Leo Tolstoy and his rich literary legacy

This week's column is dedicated to legendary Russian author Leo Tolstoy and his rich literary legacy after 100 years of his death. Though the legendary author has been described as a Russian writer, his literary legacy is now a part of the cannon of world literature.

Tolstoy is recognised as a master of realistic fiction and considered one of the world's greatest novelists. He is best known for his two longest works, War and Peace and Anna Karenina are regarded as among the finest novels ever written.

Leo Tolstoy or Count Lyev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was born in his family estate Yasnaya Polyana in the Tula region of Russia. Leo Tolstoy was the fourth child of Count Nikolai Ilyich

Tolstoy's rich and influential literary legacy, by and large, realistically portrays the life in Russia in a milieu which witnessed transition of feudalism and serfdom to capitalism and market economy. His early works including the autobiographical novel Childhood, Boyhood and Youth (1852-1856) deals with the lives of rich landed gentry with a large number of serfs to serve in their lands. However, in his autobiographical notes, Tolstoy admitted that he had realised the societal gulf between the rich and poor in pre-revolutionary Russia.

Tolstoy served in the Russian army during the Crimean War, and his book Sevastopol Sketches was well-received in literary circles and praised primarily for its realistic depiction of war.

War and Peace

Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" is set in 1812, when French Emperor Napoleon, after invaded Russia conquering several European nations. Virginia Woolf described Tolstoy as "The greatest of all novelists -for what else can we call the author of War and Peace". Nikolai Tolstoy in an introduction to War and Peace wrote "Although Tolstoy's primary concern lay with exploration of human character; he was fascinated by the grand drama of historical events."

Tolstoy biographer, the Englishman Aylmer Maude, suggests that War and Peace was not a historical novel in the true sense, since the age in which his story is set remained within the memory of his parents' generation. But this is to do Tolstoy an injustice. His notes and correspondence illustrate the remarkable extent to which he sought to reconstruct the past, whether pacing the battlefield at Borodino or investigating recondite details ranging from the extent to which men still wore hair powder in 1805 to the fact that the copse in which Pierre Bezukhov fought their duel was pine rather than birch.

One of Tolstoy's major problems was that of establishing the precise nature of the genre. As he explained to Katov, the editor Russkii Vestnik in January 1865; 'the work is not a novel and is not a story, and cannot have the sort of plot whose interest ends with the denouement. I am writing this in order to ask you not to call my work a novel in the table of contents or perhaps in the advertisement either. This is very important to me and I particularly request it of you.' "

Tolstoy's personal view was that War and Peace was not a novel. It is not uncommon given the fact that Tolstoy was a novelist in the realistic tradition who passionately believed the idea. Interestingly, Tolstoy considered Anna Karenina as his true novel.

From the 1880s until his death, Tolstoy devoted himself to more spiritual and philosophical matters as the focus of his writing. During this period, he wrote several essays on ethics and morals and coming to terms with his own Christian conversion as described in 1879's Confessions. His other works include the novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1884) and the novel Resurrection (1899-1900).

In 1910, at the age of 82, Tolstoy left his home with his youngest daughter, Alexandra. After this drastic decision, he took a train to an unspecified destination. He fell ill along the way and ended up dying a few days later at a railroad stationmaster's house in the remote southern Russia railway station of Astapovo in 1910,

The last station

Tolstoy's last days have been creatively fictionalized by a novel titled, The Last Station by Jay Parini and it was made into a film recently. The film also titled The Last Station deals with last months of Leo Tolstoy that concluded with his public death at a remote railway station. According to the film, during this time his wife Sofya (portrayed by Dame Helen Mirren) battles for his soul and the copyright of his valuable works with the writer's manipulative disciple Vladimir Chertkov.

However, as the world celebrated the 100 death anniversary of Tolstoy, strangely, Russia seemed to have completely ignored the greatest Russian author. Neither the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev nor Prime Minister Vladimir Putin spoke a word about the great writer on November 20 the day 100 Tolstoy's anniversary fell.

Despite the lack of political recognition, there were many Russian artists who celebrated Tolstoy's death centenary. The Russian Tchaikovsky Grand Symphony Orchestra started a tour of Europe on October 30, 2010. The orchestra performed only those pieces that the local public wanted to hear. For example, in the Paris Pleyel concert hall, it performed a composition where passages from Leo Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' were read to music by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. This unique composition was created by the orchestra's director and conductor Vladimir Fedoseev and his wife Olga Dobrokhotiova.

Despite all these global recognition, the Russian Centre in Colombo has forgotten Tolstoy! This Great Russian author was not featured at the Russian Literary Ceremony held at Russian Centre, Colombo. The entire ceremony was more or less dedicated to Anton Chekov and his Sri Lankan connection.

It is quite strange why the Russian Cultural Centre in Colombo has quite conveniently forgotten Leo Tolstoy. Is it due to an 'inconvenient truth' on the part of the Russian Cultural Centre and the organisers of the Russian Literary Ceremony?