It is difficult to call Leo Tolstoy’s childhood cloudless, but the memories of him set out in the trilogy are touching and sensual.
A family
His upbringing was mainly dealt with by guardians, and not by his mother and father. Lev Nikolaevich was born into a prosperous noble family, where he became the fourth child. His brothers Nikolai, Sergey and Dmitry were not much older. During the birth of the last child, the daughter of Mary, the mother of the future writer died. At that time he was not even two years old.
The childhood of Leo Tolstoy passed in Yasnaya Polyana, the Tolstoy family estate. Shortly after the death of the mother, the father and children moved to Moscow, but after some time he died, and the future writer and his brothers and sister were forced to return to the Tula province, where a distant relative continued to educate them.
After the death of her father, Countess Osten-Saken A.M. joined her. But this was not the last in a series of experiences. In connection with the death of the countess, the whole family moved to the education of a new guardian in Kazan, to the sister of his father, P. Yushkova.
"Childhood"
At first glance, we can conclude that Leo Tolstoy's childhood passed in a difficult, oppressive atmosphere. But this is not entirely true. The fact is that it was precisely his childhood years that Count Tolstoy described in the story of the same name.
In a gentle, sensual manner, he talked about his experiences and hardships, about thoughts and first love. It was not the first experience in writing stories, but it was Leo Tolstoy’s “Childhood” that was published first. This happened in 1852.
The narration is conducted on behalf of the ten-year-old Nikolenka, a boy from a prosperous wealthy family, the education of which is carried out by a strict mentor - German Karl Ivanovich.
At the beginning of the story, the child acquaints readers not only with the main characters (mother, father, sister, brothers, servants), but also with their feelings (love, resentment, constraint). Describes the way of life of an ordinary noble family and its environment.
Further, the author tells about moving to Moscow, new impressions and meeting the young hero with new people. Describes how the worldview and worldview of a young nobleman are changing.
In the last chapters of the story, it is told about the sudden death of Nicholas mother, about his perception of terrible reality and a sharp growing up.
Creation
In the future, the famous “War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina”, a huge number of articles, stories and thoughts on the lifestyle, personal attitude to the secular will come out from the pen of the author. The “childhood” of Leo Tolstoy, by the way, was not only his touching memory of the past, but also became the starting piece for creating the trilogy, which included “Youth” and “Adolescence”.
Criticism
It is important to note that the first criticism of these works was far from unambiguous. On the one hand, enthusiastic reviews of the trilogy, written by Leo Tolstoy, were published. "Childhood" (the first reviews came out of it) was approved by literary figures who were then venerable at that time, but after a while, oddly enough, some of them changed their minds.