September 9 marks the 195th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Russian writer, publicist, and thinker - Leo Tolstoy.
Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 in Yasnaya Polyana in the Tula region, where he spent a significant part of his life. He lived in various Russian cities, and visited France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Britain, but always returned to his native land. He drew inspiration and created works there. His works continue to be shown on the world's screens and are the basis for famous theatres.
In 1862, Tolstoy married Sofia Bers. During this marriage, Tolstoy wrote his most important novels, such as Anna Karenina and War and Peace. He was famous and respected not only in Russia but also enjoyed the popularity of readers abroad. However, the author himself did not consider himself famous. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1901, 1902, 1906 and 1909.
Leo Tolstoy has gone down in history not only as a master of words but also as a teacher. He taught, wrote textbooks, published books for children and designed various teaching methods.
The writer's life was surprisingly closely linked to Slovakia. A Slovak, Dušan Makovický, became his close friend with the same worldview. For a time he was the personal physician of the Tolstoy family and also treated the peasants of Jasná Polana. Tolstoy trusted
Makovický very much. "Our little soul" - that's how the writer spoke of his friend. Dushan Petrovich accompanied Lev Nikolayevich when he left Yasnaya Polyana after disagreements in the family. He stood by him until his death. Makovicky tried to do everything in his power to save his friend's life.
Makovicky kept a diary in which she recorded every writer's thought and move. He made a large number of notes. As many as 6346 pages in 69 notebooks have survived. This is how the unique work "Yasnopolanskie zapiski" was created. In the hometown of this important Slovak, his family house has been preserved, on which a memorial plaque is placed.
It should be noted that Slovaks became acquainted with Tolstoy's works relatively late, in the mid-1980s. Jozef Škultéty was the first to translate Tolstoy's works into Slovak. This was followed by translations by Martin Kukučín, Dušan Makovický, Albert Škarvan and Jozef Tajovský. Thanks to them, 63 works have been translated in twenty years (since 1910). His works translated into Slovak can still be bought today.
They are taught in Slovak schools and used in theatre performances. The Municipal Theatre in Žilina chose the novel Anna Karenina (directed by M. Amsler) for its thirtieth anniversary, and one of the last premieres of the Žilina theatre is the play Kreutzer's Sonata/Whose Fault? based on the short stories and diaries of Leo Tolstoy and S. Tolstoy. The Slovak National Theatre has been staging War and Peace (directed by M. Amsler) for several years and the National Theatre in Košice offers the ballet Anna Karenina.
In honour of the great writer's jubilee, the European Slavic Literature and Culture Foundation together with the Leo Tolstoy Museum (Yasnaya Polyana) is preparing a banner exhibition as part of the "Light of Yasnaya Polyana" educational project, which will open in October.
By Katarína Štoková