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Abstract:

The author’s reflections on the role of the Caucasus in the life and work of L.N. Tolstoy are intertwined with an analytical review of contemporary research on this topic. The unrelenting interest of Tolstoy scholars in the difficult Caucasian period of the life and work of the classic, which is largely associated with the formation of a historical and philosophical concept and with moral quests, is noted. The diverse points of view of scientists with their polyphony actualize the value-ethical problems of a universal scale, indicated by the writer in the stories and novels “Raid,” “Cutting the Forest,” “Notes of the Marker,” “Degraded,” “Prisoner of the Caucasus,” “Cossacks,” “Hadji Murat” and others, give an additional impetus to research attention to the Caucasian artistic model of Tolstoy’s worldview. It is emphasized that the deep originality of the culture of the highlanders, the life-giving spirit and energy of Caucasian mythology, oral folk art in general, were a unique breeding ground for Tolstoy, which gave an extraordinary clarity of thoughts and feelings, the opportunity to take a different look at the surrounding reality. The assumption is supported that Tolstoy was directly or indirectly associated with prominent representatives of the Abkhaz intelligentsia.