Leo Tolstoy about literature: history and prospects of study
The article deals with Leo Tolstoy's statements about art form. Recognising the close connection of these ideas with the ethical, religious and philosophical foundations of Leo Tolstoy's aesthetics, set forth by the writer in articles and treatises, the author of the article refers mainly to literary and critical works and scattered opinions expressed by the sage in letters, diaries, and conversations with his contemporaries. The stages of selection and systematisation of Leo Tolstoy's statements about the formal aspects of a literary work are outlined. Leo Tolstoy's judgements about composition and artistic speech were attracted by researchers in the course of analysing his works. The most problematic and topical issue at the present time is the question of the features of the world of the literary work, which is understood by modern researchers as a complex non-verbal sphere of the literary work. Leo Tolstoy repeatedly spoke about the main components of the world: the plot and characters, as well as those elements that make up the image of people and events. There is the image of the characters - a portrait, gesture, speech characteristics, connection with the place of development of the action. The writer pays much attention to the content function of "faces", characters, and types. Stating that a number of Leo Tolstoy's judgements precede the ideas of formalists, the author of the article concludes that it is promising to study Leo Tolstoy's judgements about formal aspects and literary technique. Presented and understood as a single system, they could be included in the solution of the problems of modern theoretical poetics.