The Image of the Forest as a Part of Eternal Nature in the System of L. N. Tolstoy’s Artistic and Philosophical Views

Aim. To analyze the various incarnations of the image of the forest with its folklore and mythological origins, which runs through the entire work of L. N. Tolstoy, reflects the originality of the author’s thinking, his philosophy of nature, ethics, social and practical experience, and is an important component of the national picture of the world created by the writer.
Methodology. The methodological basis of the article was literary, cultural works, and documentary sources. The decisive ones are cultural-historical, descriptive-functional, biographical methods of interpreting the writer’s work.
Results. Using the example of the stories “Cutting Wood”, “Three Deaths”, the story “Cossacks”, the epic “War and Peace”, the novel “Anna Karenina”, the story “Hadji Murat”, the story “Berry”, with the involvement of the Forestry Project, memoirs, diary entries, notebooks, business papers, epistolary, the semantic richness of the image of the forest as a natural element is demonstrated. Attention is focused on the high degree of generalization of the artistic image. The forest appears self-sufficient, multifaceted, ambiguous: it is an environment that conceals powerful energy, inaccessible to people, removed from them – and has a reviving influence on the human soul, introducing it to eternal beauty; a haven for the bearers of evil – and a victim; mysterious, sacred place; combination of dangerous and beneficial principles. Such diversity reflects the greatness of nature, the inexhaustibility of its manifestations, the ability to exert a spiritual influence on the human personality, to introduce it to eternity. The point of view is expressed that L. N. Tolstoy’s ideas about the role of the natural element of the forest in earthly existence, in the life of people, were close to his contemporaries Ostrovsky, Chekhov, and writers of the 20th century. Prishvin, Paustovsky, Leonov and several others. However, the artist remained open to the question of harmonizing the relationship between nature and culture, progress.
Research implications. The results of the study can be used in studying issues related to the philosophy of nature and ethical views of L. N. Tolstoy, how the facts of the writer’s biography determine various moments of his work (afforestation activities and the image of the forest found in works of different years, letters), and also when considering ideological and aesthetic convergences in the development of the image of nature and the elements of the forest by L. N. Tolstoy and his contemporaries (Ostrovsky, Chekhov), prominent representatives of Russian literature of the 20th century (Prishvin, Paustovsky, Leonov, etc.).

1. Andreeva V. G. [Explications of the estate and dacha topos in Leo Tolstoy's A Calendar of wisdom]. In: Verhnevolzhskij filologicheskij vestnik [Upper Volga Philological Bulletin], 2022, no. 3 (30), pp. 17–27.

2. Arhangel’skaya T. L. N. Tolstoj. Puti. Dorogi. Lica [L. N. Tolstoy. Paths. Roads. Faces]. Orel, Orlovskaya literatura i knigoizdatelstvo Publ., 2005. 188 p.

3. Bogach D. A. [The Nature in the Literary Text: Theory of the Question]. In: Vestnik CHelyabinskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Filologicheskie nauki [Bulletin of Chelyabinsk State University. Philology Sciences], 2017, iss. 106, no. 6 (402), pp. 22–29.

4. Bocharov S. [“War and Peace” by L. N. Tolstoy]. In: Tri shedevra russkoj klassiki [Three Masterpieces of Russian Classics]. Moscow, Hudozhestvennaya literatura Publ., 1971, pp. 7–104.

5. Vasilev P. V. [The Great Writer and the Russian Forest. Essay]. In: Lesnoe hozyajstvo [Forestry], 1972, no. 11, pp. 75–80.

6. Genon R. Simvolika kresta [Symbolism of the Cross]. Moscow, Progress-Tradiciya Publ., 2008. 704 p.

7. Ibatullina G. M., Ogorodova V. V. [Totem Myth in L.N. Tolstoy’s Novel “The Cossacks”]. In: Vestnik Udmurtskogo universiteta. Seriya: Istoriya i filologiya [Bulletin of Udmurt University. Series: History and Philology], 2018, vol. 28, iss. 3, pp. 335–347.

8. Gusev B. N., ed. [On the History of L. N. Tolstoy’s Afforestation Project]. In: Letopisi Gosudarstvennogo literaturnogo muzeya. L. N. Tolstoj. Kn. 2 [Annals of the State Literary Museum]. Moscow, GLM Publ., 1938, pp. 263–265.

9. Kaminsky K., Martin E. [The Felled Forest, or On the Reserves of Russian Realism. Turgenev, Tolstoy, Pechersky]. In: Russkij realizm XIX veka: obshchestvo, znanie, povestvovanie [Russian Realism of the 19th Century: Society, Knowledge, Narrative]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2020, pp. 344–377.

10. Krasnoselskaya Yu. I. Simvolika prirody v tvorchestve L. N. Tolstogo 1850–60-h gg. v kontekste literaturnyh i obshchestvenno-politicheskih polemik epohi: dis. … kand. filol. nauk [A Collection of Articles. Moscow: New Literary Review]. Moscow, 2008. 174 p.

11. Lyonnkvist B. Puteshestvie vglub’ romana. Lev Tolstoj: “Anna Karenina” [Journey into the Depths of the Novel. Leo Tolstoy: “Anna Karenina”]. Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskoj kultury Publ., 2010. 128 p.

12. Matushkina V. I. [The Idea of Human Progress in the Moral and Philosophical Searches of L. N. Tolstoy and L. M. Leonov]. In: Duhovnoe nasledie L. N. Tolstogo i sovremennyj mir: materialy XII Baryshnikovskih chtenij. Russkaya klassika. Problemy interpretacii, Lipeck, 24–26 fevralya 2003 g. [The Spiritual Heritage of L. N. Tolstoy and the Modern World: Proceedings of the XII Baryshnikov Readings. Russian Classics. Problems of Interpretation, Lipetsk, February 24–26, 2003]. Lipetsk, Lipetsk State University, 2003, pp. 256–264.

13. Nasyirova D. H. [PPhilosophy of Nature and Its Understanding in Cultural-Historical and Social Experience]. In: Social’no-gumanitarnye znaniya [Social and Humanitarian Knowledge], 2019, no. 10, pp. 98–101.

14. Orvin D. T. Iskusstvo i mysl’ Tolstogo. 1847–1880 [Tolstoy’s Art and Thought]. St. Petersburg, Akademicheskij proekt Publ., 2006. 304 p.

15. Paezani L. [The influence of nature on the understanding and symbolic interpretation of characters in L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina”]. In: Semantika vremyon goda v russkoj slovesnosti [Semantics of the seasons in Russian literature]. Moscow, Moscow City Pedagogical University Publ., 2021, pp. 259–265.

16. Poltavets E. Yu. [Vegetative code and the motive of self-knowledge in the works of L. N. Tolstoy]. In: Semantika lesa i sada v russkoj literature i fol’klore [Semantics of the forest and garden in Russian literature and folklore: a collection of scientific articles]. Moscow, Moscow City Pedagogical University, 2017, pp. 108–118.

17. Propp V. Ya. Morfologiya skazki. Istoricheskie korni volshebnoj skazki [Morphology of the fairy tale. Historical roots of the fairy tale]. Moscow, Labirint Publ., 1998. 512 p.