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«The main thing is literary works»

Leo Tolstoy in his youth. 1851. Image: school-science.ru

Leo Tolstoy. 1848. Image: regnum.ru

Leo Tolstoy. Image: old.orlovka.org.ru

At the end of 1854, Leo Tolstoy arrived in Sevastopol, the epicenter of hostilities. Being in the thick of things, he created the story «Sevastopol in the month of 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 senselessness of death and the inhumanity of war.

In 1855, from the ruins of Sevastopol, Tolstoy went to exquisite St. Petersburg. The success of his first Sevastopol story gave him a sense of purpose: “My career is literature—to write and write! From tomorrow I work all my life or I give up everything, rules, religion, decency — everything” . In the capital, Leo Tolstoy completed «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 true stories about the Crimean War, Tolstoy entered the St. Petersburg literary circle of the Sovremennik magazine. During this period, he wrote the story «Snowstorm», the story «Two Hussars», finished the trilogy with the story «Youth». However, after some time, relations with writers from the circle deteriorated: «These people disgust me, and I’m disgusted with 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, 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. In 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 in the following way: “The main thing is literary works, then family obligations, then household chores . .. And so to live for yourself is to do a good deed a day and that’s enough” .

In 1859 Tolstoy founded schools for peasant children in Yasnaya Polyana and in the vicinity of the village. A year after their discovery, the writer again went abroad to find out how public education is organized in European schools and «how to do it so that, knowing nothing yourself, be able to teach others» . After nine months of a European journey, he returned to Russia. Tolstoy wanted to create his own system of education in the Yasnaya Polyana school: he abolished all the rules of discipline and canceled pedagogical programs. In 1862, the writer began to publish the Yasnaya Polyana pedagogical magazine with books for reading. Later he wrote «ABC» and «New ABC» — with his own stories and author’s transcriptions of fairy tales and fables.

«To love and be so happy»

Leo Tolstoy with his wife Sophia. Image: regnum. ru

Leo Tolstoy at work. Image: regnum.ru

Leo Tolstoy with his wife Sophia. Gaspra. Crimea. 1902. Image: regnum.ru

In the artistic work of Tolstoy at this time there was a crisis. In his diaries, he increasingly expressed dissatisfaction with life: “Indecision, idleness, melancholy, the thought of death. We need to get out of this. One remedy. Effort on oneself in order to work « . In 1862, Leo Tolstoy found a way out of his despondency: “I am writing from the village, I am writing and I hear the voice of my wife upstairs, who is talking to her brother and whom I love more than anything in the world. I lived to be 34 years old and did not know that it was possible to love and be so happy” . The bride of the writer was 18-year-old Sophia Bers. The writer lived with her for 48 years. During their marriage, they had 13 children. Sophia became Leo Tolstoy’s secretary, copyist and unofficial editor.

During this period of spiritual balance, Leo Tolstoy began to write the novel «War and Peace» — a large-scale epic. The basis for peaceful everyday scenes was the life of the Tolstoy family, the writer created battle and civil scenes based on the events of Russian history. The main idea of ​​the work was not patriotism, but pacifism: the furious protest of the author, expressed in Sevastopol Tales, prompted him to describe the troubles that the war entails. In 1869Tolstoy completed War and Peace. The book was a huge success.

By the early 1870s, Tolstoy was considered one of the greatest Russian writers, but he was at odds with himself. The nobleman and the landowner were worried about social inequality in Russian society, the poverty of the peasants and the uncompromising tsarist regime. In addition, Tolstoy began to get sick. In 1871, Tolstoy went to the Samara province: on the recommendation of a doctor, he was treated with koumiss. He was so inspired by the steppe nature and the life of the Bashkir nomads that he brought the whole family here for the summer of 1873.

Samara has become a refuge and source of inspiration for the writer. After a family trip, he again took up the novel Anna Karenina, which he began in the spring of 1873. Tolstoy both loved and hated this work, which became very personal for him: “My Anna has bothered me like a bitter radish … but don’t talk bad about her to me or, if you like, then with ménagement (with caution. — Approx. ed.) , she is still adopted” . In 1877 Tolstoy completed Anna Karenina. It was a gloomy novel — it did not have that idyll that was present in the finale of «War and Peace».

“Be content with little and do good to others”

In the early 1880s, at the height of his success, Leo Tolstoy renounced his literary past and the ideal of family life — a period of spiritual and moral search began for him. Tolstoy wrote philosophical treatises in which he talked about life, art and religion. Among them are “Confession”, “So what should we do?”, “On the famine”, “What is art?”, “What is my faith?”, “The kingdom of God is within you…”.

The writer abandoned the dogmas of the Russian Orthodox Church and even created his own version of the Gospel. He combined the four gospels into one, removed everything he disagreed with, such as all the miracle stories, and left only the words of Christ. What Tolstoy wrote about did not become an abstract philosophy: he intended to live in accordance with his words.

Under the influence of the ideas of Leo Tolstoy, a whole religious and ethical trend arose in Russia — Tolstoyism.

In addition to treatises, Tolstoy also wrote works of art: the story about the search for the meaning of life «The Death of Ivan Ilyich», the story about the righteous hermit «Father Sergius», the play about hopelessness «The Living Corpse», the story about the tragic death of Naib Shamil «Hadji Murad» .

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 Resurrection provoked a backlash. February 19In 01, in the journal «Church Gazette», the Holy Synod published a resolution on the excommunication of Count Leo Tolstoy from the Church. This decision only increased Tolstoy’s popularity and drew the public’s attention to the writer’s ideals and beliefs.

Tolstoy’s literary and social activities became known abroad as well. 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 informed the Finnish writer Arvid Jarnefelt to try to prevent the award of the prize, because, «if that happened … it would be very unpleasant to refuse» .

Leo Tolstoy in advanced years. Image: regnum.ru

Leo Tolstoy. Photo by Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky. Image: news.boyarka.name

Leo Tolstoy with his wife Sophia. Image: regnum.ru

During this period, Tolstoy’s family relations were in a deep crisis — largely due to the friendship of Leo Tolstoy with Vladimir Chertkov, whom Sophia Tolstaya called the devil: separated us, he killed the artistic spark in Lev Nikolaevich and kindled condemnation, hatred, denial, which are felt in the articles of Lev Nikolaevich of recent years, to which his stupid evil genius incited him» .

Tolstoy himself was burdened by the life of a landowner and a family man. He sought to bring his life in line with his convictions, and in early November 1910 he secretly left the Yasnaya Polyana estate. The road turned out to be unbearable for an elderly person: on the way he fell seriously ill and was forced to stay at 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.

Even more materials about Leo Tolstoy — in our special project for 190 anniversary of the birth of the writer

Biography of V.I.Dikul | Dikul Center

Valentin Ivanovich Dikul was born on April 3, 1948 in the city of Kaunas (Lithuanian SSR).

He was born a premature baby with a small weight, and it was hard for his parents to take him out in the difficult post-war years.
At the age of 7, he was overtaken by the next blow of fate — he lost both parents (his father died in the line of duty, followed by his mother). The boy was left an orphan at an early age and first lived in Lithuania with his grandmother Praskovia Nikitichna, then became a pupil of orphanages (in Vilnius and Kaunas).
At the age of 10, he accidentally got to the performance of the tent circus, and this impression sunk so deep into the boy’s heart that he decided, by all means, to become a circus performer.

He often ran away from the orphanage and lived in the big top circus all day long. Over time, the circus artists stopped chasing the boy away, and he began to carry out small assignments. Watching circus performers, he began to intensively engage in acrobatics, weightlifting, wrestling and gymnastics. These types of activities were necessary for the development of flexibility and the ability to fall, which was a necessary condition for good control of one’s body and successful performance as an aerialist. He adopted the secrets of mastery bit by bit from circus performers during short contacts during the circus tour.

Persistence took its toll and he became an aerialist. But fate prepared another test for him, and he was not a trapeze artist for long.
In 1962 during a performance at the Sports Palace in Kaunas, as a result of a tragic coincidence (a steel bar burst), he collapsed from a height of 13 meters along with equipment and insurance, without having time to group. As a result of the fall, he received a severe concomitant injury (a compression fracture of the spine, a craniocerebral injury and 10 local fractures). After a week of being unconscious in intensive care, he came to his senses. It took three months to get out of a serious condition, and then the consequences of a spinal fracture came to the fore — complete paralysis of the lower extremities, with loss of sensation below the waist.

Official medicine gave an unambiguous forecast for the future — to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.

And then the teenager faced the question — what to do?

Accept and adapt to life in a wheelchair, or start a grueling struggle with illness and get back on your feet, no matter what.

He chose the latter. And already in the hospital he began to do exercises that he picked up intuitively, not knowing either anatomy or physiotherapy exercises (for example, he began to pump the muscles of the shoulder girdle, back, make turns on the stomach). At the same time, he began to independently study anatomy and biomechanics. In addition, he had the idea that it is necessary to use non-working limbs in the exercises to the extent that they were healthy. He carried out movements in paralyzed legs with the help of a rope tied to his legs, and pulled them with his hands, and then began to use counterweights in the form of weights. He came up with the scheme of block devices on bearings himself, and his friends assembled and installed it over the bed.

He had to stay in the hospital for 8 months, and he was discharged as a disabled person of the 1st group. It would seem that everything is a dead end. But fate this time gave him hope, as he managed to get a job as the head of the circus group at the Palace of Culture. And although he could not perform, he had the opportunity to do what he loved. During the day he worked with children, and in the evenings he spent training to the point of exhaustion, performing exercises that he selected himself, by trial and error.

Only in the sixth year of intensive training according to my own, empirically selected exercise program, pain sensitivity appeared, and hence a real opportunity to return movements in the legs. It took almost 7 more months for movements to appear in the paralyzed legs. Exhausting physical activity not only restored movement in the legs and a full life, but also made him a very strong person and already at 1970 he began to act as a power juggler. His numbers with 45 kg balls or tossing 80 kg weights are still unique. Strength exercises by V.I. Dikul even got into the Guinness Book of Records.

But V.I.Dikul made the greatest contribution to medicine with his unique method of rehabilitation of patients with the consequences of a spinal injury.

The rumor that Dikul was able to overcome the disease and restore movement in the limbs spread among people and patients with similar problems from all over the country and beyond came to him. At first, official medicine categorically did not accept his approach to the treatment of severe spinal patients, and he had to take patients illegally, right in the circus. The stories of real patients whom V.I. Dikul was able to help began to reach the authorities and at In 1978 the Ministry of Health of the USSR allowed a clinical trial of the rehabilitation technique. For a long 5 years on the basis of the Institute. Burdenko, his methodology was tested on patients with the consequences of trauma to various parts of the spine, as well as with the consequences of cerebral palsy. For this, a special rehabilitation department was organized in the hospital. Burdenko. The results of clinical trials of the technique proved its effectiveness and, in the end, official permission was given to use the technique.

In 1988, VIDikul was appointed director of the All-Union Center for the Rehabilitation of Patients with the Consequences of Spinal Injury and Cerebral Palsy.

In 1990, the technique was registered with the Patent Office. In order to better understand the problems and theoretical substantiations of the empirically created methodology, V.I. Dikul actively studied biology, since the principles of biomechanics and biophysics are common to all living organisms. V.I. Dikul not only received a university education at the Faculty of Biology, but over time he defended first a candidate’s, then a doctoral dissertation.

VIDikul has many awards from both government and public organizations.

At the end of the 1990s, VIDikul began to deal not only with patients with the consequences of spinal injuries and cerebral palsy, but also with other diseases of the musculoskeletal system (disc herniation, scoliosis, kyphosis, osteochondrosis, etc.