ALEXEI TOLSTOI

...In one wsy Tolstoi was always sincere: his accommodation to the Stalin regime was guided not by personal advantages but by a deep conviction that this regime would accomplish the old dream of Peter—the building of a great and mighty state...

...Alexei Tolstoi as writer matured slowly...

...says Anikin, "and the answer is —in Russia...

...No sacrifice of moral principles seems to Tolstoi too difficult for the realization of this dream...

...At the beginning of the March Revolution, '1917, Kail ash, professor of Russian history, gave Tolstoi the opportunity to study the original notes of Peter's famous "Secret Archives," the so-called "Word and Action"—the GPU of Peter's time...

...Great Russia is now only dung for ploughing land...

...In these thought* about the past and present, only one link is lacking: th* bitter struggle of many generations of "weak dreamer*" for th* sake of these modest, but passive Russian people...

...But the First World War and shortly thereafter the Russian Revolution put an abrupt end to the life .In the Shadow'of the Old Linden Treee...

...Turgenev's influence is obvious in the early novels of Alexei Tolstoi, and Turgenev's softness in depicting Russian young women ia She most typical trait of Tolstoi's feminine portraits...

...But the difficult and hesitating debut of Alexei Tolstoi is rooted in the restless and nervous atmosphere of the whole of Russia's pre-revolutionsry period...

...From this time begins the brilliant rise of Tolstoi with his zealous interest "for our history, for its nodal and dramatic momenta—the epoch of Ivan the Terrible, Peter th* ~ First and the Revolution...

...Alexei Tolstoi knew bis father very •lightly because he was horn into the family of the second husband of hut mother...

...ALEXEI TOLSTOI By Vera Alexandrova Nationalism Was Keynote of His Work &v v** Alexandria AMONG the few names of Soviet writers who are popular abroad the late Aiexel Tolstoi was th* - best known...

...In the article My Way, Tolstoi ssid thst he hsd been working on this trilogy nearly 22 year* and he had finished it on the day of the German invasion, June 22, 1941...

...The Tzar Peter, the great builder of Russia's empire, had long interested Tolstoi...

...Of course, Peter th* Firtt ia only a historical romance, but it* publication cam* at a time when new terroristic method* were being applied for th* industrialization of Russi* and millions of Russian peasants were being driven oft* their farms...

...Moreover, the publication of th* romance coincided with a significant change of mind of the leading Soviet officials concerning Russia'* history, and with ths start of s campaign against "the vulgar sociologist*.'* Th* need for re-examining Russian history snd extracting from it those moment* on which the energy of leader* devoted to th* same Idea of the primacy of the state saved' Russia from foreign invasions and farthered its growth and strength became acute...

...Rich and vigorous is th* artist's word treasury, many of his characters have a hewn and chiseled quality...

...Uka Anikin, Tolstoi expected that th* war sufferings would arouse th* spirit of Russian unity and a national revival...

...New emotions began to ferment in his artistic consciousness...

...But even here Tolstoi wss sincere: he, Tolstoi, was never interested in this struggle snd ss soon ss hs recognised that th* totalitarian regime is not an anarchy, hut leads to th* revival of a powerful skate, he served it with all hi* seal and great talent...

...Notwithstanding the gigantic task accomplished by the Tzar, the artist explains why the proud dream of Peter to see Russia "great and mighty" failed...

...He does not conceal or mitigate the terror, the despotism, the arbitrariness of Peter and his close collaborators...

...For an understanding of Tolstoi it 1* necessary to mention the change which the leading characters of his second big trilogy Th* Calvary Rood underwent: Engineer Telegin snd his wife after a short period of hesitation become Soviet citizens...

...The first draft of Peter was made in the novel Peter'* Day, in 1918...

...Although Russia since Peter'* time had become a vast country with a great army, she nevertheless never appeared to her neighbors as "an equal member" of the great European family but as "poor country" and "a slsve nation...

...Tolstoi went to the front as v*r correspondent of the famous liberal newspaper Kuiikie Vedomotti...

...With bitterness Roahchin summarize* his first impression of Bolshevik propaganda: "Great Russia ceased to exist from th* moment her people laid down their arms...

...Everything must be changed: Army, State, even another soul must be put into us...

...Of Leo Tolstoi we are often reminded in Alexei Tolstoi's later romances...

...At the beginning of the Five-Year-Plan Tolstoi returned to his Peter and published from 1929 to 1934 two parts of a vast trilogy...

...But what is Russia...

...But now Tolstoi fundamentally changed his mind about the terroristic method* and showed that without them it would have been impossible "to hack our window into Europe," without them Russia would not have become the great state...

...This can be explained partly by the very nature of his epic talent...

...Nevertheless th* association of the two great names of Russian literature is perhape right in a deeper sense of the word...

...The theme of this vast work is "the return home" and the fact that it waa finished on this day seems to Tolstoi symbolical, proving that the tendency of this romance was a right one, and he, Tolstoi, did not act against his own convictions...

...And so God prompted Germans to attack the Russians because "they do not understand themselves...

...AmONG the novel* written in Pari* the most important is the first volume of The Calvary Road — a vast epic of Russia's travail during the time of revolution...

...The mother of Alexei Tolstoi was nee Turgenev...

...Instead of th* expect*' regeneration of the Russian nation the October Revolution took place, and Tolstoi left Russia and became an emigre...

...But early Tolstoi realised that the representatives of the former upper classes belong forever to the past At the same' time Tolstoi had a hazy but compelling feeling that the emigres were not the soil in which his talent could develop...

...In the article My Way written two years ago, Tolstoi confesses that in his interest in Peter he was led by his artistic intuition rather than by his conscience: he was searching the clue to the riddle of the Russian people and Russian statesmanship...

...Blood and sweat had flowed copiously at that time...

...I do not know...

...In the short story A Simple Man, an aged soldier, Anikin, sitting in the night n*sr s campfire explains to his young comrade* the significance of the war: The Russian people are a great force, but this force is paralysed by ignorance and isolation: "Ask anybody where he ia living...

...Everybody's knowledge about Russia 1* limited to hi* parent* and hi* native village...

...During the famous Moscow trials, Tolstoi did not hesitate to calumniate Trotsky, the creator and leader of th* Red Army: in one pert of his Calvary Road entitled The Br*ad, Tolstoi makes him appear a poor double-dealer, who is secretly connected with the White generals...

...This meeting, a* he himself testifies, made a great impression on him...

...The tru* heroes of th* Russisn literature are the "simple and modest men" like Lieutenant Grinev in Pushkin's The Captain'* Daughter, like Denisov in Tolstoi's War and Peace...

...The personal reactions of Tolstoi are expressed* here through this beloved "simple Russian character*"—th* modest engineer Telegin and Captain Roshchin...

...even Captain Roshchin after his bitter fight against the Bolsheviks in the White Army comes to th* conclusion the Bolsheviks were right...

...H ltd all this artistic relationship what a contrast there is in life and activities of Alexei Tolstoi and the two giants of Russian literature...

...From sll these quiet and courageous people can be traced the direct line to th* "hero** of Stalingrad," who are now admired by th* whole world...

...The failure was the consequence of the terroristic methods by which Peter's reforms had been carried out...

...Tolstoi began as a singer of the old "nests" of Russian provincial nobility...

...The German now ha* design* upon th* whoi* state...

...Important among the many novels, plays and romances written after his return, are two trilogies: Peter the Ftrtt and The Calvary Road...

...she was the granddaughter of the famous writer, Nikolai Turgenev, who was in no way related to the novelist Ivan Turgenev...

...He was living among his heroes, the Roshchins, who after their collapse in the civil war were dispersed to the far corner* of th* globe...

...The human material for th* building of such a unified State Tolstoi saw in the immense reserves of simple and genuine Russian people who had been oppressed by bureaucrats, racketeers, end stupid officials of the Tsarist regime...

...The widespread rumor* concerning hi* close relationship to Leo Tolstoi and Ivan Turgenev the father of the writer, and the family of Leo Tolstoi 1* a distant one...

...In an article written by Tolstoi in 1942 on the occasion of the 25th' anniversary of the October Revolution the author vividly denounce* th* great attention which is directed to "superfluous existence," "weak dreamers" of the old Russisn literature...

...And this has clarified our mind...

...So he decided to go back to Russia and asked the Soviet officials for permission to go horn...

...During the short period of his residence In Psrts ss an emigre, Tolstoi never made any attempt to come closer to the democratic section of the Russian emigre...

...Here at the front he met Russian folk for the first time in his life...