By Edward Sorel
When Count Leo Tolstoy, 34, proposes marriage to 18-year-old Sonya Behr in 1862, he is not much of a catch. Although the heir to a vast estate with hundreds of serfs, he has lost much of his fortune through gambling. And, since visiting a dentist takes up time better spent at roulette, he has also lost most of his teeth.
When Count Leo Tolstoy, 34, proposes marriage to 18-year-old Sonya Behr in 1862, he is not much of a catch. Although the heir to a vast estate with hundreds of serfs, he has lost much of his fortune through gambling. And, since visiting a dentist takes up time better spent at roulette, he has also lost most of his teeth.
Before their wedding, he insists that Sonya read his diaries, containing his history of fornicating with prostitutes, serfs and even friends of Sonya’s mother! He explains that secrets are harmful, so from now on she must read his diary entries, and he will read hers. Their ensuing quarrels don’t prevent Leo from achieving worldwide literary fame, nor Sonya from delivering 13 children and copying all of his manuscripts by hand.
Around 1877, Tolstoy becomes determined to follow the doctrines of Jesus. He becomes a vegetarian, makes his own shoes, gives to the poor and when guests come for dinner he orders them to empty their own chamber pots while servants, who have hitherto performed that task, stand by. But Sonya notes that Leo’s love for humanity never extends to her or their children.
In 1883, Vladimir Chertkov, a young religious zealot, visits the novelist and expresses admiration for Tolstoy’s brand of Christianity. He becomes the great man’s trusted confidant, replacing Sonya as Leo’s first reader and biographer. Now in control, Chertkov encourages Tolstoy to disown all his copyrights. At that point Sonya becomes unhinged. Certain that Leo has changed his will (he has), the crazed woman rifles through her husband’s papers in the middle of the night to look for it. Tolstoy interrupts her frenzied search and a violent confrontation erupts, after which 82-year-old Leo flees his home with his doctor.
At the railroad stop, the lover of the downtrodden buys fourth-class tickets so he can be with the peasants, but hours in the drafty, unheated railcar give Tolstoy chills and fever. They get off at Astapovo, where he is carried to the stationmaster’s dingy cottage. Telegraphy taps out the news that the author of “War and Peace” is dying, and reporters descend on the town. When Sonya arrives, she is kept away from him, and she stands in the cold to glimpse Leo through a window. Moments before he dies, Sonya, who dedicated her life to her husband’s genius, is allowed to be with him as he breathes his last.
