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| Me on Tolstoy's estate at Yasnaya Polyana standing in front of the office where Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina |
I spent a great deal of time at his main house, where he wrote all three of his major novels -- War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and Resurrection. Since many of the scenes from the novel would take place in that home, I wanted to get a sense of the layout, the appearance of the rooms, and what could be seen and heard from his office, his bedroom, and the other rooms.
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| The large upstairs dining room -- with its notably long table -- where the Tolstoys ate most of their meals. Tolstoy's portrait, featured in my novel, is second from the left. |
The location in Tolstoy's downstairs office where his desk sat while he wrote
Anna Karenina. The windows overlook the main drive onto the estate.
His father's black sofa, which sat in Tolstoy's office near his writing desk
and on which he and each of his children were born.
and on which he and each of his children were born.
The receiving entrance for the main house. Guests would arrive here on sledges
or carriages. The porch to the right had been built the year prior to his start
on Anna Karenina, and he enjoyed reading or visiting with guests here.
The estate itself is massive, thousands of acres in size. One day I decided to walk a circle around approximately two-thirds of the property, and it took me more than four hours of steady walking. The Voronka River flows through the north part of it, snaking through the middle of a wide field and marshland. There are several large forests, webbed with horse and walking trails. Three large ponds sit at the south end of the property near the estate entrance.
A small section of the 'Clear Field' where Tolstoy mowed along with his field workers.
The famous birch drive that leads from the main entrance to the house.
This photo was taken more than halfway up the drive, which extends
for at least a third of a mile. Ahead, hidden behind the trees, is the house.
This photo was taken more than halfway up the drive, which extends
for at least a third of a mile. Ahead, hidden behind the trees, is the house.
Tolstoy's grave, unmarked per his wishes, along a pathway in one of his
forests. It sits approximately a half mile northwest of his house.
forests. It sits approximately a half mile northwest of his house.
I also was able to visit the nearby city of Tula, where Tolstoy met Pushkin's daughter, Maria Hartung (the woman on whom Tolstoy is believed to have based the physical appearance of Anna Karenina), and the village of Yasnaya Polyana and surrounding area. One of my most haunting moments was when I happened upon the grave of Anna Stepanovna Pirigova, Tolstoy's neighbor who committed suicide by train the year before Tolstoy began writing Anna Karenina. The grave was located near the mausoleum where his father, mother, and brother Dmitri are buried, and near the grave of Tolstoy's wife, Sonya. The grave of Alexander Bibikov (the man with whom Anna Pirigova had been in love) was in this same section of the cemetery.
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| Gravesite of Anna Piragova, Tolstoy's neighbor who committed suicide by train. |
The mausoleum which holds the remains of Tolstoy's father, mother, and brother Dmitri.
A Partial Bibliography of Books Referenced While Writing Anna:
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (translated by Constance Garnett)
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsk)
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (translated by George Gibian, plus critical articles)
Leo Tolstoy, Confession
Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych
Leo Tolstoy, Father Sergius
Leo Tolstoy, Master and Man
Leo Tolstoy, Azbuka(in Russian)
Leo Tolstoy, The Gospel in Brief
Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
Rene Fulop-Miller, ed., Tolstoy: Literary Fragments, Letters and Reminiscences
Kathryn B. Feuer, Tolstoy and the Genesis of War and Peace
Sergei Tolstoy, Tolstoy Remembered
Alexandra Tolstoy, Tolstoy: A Life of My Father
Boris Eikhenbaum, Tolstoy in the Seventies
Tatiana Tolstoy, The Tolstoy Home
Tatyana Tolstoy, Tolstoy Remembered
Edward A. Steiner, Tolstoy the Man
Hugh I’Anson Fausset, Tolstoy: The Inner Drama
A. V. Knowles, ed., Tolstoy: The Critical Heritage
Tatyana Kuzminskaya, Tolstoy As I Knew Him
Sophia Tolstoy, The Diaries of Sophia Tolstoy
Martine de Courcel, Tolstoy: The Ultimate Reconciliation
Henri Troyat, Tolstoy
Anne Edwards, Sonya: The Life of Countess Tolstoy
Aylmer Maude, The Life of Tolstoy
R. F. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, Volume I: 1828-1879
R. F. Christian, Tolstoy’s Letters, Volume II: 1880-1910
R. F. Christian, Tolstoy’s Diaries, Volume I: 1847-1894
R. F. Christian, Tolstoy’s Diaries, Volume II: 1895-1910
R. F. Christian, Tolstoy: A Critical Introduction
V. F. Bulgakov, The Last Year of Leo Tolstoy
Ilya Tolstoy, Tolstoy, My Father: Reminiscences
Edward Wasiolek, Tolstoy’s Major Fiction
Jay Parini, The Last Station
C. J. G. Turner, A Karenina Companion
A. B. Goldenweizer, Talks With Tolstoy
Peter Brock and John L. H. Keep, Life in a Penal Battalion of the Russian Imperial Army: The Tolstoyan N. T. Iziumchenko’s Story
Henry Gifford, Tolstoy
Kalpana Sahni, ed., Reminiscences on Tolstoy
Donna Tussing Orwin, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Tolstoy
Donna Tussing Orwin, Tolstoy’s Art and Thought: 1847-1880
A. N. Wilson, Tolstoy
