Writing materials about Leo Tolstoy can include his introduction, representative works, classic quotes, etc.

1. Character introduction

Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828-1910), the greatest representative of Russian critical realism literature and world literature One of the greatest writers of all time. He is a well-known aristocrat, his father is Count Nikolai Ilyich, and his mother Maria Nikolayevna is the daughter of the Duke.

Tolstoy received a typical aristocratic family education since childhood. He studied at the Department of Oriental Languages ??and Literature at Kazan University, preparing to be a diplomat, and transferred to the Department of Law the following year. In his later years, Tolstoy strived to live a simple civilian life and attempted to distribute his family property to farmers. Due to disagreements with his wife, he ran away from home in October 1910 and died at a small station on November 7 at the age of 82.

A generation of literary giants has completed their life journey. As someone said: "It has always been the revolution of shoemakers who wanted to be nobles, but the Russian aristocrats revolutionized to be shoemakers." Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), the greatest Russian writer in the 19th century, was such a person.

His major works include the autobiographical trilogy "Childhood", "Boyhood" and "Youth", the novellas "Morning of a Landlord" and "The Cossacks", and the novel "War and Peace" , "Anna Karenina", "Resurrection".

The long masterpieces "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina" created from the 1960s to the 1970s earned him a high world reputation. "Resurrection", written in the late 1980s, is a summary of the author's life creation and ideological exploration.

2. Representative works

1. "Anna Karenina"

"Anna Karenina" was created from 1873 to 1877. It is an unparalleled picture of Russian social life in the 1870s. At that time, Russia was in a period of great historical change, and Russia's ancient feudal landlords were violently impacted by the wave of Western European capitalism. "Everything is turned upside down, everything is just beginning to be established."

The work tells the story of Anna, an aristocratic woman, who pursues love and happiness, but fails in the face of Karenin's hypocrisy and Vronsky's indifference and selfishness. He was bleeding badly and eventually ended up committing suicide by lying on the train and leaving his body in the station. The manor owner Levin opposed the private ownership of land, resisted the capitalist system, and sympathized with the poor peasants, but he could not get rid of the aristocratic habits and fell into an inextricable contradiction.

Contradictory periods, contradictory systems, contradictory characters, and contradictory psychology make the whole book bump in the whirlpool of contradictions. This novel is a portrayal of the nervous and panic-stricken Russian society in the transition period between the old and the new.

In modern Chinese literature, Tolstoy’s influence can also be seen everywhere. In Lu Xun's "A Little Thing", there is Tolstoy-style introspection and repentance; in Bing Xin's "A Melancholy Youth", the protagonist is very much like Ilqianne in "Youth".

The mother image in Bing Xin's other work "Superman" can be said to be the embodiment of Tolstoy's love; Ye Shaojun's "Ni Huanzhi", Mao Dun's "Three Company", Lu Yin's " Excellent works of modern Chinese literature such as "My Old Friend on the Seaside", Wang Tongzhao's "Smile", and Xu Dishan's "The Spider Weaving a Web" all reflect Tolstoy's theory of pan-love, views on labor and views on human nature.

2. "War and Peace"

"War and Peace" is the first voluminous and 1.3 million-word epic work in the history of Russian literature. The novel is based on the Russo-French War of 1812, centered on the Russian Patriotic War of 1812, and reflects the major historical events from 1805 to 1820.

The novel begins in 1805 when the Petersburg nobles discuss Napoleon's campaign in Europe. The Chinese, European, Russian and Austrian allied forces and Napoleon were defeated across the board, and finally ends in 1825 on the eve of the Decembrist Movement. The work focuses on the thoughts and actions of the forty families of Bolkonsky, Bezukhov, Rostov, and Kuragin in war and peace environments.

Using the fate of the four main members of the family, Andrei, Pierre, and Natasha, as the plot thread throughout, it depicts Russian social fashion and shows a broad picture of life.

It is a realistic and heroic epic novel. The emergence of the novel coincided with the unprecedented prosperity of Russian critical realist literature. Like a bright star, it added luster to Russian literature and won Tolstoy the reputation of a world literary giant.

3. "Resurrection"

"Resurrection" is a masterpiece by the Russian critical realist writer Tolstoy and one of the immortal masterpieces of world literature. The protagonist of the novel, Katyusha Maslova, was originally the adopted daughter of an aristocratic landowner. She was abandoned after being seduced by her master's nephew, the young aristocratic Duke Nekhludoff.

As a result, she fell into a life of misery. She was driven away by her master while she was pregnant. She wandered around and became a prostitute for eight years. Later, she was framed for murder and was arrested and imprisoned. Ten years later, Nekhludoff appeared as a juror in Maslova's case.

He recognized the defendant as Maslova, whom he had abandoned ten years ago, and he was condemned by his conscience. In order to atone for his soul, he traveled around to commute her sentence. When all efforts failed, Maslova was escorted to Siberia, with Nekhludoff accompanying her.

On the way, a notice came from the emperor that Maslova had been commuted from hard labor to exile. Although Maslova still loved Nekhludoff at this time, she refused his proposal for the sake of his future and married the political prisoner Simonson. The experiences of these two protagonists show their spiritual and moral resurrection. The novel exposes those officials who are corrupt and bend the law and touches the essence of the old law.

3. Classical Quotes

1. All happy families are very similar; and every unhappy family has its own misfortune.

2. All self-interested lives are irrational and animal lives.

3. Even in the best, most friendly, and simplest relationships, flattery or praise is indispensable, just as anointing is indispensable to make the wheel spin smoothly.

4. Caring for public welfare should be shared by every well-educated person.

5. The main obstacle to understanding the truth is not fallacy, but specious truth.

6. Human beings are given a job, which is spiritual growth.

7. Happiness does not mean causing even a small amount of pain to others, but means directly contributing to the joy and happiness of others. It seems to me that it can be most succinctly expressed in this respect as follows: Happiness consists in refraining from evil, in forgiving, and in loving others.

8. Have life goals, lifelong goals, goals for a period of time, goals for a stage, goals for a year, goals for a month, goals for a week, goals for a day, goals for an hour Goal, one minute goal.

9. Praise not only affects people’s emotions, but also plays a huge role in people’s reason.

10. If you think that beauty is goodness, what a bizarre fantasy it is!

11. In order to live happily, we should believe in the possibility of happiness.

12. Can you do it - bold but not impatient, quick but not frivolous, active but not frivolous, obedient to your boss but not flattery, responsible but not self-willed, winning and winning? Not arrogant, happy with achievements but not showing off, self-respecting but not arrogant, bold but not deceiving, strong but not pedantic, lively but not frivolous, straightforward but not naive "War and Peace".

13. Being loved is the same happiness as loving others, and once you get it, it will last a lifetime.

14. Soak three times in clean water, bathe three times in blood water, and boil three times in alkaline water, and we will be extremely pure.

15. Anything is better than hypocrisy and deception.

16. Ideal books are the key to wisdom.

17. All people live and act partly according to their own thoughts and partly according to the thoughts of others.

18. Everyone has something deep in his heart that only he understands.

4. Further reading

Tolstoy’s Melancholy.

On November 10, 1910, Leo Tolstoy decided to leave. "Why should we live according to God's requirements? Because if we don't do this, the life that eventually leads to death will be meaningless." Before 5 o'clock in the morning, he ordered the driver to hitch the horse, bring his diary, pencil and quill, and hurriedly Escaped from Polyana Manor. From this day on, the door to the nineteenth century slowly closed behind him.

He has long wanted to run away from home. 1884 was the first time, but halfway through he felt that he still lacked strength and had to return home. He wrote in his diary: "I am extremely sad... I really shouldn't have left. It seems inevitable."

He felt ashamed of his life as a manor owner in a small country with few people, " How will all this end?" As early as the early 1880s, he hoped to distribute all his property to the poor according to the instructions of the Gospels, and practiced it, and began to gradually implement common people's vegetarianism in his daily life. , manual labor.

“There was a period when I was proud of my intelligence and family background. Now I know that if there is anything good about me, it is a kind heart that is sensitive and capable of love. ." He said in "Confessions", "The life of rich and learned people like us not only disgusts me, but also loses any meaning."

He decided to give up his own interests and give up. All his property and royalties were distributed to the poor in order to stabilize his conscience. His decision made his wife very angry. There were constant disagreements between the two, and Tolstoy could no longer be clean. In his later years, Tolstoy also spent most of his energy on making tea, chopping firewood, lighting stoves, and writing literacy textbooks for students.

Writing Russian readers for farmers, but all this seems to be a huge waste to outsiders. Gorky never believed that a great writer "farms the land, repairs stoves, and makes leather boots." What is the need. But Tolstoy has been doing this for decades. His image of wearing a wide farmer's coat, a fluffy beard, and a sad face is impressive.

"How will all this end?" He believed that "outstanding elements of all times" should consider this issue carefully. Human beings are born unequal, the loss of human dignity, the sin of humanity, and the evil of politics. How to end all of this?

He does not believe that "violent resistance to evil" is an optional path. Violence itself is evil, and its ultimate result is still an evil.

He emphasized "moral self-fulfillment" and wrote in his diary in 1908: "Yes, self-cultivation is needed - what I do today at the age of eighty is exactly what I had in mind when I was fourteen or fifteen years old. The same thing that the unique passion has done: self-improvement."

This kind of "self-improvement" is centered on overcoming self and advising others to do good. "If you want to make people's situation better, you must make it better. People get better on their own, and in order for people to get better, they must pay more and more attention to themselves, to their inner lives. External, social activities, especially social struggles, always divert people from their inner lives. The attention of life.

As a result, it will inevitably make people bad, thereby lowering the moral level of society. "He became a compassionate, religious leader-like figure, just like Christ said. In that way, "Go and divide your property. Don't resist evil with violence. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other cheek to him. Don't judge people and don't kill people." He became the "conscience of the world." In the eyes of ordinary people, this conscience seems a bit "abnormal."

Even a little "fat" - seeing the beggar woman in winter, the beggar woman was cold and hungry, "but I wore a warm short sheepskin coat and ate eggs as soon as I got home!" He said Feeling pain and shame; seeing young prostitutes on the street being taken into the police station, "But I was lying in a clean and comfortable room reading a book and drinking fig water! What the hell is going on?"

He couldn't bear this and was suffering deeply. But people still live their lives in these commonplace phenomena, as if nothing has happened. The world is normal, and the only one who is crazy is Tolstoy. He said: "I know, I am a madman." "I am extremely sad in this madhouse."

In the end, Tolstoy Tai chose to fly across the lunatic asylum on earth, run away from home, and chart a clear trajectory for his life: surrender, then liberation. He hopes that when he is old, he can leave his family and go to the forest like the Indians.

"Any religious person in his later years wants to serve God wholeheartedly, instead of having fun, gossiping, and playing tennis. I am the same." He wrote on the night he ran away: "My approach As an old man of my age usually does, he abandons worldly life in order to be alone and spend the last days of his life in a secluded place."

He wants to be like a free beast. Find yourself a clean place to die. After he fled to the Opin monastery, he was afraid that he would not be accepted because he had been excommunicated.

Standing at the steps of the abbot's room, he stood with his hat off, not daring to go in rashly. He first asked someone to pass on a message: "Please tell me, I am Leo Tolstoy. Maybe I can't Come in?" The dean came out, opened his arms and said, "My brother!" Tolstoy threw himself into the dean's arms and burst into tears...

Do we still have such characters today? As part of the elite group, our intellectuals today can still be ashamed of being blessed and noble in front of the poor, ashamed of cowardice in the face of violence, ashamed of shackles in the face of tyranny, and have deep feelings in their own hearts and under the starry sky above their heads. Do you deeply repent of your sins? Mencius said: "Shame is great for people."

Shame comes from the heart and the ears. In other words, "shame" is related to the heart and ears. The ancients called earrings "shame", the left earring "shame" and the right earring "shame". The original earrings were used to regulate women's walking posture. What will happen if a person is shameless? Gu Tinglin said: "If you are not honest, you will do everything; if you are not shameful, you will do everything."

If a person is shameless, he can do anything. Therefore, Guanzi said: "Rites, justice, integrity and shame are the four dimensions. If the four dimensions are not maintained, the country will perish." Gu Tinglin believed: "Among the four, shame is particularly important" and "the shamelessness of scholar-bureaucrats is the national humiliation." Only by knowing shame can we be brave. Only by pursuing hard and deeply self-blaming can we complete the self-improvement of personality.

It is easy to write and talk, and it is not difficult to raise one's arms and shout. What is difficult is to take action on oneself, especially to give up one's vested interests, give up the position that has been secured, and Leading yourself to the "narrow door" is the real difficulty. This kind of cultivation process is like the "Mediterranean Thought" advocated by Camus: "Knowing that the world is cold, you must try your best to burn and endure suffering for the sake of beauty and love."

On November 20, 1910, Leo Tolstoy, the conscience of Russia in the nineteenth century and the founder of the Golden Age, died on his way out. Before he died, he said: "Actually...I love a lot...how do they..." These are his last words, and we can try to complete them.