Was Tolstoy's wife, Madame Sophia, really a bad wife? Consider Tolstoy's last runaway.
In this article, I would like to consider the question, "Was Tolstoy's wife, Madame Sophia, really a bad wife? I would like to consider the theme of "Was Tolstoy's wife, Madame Sophia, really a bad wife?
Tolstoy's wife, Lady Sophia, oftenThe Three Wicked Wives of the World.He is sometimes referred to as one of the
Here is an example.
⚫︎ Sophia, Tolstoy's wife
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Sophia, wife of the great Russian writer Tolstoy. Tolstoy and Sofia raised their children together and built a strong family. Why were they called "bad wives"? In his later years, when Tolstoy left literature and became involved in religious activities, there was friction between the husband, who began to pursue his ideals, and the wife, who wanted to lead a realistic life. The couple began to fight constantly, and Tolstoy finally ran away from home.
Later, it is said that Tolstoy died of pneumonia at a station called Astarpopo. Tolstoy was idealistic, wanting to give his property to the poor. Sophia, on the other hand, struggled to acquire copyrights to protect her property. It is said that Tolstoy, who could not stand such conflict, left home. It is said that the quarrels in her later years led to her being called a "bad wife.
Although this is how much is commonly written about Lady Sophia, after reading Tolstoy's works, biographies, and reference books, I still wonder, "Was Lady Sophia really a bad wife? Wasn't Tolstoy at fault?" I have read Tolstoy's works, biographies, and reference books.
Tolstoy was so great that there were many people around the world who worshipped him.
However, although the ideals and actions Tolstoy spoke of were great, his family life in his later years was miserable, and his final tragedy was that he died while running away from home.
Although the cause of these tragedies is often attributed mainly to his wife, Mrs. Sophia, I had to ask myself, "Is this really the case?
In considering these questions, I will be referring to the work "Tolstoy Complete Works 19: Reminiscences with Letter to Wife (New Translation)" published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha.
Thankfully, it was this very book that explained the very question of "Was Mrs. Tolstoy really a bad wife?
Now, let's quickly read the section that describes this issue.
As Tolstoy himself recognized, she loved her husband and family dearly, was generous in her understanding and cooperation with her husband's work, and as Tolstoy often advised in his letters, she literally devoted herself to the family without regard for her own physical strength. She was the epitome of a good wife and wise mother. This is why I have included the following note on the tragedy of the Tolstoy family, so that the reader may not simply dismiss it as a common belief that Mrs. Tolstoy was a wicked wife.
Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Nakamura Tohru, Nakamura Shiraha translation, "Tolstoy Complete Works 19: Reminiscences with Letter to Wife (new translation)," 1979, first edition, p. 405-406.
What you are about to read is the commentary by the translator of this book, Mr. Toru Nakamura. As mentioned above, Mrs. Sophia was not only a bad wife, but also a typical example of a good wife and wise mother.
Let's continue to look at this.
As I mentioned in the commentary of the previous volume, Tolstoy had the "good and loving" Mrs. Sofiya as his beloved companion for about 20 years, surrounded by their beloved children, and was able to devote himself to writing as a landowner in Yatsnaya Polyana and as an outstanding literary scholar. So, despite the occasional disagreements that surfaced between husband and wife, and even though the peace, order, and customs of the household remained in the same old ancestral form, we should say that the happiness of his family life remained close to what he had once imagined for himself in the Caucasus (Caucasus) as a young man. In his youth, he had kept his family happiness close to what he himself had once fantasized about in the Caucasus.
It was after Tolstoy's so-called spiritual turning point that the cracks and shadows began to appear in this peaceful and happy family life, which, in the words of Rozanov, the commentator of the Soviet edition of the Letters, can be explained as follows: "He realized that it was immoral, or evil, to exploit unconsciously the labor of peasants who were landless, poor, and destitute and who would spend their whole lives in servitude, and to live on the basis of their labor as his privilege, and to lead a life of idleness, emptiness, and contentment. He could no longer live as before, as he now realized the immorality, or evil, of living a life of idleness, emptiness, and contentment, which was contrary to nature. He compares his life to a "horrible, festering, stinking wound.
He hoped that his new "faith" would become the "faith" of all those close to him, and that he would abandon the aristocratic life of the landowners, which depended on the labor of the people, and start a simple, laborious peasant life, giving up land, property, and all privileges. He hoped that the people would give up their land, their property, and their privileges, and begin a simple, toil-oriented peasant life. In spirit, he hoped that his family would live according to the "law of love," not the "law of violence," and become a cell of the "cooperative of love among people.
Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Nakamura Tohru, Nakamura Shiraha translation, "Tolstoy Complete Works 19: Reminiscences, with Letter to Wife (new translation)," 1979, first edition, p. 406.
Some line breaks have been made.
Although Tolstoy's spiritual transformation was gradual,Anna Karenina."This is especially noticeable after the completion of the
We have discussed some of his religious writings on this blog in the past, but as you can see from reading them, they are quite extreme. He renounced all his property and lived as the peasants did themselves. This was unacceptable to the Tolstoy family, who had lived as great aristocrats.
Tolstoy was so driven by these fastidious ideals that he began to demand them of those closest to him, including his family. This is where the beginning of the family disintegration begins.
Both Mrs. Sofiya and her children (and especially her sons) refused to recognize this "new belief" of Tolstoy's and tried to protect all the property that had traditionally been given to them in the traditional landownership system. And this is where the bankruptcy began.
Although Tolstoy had newly opened his eyes by standing on the side of the people, he was unable to bring suffering and sorrow to his wife and children even from his own non-resistance principle, as he had originally aimed for moral self-perfection. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this was one of the greatest pains of his life.
From the beginning of the 1980s, he had been searching diligently for a way out of this impasse, and in a letter to Chertkov in 1885, he wrote: "I am lost. I want to die. I even have a plan to run away from home or to use my position to turn my whole life upside down," he confessed.
Mrs. Tolstoy opposed her husband's intention, and sought to retain the land and pass it on to their children, while at the same time securing her husband's right to literary labor that would provide the income necessary for the family's living. A letter from Tolstoy to his wife in the summer of 1910 clearly shows the seriousness of this marital conflict.
Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Nakamura Toru, Nakamura Shiraha translation, "Tolstoy Complete Works 19: Reminiscences with Letter to Wife (new translation)," 1979, first edition, p. 406-407.
Some line breaks have been made.
In the next section, the commentary continues on the question of whether Madame Sophia, who has been described as a "bad wife," was really a bad wife.
The "deaf wall" between the couple that finally drove Tolstoy to tragically run away from home is generally attributed solely to his wife's stubbornness and lack of understanding, but this does not necessarily seem to be the correct view.
This is because there were several underlying circumstances. First of all, she loved her husband deeply, understood his work, and as mentioned above, she cooperated with him to the best of her ability. As a mother and a housewife in charge of the future of her large family, it is understandable that she could not easily become a martyr to her husband's "new faith.
Second, one must also take into account that her health had been compromised in the last years of her life and that she was in a state of constant neurosis and severe hysteria (readers of this volume will find Tolstoy's unusual concern for his wife's health throughout).
Thirdly, Mrs. Tolstoy's strong resistance to the close friendship between Tolstoy and Chertkov is generally regarded as feminine jealousy, but I am not so sure that this can be so easily dismissed. It must have been unbearable for Mrs. Tolstoy that her husband's diary, which should have been his private property, was kept not by his wife, but by his close friend, and that she had the insensitivity to interfere in other people's domestic affairs, which she should not have entered, even though she was a highly respected disciple and deeply trusted by him. He was insensitive and persistent in his interference in other people's domestic affairs, which he should not have meddled in, and he regarded all of Mrs. Chertkov's actions as "false," dismissing all of her wishes and pleas as pathological selfishness, and thoroughly opposed any matter of importance to her, such as the return of her husband's diary or the drafting of her last will and testament. (Even Tolstoy had to explain to Chertkov that his wife was in fact ill ......).
Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Nakamura Toru, Nakamura Shiraha translation, "Tolstoy Complete Works 19: Reminiscences with Letter to Wife (new translation)," 1979, first edition, p. 407-408.
Some line breaks have been made.
How about this? When you see this background, your view of Madame Sophia will change.
Mrs. Sofia was a devoted supporter of Tolstoy's writing career and ran a large family.
However, Tolstoy suddenly tried to dismiss such a life by saying, "All such things are false. People must live in truth. This is too harsh.
And the next part of the passage tells us something even more surprising.
In addition, it is said that in the last few months of the writer's life, two groups of family members, close friends and close associates, and residents of Yaasnaya Polyana in general, were fighting against each other, not tolerating the old writer, who was longing for peace.
It is not difficult to imagine that the atmosphere inside and outside the house became even more heated after the will was drawn up, which deprived her and her family of the right to use the income from the publication of Tolstoy's works, but on their side, the will, which was drawn up in secret from the family, was also a source of jealous suspicion, distorted rumors, intrigue, and voiceless discontent. On the other hand, it was also a source of jealous suspicion, distorted rumors, intrigue, and voiceless discontent on their part.
Tolstoy was so exhausted by these circumstances swirling around him that he even cried out to Chertkov, "I feel my body being torn apart from side to side.
And his tragic departure from home at dawn on October 28, 1910 was the inevitable result of all this.
In the family life of another person, especially in the life of a married couple, there are always many circumstances that are beyond the knowledge of a third party, and we must be very careful not to make such a judgment lightly. In the case of Tolstoy, in particular, since he was a world-renowned writer, Mrs. Tolstoy is often blamed for this last misfortune as the one who brought it upon him. In the case of Mrs. Sofiya, who loved her husband and family more deeply than any other person, it would be more appropriate to allow her to have her own reasons.
(It is also well known that the wife committed suicide by drowning herself in the mansion's pond shortly after learning of her husband's departure.)
Kawade Shobo Shinsha, Nakamura Toru, Nakamura Shiraha translation, "Tolstoy Complete Works 19: Reminiscences with Letter to Wife (new translation)," 1979, first edition, p. 407-408.
Some line breaks have been made.
The previous quote also spoke of the actions of his aide Chertkov, but there was an unfortunate clash going on around Tolstoy on an even larger scale.
I was very sad to read this passage.
Tolstoy, who preached love, peace, and nonviolence, was like this in his later years.
Under these circumstances, it seemed understandable that Tolstoy would despair...
Tolstoy was the prophet of "Tolstoyism" and was revered by countless people.
But the more people worshiped him, the further away from Tolstoy's own ideals the situation became.
The horror of becoming a religious charismatic or prophet is exactly what that DostoevskyThe Brothers Karamazov.appears inGrand InquisitorI associate it with the
Tolstoy's despair and the breakup of his family cannot be told simply because Lady Sophia was a bad wife.
Furthermore, as the translator mentioned, it is also a domestic issue, so all will not be revealed.
However, I think we can answer "no" to the question, "Was Madame Sophia really a bad wife?
I am always saddened when I think of Tolstoy's last years.
This is remarkably symmetrical to Dostoevsky, who suffered from a young age and was finally able to live a happy life in his final years.
Their lives, their works, and their ideas are truly interesting.
I have been thinking about the theme "Was Madame Sophia really a bad wife?" and it has been a very valuable learning experience for me.
The above is a summary of the article "Was Tolstoy's Wife, Madame Sophia, Really a Bad Wife? Thinking about Tolstoy's last runaway".
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