Valentin Bulgakov
Encyclopedia
Valentin Fyodorovich Bulgakov ' onMouseout='HidePop("31874")' href="/topics/Kuznetsk">Kuznetsk
, Russian Empire
– 22 September 1966 Yasnaya Polyana
, Tula Oblast
, Soviet Union
) was the last secretary of Leo Tolstoy
and his biographer. He was director of a number of literary museums and was engaged in Tolstoyan
, pacifist, and anti-communist activities. He was imprisoned by both the Tsarist and Soviet regimes and was a Nazi concentration camp survivor. During the final 20 years of his life he was head of the Yasnaya Polyana
museum.
At an early age, Valentin Bulgakov became a regular correspondent for a local newspaper. In 1904, a supplement to "Siberian Life" published his best-known early article "F. Dostoevsky in the Kuznetsk". The article contained new material on the wedding of Fyodor Dostoyevsky with Maria Dmitrievna Isayeva held in Kuznetsk in 1857.
In 1906 he finished high school with honors.
In 1910 he dropped out of University and became the personal secretary of Leo Tolstoy. He was a personal witness to the lives of the Tolstoy family at Yasnaya Polyana during the last period of the writer's life. On 28 October 1910, he managed to prevent a suicide attempt of Tolstoy's wife Sophia Tolstaya following the departure of Tolstoy.
During this period he became gradually estranged from Vladimir Chertkov
, one of the most prominent Tolstoyans.
After the death of Leo Tolstoy, Bulgakov remained for several years in Yasnaya Polyana and worked on his notes which were published in 1911 under the title "The last year of Leo Tolstoy" and "The conception of life by Leo Tolstoy in his letters to his secretary". Both books were soon translated into several languages. He began the laborious task of describing the library of Tolstoy. He took an active part in publishing the works of Leo Tolstoy and the organization of the Tolstoy Museum in Moscow. In 1917 he published "Christian ethics", an authoritative account of the religious and ethical teaching of Tolstoy.
was the appeal "Wake up, all people are brothers!" composed by Bulgakov on 28 September 1914.
In October, Bulgakov continued circulating the appeal, collecting signatures and posting copies which were confiscated by the Okhrana. On 28 October Bulgakov was arrested together with 27 signatories of the appeal.
In November-December 1915, most defendants were released from custody on bail. A trial took place on 1 April 1916 and the defendants were acquitted. Pavel Ivanovich Biryukov received in 1914 the text of the appeal and subsequently published it in the Swiss magazine «Demain» ("Tomorrow"), edited by Henri Guilbaud.
After the October Revolution
, many Tolstoyans opposed dialogue with the Bolsheviks and were opposed to the nationalization of the Tolstoy Museum. Bulgakov and A. Thick insisted, however, on coming to an agreement with the Soviet government. Later Bulgakov, Tolstoy and the artist ND Bartram, founder of the Museum of Toys, were able to secure against numerous applicants a mansion in 11 Prechistenka, Moscow which became the location for the Tolstoy museum. Bulgakov also put great efforts into creating a "steel room" for the Archives of Tolstoy.
On 5 April 1920, Lenin signed a decree for the nationalization of the House of Leo Tolstoy in Moscow. The Literary Museum in Prechistenka and the Museum-Estate "Khamovniki" were combined into a single museum with Bulgakov as its director. Bulgakov retained this position until his expulsion by the Soviet regime in 1923.
, alleged crop failure and the first implementation of war communism
(which involved the violent seizure by the government of food from peasants) the country experienced a famine in 1921. There were tens of thousands of starving peasants and many cases of cannibalism
.
On 21 July 1921 a preliminary meeting of the All-Union Public Committee for the Relief of Starving
(Pomgol Public Committee, Всероссийский общественный комитет помощи голодающим) was held and a decree was signed by the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union
on the establishment of the Committee, as well as its role. The Committee was given the sign of the Red Cross
. The Committee initially included 63 people, including, Bulgakov, famous cultural figures, economist Alexander Chayanov
, the president of the Academy of Sciences Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky and representatives of Russian religious denominations.
Negotiations for help began with overseas organizations, including the American Relief Administration
and polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen
, the head of the Executive Committee of "International Aid to Russia." The negotiations culminated in agreements on the supply of food.
After six weeks the Soviet Politburo
passed a resolution for the elimination of the Committee. Most of its members, including Bulgakov, were arrested. Simultaneously, the press began attacking them. However, experienced in confronting the authorities Bulgakov made sure that on 18 September 1921 the newspaper "Communist Labor" ran a refutation of the false accusations and published an excerpt from his letter to the editor. Along with the majority of the members of Pomgol, Bulgakov was released and then exiled from the Soviet Union
in February 1923.
, Czechoslovakia
. He conducted extensive lecturing activities in Europe in which he promoted creativity, Tolstoyism and the non-violent struggle
against British
colonialism
, led by Mahatma Gandhi
.
He joined the international anti-war organization "War Resisters' International
," and soon became one of the members of its board. In 1932 he initiated that the community of Doukhobor, which at the end of the 19th century had emigrated from Russia to Canada
, was accepted by the organization.
In the period from 1924 to 1928 he was the chairman of the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists in Czechoslovakia. He supported Marina Tsvetaeva
during her exile in Prague.
He corresponded with prominent cultural and intellectual figures such as Romain Rolland
, Rabindranath Tagore
, Albert Einstein
and Nicholas Roerich
.
In 1934, Bulgakov founded the Russian cultural-historical museum near the Prague Castle
. The museum gathered a rich collection of Russian art, that had been scattered in many countries around the world including paintings, antiquities, manuscripts and books. He was one of the editors of the Union of Russian Writers' book "The Ark". With A. Yupatovym he prepared the handbook "Russian art abroad" (1938, Prague). In the 1930s, he prepared a fundamental Glossary of Russian émigré writers (which was not published during the author's lifetime).
When at the beginning of the Second World War the German Wehrmacht
marched into Prague, Bulgakov was arrested on suspicion of being a communist and later sent to a Bavarian
concentration camp in Weißenburg in Bayern. During his incarceration at the camp from 1941 to 1945 he wrote his memoirs of Tolstoy and his family.
Valentin Bulgakov died in Yasnaya Polyana at the age of 80. He was buried in the village of Kochaki near the family burial of Tolstoys.
, Rabindranath Tagore
, Albert Einstein
and Nicholas Roerich
.
His personal archive is stored in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art
and the Literary Archives of the National Museum
of Prague.
) in The Last Station
(2009), a film about the last year in the life of Tolstoy. The film was based on a 1990 biographical novel by American writer Jay Parini
, who in turn based his novel on, amongst others, the memoirs of Bulgakov.
Kuznetsk
Kuznetsk is a town in Penza Oblast, Russia, located east of Penza and west of Samara and the Volga River. Population: -External links:*...
, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
– 22 September 1966 Yasnaya Polyana
Yasnaya Polyana
Yasnaya Polyana was the home of the writer Leo Tolstoy, where he was born, wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and is buried. Tolstoy called Yasnaya Polyana his "inaccessible literary stronghold". It is located southwest of Tula, Russia and from Moscow.In 1921, the estate formally became his...
, Tula Oblast
Tula Oblast
Tula Oblast is a federal subject of Russia with its present borders formed on September 26, 1937. Its administrative center is the city of Tula. The oblast has an area of and a population of 1,553,874...
, Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
) was the last secretary of Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
and his biographer. He was director of a number of literary museums and was engaged in Tolstoyan
Tolstoyan
The Tolstoyan movement is a social movement based on the philosophical and religious views of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy . Tolstoy's views were formed by rigorous study of the ministry of Jesus, particularly the Sermon on the Mount....
, pacifist, and anti-communist activities. He was imprisoned by both the Tsarist and Soviet regimes and was a Nazi concentration camp survivor. During the final 20 years of his life he was head of the Yasnaya Polyana
Yasnaya Polyana
Yasnaya Polyana was the home of the writer Leo Tolstoy, where he was born, wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and is buried. Tolstoy called Yasnaya Polyana his "inaccessible literary stronghold". It is located southwest of Tula, Russia and from Moscow.In 1921, the estate formally became his...
museum.
Early years
Valentin Bulgakov was the son of an official of the city of Kuznetsk (now Novokuznetsk). He received his early education at the Tomsk grammar school.At an early age, Valentin Bulgakov became a regular correspondent for a local newspaper. In 1904, a supplement to "Siberian Life" published his best-known early article "F. Dostoevsky in the Kuznetsk". The article contained new material on the wedding of Fyodor Dostoyevsky with Maria Dmitrievna Isayeva held in Kuznetsk in 1857.
In 1906 he finished high school with honors.
Secretary to Leo Tolstoy
Bulgakov entered the faculty of history and philology of Moscow University (1906-1910). In 1907, Bulgakov became acquainted with Leo Tolstoy. He became a sincere follower of Tolstoyanism and its life principles such as pacifism, vegetarianism, non-participation in political activities and a high level of social activity based on Christian principles.In 1910 he dropped out of University and became the personal secretary of Leo Tolstoy. He was a personal witness to the lives of the Tolstoy family at Yasnaya Polyana during the last period of the writer's life. On 28 October 1910, he managed to prevent a suicide attempt of Tolstoy's wife Sophia Tolstaya following the departure of Tolstoy.
During this period he became gradually estranged from Vladimir Chertkov
Vladimir Chertkov
Vladimir Grigoryevich Chertkov was a Russian writer and secretary of Leo Tolstoy, and one of the most prominent Tolstoyans.-Family and childhood:...
, one of the most prominent Tolstoyans.
After the death of Leo Tolstoy, Bulgakov remained for several years in Yasnaya Polyana and worked on his notes which were published in 1911 under the title "The last year of Leo Tolstoy" and "The conception of life by Leo Tolstoy in his letters to his secretary". Both books were soon translated into several languages. He began the laborious task of describing the library of Tolstoy. He took an active part in publishing the works of Leo Tolstoy and the organization of the Tolstoy Museum in Moscow. In 1917 he published "Christian ethics", an authoritative account of the religious and ethical teaching of Tolstoy.
World War I
The first reaction of the Tolstoyan Movement to the outbreak of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
was the appeal "Wake up, all people are brothers!" composed by Bulgakov on 28 September 1914.
"Our enemies are - not the Germans, and - not Russians or Frenchmen. The common enemy of us all, no matter what nationality to which we belong - is the beast within us. Nowhere is this truth so clearly confirmed, as now, when, intoxicated, and excessively proud of their false science, their foreign culture and their civilization of the machine, people of the 20th century20th centuryMany people define the 20th century as running from January 1, 1901 to December 31, 2000, others would rather define it as beginning on January 1, 1900....
have suddenly realized the true stage of its development: this step is no higher than that which our ancestors were at in the days of Attila and Genghis KhanGenghis KhanGenghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
. It is infinitely sad to know that two thousand years of ChristianityChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
have passed almost without a trace upon the people.".
In October, Bulgakov continued circulating the appeal, collecting signatures and posting copies which were confiscated by the Okhrana. On 28 October Bulgakov was arrested together with 27 signatories of the appeal.
In November-December 1915, most defendants were released from custody on bail. A trial took place on 1 April 1916 and the defendants were acquitted. Pavel Ivanovich Biryukov received in 1914 the text of the appeal and subsequently published it in the Swiss magazine «Demain» ("Tomorrow"), edited by Henri Guilbaud.
Museum
In 1916, Bulgakov took the position of keeper of the Museum of Leo Tolstoy in Moscow (the first keeper, Pavel Ivanovich Biryukov, had left for Switzerland).After the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, many Tolstoyans opposed dialogue with the Bolsheviks and were opposed to the nationalization of the Tolstoy Museum. Bulgakov and A. Thick insisted, however, on coming to an agreement with the Soviet government. Later Bulgakov, Tolstoy and the artist ND Bartram, founder of the Museum of Toys, were able to secure against numerous applicants a mansion in 11 Prechistenka, Moscow which became the location for the Tolstoy museum. Bulgakov also put great efforts into creating a "steel room" for the Archives of Tolstoy.
On 5 April 1920, Lenin signed a decree for the nationalization of the House of Leo Tolstoy in Moscow. The Literary Museum in Prechistenka and the Museum-Estate "Khamovniki" were combined into a single museum with Bulgakov as its director. Bulgakov retained this position until his expulsion by the Soviet regime in 1923.
Pomgol
As a result of the Russian Civil WarRussian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, alleged crop failure and the first implementation of war communism
War communism
War communism or military communism was the economic and political system that existed in Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War, from 1918 to 1921...
(which involved the violent seizure by the government of food from peasants) the country experienced a famine in 1921. There were tens of thousands of starving peasants and many cases of cannibalism
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
.
On 21 July 1921 a preliminary meeting of the All-Union Public Committee for the Relief of Starving
Pomgol
Pomgol was the name of two organizations created in the Russian SFSR during the Russian famine of 1921. The name is an abbreviation of the Russian term "Помощь голодающим" or "Relief for Starving".-Pomgol All-Russian Public Committee:...
(Pomgol Public Committee, Всероссийский общественный комитет помощи голодающим) was held and a decree was signed by the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union
Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union
The Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union was the highest governing body in the Soviet Union in the interim of the sessions of the Congress of Soviets, existed from 1922 until 1938, when it was replaced by the Supreme Soviet of first convocation....
on the establishment of the Committee, as well as its role. The Committee was given the sign of the Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
. The Committee initially included 63 people, including, Bulgakov, famous cultural figures, economist Alexander Chayanov
Alexander Chayanov
Alexander V. Chayanov was a Soviet agrarian economist, and scholar of rural sociology and advocate of agrarianism and cooperatives....
, the president of the Academy of Sciences Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky and representatives of Russian religious denominations.
Negotiations for help began with overseas organizations, including the American Relief Administration
American Relief Administration
American Relief Administration was an American relief mission to Europe and later Soviet Russia after World War I. Herbert Hoover, future president of the United States, was the program director....
and polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...
, the head of the Executive Committee of "International Aid to Russia." The negotiations culminated in agreements on the supply of food.
After six weeks the Soviet Politburo
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
passed a resolution for the elimination of the Committee. Most of its members, including Bulgakov, were arrested. Simultaneously, the press began attacking them. However, experienced in confronting the authorities Bulgakov made sure that on 18 September 1921 the newspaper "Communist Labor" ran a refutation of the false accusations and published an excerpt from his letter to the editor. Along with the majority of the members of Pomgol, Bulgakov was released and then exiled from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in February 1923.
Emigration
He went into exile in PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. He conducted extensive lecturing activities in Europe in which he promoted creativity, Tolstoyism and the non-violent struggle
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
against British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
, led by Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
.
He joined the international anti-war organization "War Resisters' International
War Resisters' International
War Resisters' International is an international anti-war organization with members and affiliates in over thirty countries. Its headquarters are in London, UK.-History:...
," and soon became one of the members of its board. In 1932 he initiated that the community of Doukhobor, which at the end of the 19th century had emigrated from Russia to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, was accepted by the organization.
In the period from 1924 to 1928 he was the chairman of the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists in Czechoslovakia. He supported Marina Tsvetaeva
Marina Tsvetaeva
Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva was a Russian and Soviet poet. Her work is considered among some of the greatest in twentieth century Russian literature. She lived through and wrote of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Moscow famine that followed it. In an attempt to save her daughter Irina from...
during her exile in Prague.
He corresponded with prominent cultural and intellectual figures such as Romain Rolland
Romain Rolland
Romain Rolland was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.-Biography:...
, Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
and Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich, also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh , was a Russian mystic, painter, philosopher, scientist, writer, traveler, and public figure. A prolific artist, he created thousands of paintings and about 30 literary works...
.
In 1934, Bulgakov founded the Russian cultural-historical museum near the Prague Castle
Prague Castle
Prague Castle is a castle in Prague where the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have had their offices. The Czech Crown Jewels are kept here...
. The museum gathered a rich collection of Russian art, that had been scattered in many countries around the world including paintings, antiquities, manuscripts and books. He was one of the editors of the Union of Russian Writers' book "The Ark". With A. Yupatovym he prepared the handbook "Russian art abroad" (1938, Prague). In the 1930s, he prepared a fundamental Glossary of Russian émigré writers (which was not published during the author's lifetime).
When at the beginning of the Second World War the German Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
marched into Prague, Bulgakov was arrested on suspicion of being a communist and later sent to a Bavarian
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
concentration camp in Weißenburg in Bayern. During his incarceration at the camp from 1941 to 1945 he wrote his memoirs of Tolstoy and his family.
Back in the USSR
In 1948, Bulgakov applied for Soviet citizenship and returned to the USSR. He settled in Yasnaya Polyana, where for almost 20 years he was the keeper of the house-museum of Leo Tolstoy. In 1958 he was admitted to the Union of Soviet Writers. He wrote a series of essays in the book "Meetings with Artists," "On Tolstoy. Memories and Stories", and a still unpublished memoir, "How Life is Lived."Valentin Bulgakov died in Yasnaya Polyana at the age of 80. He was buried in the village of Kochaki near the family burial of Tolstoys.
Legacy
In addition to the memoirs of Tolstoy, promotional pamphlets and essays on Tolstoyism, Bulgakov left a large correspondence, especially from the time of his Prague emigration, with, amongst others, Romain RollandRomain Rolland
Romain Rolland was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.-Biography:...
, Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
and Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich
Nicholas Roerich, also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh , was a Russian mystic, painter, philosopher, scientist, writer, traveler, and public figure. A prolific artist, he created thousands of paintings and about 30 literary works...
.
His personal archive is stored in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art
Russian State Archive of Literature and Art
-External links:* * *...
and the Literary Archives of the National Museum
National Museum (Prague)
The National museum is a Czech museum institution intended to systematically establish, prepare and publicly exhibit natural scientific and historical collections. It was founded 1818 in Prague by Kašpar Maria Šternberg...
of Prague.
In popular culture
Valentin Bulgakov is one of the main characters (played by James McAvoyJames McAvoy
James McAvoy is a Scottish stage and screen actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in 1995's The Near Room and continued to make mostly television appearances until the early 2000s. His notable television work includes State of Play, Shameless, and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune...
) in The Last Station
The Last Station
The Last Station is a 2009 biographical drama film directed by Michael Hoffman. It is an adaptation of the 1990 biographical novel of the same name by Jay Parini about the final months of Leo Tolstoy's life. The film stars Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy and Helen Mirren as his wife Sophia Tolstaya...
(2009), a film about the last year in the life of Tolstoy. The film was based on a 1990 biographical novel by American writer Jay Parini
Jay Parini
Jay Parini is an American writer and academic. He is known for novels and poetry, biography and criticism.He was born in Pittston, Pennsylvania, and brought up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lafayette College in 1970 and was awarded a doctorate by the University of St. Andrews in 1975...
, who in turn based his novel on, amongst others, the memoirs of Bulgakov.
Links
- Full text of The last year of Leo Tolstoy at The Archive Organisation
- Bulgakov, Valentin b. 1886 at worldcat