Husband of Tatyana Tolstaya. Biography of an extraordinary and talented writer Tatyana Tolstaya

early years

Russian writer Tatyana Nikitichna Tolstaya was born in Leningrad. Tatyana was born into a family with rich literary traditions - Tolstoy's maternal grandfather was the poet Mikhail Lozinsky, his paternal grandfather was the famous Soviet writer Alexei Tolstoy; his wife, Tatyana's grandmother, is the poetess Natalia Krandiyevskaya. The father of the future writer is Doctor of Physical Sciences, Professor Nikita Tolstoy. The Tolstoy family had many children, Tatyana had seven brothers and sisters.

After graduating from school, Tatyana Tolstaya enters the Faculty of Philology of Leningrad University (now St. Petersburg State University). Tolstoy specializes in ancient languages: Latin and Greek. In 1974, Tatyana graduated from the university and married the philologist A. Lebedev, soon moving with her husband to the capital. In Moscow, Tolstaya gets a job at the Main Editorial Board of Oriental Literature at the Nauka Publishing House, where she worked as a proofreader for almost ten years, until 1983.

The year of his dismissal from Nauka became the year of his literary debut for Tolstoy. In the same year, Tatyana also made her debut as a literary critic, publishing her first critical article in Questions of Literature.

The impetus for the beginning of literary creativity for Tatyana was an operation on her eyes. After vision correction in those years, the bandage was removed at least a month later, and while Tolstaya lay idle with a bandage over her eyes, the first stories began to be born in her head, which later turned into the stories “They were sitting on the golden porch ...”, “Sonya” , "Date with a bird".

The debut of Tatyana Tolstaya in literature

The literary debut of the writer took place in 1983. The story "They were sitting on the golden porch ..." was published in the Aurora magazine. Literary critics and readers took the story with enthusiasm, according to the results of the year, the work was recognized as the best literary debut of 1983. In the work, the impressions of the child were kaleidoscopically presented, ranging from ordinary everyday events and ordinary meetings to mysterious and fairy-tale characters born of children's imagination.

After the success of the story in the so-called "thick magazines" - "New World", "Aurora", "Star" - her stories "Date with a Bird" (1983), "Sonya" (1984), "Clean Sheet" (1984) are published. , "Love - do not love" (1984) and others. In total, in the period from 1983 to 1988, more than twenty stories were published in Soviet periodicals, which in 1987 made up the debut collection of the writer "They sat on the golden porch ...". In addition to those published earlier and those being prepared for publication, the story included “Darling Shura”, “Fakir”, etc., which were not published anywhere. In 1988, Tatyana Tolstaya became a member of the Writers' Union of the USSR.

Unlike the first publication, other works of Tatyana Tolstaya were not so enthusiastically received by critics. Tolstoy was accused of "thickness of writing", too rich imagery on the one hand, and "template", building all the stories according to one scenario on the other. Despite the attacks of critics, Tatyana Tolstaya becomes an original, independent author respected in the writing environment. Except Tolstoy, at that time almost no one dared to write about the "urban madmen" - old women, brilliant poets, feeble-minded invalids living and dying in a philistine urban environment. In 1989 Tolstaya became a member of the Russian PEN Center.

Life abroad

Since 1990, Tatyana Tolstaya has moved to the United States of America, settling in Princeton. In the States, the writer teaches Russian literature and Russian literary creativity at Skidmore College, lectures at universities and collaborates with such magazines as the New York Review of Books and The New Yorker. In addition, Tolstaya is interested in changes in the Russian language abroad under the influence of surrounding people and events, writes several scientific articles on the topic of emigrant Russian and its differences with literary Russian. The main article of her research of those years is the essay "Hope and Support", in which the writer gives a number of interesting hypotheses, conclusions, gives examples of emigrant Americanisms in the spoken Russian language of the United States.

Since 1991, Tatiana Tolstaya has been working as a columnist for Moscow News, where she leads the famous author's column "Own Bell Tower". After some time, Tatyana is a member of the editorial board of the magazine "Capital", collaborates with the "Russian Telegraph". Tatyana Nikitichna does not leave her literary activity either: the nineties were marked by the release of such books as “You love - you do not love” (1997), “The Okkervil River” (1999) in collaboration with her sister Natalia Tolstaya in 1998 the book “Sisters” was published. In the same years, Tatyana became popular abroad as well - her stories were published in French, English, German, and Swedish. In 1998, Tolstaya became one of the founders and a member of the editorial board of the American literary magazine Counterpoint. In 1999, Tatyana returned to her homeland. In Russia, the writer continues to engage in journalism, teach and create literary works.

"Kys" and other novels by Tatyana Tolstaya

At the beginning of the 2000s, Tatyana Tolstaya departs from the short genre in which she wrote from the very beginning of her literary activity. Major novels begin to come out from under her pen. In 2000, Tolstoy's debut novel "Kys" was published, favorably received by critics and the public. The book quickly becomes a bestseller and receives the Triumph Award.

In many theaters in Russia and abroad, the novel was used as the basis for staging performances; since 2001, Radio Russia has been broadcasting a literary radio series based on the novel (screenwriter and project manager - Olga Khmeleva). Tolstaya consolidated her commercial success in 2001 by releasing three books at once - "Day", "Night" and "Two" with a total circulation of more than two hundred thousand copies. The 14th Moscow International Book Fair awards Tatyana Tolstaya the main prize in the Prose nomination. In 2002, the writer became the editor-in-chief of the Conservative publication.

Tatyana Tolstaya and "School of slander"

Since 2002, Tatyana Tolstaya has appeared on television. The first appearance of the writer was participation in the program "Basic Instinct", since October of the same year, together with Avdotya Smirnova, Tolstaya has been conducting the TV program "School of Scandal". From the first to the third season she was a member of the jury of the TV show "Minute of Glory". In the Big Difference program, parodies of Tolstaya appeared twice - once the writer was parodied as a member of the Minute of Glory jury, and the second time as a co-host of the School of Scandal. In 2003, the Tolstoy and Smirnova program received the TEFI award in the Best Talk Show nomination.

"The same ABC of Pinocchio"

Since 2010, Tatyana Tolstaya has been writing books not only for adults, but also for children. In collaboration with Olga Prokhorova, she publishes the book "The Same ABC of Pinocchio", connected by a common plot with the famous book of the grandfather writer Alexei Tolstoy "The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio". The idea for the book, according to Tolstoy, was born thirty years ago, but there was not enough time and inspiration to implement the project. Once, in a conversation with her niece, Olga Prokhorova, Tolstaya mentioned this, and she, fired up with the idea, offered to write a book in collaboration. As a result, the work took second place in the rating of children's literature of the XXIII Moscow Book Fair.

Personal life of Tatyana Tolstaya

Tatyana Tolstaya is married to philologist Andrey Lebedev and has two children. The eldest son is Artemy, a well-known designer and head of the leading art studio in Russia, Artemy Lebedev Studio. The youngest son Alex lives in the USA, he is a photographer, programmer, software architect. Alex is married and has no children.

TOLSTAYA, TATYANA NIKITICHNA(b. 1951) is a Russian writer. She was born on May 3, 1951 in Leningrad. Father - academician-philologist Nikita Tolstoy, grandfathers - writer Alexei Tolstoy and translator Mikhail Lozinsky. In 1974 she graduated from the Department of Classical Philology of the Philological Faculty of the Leningrad State University, after which she moved to Moscow. Until 1983 she worked in the Main Editorial Board of Eastern Literature at the Nauka Publishing House.

It began to be actively printed under the Soviet regime. First post - story Sitting on the golden porch... appeared in Aurora magazine in 1983. She made her critical debut that same year with an article by Clay and Scissors.

In the mid-1980s, she wrote and published about 20 stories in periodicals ( Fakir, A circle, The loss, Dear Shura, Okkervil River etc.) and story Plot. In 1988, thirteen of them were published as a separate book: They sat on the golden porch ....

Official criticism was wary of Tolstoy's prose. Some reproached her for the “density” of the letter, for the fact that “you can’t read a lot in one sitting.” Others, on the contrary, said that they read the book excitedly, but that all the works were written according to the same scheme, artificially built. In the intellectual reading circles of the time, Tolstaya enjoyed a reputation as an original, independent writer. The heroes of her prose are mostly simple "urban freaks" (old-fashioned old women, "brilliant" poets, demented childhood invalids ...), living and dying in a cruel and stupid philistine environment.

In Tolstoy's prose, according to critics, the influence of Shklovsky and Tynyanov, on the one hand, and Remizov, on the other, can be traced. She collides words from different semantic layers of the language, as a rule, looks at her characters in a “detached way”, unfolds the plot like cinematic shots ... But if Shklovsky and Tynyanov used “excessive” words in order to give the subject the most accurate, exhaustive definition , and Remizov's appeal to the archaic layers of the language brought closer to the original meaning of the word, then Tolstaya, using the methods of paradoxical phrases developed by them, demonstrates what Vyach. Kuritsyn called "predatory cynicism of the eye." Andrey Nemzer said of her early stories: "Tolstoy's 'aestheticism' was more important than her 'moralism'."

In 1990, he left to teach Russian literature in the United States, where he spent several months a year for almost the entire next decade. In 1991, he writes the column "Own Bell Tower" in the weekly "Moscow News", is a member of the editorial board of the magazine "Capital". There are translations of her stories into English, German, French, Swedish and other languages.

In 1997 a separate book ( Love - don't love) in Moscow, her stories are reprinted, in 1998 - the book sisters written jointly with sister Natalia .

In 2000–2001 a new novel by Tolstoy was published kys- about Russia mutating after a nuclear explosion. The country, according to the novel, has completely degraded: the language is almost lost, megacities have been turned into miserable villages, where people live according to the rules of the cat and mouse game. The novel is saturated with sarcasm, the characters of the characters line up in a kind of gallery of freaks, their sexuality is emphatically rude and primitive.

Russian-speaking critics reacted to the new Tolstoy in different ways.

In the early 2000s, her stories were reprinted ( Okkervil River, 2000, Night, 2001), collection sisters, a book is published that includes the works of Tatiana and Natalia Tolstykh ( Day. Miscellaneous, 2001), a collection of journalism by Tatiana Tolstaya Day. Personal(2001) and her book Raisin(2002).

Publicism Tolstoy also causes conflicting reviews.

In 2001, Tolstaya received the prize of the XIV Moscow International Book Fair in the nomination "Prose", in the same year - the prestigious "Triumph" award.

Since 2002, she has been co-host (together with screenwriter Avdotya Smirnova) of the TV show School of Scandal.

Editions: They sat on the golden porch. stories. M., "Soviet writer", 1987; Love - do not love. stories. M., "Olma-Press", 1997; Okkervil river. stories. M., "Horseshoe", 2000; Kitty. Novel."Horseshoe", 2000; "Foreigner", 2001; Night. stories. M., "Horseshoe", 2001; Personal. M., "Horseshoe", 2001.

Anna Brazhkina

Tatyana Nikitichna Tolstaya is a contemporary Russian writer. Her first stories were published in the early 1980s and immediately caused mixed reviews from readers and critics: some considered her works boring, while others could not tear themselves away from them.
Before me is a collection of short stories "The Okkervil River", which was first released in 1999. When writing a review, I used the 2006 edition of the Eksmo publishing house.
When I started reading this book, I did not expect at all that it would impress me as much as the works of Russian writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. The fact is that it was from this book that I began to get acquainted with the work of Tatyana Tolstaya, and I did not regret.
The collection "Okkervil River" includes 31 stories: "Sonya", "Sweet Shura", "Plot", "Circle" and many others. What can be said about them? They are very unusual. These works are not just stories about people or some significant events in their lives, these are picturesque sketches, paintings that amaze with their psychologism and attentiveness to the human soul. The stories are relatively short, but this is precisely their merit: in a few, very precise words, Tatyana Tolstaya creates the image, mood of the character, his environment. The writer does not just write about the heroes of her works, their lives, morals, she seems to want the portrait of them created by her remained in the memory of readers, so that these images, these people enter into our soul and take their place there.
The stories of Tatyana Tolstaya should be read, if only because they are very humane: there is nothing vulgar, repulsive, disgusting in them, the author's respect is felt in them not only for the characters, but also for the reader. The works of this collection can be characterized by the word "warm", yes with this very word. They should be read sitting in an armchair in the evening, covered with a soft blanket, listening to the drumming of the rain outside the window. When reading the stories of Tatyana Tolstaya, you are immersed in a bright, cozy atmosphere and experience a sweet sense of peace, which most often a person feels in the circle of family or close friends.
The heroes of the stories are strange people, freaks out of this world, who often remain incomprehensible and mysterious to others. This is Sonya from the work of the same name, and Alexandra Ernestovna from the story "Dear Shura". They live a completely different, unusual life, their inner world is very different from the world of other people. Tatyana Tolstaya is trying to comprehend the riddle, feelings and way of thinking of these eccentrics, providing such an opportunity to us, the readers. Her stories make you think, analyze, understand.
The works of the collection "The Okkervil River" are very relevant, because in them the reader will be able to find that piece of sincerity and beauty that we so rarely have the opportunity to observe in our modern life. One can talk about these stories for a long time, but it is best to read them.
Therefore, what can I say, completing the article? Read Tatyana Tolstaya's book "The Okkervil River", you won't regret it and don't waste your time, it deserves your attention.

Tatyana Nikitichna Tolstaya is a Russian writer, TV presenter and publicist, she was born on May 3, 1951 in Leningrad. The works of this woman are known all over the world. They have been translated into English, French, Swedish and other languages.

The large family

The future writer was born in a family of writers. Her grandfather was Alexei Tolstoy, and Tatyana is also related to Mikhail Lozinsky and Natalia Krandievskaya. The girl's father, Nikita Alekseevich, was a professor of physics. Nothing is known about the activities of the mother, Natalya Mikhailovna.

Tanya had six brothers and sisters. A large family lived in the house of the Leningrad City Council near the Karpovka River. From childhood, Tolstaya loved to read, she was fascinated by languages ​​and literature. That is why, after graduating from school, the girl applied to the Leningrad University for the department of classical philology. There Tanya studied Latin and Greek literature, she received her diploma in 1974. Immediately after graduating from an educational institution, Tolstaya married the philologist Andrei Lebedev. Together they moved to Moscow. Later, the couple had two sons - Artemy and Alexei.

First articles

After moving, the girl got a job in the main editorial office of the Nauka publishing house. She was hired as a proofreader. For ten years, Tanya worked there, and only in 1983 did she publish her first essay. The debut was a critical article called "Glue and scissors."

Later, the writer admitted that she began to write after an operation on her eyes. She had to lie with a bandage for a month, at which time ideas for stories began to appear in her head. During this time, the girl came up with plots for such works as "Sonya", "Date with a bird" and "They sat on the golden porch ...". The last of them was also published in 1983 on the pages of the Aurora magazine. It was this story that was recognized as the best literary debut of the year.

Critics and readers highly appreciated Tatyana's talent. After a successful debut, she regularly published her writings in the magazines Novy Mir, Oktyabr, and Znamya. For four years, several dozen stories were published. In 1987, Tolstaya released the first collection, named after the debut story "They were sitting on the golden porch ...". After some time, the woman is accepted into the Writers' Union of the USSR.

Misunderstanding and moving to America

Not all representatives of the Soviet government liked the stories of the writer. She was reproached for the lack of originality, the template scheme for the development of the plot, and the excessively “thick” writing. Some critics could not master the works of Tolstoy at a time, while others experienced boredom while reading. In addition, the main characters of the stories also caused a stir. Among them were old-time old women, disabled people, "city madmen" and even homeless people. The woman ridiculed the consumer psychology of society, she was critical of the philistinism.

In 1989, Tatyana Nikitichna became a permanent member of the Russian PEN Center. She moves to the USA next year. There, the writer took up teaching activities. She taught students at Skidmore College Russian literature and artistic writing. In parallel with this, Tolstaya was published in American magazines, sometimes she was invited to lecture at other universities.

The writer spent almost ten years on regular business trips to the United States. During this time, she noticed changes in her vocabulary, the appearance of "non-words", which are hybrids of several languages. Tolstaya perfectly depicted this phenomenon in her story “Hope and Support”.

Since 1991, a woman has been trying herself as a journalist. She leads the author's column "Own Bell Tower" in the printed edition "Moscow News". Tatyana is also a member of the editorial board of the magazine "Capital". Her essays, articles and essays were also published in the publication "Russian Telegraph".

At the same time, the woman continues to write works of art. In 1998, the book Sisters appeared on the bookshelves, co-authored with Natalia Tolstaya. At the same time, Tatyana's books begin to be translated into foreign languages. Also this year, the writer is accepted to the editorial board of the American magazine Counterpoint.

Homecoming

In 1999 Tolstaya finally returned to Russia. The following year, her first voluminous work, a novel called Kitty, is published. Critics reacted ambiguously to the new work of the writer, but the book had a lot of fans among ordinary readers. For her work, the woman received the Triumph Award, and soon the novel received the title of bestseller.

In 2001, three more books by the writer were published - "Two", "Day" and "Night". In the same year, Tatyana Nikitichna received the prize of the Moscow International Book Fair. In 2002, she became the head of the editorial board of the Conservator publication.

A few months later, Tolstaya first appears on television screens. She hosts the program "Basic Instinct", and also becomes the co-host of Avdotya Smirnova in the "School of Scandal" project. The last show brought the woman the TEFI award. In 2014 the project was closed. Later, Tolstaya became the host of another TV show called "Minutes of Glory".

In 2010, a book for children "The same alphabet of Pinocchio" was published. This work is directly related to the story of grandfather Tolstoy "The Golden Key". Tatyana had been preparing such a project for a long time, but did not find time for it. The niece of the writer Olga Prokhorova took part in the development of the ABC.

Now Tatyana continues to write, occasionally appears on television screens. She has received several state and international awards for her achievements. The woman prefers not to talk about her personal life. It is known that she has two adult sons from her first and only husband. Together with his family, Tolstaya lives in Moscow.

Tatyana Nikitichna Tolstaya(born May 3, Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR) - Russian writer, publicist, literary critic and TV presenter. Winner of the Triumph Literary Prize (2001) and the TEFI Television Prize (2003).

The works of Tatyana Tolstaya, including the collections of short stories "Love - do not love", "Okkervil River", "Day", "Night", "Raisins", "Circle", "White Walls", have been translated into many languages ​​of the world. In 2011, she was included in the rating of "One Hundred Most Influential Women in Russia", compiled by the radio station "Echo Moscow", RIA Novosti, Interfax news agencies and Ogonyok magazine.

Encyclopedic YouTube

1 / 2

✪ AUDIOBOOK - Tolstaya Tatyana, Kys

✪ Tolstaya Tatiana - Kitty

Subtitles

Biography

1951-1983: Childhood, adolescence and proofreading

Tatyana Tolstaya was born on May 3, 1951 in Leningrad, in the family of physics professor Nikita Alekseevich Tolstoy. She grew up in the house of the Leningrad City Council on the Karpovka River Embankment in a large family, where she had six brothers and sisters. The maternal grandfather of the future writer is Mikhail Leonidovich Lozinsky, laureate of the Stalin Prize, literary translator, poet. On the paternal side, Tatyana Nikitichna is the granddaughter of the writer, Stalin Prize laureate Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy and the poetess Natalia Krandievskaya.

After leaving school, Tatyana Tolstaya entered the Leningrad University in the department of classical philology (with the study of Latin and Greek), which she graduated in 1974.

In the same year, she married the classical philologist A.V. Lebedev and, following her husband, moved to Moscow, where she joined the Main Editorial Board of Oriental Literature of the Nauka publishing house. Having worked at the publishing house until 1983, Tatyana Tolstaya published her first literary works in the same year and made her debut as a literary critic with the article "Glue and scissors ..." ("Questions of Literature", 1983, No. 9). By her own admission, she was forced to start writing by the fact that she underwent eye surgery. “Now, after laser correction, the bandage is removed after a couple of days, and then I had to lie with the bandage for a whole month. And since it was impossible to read, the plots of the first stories began to be born in my head, ”said Tolstaya.

1983-1989: Literary success

In 1983, she wrote the first story entitled "They sat on the golden porch ...", published in the Aurora magazine in the same year. The story was warmly received by both readers and critics. At the same time, it is recognized as one of the best literary debuts of the 1980s. The artistic work was "a kaleidoscope of children's impressions from simple events and ordinary people, who appear to children as various mysterious and fairy-tale characters" . Subsequently, Tolstaya published about twenty more stories in the periodical press. Her works are published in Novy Mir and other major magazines. “Date with a Bird” (1983), “Sonya” (1984), “Clean Sheet” (1984), “Love - Don’t Love” (1984), “Okkervil River” (1985), “Mammoth Hunting” ( 1985), "Peters" (1986), "Sleep well, son" (1986), "Fire and dust" (1986), "The most beloved" (1986), "Poet and muse" (1986), "Seraphim" ( 1986), "The month came out of the fog" (1987), "Night" (1987), "Flame of heaven" (1987), "Sleepwalker in the fog" (1988) . In 1987, the first collection of short stories of the writer was published, entitled similarly to her first story - “They were sitting on the golden porch ...”. The collection includes both previously known and unpublished works: “Darling Shura” (1985), “Fakir” (1986), “Circle” (1987). After the publication of the collection, Tatyana Tolstaya was accepted as a member of the Writers' Union of the USSR.

Not all Soviet critics unambiguously praised Tolstoy's first literary works. In particular, she was reproached for the “density” of the letter, for the fact that “you can’t read a lot in one sitting.” Other critics accepted the writer's prose with enthusiasm, but noted that her works were written according to one, built, pattern. In intellectual circles, Tolstaya gains a reputation as an original, independent author. At that time, the main characters of the writer's works were "urban madmen" (old-fashioned old women, "brilliant" poets, demented childhood invalids ...), "living and dying in a cruel and stupid bourgeois environment" . Since 1989 he has been a permanent member of the Russian PEN Center.

1990-1999: Moving to the USA and journalism

In 1990, the writer leaves for the USA, where she teaches. Tolstaya taught Russian literature and art writing at Skidmore College (English) Russian located in Saratoga Springs and Princeton, partnered with New York Review of Books[remove template], The New Yorker, TLS and other journals, lectured at other universities. Subsequently, throughout the 1990s, the writer spent several months of the year in America. According to her, living abroad initially had a strong influence on her in terms of language. She complained about how the emigrant Russian language is changing under the influence of the environment. In her short essay of the time, “Hope and Support,” Tolstaya cited examples of ordinary conversation in a Russian store on Brighton Beach: “There, words such as“ swiss-loufet cottage cheese ”,“ slaise ”,“ half a pound of cheese ”and“ lightly salted salmon". After four months in America, Tatyana Nikitichna noted that “her brain turns into minced meat or salad, where languages ​​​​are mixed and some kind of omissions appear that are absent in both English and Russian languages” .

In 1991 he began his journalistic activity. He maintains his own column "Own Bell Tower" in the weekly newspaper "Moscow News", collaborates with the magazine "Capital", where he is a member of the editorial board. Essays, essays and articles by Tolstoy also appear in the Russian Telegraph newspaper. In parallel with her journalistic activities, she continues to publish books. In co-authorship with her sister Natalia, she published the book "Sisters" in 1998. There are translations of her stories into English, German, French, Swedish and other languages ​​of the world. In 1998, she became a member of the editorial board of the American magazine Counterpoint. In 1999, Tatyana Tolstaya returned to Russia, where she continued to engage in literary, journalistic and teaching activities.

2000-2012: The novel "Kys" and the TV show "School slander"

In 2000, the writer publishes her first novel, Kitty. The book caused a lot of responses and became very popular. Based on the novel, performances were staged by many theaters, and in 2001, a literary series project was carried out on the air of the state radio station Radio Russia, under the direction of Olga Khmeleva. In the same year, three more books were published: "Day", "Night" and "Two". Noting the commercial success of the writer, Andrey Ashkerov wrote in the Russian Life magazine that the total circulation of books was about 200 thousand copies and the works of Tatyana Nikitichna became available to the general public. Tolstaya receives the prize of the XIV Moscow International Book Fair in the Prose nomination, as well as the Triumph Literary Prize. In 2002, Tatyana Tolstaya headed the editorial board of the Konservator newspaper.

In 2002, the writer also appears on television for the first time, in the television program "Basic Instinct". In the same year, she became a co-host (together with Avdotya Smirnova) of the TV show "School of Scandal", aired on the Kultura TV channel. The program receives recognition from television critics and in 2003 Tatyana Tolstaya and Avdotya Smirnova received the TEFI award in the Best Talk Show category.

In 2010, in collaboration with her niece Olga Prokhorova, she published her first children's book. Titled as "The same ABC of Pinocchio", the book is interconnected with the work of the writer's grandfather - the book "The Golden Key," or "Adventures" of Pinocchio. Tolstaya said: “The idea for the book was born 30 years ago. Not without the help of my older sister... She was always sorry that Pinocchio sold his ABC so quickly, and that nothing was known about its contents. What bright pictures were there? What is she all about? Years passed, I switched to stories, during this time my niece grew up, gave birth to two children. And finally, there was time for a book. The half-forgotten project was picked up by my niece, Olga Prokhorova. In the ranking of the best books of the XXIII Moscow International Book Fair, the book took second place in the section "Children's Literature".

Creativity Tatyana Tolstaya

Tatyana Tolstaya often talks about how she started writing stories. In 1982, she had problems with her eyesight and decided to have an operation on her eyes, which at that time was performed using incisions with a scalpel (keratotomy operation). After surgery on her second eye, she could not be in daylight for a long time.

This went on for a long time. I hung double curtains, went outside only after dark. She could not do anything around the house, she could not take care of the children. I couldn't read either. After three months, it all goes away and you start to see so unexpectedly clearly ... That is, all impressionism leaves, and full realism begins. And on the eve of this, I felt that I could sit down and write a good story - from beginning to end. That's how I started writing.

Tatiana Tolstaya

The writer said that Russian classics are among her favorite literature. In 2008, her personal reader rating was Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov and Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. The formation of Tolstoy as a writer and a person was strongly influenced by Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky, his articles, memoirs, memoirs, books about language and translations. The writer especially singled out such works by Chukovsky as “High Art” and “Alive as Life”, and said: “Whoever has not read it, I highly recommend it, because it is more interesting than detective stories, and it is written amazingly. In general, he was one of the most brilliant Russian critics.

Tolstoy is referred to the "new wave" in literature. In particular, Vitaly Vulf wrote in his book Silver Ball (2003): “New wave writers are in vogue: B. Akunin, Tatyana Tolstaya, Viktor Pelevin. Talented people who write without condescension, without pity ... ". She is called [ who?] one of the brightest names of "artistic prose", rooted in the "game prose" of Bulgakov, Olesha, which brought with it parody, buffoonery, celebration, eccentricity of the author's "I". Andrei Nemzer spoke of her early stories as follows: "Tolstoy's 'aestheticism' was more important than her 'moralism'."

Tatyana Tolstaya is also often referred to as a genre of "female" prose, along with such writers as Victoria Tokareva, Lyudmila Petrushevskaya and Valeria Narbikova. Iya Guramovna Zumbulidze in her study “Women's Prose in the Context of Modern Literature” wrote that “Tatiana Tolstoy's work is on a par with the spokesmen for that trend in modern Russian literature, which consists in the synthesis of certain features of realism, modernism and postmodernism".

The writer's work is the object of a large number of scientific studies. Over the years, the works of Elena Nevzglyadova (1986), Peter Weil and Alexander Genis (1990), Prokhorova T. G. (1998), Belova E. (1999), Lipovetsky M. (2001), Pesotskaya S. ( 2001). In 2001, the monograph "The Explosive World of Tatyana Tolstaya" by E. Goshchilo was published, in which a study was made of Tatyana Tolstaya's work in a cultural and historical context.

Tatyana Tolstaya actively maintains personal accounts on Facebook and LiveJournal, where she publishes texts in part or in full, which are later included in her books. With her blog on Facebook, there have repeatedly been scandals (Arkady Babchenko, Bozena Rynska) and emotional editorial of the Internet community about the possibility or impossibility of presenting bills for previously provided assistance [clarify] .

Story period

The early period of Tolstoy's work is characterized by the predominance of such topics as universal questions of being, "eternal" themes of good and evil, life and death, choosing a path, relationships with the outside world and one's destiny. Slavina V. A. noted that in the work of the writer there is a longing for the lost humanistic values ​​in art. The researchers noted that almost all Tolstoy's characters are dreamers who are "stuck" between reality and their fictional world. The stories are dominated by a paradoxical point of view on the world, with the help of satire the absurdity of some phenomena of life is demonstrated. A. N. Neminushchiy in his work “The Motif of Death in the Artistic World of T. Tolstoy’s Stories” noted the artistic methods of embodying the idea of ​​death in the stories of the writer, which are close to the aesthetics of modern and postmodern.

The textbook "Modern Russian Literature" noted Tolstoy's special authorial position, which is expressed in a special literary-fairy-tale metaphorical style, the poetics of neo-mythologism, and in the choice of storytelling characters. Neo-mythologism in her works was also manifested in the fact that Tolstaya used folklore images. In the story "A Date with a Bird" she used the famous Russian folklore image - the bird  Sirin. Alexander Genis in Novaya Gazeta noted that Tolstaya is the best in modern literature to cope with the use of metaphor. The author wrote that in her metaphors there is the influence of Olesha, but they are more organically built into the plot.

In some other stories, the technique of opposition, contrasts is used. The stories "Darling Shura" and "The Circle" are built on the opposition of light and darkness (like life and death), which is later reflected in the later story "Night". The meaning of the antinomy "light - darkness" in the stories of Tatyana Tolstaya occupies a central place and includes: evil, compassionate and indifferent."

Twenty-four stories of the writer were published: “They Sat on the Golden Porch” (1983), “Date with a Bird” (1983), “Sonya” (1984), “Clean Sheet” (1984), “Okkervil River” (1985), "Sweet Shura" (1985), "Hunting for a mammoth" (1985), "Peters" (1986), "Sleep well, son" (1986), "Fire and dust" (1986), "The most beloved" (1986) , "Poet and Muse" (1986), "Fakir" (1986), "Seraphim" (1986), "The moon came out of the fog" (1987), "Love - do not love" (1984), "Night" (1987) , "Circle" (1987), "Heavenly Flame" (1987), "Sleepwalker in the Fog" (1988), "Limpopo" (1990), "Story" (1991), "Yorik" (2000), "Window" ( 2007). Thirteen of them made up the collection of short stories “They sat on the golden porch ...” (“Fakir”, “Circle”, “Peters”, “Darling Shura”, “Okkervil River”, etc.), published in 1987. In 1988 - "Sleepwalker in the Fog".

A family

• Maternal great-grandfather - Boris   Mikhailovich   Shapirov, military doctor, Red Cross activist, personal physician of Nicholas II, real   secret   adviser.
• Maternal grandfather - Mikhail Leonidovich Lozinsky, literary translator, poet.
• Paternal grandfather - Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy, writer.
• Paternal grandmother - Natalia  Vasilievna  Krandievskaya-Tolstaya, poetess.
• Father - Nikita Alekseevich Tolstoy, physicist, public and political figure.
• Mother - Natalya Mikhailovna Lozinskaya (Tolstaya).
• Sister - Natalia Nikitichna Tolstaya, writer, teacher of the Swedish language at the Department of Scandinavian Philology, Faculty of Philology and Arts, St. Petersburg State University.
• Brother - Ivan Nikitich Tolstoy, philologist, historian of emigration, specializes in the Cold War period. Observer of Radio   "Freedom".
• Brother - Mikhail Nikitich Tolstoy, physicist, political and public figure.
• The eldest son is Artemy Andreevich Lebedev, designer, artistic director of Artemy Lebedev's studio, blogging in Live magazine.
• The youngest son, Alexey Andreevich Lebedev, is a photographer, computer software architect, lives in the USA. Married.

TV

• “They sat on the golden porch ...”: Stories. - M.: Young Guard, 1987. - 198 p.
• Love - do not love: Stories. - M.: Onyx; OLMA-press, 1997. - 381 p.
• Sisters: Essays, essays, articles, stories. - M.: Ed. house "Horseshoe", 1998. - 392 p. (Co-authored with N. Tolstaya)
• River Okkervil: Stories. - M.: Horseshoe; Eksmo, 2005. - 462 p.
• Two. - M.: Podkova, 2001. - 476 p. (Co-authored with N. Tolstaya)
• Kiss: A novel. - M.: Podkova, 2001. - 318 p.
• Raisin. - M.: Horseshoe; Eksmo, 2002. - 381 p.
• Circle: Stories. - M.: Horseshoe; Eksmo, 2003. - 345 p.
• Don't Kiss: Stories, Articles, Essays and Interviews by Tatyana Tolstaya. - M.: Eksmo, 2004. - 608 p.
• White Walls: Stories. - M.: Eksmo, 2004. - 586 p.
• Kitchen "School of slander". - M.: Kitchen, 2004. - 360 p. (Co-authored with A. Smirnova)
• Women's Day. - M.: Eksmo; Olimp, 2006. - 380 p.
• Day. Personal. - M.: Eksmo, 2007. - 461 p.
• Night: Stories. - M.: Eksmo, 2007. - 413 p.
• River: Stories and short stories. - M.: Eksmo, 2007. - 384 p.
• Kitty. Zverotour. Stories. - M.: Eksmo, 2009. - 640 p.
• The same ABC Pinocchio. - M.: Pink Giraffe, 2011. - 72 p. (Co-authored with O. Prokhorova)
• Light worlds: Novels, short stories, essays. - M.: Edited by Elena Shubina, 2014. - 480 p.
• Girl in bloom. - M.: AST; Edited by Elena Shubina, 2015. - 352 p. - 12,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-17-086711-0.
• Felt Age. - M.: AST; Edited by Elena Shubina, 2015. - 352 p. - 14,000 copies.

In translation

• On the Golden Porch, and other stories Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1989, then Penguin, 1990, ISBN 0-14-012275-3 .
• The Slynx ISBN 1-59017-196-9
• White Walls New York Review of Books Classics, 2007, ISBN 1-59017-197-7

Awards

Notes

1. German National Library, Berlin State Library, Bavarian State Library, etc. Record #119142791 // General Regulatory Control (GND) - 2012-2016.
2. Internet Speculative Fiction Database - 1995.
3. Encyclopedia Brockhaus
4. Rastorgueva T.M.. Tatiana Tolstaya told Kungur librarians about creativity and about herself (indefinite) . iskra-kungur.ru (March 10, 2011). Retrieved February 10, 2012. Archived from the original on June 24, 2012.
5. One hundred most influential women in Russia (indefinite) . RIA News . Retrieved January 26, 2012. Archived from the original on February 1, 2012.
6. Tatyana Tolstaya (indefinite) . vashdosug.ru. Date of treatment February 10, 2012. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012.
7. Tatiana Nikitichna Tolstaya. Curriculum Vitae (indefinite) . RIA Novosti (May 3, 2011). Date of treatment February 10, 2012. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012.