The words "great," "simple," and "selfless" are my thoughts on Tolstoy from my student days to the present. After reading the incomplete article, I did not continue to understand his works and life story, but only thought that his thoughts were so "great".
Years later, today, after I watched "The Last Station," a film about Tolstoy's later years, my old perceptions have basically changed here. Instead, he began to sympathize with his wife, Sophia, and hated his disciple Chertkov, and his eldest daughter, Tania.
Why do you say that? I will express my views for the time being. Although I may be biased towards sentimentality, I am also rational.
In Tolstoy's youth, his vices were many. Perhaps, some people say that young people will always be impulsive, which is understandable. Yes, understandable. In life, who can be right?
I've been guessing that Tolstoy must be a very contradictory person. Why do you say that. Because in his later years, his disciples and his eldest daughter have been partnering to guard against his wife, in order to grab the copyright of all his works and put them in public ownership. He, along with his disciples and his daughter, always said that Sophia didn't understand why Tolstoy wanted to make his work public, why he didn't want to write for money, why Sophia couldn't always have a common intersection with his spirit , although Sophia and Tolstoy were so in love. It is a kind of love, they never forget each other, never abandon each other. Until Tolstoy reached the end, unable to stand Sophia and the family, he left a letter and left. However, before his death, he was in a coma and kept shouting Sophia's name. Fortunately, he and Sophia saw each other for the last time.
Precisely because of this, Tolstoy often wandered between Sophia and his disciple Chertkov for the copyright of his works in his later years, and had to make a choice. Although, in the end, he secretly granted Sophia the copyright to his disciples, and the works belonged to the public.
Just now, after watching the movie, I read another article about "Why did Gorky defend Mrs. Tolstoy?" ". The article said that after Tolstoy's death, his wife Sophia was criticized, just because Sophia had a strong ideological conflict with Tolstoy during his lifetime.
The article also said that Sophia basically didn't like the people around Tolstoy, she always felt that those people were "parasites", eating up Tolstoy's ideological spirit bit by bit, and hoped that in Tolstoy. Stern, the great writer's life left a trace, as if appearing in his future biography. In our current words: "As long as there is a person around him who is famous, then there will be some people around him who follow him, who are popular with him and who drink spicy food." This is why Sophia hates people around Tolstoy one.
In addition, there is an important plot in the film that is overlooked. Although Tolstoy and his wife have 13 children, most of these children are infirm.
In Tolstoy's huge manor, Tolstoy seemed to have forgotten what the source of his life was. It is not just by growing fruits and vegetables that he can support his family, servants, and his followers. Isn't that too funny. Tolstoy's entire family depended solely on the livelihoods earned from his works. Without Sophia's hard work behind the scenes, Tolstoy would never be able to write his works and support the entire family, including the servants and his followers. Everything Sophia does is for home. However, Tolstoy did not realize this, and of course his disciples and his eldest daughter fanned the flames in his ears and persuaded his works to be owned by the public.
A woman, toiled to take care of a huge home, is not just a responsibility, but also for love, love for Tolstoy. Although, she has become a thorn in everyone's eyes, suffering from painful accusations, who can understand her suffering? ! Otherwise, she could have kept the home for Tolstoy for decades. In today's society, when a person is a wife in such a family, I am afraid that he will either divorce or commit suicide, and there are very few who choose to stay.
It has to be said that Tolstoy contained a little vanity in order to return his works to the public, and he also satisfied the vanity of his eldest daughter and his eldest disciple. After all, Tolstoy had been in high society. Helplessly, he seemed to have no idea what the family depended on for a living, and where did the firewood, rice, oil, and salt come from. Apart from letting his words spread his thoughts far away, did he care about his family? No one would know, maybe he cared from the bottom of his heart.
Looking at the tomb with no monument and no words now, I suddenly feel a little ridiculous. But it is much stronger than Lei Feng's posing as a puppet of authoritarianism. The former, the embodiment of self-worth, the idea of republic. The latter is to embody the value of others and practice the ideas of others. Compared with the former, the latter is even more pathetic. However, it does let us know that doing good things should not care about the eyes of others, because this is a manifestation of self-worth and a unique personality charm, which has nothing to do with other people.
Even though Leo Tolstoy didn't like romanticism, in fact, there was still romanticism in his subconscious, and he pursued an ideal world, not only criticizing and ironic about reality. Although, he didn't want to admit it from the bottom of his heart.
In the end, I am still somewhat in awe of the great man "Tolstoy". At least, he and Sophia truly love each other and have been thinking about her.
The end of the movie really touched me.
PS: This movie, the drama is very tense. In particular, Sophia (played by Helen Mirren)'s emotional processing. In addition, this film tells the whole of Tolstoy's later life from the perspective of others. And Valentine's (played by James McAvoy) is also one of my favorite actors. In the movie "Becoming Jane Austen", I was attracted by his charm, which I greatly admire. .
In addition, the scenery and manor in this movie are basically what they looked like at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. I have a good impression of that era and like it very much.
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