Queer Places:
Yasnaya Polyana, Pervomayskiy, Tulskaya oblast', Russia, 301214
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Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy[note
1] (9 September [O.S. 28 August] 1828 – 20 November [O.S. 7
November] 1910), usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian
writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time.[3]
He received multiple nominations for Nobel Prize in Literature every year from
1902 to 1906, and nominations for Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902 and 1910,
and his miss of the prize is a major Nobel prize controversy.[4][5][6][7]
He had homosexual attractions, which he describes both in his diary and in his
autobiographical Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth. He repressed these urges not
only because his views on sex were Victorian, but also because he was
attracted to men for their physical beauty, but to women because of their
spiritual attributes! Descriptions of the physical attraction between men
appear in The Cossacks and Anna Karenina. By the time Tolstoy wrote his last
novel, Resurrection, he had turned against all sexuality, and he portrayed
homosexuality as one more symptom of the moral decay of society.
Born to an aristocratic Russian family in 1828,[3]
he is best known for the novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna
Karenina (1877),[8]
often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction.[3]
He first achieved literary acclaim in his twenties with his
semi-autobiographical trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth
(1852–1856), and Sevastopol Sketches (1855), based upon his experiences
in the Crimean War. Tolstoy's fiction includes dozens of short stories and
several novellas such as The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886), Family
Happiness (1859), and Hadji Murad (1912). He also wrote plays and
numerous philosophical essays.
In the 1870s Tolstoy experienced a profound moral crisis, followed by what
he regarded as an equally profound spiritual awakening, as outlined in his
non-fiction work A Confession (1882). His literal interpretation of the
ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him
to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist.[3]
Tolstoy's ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The
Kingdom of God Is Within You (1894), were to have a profound impact on
such pivotal 20th-century figures as Mahatma Gandhi[9]
and Martin Luther King Jr.[10]
Tolstoy also became a dedicated advocate of Georgism, the economic philosophy
of Henry George, which he incorporated into his writing, particularly
Resurrection (1899).
Tolstoy died in 1910, at the age of 82. Just prior to his death, his health
had been a concern of his family, who were actively engaged in his care on a
daily basis. During his last few days, he had spoken and written about dying.
Renouncing his aristocratic lifestyle, he had finally gathered the nerve to
separate from his wife, and left home in the middle of winter, in the dead of
night.[79]
His secretive departure was an apparent attempt to escape unannounced from
Sophia's jealous tirades. She was outspokenly opposed to many of his
teachings, and in recent years had grown envious of the attention which it
seemed to her Tolstoy lavished upon his
Tolstoyan "disciples".
Tolstoy died of pneumonia[80]
at Astapovo train station, after a day's rail journey south.[81]
The station master took Tolstoy to his apartment, and his personal doctors
were called to the scene. He was given injections of morphine and camphor.
The police tried to limit access to his funeral procession, but thousands
of peasants lined the streets. Still, some were heard to say that, other than
knowing that "some nobleman had died", they knew little else about Tolstoy.[82]
According to some sources, Tolstoy spent the last hours of his life
preaching love, nonviolence, and Georgism to his fellow passengers on the
train.[83]
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- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy
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