by Cathy Porter
24th. I stood for a long time at the grave in spiritual communion with my husband. This evening I copied and read aloud to Yulia and Bulgakov the letters he wrote from the Samara steppes in 1871.
25th. Went to L.N.’s grave as soon as I got up, taking fresh flowers and seeds for the birds. Taras was there. On the way back I met the village policeman and the guard—not a pleasant experience. I spent the day with outsiders—Yulia, Bulgakov, Saltanov. This evening an Englishwoman travelling around Russia on foot arrived with some Jew. I copied some of L.N.’s letters and one from N.N. Strakhov, which I sent to Contemporary World.
31st. I worked on the letters a little this morning, and Andryusha and Katya came for dinner. We spent a pleasant day together, and saw in the New Year in a nice friendly fashion. Makovitsky also paid a brief visit.
1913
8th March—huge Women’s Day demonstrations under the auspices of the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, in Moscow, St Petersburg and other cities. May—armistice signed with Turkey. Divisions emerge within anti-Turkish coalition over spoils, and Tsar Nicholas urged by many in his government to take Straits of Constantinople.
26th February—Sasha Tolstaya buys Yasnaya Polyana from her mother and brothers for 40,000 rubles, which Sofia divides between her thirty-eight dependants. 26th March—over two-thirds of Yasnaya Polyana’s land, including forests, is transferred to the peasants (according to the conditions of Tolstoy’s will), while Sofia retains the rest of the estate, including the house and orchard. She starts work on an edition of Tolstoy’s diaries. More excerpts from My Life published.
7th January. Sasha and Varvara Mikhailovna came; we drank tea, talked and parted on friendly terms. I collected some books to be bound, wrote to Russian Word and the Sun of Russia, and spent the rest of the day copying my late husband’s letters.
20th. I had a visit from my son Andryusha, still unwell, and Ilya; I lent him 6,000 rubles and he cheered up immediately. But will it last? The visitors arrived and looked around the house. I did more copying.
31st. I am reading nothing but French books. I have never read Zola’s Fécondité and am curious to do so. More unpleasantness with Sasha; she wants to gain possession of the property and the Yasnaya Polyana library. What will this strange—to say the least—girl think up next? More threats and blackmail!
8th February. Dreadfully upset by news in the papers about the Senate’s decision on the manuscripts; it seems they’ll refuse again, the cowards!*
13th. I copy Lev Nik.’s letters, and my heart suffers at our gradually dwindling happiness. My daughter Sasha visited briefly—a stranger, alas! This evening I played a Mozart quintet and symphony as a duet with Varya.
24th. Various people arrived early this morning to look at the study—Academician Sreznevsky, a dentist, and a member of the Tolstoy Museum. We visited the grave with Biryukov, and took flowers, and were surrounded by a flock of hungry birds. I spent the rest of the day embroidering underwear, and gave Biryukov a lot of material for his biography of Lev Nik.
25th. Biryukov has left. I did some embroidery and numbered L.N.’s letters.*
26th. Went to Tula this morning to discuss the buying and selling of Yasnaya Polyana.* I was joined by Ilya and Sonya, Andryusha, Misha, Sasha (in another hotel), Vaka Filosofov and many friends. Painful business discussion, visit to the notary, exhaustion. The streets are rivers and the sun is shining, but the countryside is still plunged in grim winter.
3rd [March]. Printed photographs all day. Ilya visited. He keeps coming up with plans to make enough to live on, and has none of his Yasnaya Polyana money left. He took my memoirs to use them to write his reminiscences of his father.
10th. Yulia and I left by express train for the Crimea, via Tula, to stay with my daughter Tanya. We were given a lovely large compartment just for the two of us.
11th (Yalta). We arrived in Yalta by automobile at 5.30 in the evening, after various adventures with a burst tyre and so on. The Sukhotins welcomed us warmly, especially little Tanechka. It’s a pity my room is downstairs and theirs is on the 4th floor.
14th. Tanya, Tanechka and I visited my mother’s grave, high on a hill with a view of the sea and mountains. Painful memories of Mother’s suffering and death, followed by the murder of her son Vyacheslav, still in deep mourning at the time.
22nd. I went to Gaspra with Yulia. Everything was so lovely, even memories of Lev Nikol.’s illness, because we, his family, looked after him with love, and he was mine, not Chertkov’s!
28th. We sailed to Sevastopol, where we went for a walk to the Malakhov burial mound, and this evening we returned home by train. I had a pleasant journey with the Sukhotins in a spacious international carriage. The weather was fine, and we were very comfortable.
30th (Yasnaya Polyana). This morning we said goodbye to the Sukhotins, who are staying in Oryol. My heart ached at the parting, but it was good to get home. Dear Bulgakov was happy to see us, and the servants seemed so too. I went to L.N.’s grave and decorated it with Crimean flowers.
3rd April. Endless bustle all day. The surveyor Korotnyov came to discuss the boundaries of my property at Yasnaya Polyana. Ganeev called about the workmen who are digging the ditch and the dam. Some people arrived from Belobrodov regarding my sons’ payment for the trees.* I printed photographs of Lev Nik. and visited the grave, and this evening I read Andreev’s ‘He’. Rubbish.
4th. Most upset this morning by Sasha’s article in the newspapers about her right to the manuscripts.* Yet more vileness. She says I refused to go to a court of arbitration, when it was she who refused to go.
20th. I wandered about Yasnaya Polyana for a long time, then sat down on the bench in the fir plantation where Lev Nik. used to sit, and where I once lay down and sobbed for hours, without noticing the rain or damp. I cried today too and prayed. Then I went back and worked on L.N.’s letters to me.
1st May (Moscow). I dined with Seryozha and spent the evening with him. On the train I read Pascal.
3rd. I went to the warehouses, paid Stupin for storing our furniture, and collected the books from the late Kokoryov’s warehouse on the embankment across the Moscow River. I dined with the Maslovs.
4th. Finished my business and left for St Petersburg.
7th (St Petersburg). Spent a very pleasant day with Lyova, Dora and their delightful children. Yesterday the Chief Procurator of the Senate, Dobrovolsky, called on the Kuzminskys and me, and promised that my case would be successful in the Senate. This evening I left for Moscow.
12th June. A German baron visited. He has travelled the world and was terribly talkative. I spent the morning with him, then talked to Gruzinsky about the publication of the letters. I sawed dead wood, chopped and mowed. A fine day. This evening Gruzinsky played the piano.
14th. I copied Lev Nikol.’s letters to me, then wrote to Lyova, to a Frenchman about aristocratic families in Europe, to Krapivna about the Circassian guard,* and to Shenshin about books.
17th. My son Andryusha came, I’m always glad to see him, although I disapprove of much of what he does, and grieve for him. The police came after hearing of Konyshev’s threats to beat the bailiff to death. So unpleasant! It’s raining again. I am writing to the newspapers about our badly behaved visitors.*
25th. My son Ilya arrived last night. A great many visitors today—11 men on bicycles from St Petersburg, an American from New York, and a husband and wife from Siberia. Then Bulygin came to give advice on the construction of the dam. A lovely hot day! I sketched mushrooms.
27th. Bulgakov and I went to visit Seryozha in Nikolskoe. We travelled from Cherni by cab, and I greatly enjoyed our drive through the fields and country lanes. We spent a quiet family evening chatting together. I love Nikolskoe, and always remember my youth when I go there.
28th. My son Seryozha’s birthday—he is 50 already. I congratulated him and gave him 100 golden rubles. Old Countess Zubova was there too, a dear old woman. Varya Nagornova then came with Ada, and their arrival was followed by such a heavy s
hower that we didn’t expect to see my daughter Tanya and her husband—but shortly afterwards they too arrived. We had a very happy day. Bulgakov sang all evening, and Seryozha played the piano beautifully.
29th. The Sukhotins left at 12, followed by Varya. We went for a walk, then visited the orphanage—30 boys and three teachers. The boys performed a bad play and sang badly for us—earlier they had been playing ball. What sad little city starvelings they are.
12th July. A great many visitors. Later this evening 15 young people came—cadets, young girls and so on. After dinner I went to visit Sasha with Verochka. She has a lovely little place.* I am glad we are now on good terms.
20th. I helped Bulgakov with his work on the library, showed the rooms to 30 waiters from vegetarian canteens in Moscow and read about suicide and spiritualism.
29th. Osman the Circassian guard is wretched. They have refused to allow him and his brother to go home to their native country. The poor old man was sobbing and in a state of despair—I wanted to cry too.
30th. My son Lyova has come, to my great joy. He wants to stay with us for a while.
11th August. I picked flowers, walked to the grave and decorated it, talking loudly to my dead Lyovochka. We haven’t been completely separated—I always feel his presence here in Yasnaya. He is not happy and at peace, and I pray for his soul. Sasha was here, I’m happy to say, and explained a great deal to me.
24th. Sonya Bibikova brought a priest’s daughter here, who I have taken as my companion; she is very sympathetic.
26th. I worked on my Autobiography, then played Weber sonatas for a long time. Lyova, Bulgakov and I had a long conversation about war, the social order and so on.
28th. Lev Nik.’s birthday. The Gorbunovs came, and Sasha, Dima Chertkov, Boulanger, all the Yasnaya peasants and various Telyatinki types all went to the grave. The peasants sang ‘Eternal Memory’ and everyone prostrated themselves three times. I dined with Zvegintseva and Princess Cherkasskaya, who were with an officer I didn’t know. I am reading La Bruyère. I have finished a rough draft of my Autobiography.
1st September. Some peasant victims of a fire in Telyatinki arrived and I gave them just 10 rubles. This evening I read a woman’s interesting memoirs of Guy de Maupassant.
4th (Moscow). Attended to business this morning; took an announcement to the newspapers, paid Levenson 1,000 rubles for the book, petitioned the administrators about Skosyryov, the Zaseka stationmaster.
14th. Worked on my Autobiography until almost two in the morning, then read Landau’s Moses.*
15th. Read my Autobiography to Bulgakov, Medvedev and Saltanov. A telegram from some Germans about the translation of Lev Nik.’s letters to me. Was visited this morning by six intellectuals.
6th October. Nina Tikhonovna, my new companion, has arrived. She read L.N.’s letters and various articles to me.
16th. Copied and corrected my Autobiography all morning, coached the bailiff’s little girl, then copied and corrected again till 2 in the morning. I’m pining without my children or any news from them.
18th. Went to the grave with some chrysanthemums and leaves. Had a talk with Taras about the vexing problem of the peasants and how to allot the firewood—to each soul or to each stove. I urged the latter, and this was finally agreed. I pruned some bushes, corrected the proofs of my article on Lev Nik.’s four visits to Optyna Pustyn and copied. Sad and lonely!
4th [November]. Prince Nakashidze came this morning with his 9-year-old nephew, a typical little Georgian, and Dosev, who I received coldly after the letter he wrote while L.N. was alive, about his desire to leave. I finished looking through the Letters, then sorted some Georgian newspaper cuttings.
7th. The third anniversary of Lev Nikolaevich’s death. I spent the day well. I went to the grave as soon as I got up—there were already various visitors there. Then about a hundred people came to the house, mostly young people. My four sons came, Seryozha, Ilya, Andryusha and Misha, then two ladies, the daughter of N.I. Storozhenko and her friend. Seryozha played the piano, Bulgakov sang, good discussions. Andryusha and Misha have now left.
8th. Everyone left this morning—Seryozha, Ilya and the two ladies. I have hired a new Circassian, after successfully petitioning for our Osman to return to his own country. I did some sewing, and this evening I copied various writers’ autographs and dedications to Lev Nik—ch from foreign books.
10th. I did a great deal of typing today, and am still busy with my Autobiography. Seryozha took it away to make corrections.
12th. Sasha came and talked to the peasants about their affairs. She had dinner and is staying the night here.
18th. I coached the little girl, and spent the rest of the day copying my Autobiography on the typewriter, making corrections as I went along. Solemnly said goodbye to the Circassians, and took visitors around Lev Nik.’s rooms.
23rd (Moscow). Went out on business this morning with Nina; the manager of Levenson’s came to visit, and said my book, Letters to His Wife, had almost sold out.
3rd December (Yasnaya Polyana). We read Dostoevsky’s The Devils again after dinner, then sight-read a little of Gluck’s Orpheus and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. I sat and discussed books with Bulgakov.
13th. I sent 25 rubles to the priest who performed the funeral service for Lev Nik. We are still reading The Devils.
14th. Did a lot of typing—finished copying my Autobiography. We read The Devils.
17th. We have started reading Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. Dostoevsky is so coarse; I don’t like him.
22nd. I went at last to the grave; the weather was most unpleasant and my soul was desolate. I prayed all the way. Young G.V. Serov came and took away his father’s portrait of me for an exhibition. This evening we gilt nuts for the Christmas tree.
23rd. The pre-Christmas commotion is unbearable. This evening we read Gruzinsky’s article about Tolstoy’s letters, then some Dostoevsky.
30th. I spent the morning alone, but had some delightful letters from various grandchildren. This evening I lit up the Christmas tree for the servants’ children. They recited poems and we played the gramophone, and I think everyone had a good time. Sonya Bibikova came, and Nina’s sister.
31st. Seryozha, Andryusha and his wife came; Sasha too was here, and we had a nice New Year’s party, without much merriment but very amicable. I was grateful to them for not letting me pine on my own. After supper Sasha played—very well too. A sunny day, a brilliant sunset, a quiet moonlit night.
1914
Summer—strike movement reaches its highest point since 1904–6, and violent demonstrations greet President Poincaré of France when he visits St Petersburg. 28th June—Archduke Ferdinand of Austria assassinated in Sarajevo. 28th July—Austria declares war on Serbia and Belgrade bombarded. Tsar Nicholas II orders mobilization. 2nd August—Russia enters war. Wave of patriotism sweeps Russia and there is a lull in strikes and demonstrations. By mid-September some 50,000 Russians killed. Growing discontent at home.
March—legal dispute over Tolstoy’s manuscripts finally settled in Sofia’s favour. Summer—Yasnaya Polyana empties as peasants conscripted. Sofia, horrified by the war, is dismayed when her son Misha enlists and her daughter Sasha enrols as a nurse at the Turkish front, and finds her ideas becoming closer to her husband’s. October—police visit Yasnaya Polyana at night, search it and arrest Tolstoy’s former secretary Valentin Bulgakov. Sofia finishes work on My Life.
1st January. The start of another year, and I am still alive. Andryusha and Katya have left. Seryozha played beautifully all evening—Beethoven sonatas mainly.
10th. I copied my letters and finished reading The Idiot. I shall now read Chirikov’s novel and Yakubovsky’s book Positive Peasant Characters in the Work of Tolstoy.
1st February. The Chertkovs have been searched by the police.* I am interested in the new change of ministers.
4th. This evening Nina read me Turgenev’s Faust, which I had forgotten, then we corrected Tolstoy’s Letters to His Wife. And so it goes
every day. It’s as if life had frozen. It grieves me that I see so little of my children and grandchildren, but have neither the physical nor spiritual strength for it.
14th. 40 students from Shanyavsky University came to visit the grave and the house. There were some women with them too. I chattered on too long about Sasha and Chertkov. Then I copied out 28 pages of my letters. I have finished reading Turgenev’s ‘The Calm’.
24th. My son Ilya came, bringing me oranges and candied fruit. He is reading Lev Nik.’s bachelor diaries (up to 1861), which I copied out long ago.
25th. Ilyusha is such pleasant company when he is in good spirits. Someone has suggested he should travel around the cities of Russia giving lectures about his father.*
6th March (St Petersburg). I visited Lyova and Dora and dined with them; the children were adorable. I talked on the telephone with N.A. Dobrovolsky about my case in the Senate concerning the manuscripts. He said: “I simply can’t understand why they’re dragging it out so long.”
