Толстой и Толстые. Очерки из истории рода.

This multi-illustrated book “Tolstoy and the Tolstoys” is a series of essays about representatives of the famous history of Russia, the Tolstoy family. Their author is Sergei Mikhailovich Tolstoy, grandson of Leo Tolstoy. M. Tolstoy created short biographies of L. N. Tolstoy’s ancestors: his ancestor Pyotr Andreevich, grandfathers Ilya Andreevich and Nikolai Sergeevich Volkonsky, the dragonfly Pelageya Nikolaevna; he lovingly depicts the images of his early deceased parents - Maria Nikolaevna and Nikolai Ilyich; the character of his cousin, the famous Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy the American, is clearly outlined; with deep sympathy and a feeling of gratitude, he spoke about his aunt-educator Tatyana Aleksandrovna Ergolskaya and his aunts - Alexandra Ilyinichna Osten-Saken and Pelageya Ilyinichna Yushkov, who helped raise orphaned children; here is an essay about his cousin Alexandra Andreevna Tolstoy, with whom Lev Nikolaevich had a long-term friendship. The gallery of family portraits ends with essays about brothers Nikolai, Dmitry and Sergei. And in conclusion, an essay about Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, in which the main attention is focused on the formation of the writer’s personality. The story about each of the representatives of the Tolstoy family is correlated with Leo Tolstoy, with his interest in his ancestors - after all, they were the prototypes of the heroes of his works. Essays enrich our knowledge about the writer’s personality and the historical roots of his work. The life of Tolstoy reflected two centuries of Russian history and culture. Dedicated to the history of the family, the book is inspired by the idea of ​​​​the inextricable connection between the past and the present.