Tolstoy Remembered

Tatyana Tolstaya, born in 1864, was the second child of Lev Tolstoy and his first daughter. Eleven further children will follow, five died young. The first two parts of her reminiscences, ‘Childhood’ and ‘Adolescence’, were buried 1917 in the Garden at Yasnaya Polyana, much later dug up, just decipherable. Here she narrates vividly her years of growing up on her father’s estate among many relatives, visitors and servants; what pleasure to read!
‘Flashes of Memory’ and ‘My Father’s Death’ were written in French when living in exile in Paris after 1925. Her daughter Tatyana Albertini (*1905: https://web.archive.org/web/20150211141231/http://tolstoys.ru/en/tree/descendant... ) contributes an essay to this volume about show more her mother, their life in Paris and later in Rome. This first English edition is a translation from the French edition published in 1975. ‘My Father’s Death’ was first published in 1928 nine years after the death of her mother, Sofia.
Tatyana Tolstaya was close to both her mother and father; she understands both without judging either when describing the growing difficulties of their relationship over many years until the crisis finally broke and Lev Tolstoy left Yasnaya Polyana in the night of the 28th October 1910 to die 10 days later, taken in by the station master of Astapovo. Her account - and there are many, many by others - is gentle and warm to both.

Maxim Gorki in his personal memories of Tolstoy describes other sides of his complex personality, thus complement his daughters reminiscences. (V-20)

The family-tree of Tatiana Lvovna Tolstaya: https://web.archive.org/web/20150211085543/http://tolstoys.ru/en/tree/descendant...

Colour photograph of Tolstoy of 1908 by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky:
https://www.tolstoy-studies-journal.com/tolstoy-in-color
http://prokudin-gorsky.org/arcs.php?lang=ru&photos_id=818&type=1

Paul Birukov: Léon Tolstoï, vie et œuvre. Tome III. 1909
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Biriukov_-_Léon_Tolstoï,_...
Hathi Trust v.1 - v3: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006546446 show less

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Tolstoi-Avec-Leon-Tolstoi/244842

> AVEC LÉON TOLSTOÏ. SOUVENIRS — par Tatiana TOLSTOÏ. — Dans les souvenirs de sa fille Tatiana, publiés pour la première fois en 1975, Tolstoï apparait sous un jour familier, aussi éloigné des images d’Épinal dessinées par ses disciples que du monstre d’orgueil et d’hypocrisie dépeint par ses détracteurs. Ni icône, ni caricature, mais un album de famille. Éclairés par des photographies inédites, ces souvenirs constituent un document exceptionnel et émouvant dont la publication a été saluée comme un événement littéraire mondial. 320 pages, 18 €
—L’Homme en Question, (28), Hiver 2010, (p. 5)