Periodical publications of the mid-1800s as a source of information for Nikolay and Leo Tolstoy about Northern Caucasus
In this article the author raises a topical problem connected with the circle of reading of the Tolstoy brothers while being in the Caucasus in the 1850s. The author ponders on the consonance of the themes of their literary works written in the Caucasus with other materials on the same theme published in periodicals. This mountainous land became a literary cradle for the Tolstoy brothers. In the mid-1800s, there appeared numerous publications about the Caucasus which contributed to the public image of the land full of myths and legends. A new period in the Caucasus war began in 1817 and ended in 1859 when Shamil, the leader of highlanders' resistance, was captivated. This period in 50 years was described in detail by magazines and newspapers. In 1816 a Russian-language newspaper The Caucasus, which specialized on political and literary issues, was published in the town of Tiflis. The newspaper publications were highly appreciated by the outstanding Russian literary critic V.G. Belinsky. The democratic authorities of the newspaper gave space to different authors - local amateur-writers and native Caucasians who had recognized the power of the Russian Empire and praised the benefits of the coming civilization. In the Caucasus, N. Tolstoy was writing a history-ethnographic sketch The Tales of the Abazeks which reveals a deep interest of the author in the region where he had lived for 12 years. In some newspaper copies in 1849, there was published a work by Shah-bek-Murzin, The History of Atiheypeople, in concordance with Tolstoy's sketch. There were also published a lot of articles written by Russian officers on the war company and its results. News about rewards and appraisals could be found in the column "Highness's orders" where Nikolay Tolstoy was repeatedly mentioned in connection with the imposition to him "His Monarchical Grace" and further promotion. Top Russian magazines also published works on the Caucasian theme giving preference to realistic sketches, notes, memoirs written by the eyewitnesses and participants of the events. The leader among those periodicals was the magazine Sovremennik. In Y.I. Kostenetsky's publication Notes on the Avary Expedition, L. Tolstoy could have come across the concept of courage which had always been in the focus of his attention in the Caucasus and considerations on which, similar to the author's, were later reflected in The Raid and in Forest Felling. Among the characters in Foothill Strengthening by P. Karlovich there was a cossack whose traits of character might have been borrowed by L. Tolstoy while creating the personage of Yeroshka in his novella The Cossacks. The newspaper The Caucasus and the magazine Sovremennik published numerous tales of the mountain hunt and one of them, published in February 1857 "Hunting in the Caucasus," belonged to N. Tolstoy. In keeping with general tradition his work was marked by lyrical descriptions of the seasonal changes of nature and distinguished by subtle psychological character analyses of the highlanders and expressive descriptions of different representatives of the fauna. Though small in volume, the artistic heritage of N. Tolstoy is figured prominently among such writers as A. Pushkin, M. Lermontov, L. Tolstoy, Ya. Polonsky who left us written evidence on the Caucasus.