Leo Tolstoy

In 1862, Tolstoy tied the nuptial knot with Sofya Andreyevna Bers, daughter of a court physician. She was 16 years his junior at the time of marriage.

The couple was blessed with thirteen children including, Count Sergei Lvovich Tolstoy, Countess Tatyana Lvovna Tolstaya, Count Ilya Lvovich Tolstoy, Count Lev Lvovich Tolstoy, Countess Maria Lvovna Tolstaya, Count Peter Lvovich Tolstoy, Count Nikolai Lvovich Tolstoy, Countess Varvara Lvovna Tolstaya, Count Andrei Lvovich Tolstoy, Count Michael Lvovich Tolstoy, Count Alexei Lvovich Tolstoy, Countess Alexandra Lvovna Tolstaya and Count Ivan Lvovich Tolstoy, out of which three died in infancy.

Though the couple experienced a happy and contented married life initially but towards the end, the blissfulness gave way to unhappiness as Tolstoy’s beliefs became increasingly radical and in tangent with those of his wife.

Leo Tolstoy was born to Count Nikolay Tolstoy and Princess Volkonskaya in Yasnaya Polyana, in the Tula Province of Russia. Youngest son of the family, Tolstoy experienced a lot of personal grief and sorrow at an early age.

His mother passed away when he was just two. At the age of nine, he lost his father. All his siblings including him were under the care of an aunt, who too passed away, leaving the care of children to another aunt.

Young Tolstoy attained most of his primary education at home with the help of German and French tutors. In 1843, he enrolled at the University of Kazan for an Oriental language program. However, his poor academic performance forced him to transfer to an easier law program. The transfer did not help him much as he left the University of Kazan in 1847 without a degree.

After his failed attempt at attaining education, Tolstoy tried his hand at farming. Aiming to be the perfect farmer, this attempt too did not bring any favourable result. However, Tolstoy started writing a journal, a custom which became a lifelong habit.

Tolstoy then joined the army as a junker, south of the Caucasus Mountains, at the suggestion of his brother Nikolay who was in the army too. It was during his years as a junker that Tolstoy unfolded a new dimension in his life as a writer.

His first written work was an autobiographical story in which he penned his fond childhood memories. Titled ‘Childhood’, he submitted the work to ‘The Contemporary’, which was the most popular journal of the time. The story was readily accepted and published. Little did Tolstoy know then that this was just a beginning of a prolific career!

After the success of ‘Childhood’, Tolstoy was inspired to start off with his next work, ‘The Cossacks’, which gave an insight into the day-to-day life at the Army outpost in the Caucasus. Meanwhile, Tolstoy was transferred to Sevastopol in Ukraine, where he fought the Crimean War.

While at war, Tolstoy kept his new-found fantasy alive and managed to pen another book, which was a sequel to his autobiographical ‘Childhood’. The book was titled, ‘Boyhood’ and was published in 1854.

Tolstoy gave a vivid account of the war and its striking contradictions through his three part novel, ‘Sevastopol Tales’, which he released in the middle of the Crimean War. It was in this book that Tolstoy experimented with his writing technique. Tolstoy left the army in 1855.

Much of the early years of the 1860s were spent working on the masterpiece-to-be by Tolstoy. Much before the release of the novel, Tolstoy published a portion of the novel, under the title ‘The Year 1805’ in 1865. In 1868, he released three more chapters of the novel.

It was in 1869 that Tolstoy’s novel ‘War and Peace’ was released, which catapulted him to great success. It was his big ticket to stardom and success. The book gave a historical account of the Napoleonic Wars, combined with its thoughtful development of realistic yet fictional characters. It also highlighted the fact that much of the quality and meaning of one’s life is derived from his day-to-day activities.

The anticipation and expectations from the book were so high that following the release, the first edition of the book was sold out immediately. The book was widely recognized and received a grand reception. It was translated into many other languages post its publication.

Following the success of ‘War and Peace’, Tolstoy began to work on his next novel, titled ‘Anna Karenina’. The book, much like other books of Tolstoy, had mix of both fictional and non-fictional elements. It was based on the then state of Russia’s war with Turkey and included some fictionalized biographical events from Tolstoy's life.

The release of ‘Anna Karenina’ occurred in a frame of time, from 1873 to 1877, in the Russian Messenger. It was widely accepted and recognized both by the general public and critics. ‘Anna Karenina’ not only further established Tolstoy’s reputation as a literary genius; it firmed his financial position as well.