This document provides information about Leo Tolstoy's home called Yasnaya Polyana. It describes the main attractions for visitors, including tours of Tolstoy's house where many original furnishings are kept. The grounds also contain orchards, forests and fields. Tolstoy is buried on the estate, and it remains an important site of pilgrimage for his followers. The document also profiles Tolstoy's life and works, and mentions some of the famous Russian artists like Ilya Repin who painted portraits of Tolstoy and captured scenes from his life on the estate. Finally, it discusses Russian cultural traditions and characters associated with the New Year's holidays like Ded Moroz, Snegurochka and the decorated

1. Урок 5: Visual and Cultural Literacy
1. ИЗВЕСТНЫЕ МЕСТА
Это Ясная Поляна—дом
известного русского
писателя Толстого.
Tolstoy’s home at Ясная
Поляна is located just south of
Tula, about a three-hour ride
from Moscow. In Tolstoy’s
later years it became a place
of pilgrimage for his followers
from all over the world, and
even today it remains a site of
great interest (and beauty) for
fans of the writer and of
Russian literature in general.

2. Tours of the main house
take visitors through
different rooms, including
the parlor (above) and
Tolstoy’s bedroom (left).
Many of the furnishings
and other objects in the
house are originals and
belonged to Tolstoy and his
family.
These photos and more can be found at
http://autotravel.ru/phalbum.php/ex/11

3. Visitors to Ясная Поляна can
also walk around the grounds,
which include orchards, ponds,
birch-lined alleys, forests, and
fields. In addition to preserving
the Tolstoy family home and
other related buildings, Ясная
Поляна also functions as a
large nature reserve.

4. Instead, he was buried on his estate at Ясная
Поляна near a spot where he and his
brothers, as children, believed one could find
a little green stick which, in their imaginations,
would end all suffering and death and unite all
people as “ant brothers.” Tolstoy later wrote
that his older brother, Николенька, who had
thought up this idea of the stick, had probably
confused the word Moravian with the Russian
word for “ant”—муравей.
You can learn a lot more about Ясная Поляна by
visiting the website for the museum complex.
At the end of a long path through the
woods, you can visit Tolstoy’s grave, which is
always covered with flowers, regardless of
the time of year. Because he had been
excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox
Church for his opposition to organized
religion, Tolstoy was not given a Christian
burial.

5. 2. ИЗВЕСТНЫЕ РУССКИЕ
Лев Николаевич Толстой
(1828-1910)
Конечно, наш известный русский в
этом уроке—великий писатель Л. Н.
Толстой. Tolstoy is perhaps best
known for his longer novels, Война и
мир and Анна Каренина, but he was
an extremely prolific writer, and his
collected works consist of 90
volumes!
Толстой was also a popular subject
for painters—this portrait from 1870
by Николай Ге is one of the most
famous ones.

6. Orphaned at a young age, Толстой was raised by his aunt
Татьяна. He was a member of the landowning aristocracy
and bore the title of Count—Граф. As a young man, he
experienced a typical society upbringing, and in 1844, at the
age of sixteen, he entered the Kazan University (Казанский
университет). Eager to return to Ясная Поляна and work
on his estate, Толстой left the university after three years
without completing his studies.
1848, аgе 20
1854, аgе 26
Толстой joined the army in 1851 after following his
brother Николай to the Caucasus. While there, he wrote
his first story, the semi-autobiоgraphical Childhood
(Детство). In 1854 he was transferred to Sevastopol,
where he participated in the Crimean War. His
experiences there served as the source for his next work,
Sevastopol Tales (Севастопольские рассказы).

7. 1868, age 40
After the war Толстой returned to
Ясная Поляна, where he continued to
write and to work on his estate. In 1862
he married a young woman named
Sophia Andreevna Behrs (Софья
Андреевна Берс), who bore him over
the course of their long and, at times,
tumultuous marriage, thirteen children.
She also acted as his secretary of sorts,
copying over parts of Война и мир
seven times!

8. In the years following his
marriage to Софья Андреевна,
Толстой worked on his long
novels, Война и мир (1863-1869),
and Анна Каренина (1873-1876).
This famous portrait of Толстой
by the artist Иван Крамской was
painted in 1873 at the time when
Толстой was working on Анна
Каренина. As Крамской was
studying Толстой, Толстой was
studying Крамской, and he used
him as the model for the painter
Михайлов, whom Анна and
Вронский meet in Italy.

9. While working on Анна Каренина, Толстой
gradually become depressed and was tormented by
thoughts about the meaning of life and death. This
period of doubt and despair led him to develop his
own philosophy, which he expounded in his
Confession (Исповедь) in 1879; since it contained
explicit criticism of both the Russian state and the
Orthodox church, Исповедь could only be published
abroad. Tolstoyism (Толстовство), as his belief
system came to be known, was founded upon the
teachings of Christ—in particular, the Sermon on the
Mount. It advocated, among other things, non-
resistance to evil (that is, non-violence), universal
love, vegetarianism, avoidance of anger, avoidance
of alcohol and tobacco, sexual abstinence, and
avoidance of judgment.
Tolstoy’s later works make clear the influence of his
religious conversion, and most of them are more
didactic in nature. Some of his best known works
from that period include The Death of Ivan Ilych, The
Kreutzer Sonata, and Resurrection.
1897

10. As his philosophy became more
and more popular, Толстой and
his extended family at Ясная
Поляна received visitors from all
over the world. His ideas
influenced many, including
Gandhi, Jane Addams, and, if only
indirectly, Martin Luther King, Jr.

11. In the fall of 1910, after years of frustration with his inability to lead the life he
wanted to lead, Толстой resolved to leave Ясная Поляна once and for all. He left in
the middle of the night so that Софья Андреевна would not know, and set out to
live as a religious pilgrim. He contracted pneumonia during his travels and died a few
weeks later in the home of the stationmaster at Астапово. His flight and death
attracted press coverage from all over the world. His obituary in The New York Times
offers a glimpse into his celebrity status.

12. 3. ИЗВЕСТНЫЕ ХУДОЖНИКИ И ИХ КАРТИНЫ
Илья Репин (1844-1930)
One of the most famous
(and prolific) painters
from the second half of
the nineteenth century
was Илья Ефимович
Репин. Repin’s works are
considered classics of the
realist style, and many of
his works are familiar
images to all Russians.
This monument to Репин is located in
the center of Moscow near the river.
Self-portrait (Автопортрет, 1878)

13. You no doubt recognize the man
in this painting. Репин was a
frequent visitor to Ясная Поляна,
and he painted many portraits of
Толстой over the years.
Что делает Толстой в этой
картине?
«Лев Николаевич Толстой на отдыхе
в лесу», 1891

14. 1887
In addition to working
with his peasants,
Толстой also often
dressed like them. In
this famous painting
called Толстой босой
(“Tolstoy barefoot”),
from 1901, Толстой is
wearing a type of shirt
that has come to be
known as a толстовка.
(In modern Russian a
толстовка is a hooded
sweatshirt.)

15. «Пахарь. Л.Н. Толстой на пашне», 1887
Толстой regularly worked on his estate
among his peasants; physical labor and
making oneself self-sufficient were
foundational ideas in Tolstoyan thought.
«Лев Николаевич Толстой в
кабинете под сводами», 1891
This room on the first floor of
Ясная Поляна looks much the
same today as it does in this
painting.

16. In addition to Толстой, Репин painted
portraits of many of his contemporaries,
including the composers Модест
Мусоргский (1881), on the left, and
Михаил Глинка (1887), above.

17. The writers Иван Тургенев (author of the
novel Отцы и дети) and Корней Чуковский
(author of many children’s rhymes, including
Телефон), were also subjects of Repin’s
brush.
1874
1910

18. Репин was also famous for his large canvasses, many of which depicted historical events or
commentary on social themes. Below is one of his best known works—«Иван Грозный и сын
его Иван 16 ноября 1581 года» (1883-85), which depicts the moments after Ivan the Terrible
(Иван Грозный) killed his son in a fit of rage. The piece was quite controversial and deeply
disliked by the tsar, Александр III, who saw it as a potential call for regicide; he initially
forbade its owner, the collector Павел Третьяков, from exhibiting the work in his gallery.

19. This image is so well known to Russians that it even spawned its own internet meme
series called Иван Грозный убивает всех! (Ivan the Terrible kills everyone!). You can
see Иван making his way into lots of famous paintings and other popular images.
Below are a couple of other familiar paintings with Иван Грозный on the hunt…

20. Бурлаки на Волге (“Volga Boatmen”), 1870-73
This painting of human mules whose job was to pull boats against the current on the Volga
gained Репин great fame for its depiction of the harsh reality of this life of toil. Репин based
his painting on barge haulers he had met while traveling through the Russian provinces. The
Volga Boatmen also provide another cultural idiom for Russians through the song “Эй,
ухнем!» (“Yo, heave ho!”). You can listen to this classic recording by the Red Army Choir, but
you might also recognize the tune from some non-Russian sources—it’s frequently used as
background music in cartoons and other media.

21. Крестный ход в Курской губернии (“Religious Procession in the Kursk Province”), 1880-83
This painting depicts not only the fervor of religious belief among provincial Russians, but also
its hypocritical foundation in its reinforcement of class differences. On the left you can see both
a figurative and literal dividing line between the poor and the other segments of the population.

22. Запорожцы пишут письмо турецкому султану (“The Zaporozhian Cossacks write a letter to
the Turkish Sultan”), 1891
This painting depicts a 17th century legend about how the Zaporozhian Cossacks sent a mocking
reply to an ultimatum received from Mehmed IV, sultan of the Ottoman empire. Clearly, they
did not take it seriously. (Note the dative case in the title!)

23. 4. «ИДИОМЫ» РУССКОЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ:
ДЕД МОРОЗ, СНЕГУРОЧКА, ЁЛКА
One of the biggest holidays in Russia is New Year’s or Новый год,
which during Soviet times replaced Christmas (Рождество) as the
main holiday of that season. In the post-Soviet era, Russians have
again begun to celebrate Рождество, but they do so on January 7,
which corresponds to December 25 on the Julian calendar. The
Julian calendar was used in Russia until 1918, when it
was replaced by the Gregorian calendar for everything
except religious holidays.
The Russian version of Santa Claus is called Дед
Мороз—Father Frost—and he is often accompanied
by his granddaughter and helper Снегурочка, the
Snow Maiden. They bring gifts to Russian children
on New Year’s Eve.

24. The official residence of Дед Мороз is not
at the North Pole, but rather in Великий
Устюг in the Вологодская область. In these
photos, you can see that even Владимир
Путин visits Дед Мороз. Do you think
Володя Путин will receive a gift from Дед
Мороз this year? (Would Дед Мороз dare
not reward him?)

25. To wish someone “Merry Christmas” in Russian, you say «С Рождеством» or
«С Рождеством Христовым». To say “Happy New Year,” you say «С Новым
Годом!». (This construction involves the instrumental case, which you will
learn in Lesson 7.)

26. Виктор Васнецов, 1899
The artist Васнецов painted many
pieces depicting characters and
scenes from Russian folk tales,
including Снегурочка.
There are lots of Russian films,
cartoons, musical productions, etc.,
that depict these characters. You can
watch the classic animated film
Снегурочка from 1952 (it has English
subtitles), or a shorter one about Дед
Мороз и Снегурочка. If you like opera
and do not mind not having subtitles,
you can also watch a segment from
the Bolshoi Theatre’s production of
composer Rimsky-Korsakov’s
Снегурочка.

27. And what about the Christmas tree? In
Russian it is ёлка, and it looks a lot like a
tree you would see in other countries that
celebrate Christmas.

28. Do you want to learn more? You
can watch this children’s cartoon
(мультфильм or мультик) about
the white kitten, Мусти, and his
ёлка.
С Рождеством! С Новым Годом!
Or maybe you would prefer learning
how to make a ёлка from a
champagne bottle and candy?