infected with this not only children, but also all those present. Although he hardly remembered maternal love. His mother, from the ancient Volkonsky family, passed away when the boy was not even two years old.

In the first fifteen years family life Tolstoy devoted much energy to raising children. He brought a lot of humor into their lives. For example, “the run of the Numidian cavalry”: Lev Nikolaevich broke off his chair, raised his hand up and, waving it over his head, galloped around the table; everyone followed him, repeating his movements. Having run around the room several times and out of breath, everyone sat down in their places cheerful, boredom and tears forgotten.

Cuts of love

Quarrels happen in every family. “You know, Sonya,” Tolstoy once said, “it seems to me that husband and wife are like two halves clean slate paper. Quarrels are like cuts. Start cutting this sheet from above and ... soon the two halves will be completely separated.

Over the years, when the number of children increased, Sofya Andreevna rarely played the piano in four hands with her husband. Nevertheless, the wife became attached to the work of her husband. Bending down to the paper and peering with myopic eyes at Tolstoy's scribbles, she sat like that until late at night. Sofya Andreevna rewrote the huge novel "War and Peace" seven times.

Even after 12 years of married life, she and Tolstoy were one.

In 1871, Lev Nikolaevich felt unwell and went to be treated with koumiss in the Samara province. In six weeks, he writes 14 letters to his wife, full of "more than love."

“Every day that I am apart from you,” he wrote, “I am stronger and more anxious, and more passionately thinking about you, and more and more difficult for me. You can't talk about it..." “I could not read your letters without tears, and I tremble all over, and my heart beats ...”

In the midst of this happiness, sad thoughts about death sometimes take possession of Tolstoy. Over time, they appear more and more often. He is attracted to people who stand on the very edge of life. About this he writes "Notes of a Madman". The ghost of death cut happy life Tolstoy. One and a half year old son Petya died. Sofya Andreevna became seriously ill. Tolstoy contemplates suicide. He stopped going hunting with a gun, so as not to be tempted by the too easy way to rid himself of life. Attacks of melancholy caused not only the fear of death, but also the horror of the meaninglessness of life, ending in death. So he suffered for three years.

By the beginning of the spiritual crisis of Lev Nikolaevich, Sofya Andreevna was already over thirty. With his disappointments, Tolstoy became boring, gloomy, irritable, often quarreled with his wife over trifles, and from the former cheerful and cheerful head of the family turned into a strict preacher and accuser. He creates a society of sobriety, becomes a vegetarian, quits smoking.

Two people come together to interfere with each other

In the summer of 1881, Sofya Andreevna looked after recent months eleventh pregnancy. The eldest son entered the university, the time has come to take his daughter out into the world. Tolstoy in 1882 buys the famous house in Khamovnichesky Lane in Moscow. At the same time, he remarks about life in the capital: “Unhappy! No life. Stink, stones, luxury, poverty, depravity. The villains who robbed the people gathered, recruited soldiers, judges to protect their orgies, and they are feasting. The people have nothing more to do than, taking advantage of the passions of these people, to lure back the loot from them. Men are better at it. The women are at home, the peasants rub the floors and bodies in the bathhouses and drive cabs.

When the bearded men of the family (father and sons) played vint, Sofya Andreevna gave birth to Alexandra, the twelfth child.

The older Tolstoy gets, the more often he expresses his opinion about women. “Women are recognized only by their husbands (when it’s too late). Only husbands see them backstage. ... They pretend so skillfully that no one sees them for what they really are, especially when they are young. Tolstoy's views on women did not prevent his sons from marrying; the last of them married in 1901. Yes, and the daughters, when their hour came, married: Maria Lvovna in 1897 for Prince Obolensky, and Tatyana Lvovna in 1899 for the landowner Sukhotin.

Tolstoy stayed with his wife and youngest daughter. On March 31, 1888, at the age of forty-four, Sofya Andreevna gave birth to her last child, Vanechka, who died six years later. She couldn't take it.

You are no longer my wife! shouted the count. - Who are you? Mother? You don't want to have more children! Girlfriend of my nights? Even out of this you make a toy to take power over me!

In his diary at the end of 1899, he wrote: “Marriage is lured by sexual desire, which takes the form of a promise, a hope for happiness, which supports public opinion and literature; but marriage is ... suffering, which a person pays for the satisfaction of sexual desire. The main reason for this suffering is that what is expected is not expected, and what is not expected is what always is. “Marriage is more like an intersection of two lines: as soon as they crossed, they went in different directions.”

So they destroyed in each other the last remnants of love. Sofya Andreevna is perplexed in her autobiography: “I can’t keep track of exactly when we parted ways with him. And in what?..” “I felt powerless to follow his teachings. The personal relations between us were the same: we loved each other just the same, it was just as difficult to part. These remarks are sincere. During the nineties, for example, Tolstoy wrote about 300 letters to his wife. They are full of friendliness, caring, anxiety. “You left such a strong, cheerful, good impression with your arrival, too good for me, because I miss you more. My awakening and your appearance is one of the strongest, joyful impressions I have experienced, and this at the age of 69 from a 53-year-old woman! ..».

A little later, Tolstoy will tell his wife that he wants to divorce her and go to Paris or America. “He found tetanus on me, neither to speak nor to cry, I always wanted to talk nonsense, and I’m afraid of this and I’m silent, and I’m silent for three hours, for the life of me I can’t speak. Longing, grief, rupture, a painful state of alienation - all this remained in me. For what?"...

Treason

Sofya Andreevna was saved by music - and especially by Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev, composer, professor. The relationship between the Countess and Taneyev was platonic, but the spiritual betrayal of his wife brought great suffering to Tolstoy. He spoke and wrote to her about this repeatedly, but she was only offended: “I am an honest woman!” And she continued to receive Taneyev or went to him herself. To questions about what is happening between the spouses, Sofya Andreevna answered with a grin:

- Yes, absolutely nothing! Even ashamed to talk about jealousy for a 53-year-old old woman.

Everyone guessed that Sofya Andreevna was in love, except for Taneyev himself. They never became lovers. In her diary, Sofya Andreevna wrote: “I know this painful feeling, when love does not illuminate, but the world of God fades, when it is bad, it is impossible - but there is no strength to change it.” Before her death, she told her daughter Tatyana: "I loved one of your fathers."

At the end of his life, Tolstoy experienced a collapse. Collapsed his ideas about family happiness. Lev Nikolaevich could not change the life of his family in accordance with his views. "Kreutzer Sonata", "Family Happiness" and "Anna Karenina" he wrote based on the experience of his own family life.

Family business

In accordance with his teachings, Tolstoy tried to get rid of attachment to loved ones, tried to be even and friendly to everyone. He asked Sofya Andreevna to manage property - the house, land, writings. “Inexperienced, without a penny of money,” she recalled, “I energetically began to study the business of publishing books, and then selling and subscribing to Tolstoy’s writings ...”. She consulted with numerous friends and even met Dostoevsky's widow, who, during her husband's lifetime, took the publication of his works into her own hands. Things went brilliantly. Sofya Andreevna published herself since 1886. Things went well with the management of estates. There was no longer spiritual closeness and mutual understanding between the spouses. Sofya Andreevna took care of the material support of the children. Until Vladimir Chertkov appeared in the Tolstoy's house.

Uninvited guest

The son of the governor-general, a handsome man, a brilliant officer who drove the ladies crazy, Chertkov led hectic life, drinking, playing cards. Learning about new philosophy writer, "the model of all Tolstoy's virtues" came to him. Having gained confidence, the head of the Posrednik publishing house, Chertkov, little by little became the complete master of Tolstoy's works. Sofya Andreevna could not come to terms with the fact that family capital was used to enrich a stranger to them. Near the decrepit Tolstoy, two warring camps formed, which tore him apart.

The family that Sofya Andreevna loved more than anything in the world already consisted (with all her grandchildren) of 28 people. The moment came when the health of the countess could not stand the unrest. On June 22, 1910, Tolstoy, who was visiting Chertkov, received an alarming telegram and returned to Yasnaya Polyana. He found his wife in a terrible state. She was nervously ill. Sofya Andreevna was in her sixty-sixth year. Behind was 48 years of married life and thirteen births.

Hell broke out in the Tolstoy household. The unfortunate woman has lost all power over herself. She eavesdropped, peeped, tried not to let her husband out of her sight for a minute, rummaged through his papers, looking for a will or records about herself and Chertkov. Tolstoy thought more and more insistently about how to leave this "house of lunatics", from the people who exchanged it for rubles. Sofya Andreevna resolutely promised her husband that she would commit suicide on the day he left.

Loved to the end

Tolstoy, miserable, weak, staggering, went on the run. He stopped at Shamordino to see his sister, a nun, and from there went on foot to Optina Hermitage, but he did not dare to enter the skete where the elders lived, fearing that they would not want to talk to him. I got on the train and got sick. The head of the Astapovo station ceded his apartment to the patient. Tolstoy died 7 days later.

“The doctors let me in to see him,” Sofya Andreevna recalled, “when he was barely breathing, lying motionless on his back, with his eyes already closed. I spoke softly in his ear with tenderness, hoping that he could still hear, that I had been there all the time, in Astapovo, that I loved him to the end ... I don’t remember what else I said to him, but two deep sighs, like caused by a terrible effort, answered me to my words, and then everything calmed down.

Sofya Andreevna wrote in her diary: “Unbearable longing, remorse, weakness, pity to the point of suffering for her late husband ... I can’t live.” She wanted to end her life.

It's been 8 years. Sofia Andreevna is 74 years old. Tall, slightly hunched, and much thinner, she walked a verst every day to her husband's grave and changed the flowers on it. Lev Nikolaevich was buried in Yasnaya Polyana on the edge of a ravine in the forest, where, as a child, he and his brother were looking for a “green stick” that kept the “secret” of how to make all people happy. At the end of her life, Sofya Andreevna confessed to her daughter: “Yes, I lived for forty-eight years with Lev Nikolaevich, but I never found out what kind of person he was ...”

Larisa Sinenko

Tolstaya Sofia Andreevna is the wife of Leo Tolstoy.

Sofya Andreevna is the second daughter of the doctor of the Moscow Palace Office Andrei Evstafievich Bers (1808-1868), who was descended from the German nobles on his father's side, and Lyubov Alexandrovna Bers (nee Islavina). In his youth, her father served as a doctor for the Moscow lady Varvara Turgeneva and had a child from her, Varvara Zhitova, who thus turned out to be the half-sister of both Sofya Tolstaya and Ivan Turgenev. Other children of the Bers spouses were daughters Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskaya (partial prototype of Natasha Rostova) and Elizaveta Andreevna Bers (prototype of her sister Vera Berg) and two sons.

Sophia was born in a dacha rented by her father, near the Pokrovskoye-Streshnevo estate, and until Sophia's marriage, the Berses spent every summer there. Having received a good education at home, Sophia in 1861 passed the exam for the title home teacher at Moscow University, and stood out with a Russian essay submitted to Professor Tikhonravov on the topic "Music". In August 1862, she and her family went to visit her grandfather Islenyev Alexander Mikhailovich on the estate of his legal (unlike her own grandmother Sofya Petrovna Kozlovskaya ur. Zavodovskaya) wife Sofya Alexandrovna Islenyeva (ur. Zhdanova) in the village of Ivitsy, Odoevsky district, Tula province, and visited on the way at L. N. Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana. On September 16 of the same year, Tolstoy proposed to Sofya Andreevna; a week later, on the 23rd, their wedding took place, after which Tolstaya became a resident of the village for nineteen years, occasionally leaving for Moscow.

The first years of their married life were the happiest. In the 1880s and 1890s, as a result of Tolstoy's changing views on life, discord occurred in the family. Sofya Andreevna, who did not share her husband's new ideas, his aspirations to give up property, to live his own, mainly physical labor, nevertheless, she perfectly understood to what moral and human heights he had risen.

From 1863 to 1889, Tolstaya gave birth to her husband thirteen children, of whom five died in childhood, the rest survived to adulthood. For many years, Sofya Andreevna remained a faithful assistant to her husband in his affairs: a copyist of manuscripts, a translator, a secretary, and a publisher of his works.

Sofya Andreevna was a big personality in her own right.” Possessing a subtle literary flair, she wrote novels, children's stories, and memoirs. Throughout her life, with short breaks, Sofya Andreevna kept a diary, which is spoken of as a noticeable and peculiar phenomenon in memoirs and literature about Tolstoy. Her hobbies were music, painting, photography.

The departure and death of Tolstoy had a hard effect on Sofya Andreevna, she was deeply unhappy, could not forget that before his death she had not seen her husband in her mind. On November 29, 1910, she wrote in the Diary: “Intolerable longing, remorse, weakness, pity to the point of suffering for her late husband ... I can’t live.”

After the death of Tolstoy, Sofya Andreevna continued publishing, having released her correspondence with her husband, completed the publication of the collected works of the writer. Last years Sofya Andreevna spent her life in Yasnaya Polyana, where she died on November 4, 1919. She was buried at the Kochakovsky cemetery, not far from Yasnaya Polyana.

Hello dear accomplices! I already wrote about the project dedicated to the great-grandfather of Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya P.V. Zavadovsky. I share what I managed to find about the roots of Sophia and her relatives. A big request to everyone who has any comments or comments to write here or personally to kitab11 @ yandex.ru

The story begins with the daughter of Count Zavadovsky Sophia.
Sofia Petrovna Zavadovskaya (1795-1830).

The young years of the eldest daughter of the Zavadovskys passed in St. Petersburg, where her father served. Sophia herself, thanks high position family, was a maid of honor of Her Imperial Highness, and enjoyed the patronage of monarchs. When Sonya turned 17, she was provided, as it seemed then, a successful game with a representative of the ancient princely family of Kozlovsky. Vladimir Nikolaevich Kozlovsky (1790-1847) served as the commander of a battalion of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, and was later promoted to major general. The couple had a son, Nikolai, who followed in his father's footsteps and became a military man. A short service brought Nikolai the rank of colonel, but then the life of Sophia's firstborn was tragically cut short.

The very beginning of the Kozlovskys' married life was overshadowed by Vladimir's weakness for alcohol. Day after day, the husband's passion for the green serpent grew, and the relationship of the spouses came to naught. And yet, fate has prepared for Sophia a lot of love and happiness, but, however, already with another person.

At one of the social events, the young princess Kozlovskaya met the brave officer, the hero of Borodin, Alexander Mikhailovich Isleniev (1794-1882). A romance broke out, which very soon brought young lovers down the aisle. Secretly married, Sofya and Alexander went to live in Lyalichi, and then to Islenyev's Krasnoye estate. The laws of that time did not allow the divorce to be formalized, and Sophia lived with the name of her first husband until the end of her days. The act of the princess shook her position in the world, and six children who were born in an unofficial marriage were considered illegitimate at all, and wore fictitious surname Islavina. In addition, Zavadovsky's grandchildren were deprived title of nobility and were assigned to the merchant class. All these difficulties did not destroy the family idyll, and the Islavins lived happily on the estate and raised their children. The children were hired by a French governess and educated at home.

For many years the family lived without going out into the world, being content with the company of local landowners. good friend A. Isleniev was Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, whose estate Yasnaya Polyana was located 38 kilometers from Krasnoe. Families visited each other on holidays and stayed for weeks at a time. Their friendship lasted for several generations, and after a while, one of the sons of Tolstoy, Leo, would draw inspiration for his works in family stories Islenievs. So, Alexander Isleniev became the prototype of Nikolenka's father in the novels "Childhood" and "Youth", and his son Vladimir Islavin was the prototype of Nikolenka himself.

In general, the personality of Sophia's spouse was very remarkable. His hound hunting, love for gypsy singing and passion for card game. Being a desperate gambler, Isleniev often put the family's well-being at serious risk, but luck was more often on his side. In it from three generations/ There will be up to a hundred relatives, And sweeter than all - head - Alexander Isleniev.

Fate measured Sophia and Alexander 15 happy years, and in 1830 a sudden illness claimed the life of Isleniev's beloved wife. Alexander's consolation was only children, who were never legalized, despite all efforts.

A few years later, a new mistress appeared in Islenyev's house - the daughter of a Tula landowner Sofya Aleksandrovna Zhdanova. The stepmother, as best she could, took care of her husband's children from her first marriage, who, meanwhile, were growing up and began to be determined in life. In 1836, the family moved to Tula, where the young ladies were soon betrothed and created their own families. The sons first of all received the necessary education and took up a career.

1. Mikhail Alexandrovich Islavin (1814-1905).

The only thing known about the fate of the eldest son is that he served in St. Petersburg in the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property. His brother Vladimir was also a member of the council of ministers of this department.

2. Vladimir Alexandrovich Islavin (1818-1895).

Vladimir Alexandrovich was engaged in ethnography, and after a working trip to Far North wrote the book "Samoyeds in the home and public life". He was a real secret adviser. He was married to Yulia Mikhailovna Kirikova, who bore him two sons:

1) Mikhail Vladimirovich Islavin (1864-1942) became an influential statesman, was the last Novgorod governor. After the revolution, Michael and his family emigrated to France and devoted the rest of his life to serving in the local church (St. Nicholas Church in Sainte-Givien-des-Bois). There is very little information about his four children: Vladimir (1894-1977), Varvara (1895-1978) was married to Sergei Euler, Martha (1907-1992) was married to priest Grigory Svechkin. Their descendants most likely live in France.

2) Lev Vladimirovich Islavin (1866-1834).

He was a lawyer and made a career in the diplomatic field. He served as consul general in Nice, then in Vienna. After February Revolution remained under Nicholas II as a diplomatic representative of the Provisional Government, and after October revolution- the White Guard government of Russia (until 1919). Also known as a bibliophile, collector. Judging by the information about the burial of his son Lev Lvovich Islavin (1894-1920) in San Remo, the family emigrated to Italy in 1919.

3. Konstantin Alexandrovich Islavin (1827-1908).

Returning to the sons of Sofia Zavadovskaya-Kozlovskaya, it should be said that the third of them, Konstantin, did not express career aspirations and lived one day. A friend of the family, L.N. Tolstoy, arranged for him to be a secretary in the editorial office of the Russkiy Vestnik. The last years of his life, Konstantin served in the hospice of SD Sheremetyev in Moscow. After Konstantin's death, Sheremetiev published a pamphlet in which the count, sparing no words, admires Islavin's valiant service. Konstantin Alexandrovich died unmarried, leaving no offspring.

For the romantic young ladies of the Islavins, the family was in the first place. In 1837, the eldest daughters were betrothed: Vera and Nadezhda.

4. Vera Alexandrovna Islavina (1825-1910).

The most eldest daughter Isleniev beauty went to the grandmother Vera Apraksina, and very much resembled her in appearance. Vera married State Councilor Mikhail Petrovich Kuzminsky (1811-1847). They had two daughters and a son Alexander.

Alexander Mikhailovich Kuzminsky (1844-1917) received a law degree and worked in the judicial system. He was a real state adviser. His service was marked by five highest Russian orders. Alexander's chosen one was his cousin Tatyana Andreevna Bers (1848-1925). They had 8 children. 1. Mikhail (1875-1838) - collegiate assessor, 2. Alexander (1880-c.1930) - collegiate secretary. 3. Dmitry (1888-1937) - collegiate assessor, 4. Maria (1869-1923) was married to cavalry general I.G. Eardley (1870-1939). It is known that their family emigrated to France, and the son Dmitry, 5. Vera (1871-1940s), 6. Vasily (1883-1933) captain of the 2nd rank, was born from a marriage with Fyodor Kramarev. 7.8. Daughters Tatyana (1872-1877) and Daria (1868-1933) died at the age of 5 years.

The happy marriage of Vera and Mikhail Kuzminsky did not last long - in 1847 Vera Alexandrovna's husband died of cholera. Her second husband was the Voronezh landowner Vyacheslav Ivanovich Shidlovsky (1823-1879). He served as a state adviser, was at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was a chamber junker. Vera's family increased noticeably: one after another, the heirs of the Shidlovsky family were born.

1) Olga Vyacheslavovna Shidlovskaya (1849-1909) was married to Pyotr Alekseevich Severtsov (1844-1884)

2) Nadezhda Vyacheslavovna Shidlovskaya (1858-?) is married to Nikolai Mikhailovich Litvinov (1846-1906), a Russian general and statesman. Nikolai was killed by terrorists in Omsk the year he was appointed local governor. The couple had three children.

3) Vsevolod Vyacheslavovich Shidlovsky (1854-1912) was married to Sofia Ivanovna Tomilina. Their son Vadim (1889-1920) served as a lieutenant in the Baltic Fleet, was shot by the Bolsheviks in the Crimea.

4) Irina Vyacheslavovna Shidlovskaya (1890-?)

5) Igor Vyacheslavovich Shidlovsky (1893-?)

6) Zoya Vyacheslavovna Shidlovskaya (1886-1969). Her husband Pyotr Vladimirovich Kondoidi (1883-1920) served as a cornet of the 1st Life Guards Dragoon Moscow Regiment and was a member white movement. In 1920 he was shot in Sevastopol.

7) Maria Vyacheslavovna Shidlovskaya (1853-1912) married court counselor Mikhail Dmitrievich Sverbeev (1843-1903). Their daughter Ekaterina (1879-1948) was married to Alexander Mikhailovich Zvegintsev (1869-1915), a member of the State Duma, a colonel, an orientalist. Alexander participated in WW I and was killed at the front. After the revolution, Catherine emigrated with her children Mikhail (1904-1978) and Maria to Great Britain, where she ended her days.

8) Boris Vyacheslavovich Shidlovsky (1859-1922) served as a lieutenant of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment. He was married to Countess Vera Nikolaevna Miloradovich (Shabelskaya). In 1899, she went to the Nikolo-Tikhvin Monastery, where she later became abbess. The couple had a daughter, Maria (1885-?). Boris's second wife was famous ballerina Yulia Nikolaevna Sedova (1880-1969).

Yulia performed at the Mariinsky Theatre. The revolution forced the family to emigrate to France, where the ballerina opened her own ballet school. In his second marriage, Boris Shidlovsky had two children: Tatyana (1903-1996) (married to Prince Urusov Nikolai Petrovich (1898-8930)) and Natalia (1906-?).

9) George (Yuri) Vyacheslavovich Shidlovsky (1856-1931). It is known that George was a real state councilor, married to Elena Alexandrovna Paym (1867-1949), and died in exile, in Saint-Givien-des-Bois.

10) Natalya Vyacheslavovna Shidlovskaya (1851-1889) became the wife of Anatoly Lvovich Isleniev-Shostak (1842-1914), Chamberlain of the Highest Court. Her husband held the positions of Kharkov, then Chernigov vice-governor, was an official in the office of His Imperial Highness.

5. Nadezhda Alexandrovna Islavina (? -1900) married Vladimir Ksenofontovich Karnovich (1806-1870), marshal of the nobility in Tula. They had 4 children: 1) Yuri (1853-1877) 2) Sofia was married to Stepan Petrovich Lukyanovich (1806-1870). Their son Vladimir (1881-1882) lived only a year. 3) Ekaterina (1849-?) surname after her husband Smirnov, 4) Elisaveta (1845-?) married to Alexander Ivanovich Muratov.

6. Lyubov Alexandrovna Islavina (1826 - 1886).

While the eldest daughters of Sophia and Alexander Islentev got suitors, the youngest Lyubochka was just getting ready for her first appearances. But chance sealed her fate faster than she could have expected. A serious illness, before which local doctors were powerless, chained the girl to bed and posed a serious threat to her life. Fortunately, the court physician Andrey Evstafievich Bers was passing through Tula. Heeding the requests of Lyuba's father, he devoted as much time to the patient as was necessary for her recovery. These days in the Islenyevs' house brought the doctor closer to the patient's family, and made Bers their welcome guest. Very soon, the doctor took advantage of the invitation and visited Lyuba, for whom he managed to feel a tender feeling. The girl reciprocated, and despite the persuasion of Lyuba's relatives, 16-year-old Lyubov Islavina and 34-year-old Andrei Bers (1808-1868) got married.

Being a medical doctor, Andrei Bers lived in the former royal house in the Kremlin. Having moved to Moscow, Lyuba plunged into the chores of an increasingly growing family. In total, the Berses had 13 children, five of whom did not survive. childhood. The following is known about the remaining eight.

1. Vladimir Andreevich Bers (1853-1874).

2. Alexander Andreevich Bers (1845-1918) was the head of the city of Batum, the vice-governor of Oryol, and a real state councilor. The first time he married Georgian princess Matrona Dmitrievna Patti (née Eristova). His second wife was the daughter of a collegiate assessor, Anna Aleksandrovna Mitrofanova. In 1878 their son Andrei was born, who made military career. Andrei's wife, Engelhardt Maria Konstantinovna (1880-?) despite noble origin, served as a sister of mercy in the Red Army. Their son Alexander (1902-1937) became famous as a historian and Uralologist. By the verdict of the NKVD, he was shot in 1937. Alexander, married to Elizaveta Mikhailovna Nikiforova (1937-1981) in 1934, had his only son Andrei, who also became an outstanding scientist, doctor of technical sciences.

3. Pyotr Andreevich Bers (1849-1910) is known as a writer, was a police chief of the Zvenigorod district of the Moscow region. He married in 1874 Olga Dmitrievna Postnikova.

4. Vyacheslav Andreevich Bers (1861-1907) was a bridge builder, a communications engineer. His wife is Alexandra Alexandrovna Kramer. It is also known that around 1893 they had a daughter, who was named Lyuba in honor of her grandmother.

5. Stepan Andreevich Bers (1855-1910) served as a judicial investigator. He was a state adviser. Author of the book "Memoirs of Count Tolstoy". In his first marriage he was married to a bourgeois Maria Petrovna Romanova, his second wife was Varvara Evgenievna. In 1889, the son Nikolai was born, and around 1892, the daughter Tatyana.

Lyubov and Andrei Bers had three daughters: the eldest Elizabeth, the middle Sonya and the youngest, Tanya.

6. Tatyana Andreevna Bers (Kuzminskaya) (1846-1921).

We already know about the fate of Tatyana, since her cousin Alexander Mikhailovich Kuzminsky, who was mentioned above, became her husband. Tanya devoted her life to literature, becoming a writer and memoirist, largely under the influence of Leo Tolstoy. She was the prototype of Natasha Rostova in famous novel"War and Peace".

7. Elizaveta Andreevna Bers (1843-?).

Eldest daughter Elizabeth also married her cousin. Her husband was Alexander Alexandrovich Bers (1844-?) - musician, colonel, participant in the military campaign in Turkey in 1877-1878, memories of which became material for his book. In 1884, the Berses had a daughter, Elizaveta (1884-1917), who married Nikolai Alexandrovich Myasoedov (1850-?). From four daughters The Myasoyedovs had a successful fate only with Olga (b. 1915). Living in exile in France, he married Baron Ixkul. It is known that back in the 90s the couple lived in Paris. The rest of the daughters died tragically (Alexandra drowned in 1916, Kira died after an operation in 1919, Maria died in 1937 in Stalin's camps).

8. Sofia Andreevna Bers (Tolstaya) (1844-1919).

The easiest way to trace the fate of the descendants of Sophia Zavadovskaya was through the line of her granddaughter Sophia Andreevna Bers, since the writer Leo Tolstoy became Sophia's chosen one. To this day, Tolstoy's descendants keep in touch and organize meetings in Yasnaya Polyana.

Well, it all started when the Bers daughters were still little girls. A family friend, Leo Tolstoy, often visited them at their dacha in Pokrovsky-Streshevo. He loved to play with the girls, helped them learn to read and write. Then there was Caucasian war, during which Lev took place as an officer and gained popularity thanks to his first literary works. Returning to his homeland, the 34-year-old count was fascinated by the grown-up young ladies of Bers. “If I married, it would be only in this family,” he wrote to his sister Maria. Sophia's literary debut, which took place at that time, became fateful for both her and Leo. In one of the heroes of her story, Tolstoy recognized himself. So, Sophia's secret dreams were revealed, which caused an irresistible reciprocal feeling of the count. Then a mystical explanation followed, where, according to the first letters written on the card table, Sophia read Leo's confession: “Your youth and the need for happiness remind me too vividly of my old age and the impossibility of happiness,” then - a letter with a marriage proposal, which was received a resounding "Yes!". Well, after him - a hasty wedding.

And so, the city 18-year-old young lady became the mistress of the large estate Yasnaya Polyana. For Sophia, a completely different thing began, adulthood, full of worries, anxieties and endless love for her husband and numerous children. “Incredible happiness,” wrote Leo Tolstoy in his diary, “it can’t be that all this ends only in life .... I love her even more. She's a sweetheart". At the same time, Sophia shared with her diary: “I love him terribly .... Nothing but his interests exists for me.” And indeed, the whole life of Sofya Andreevna was dedicated to her husband. Philosophical and religious quests, literary work, refusal of luxury - Sophia passed everything through herself, and, if possible, tried to match her beloved genius. It is difficult even to list all the troubles that fell to her lot. The diaries and memoirs of Sophia Tolstoy told about them to their descendants. A difficult but favorite pastime was the rewriting of Lev Nikolayevich's manuscripts. For example, the novel "War and Peace" was changed seven times, and the main work of correspondence fell on the shoulders of the writer's wife.

Peru of Sophia herself owns stories, children's stories, memoirs. In addition, she was fascinated by painting, music and photography. Creation miraculously woven into everyday life countess, full of numerous everyday questions regarding the estate and the growing family. Like her mother, Sophia gave birth to 13 children, of whom only 8 survived.

It is not difficult to find information about their fate.

It is surprising to hear Sofya Andreevna herself in her memoirs..

In the history of Russia, there is no other couple whose life would be discussed as actively as the life of Leo and Sophia Tolstoy. There were hundreds of rumors about them, various speculations. Even the most intimate and personal details were of interest to society. Leo Tolstoy was 34 years old, Sofya Bers - 18.

All his life he was looking for an ideal, conquering women one after another. And she was young and inexperienced, in love with her future husband. Many later accused Sofya Andreevna that she could not become a good wife for the writer, that she almost ruined his life. However, it was almost impossible to please Tolstoy, despite the fact that Sonya Bers gave him all of herself.

Direct descendants, great-great-grandchildren of Leo Tolstoy - Fekla, Vladimir and Peter Tolstoy

for the first time presented the memoirs of Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya "My Life"

You have to learn many details previously unknown to the general public

personal life of Leo Tolstoy in the family circle, as well as hear judgments

Tolstoy himself on many important issues of human existence

Tfat WITH. A. =My life = read online

T.A. Kuzminskaya (sister S.A.) My life Houses And V Yasnaya Glade

T.A. Kuzminskaya's book "My Life at Home and in Yasnaya Polyana" is one of the best in the extensive memoir literature about Tolstoy. This book is about young
Tolstoy, about those " best years his life", years of family happiness and work on an immortal creation - the novel "War and Peace".

cookery book Sophia Andreevna Tolstoy

great-great-granddaughter Fekla Tolstaya reads

Descendants L. N. Tolstoy

Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya

Wife of Leo Tolstoy.

Sofya Andreevna is the second daughter of the Moscow doctor Andrei Evstafievich and Lyubov Alexandrovna Bers. Having received a good home education, in 1861 she passed the exam at Moscow University for the title of a home teacher.

The Bers family saw in Lev Nikolaevich a groom for Liza, who was married off. But the writer constantly thought about Sophia, wrote to her in letters about his experiences and about everything that he could not say personally at the meeting. In one of his letters, Tolstoy said how tormented he was by the current situation. In the same letter, he asked Sophia if she would become his wife, to which she agreed ..

In 1862 Sofia Andreevna married Leo Tolstoy.

The first years of their married life were the happiest.

Tolstoy wrote in his diary after his marriage: “Incredible happiness ... It cannot be that all this ends only in life” (Tolstoy L.N. v.19, p.154).

In 1862, Tolstoy's friend I.P. Borisov remarked about the spouses: “She is a beauty all in herself. Soundly smart, simple and uncomplicated - it should also have a lot of character, i.e. her will is at her command. He is in love with her until Sirius. No, the storm in his soul has not yet calmed down - it has subsided with honeymoon, and, there, probably, more hurricanes and seas of angry noise will sweep through.

These words turned out to be prophetic; in the 1980s and 1990s, as a result of Tolstoy's changing views on life, discord occurred in the family.

Sofya Andreevna, who did not share her husband's new ideas, his aspirations to give up property, to live by his own, mainly physical labor, nevertheless perfectly understood to what moral and human height he had risen.

In the book "My Life" Sofya Andreevna wrote:

“... He did not expect from me, my poor, dear husband, that spiritual unity, which was almost impossible with my material life and worries from which it was impossible and nowhere to escape. I would not have been able to share his spiritual life in words, but to put it into practice, to break it, dragging a whole big family, was unthinkable, and unbearable.

thick Sofia Andreevna(for household chores)

Trubetskoy (prince, sculptor) sculpts L.N. Tolstoy

The book Skeleton Dolls was written by Sofia Andreevna Tolstaya in the genre of children's literature, and is a collection of works. The stories included in this collection were written by S.A. Tolstoy in the 90s XIX century.

Nevertheless, this book is well known - among lovers of L. Tolstoy's work thanks to Tolstoy scholars, who often mention it in their literary works, the Internet audience - thanks to articles in online publications. The book Skeleton Dolls is a bibliographic rarity that arouses the interest of both researchers and thoughtful and inquisitive readers who are familiar with it "in absentia" through "Tolstoy" excursions, thematic publications in magazines and a one-man performance "Of course, yes ... Game into dolls.

The collection Skeleton Pupae includes several different stories: Skeleton Pupae. Christmas story; Grandma's treasure. Tradition; The history of the penny. Fairy tale; Vanichka. True incident from his life; Rescued Tax. Vanya's story.

Fat Sophia - pupae-skeletons

Sofya Andreevna's "material life and worries" can be judged from her diaries. On December 16, 1887, she wrote:

“This chaos of countless worries, interrupting one another, often leads me into a dazed state, and I lose my balance. After all, it’s easy to say, but at any given moment I’m worried about: students and sick children, the hygienic and, most importantly, spiritual state of my husband, big children with their affairs, debts, children and service, the sale and plans of the Samara estate ..., a new edition and Part 13 with the forbidden Kreutzer Sonata, a petition for separation from the Ovsyannikov priest, proofreading of Volume 13, Misha's nightgowns, Andryusha's sheets and boots; do not delay payments on the house, insurance, duties on the estate, people's passports, keep accounts, rewrite and so on. and so on. - and all this must certainly directly affect me.

For many years, Sofya Andreeva remained a faithful assistant to her husband in his affairs: a copyist of manuscripts, a translator, a secretary, and a publisher of his works.

Sofya Andreevna rewrote all the works of Lev Nikolaevich. Tolstoy wrote in a terrible handwriting, she copied cleanly. I gave it to him, he read, corrected again, she wrote again the next night !!!

War and peace, Sofya Andreevna rewrote 7 times COMPLETELY !!

The diary is full of female emotions... and resentment against her husband when he does not understand something. And maternal feelings, where is the truth, and where is the lie?

The artist L.O. Pasternak, who was closely acquainted with the Tolstoy family, remarked about Sofya Andreevna:

“... She was large in many ways, outstanding person- in a couple of Lev Nikolaevich ... Sofya Andreevna herself was a big personality.

Possessing a subtle literary flair, she wrote novels, children's stories, and memoirs. Throughout her life, with short breaks, Sofya Andreevna kept a diary, which is said to be a noticeable and peculiar phenomenon in memoirs and literature about Tolstoy. Her hobbies were music, painting, photography.

Their living together formed quite hard. The couple constantly quarreled, then reconciled, while losing spiritual intimacy. Several times the quarrels reached the point of a possible break in relations, but each time reconciliation came. And when the wife's tantrums became daily, Tolstoy secretly left their house, after which Sophia tried to commit suicide. This was their last quarrel, since Lev Nikolaevich was ill and soon died.

Sofia Andreevna thick at her husband's grave

The departure and death of Tolstoy had a hard effect on Sofya Andreevna, she was deeply unhappy, could not forget that before his death she had not seen her husband in her mind. On November 29, 1910, she wrote in the Diary:

“Unbearable longing, remorse, weakness, pity to the point of suffering for the deceased husband ... I can’t live.”

After the death of Tolstoy, Sofya Andreevna continued her publishing activities, releasing her correspondence with her husband, and completed the publication of his collected works.

Sofya Andreevna died on November 4, 1919. Knowing that her role in the life of Leo Tolstoy was assessed ambiguously, she wrote:

“... Let people condescendingly treat the one who, perhaps, was unbearable with young years carry on weak shoulders a high purpose - to be the wife of a genius and a great man.

Wife of Leo Tolstoy.

Biography

Sofya Andreevna is the second daughter of the doctor of the Moscow Palace Office of the real state councilor Andrei Evstafyevich Bers (1808-1868), who came from the father of the German nobles, and Lyubov Alexandrovna Islavina (1826-1886), who came from merchant family. In his youth, his father served as a doctor with the Moscow lady Varvara Petrovna Turgeneva and had a child from her, Varvara Zhitova, who thus turned out to be the half-sister of Sofya Tolstaya and the half-sister of Ivan Turgenev. Other children of the Bers spouses were daughters Elizaveta Andreevna Bers (1843-?) and Tatyana Andreevna Kuzminskaya (1846-1925) and five sons: Oryol vice-governor Alexander Andreevich (1845-?), state councilors Pyotr Andreevich (1849-1910) and Stepan Andreevich (1855-?), as well as Vladimir (1853-?) and Vyacheslav (1861-?).

Sofya was born in a dacha rented by her father, near the Pokrovskoye-Streshnevo estate, and until Sophia's marriage, the Berses spent every summer there.

The first years of their married life were the happiest. Tolstoy wrote in his diary after his marriage: “Incredible happiness ... It can’t be that this all ended only in life.” In 1862, Tolstoy's friend I.P. Borisov remarked about the spouses: “She is a charm, all beautiful. She is smart, simple and uncomplicated - she should also have a lot of character, that is, her will is in her team. He is in love with her until the Sirius. No, the storm in his soul has not yet calmed down - it has subsided with the honeymoon, and, there, probably, more hurricanes and seas of angry noise will sweep through. These words turned out to be prophetic; in the 1880s and 1890s, as a result of Tolstoy's changing views on life, discord occurred in the family. Sofya Andreevna, who did not share her husband's new ideas, his aspirations to give up property, to live by his own, mainly physical labor, nevertheless perfectly understood to what moral and human height he had risen. In the book “My Life”, Sofya Andreevna wrote: “... He expected from me, my poor, dear husband, that spiritual unity, which was almost impossible with my material life and worries, from which it was impossible and nowhere to escape. I would not have been able to share his spiritual life in words, but to put it into practice, to break it, dragging a whole large family behind me, was unthinkable, and beyond my strength.

For many years, Sofya Andreevna remained a faithful assistant to her husband in his affairs: a copyist of manuscripts, translator, secretary, publisher of his works.

Sofya Andreevna's "material life and worries" can be judged from her diaries. On December 16, 1887, she wrote: “This chaos of innumerable worries, interrupting one another, often leads me into a dazed state, and I lose my balance. After all, it’s easy to say, but at any given moment I’m worried about: students and sick children, the hygienic and, most importantly, spiritual state of my husband, big children with their affairs, debts, children and service, the sale and plans of the Samara estate ..., new edition and part 13 with the forbidden "Kreutzer Sonata", a petition for separation from the Ovsyannikov priest, proofreading of volume 13, Misha's nightgowns, Andryusha's sheets and boots; do not delay payments on the house, insurance, duties on the estate, people's passports, keep accounts, rewrite and so on. and so on. - and all this must certainly directly affect me.

Knowing that her role in the life of Leo Tolstoy was assessed ambiguously, she wrote: “... Let people condescendingly treat the one who, perhaps, was unbearable from a young age to carry a high appointment on her weak shoulders - to be the wife of a genius and a great man " . The departure and death of Tolstoy had a hard effect on Sofya Andreevna, she was deeply unhappy, could not forget that before his death she had not seen her husband in her mind. On November 29, 1910, she wrote in the Diary: “Intolerable anguish, remorse, weakness, pity to the point of suffering for her late husband ... I can’t live.”

After the death of Tolstoy, Sofya Andreevna continued her publishing activities, releasing her correspondence with her husband, and completed the publication of the collected works of the writer.

Sofya Andreevna spent the last years of her life in Yasnaya Polyana, where she died on November 4, 1919. She was buried at the Kochakovsky cemetery, not far from Yasnaya Polyana.

Children

From the marriage of Lev Nikolaevich with Sofia Andreevna, 13 children were born, five of whom died in childhood:

1. Sergei (1863-1947), composer, musicologist.
2. Tatyana (1864-1950), in 1917-1923 curator of the museum-estate "Yasnaya Polyana"; since 1899 married to Mikhail Sergeevich Sukhotin.
3. Ilya (1866-1933), writer, memoirist. In 1916 he left Russia and went to the USA.
4. Lev (1869-1945), writer, sculptor. In exile in France, Italy, then in Sweden.
5. Maria (1871-1906), since 1897 married to Prince Nikolai Leonidovich Obolensky (1872-1934).
6. Peter (1872-1873)
7. Nicholas (1874-1875)
8. Barbara (1875-1875)
9. Andrei (1877-1916), official for special assignments under the Tula governor.
10. Mikhail (1879-1944). In 1920 he emigrated and lived in Turkey, Yugoslavia, France and Morocco.
11. Alexey (1881-1886)
12. Alexandra (1884-1979), father's assistant.
13. Ivan (1888-1895).

Movie incarnations

• In the sensational film by Yakov Protazanov "The Departure of the Great Elder" (1912), the role of Sofya Andreevna was played by an American actress who used the Russian pseudonym Olga Petrova. The film was banned from showing in Russia at the request of Tolstoy's family.
• In film