Studia Litterarum

2500-4247

IWL RAS

https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2024-9-2-324-341

Research Article

Articles

A.N. Tolstoy’s Library as a Creative Laboratory of the Writer: Sources of the Novel Peter the Great

Akimova

Anna S.

red@studlit.ru

June 25, 2024

2024

March 24, 2024

The article examines the personal library of the writer A.N. Tolstoy as a unique source of the historical novel Peter the Great. Its significance lies in the fact that the writer formed it purposefully. He acquired books to prepare for the creation of works of art and, above all, the largest part of the book collection for the novel Peter the Great. For the first time, the study of the “Petrovsky collection” was undertaken due to Tolstoy’s method of working with sources. He carefully read it and made notes in the margins with blue, red, or a simple pencil to later use this material in a work of fiction. He highlighted not only historical realities (dates, events, descriptions of real persons) but also emphasized names and speech patterns, used characterization of the relationship of characters (for example, Peter and Anna Mons), interpretations of the actions of historical persons and psychological motivations indicated in the source (in particular, related to the beginning of the relationship between Peter and Catherine). The books stored in the book fund of the Vladimir Dahl Russian State Literary Museum, lists of literature from the writer’s archive at the Manuscript Department of IWL RAS, and notes indicating the book’s author and page, extracts from historical sources, as well as articles, interviews and statements in the periodical press give some idea of the composition of Tolstoy’s library.

A.N. Tolstoy Peter the Great novel writer’s library historical sources creative laboratory the writer’s archive

2026

1 Alpatov, A.V. Aleksei Tolstoi — master istoricheskogo romana [Alexey Tolstoy as the Master of the Historical Novel]. Moscow, Sovetskii pisatel’ Publ., 1958. 356 p. (In Russ.)

2 Balukhatyi, S.D. Biblioteka Chekhova [Chekhov’s Library]. Leningrad, [S. n.], 1930, pp. 201–423. (In Russ.)

3 Balykova, L.A. Memorial’naia biblioteka I.S. Turgeneva kak istochnik dlia izucheniia biografii i tvorchestva pisatelia [Turgenev Memorial Library as a Source for Studying the Biography and Creativity of the Writer: PhD Thesis, Summary]. St. Petersburg, 2003. 24 p. (In Russ.)

4 Blium, A.V. “Sostav dushi” [“Composition of the Soul”]. V mire knig, no. 1, 1983, pp. 52–53. (In Russ.)

5 Brio, B. “I.S. Turgenev (Tridtsatiletie so dnia konchiny)” [“I.S. Turgenev (The 30th Anniversary of his Death)”]. Russkoe Slovo, no. 193, 1913, p. 3. (In Russ.)

6 Biblioteka A.A. Bloka: opisanie: v 3 kn. [Library of A.A. Blok: Description: in 3 vols.]. Leningrad, Library of the Academy of Sciences Publ., 1984–1986. (In Russ.)

7 Biblioteka L’va Nikolaevicha Tolstogo v Iasnoi Poliane: bibliograficheskoe opisanie: v 3 t. [Library of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana: Bibliographic Description: in 3 vols.]. Moscow, Kniga Publ., 1972–1999. (In Russ.)

8 Biblioteka F.M. Dostoevskogo: Opyt rekonstruktsii. Nauchnoe opisanie [Library of F.M. Dostoevsky: The Experience of Reconstruction. Scientific Description]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2005. 338 p. (In Russ.)

9 Bulgakov, V.F. “Otchet po opisaniiu biblioteki L.N. Tolstogo, nakhodiashcheisia v Iasnoi Poliane” [“Report on the Description of the L.N. Tolstoy’s Library in Yasnaya Polyana”]. Tolstovskii Ezhegodnik, no. 4, 1913, pp. 67–71. (In Russ.)

10.

10 Grossman, L.P. Biblioteka Dostoevskogo po neizdannym materialam. S prilozheniem kataloga biblioteki Dostoevskogo [Dostoevsky Library Based on Unreleased Materials. With the Application of the Dostoevsky Library Catalog]. Odessa, A.A. Ivasenko Publ., 1919, pp. 125–167. (In Russ.)

11.

11 Il’ina, O.N. Izuchenie lichnykh bibliotek v Rossii: materialy k ukazateliu literatury na russkom iazyke za 1934–2006 gody [The Study of Personal Libraries in Russia: Materials for the Index of Literature in Russian for 1934–2006]. St. Petersburg, Sudarynia Publ., 2008. 502 p. (In Russ.)

12.

12 Il’ina, O.N. “Lichnye biblioteki kak istochnik po istorii kul’tury” [“Personal Libraries as a Source on the History of Culture”]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo gosudarstvennogo instituta kul’tury, no. 1, 2003, pp. 63–69. (In Russ.)

13.

13 Koshut, S. “V biblioteke Alekseia Tolstogo” [“In the Library of Alexei Tolstoy”]. Literaturnaia Gruziia, no. 2, 1983, pp. 162–170. (In Russ.)

14.

14 Kravchenko, T.Iu. “Biblioteka A.N. Tolstogo v sobranii Gosudarstvennogo muzeia istorii rossiiskoi literatury imeni V.I. Dalia” [“The Library of A.N. Tolstoy in the Collection of the State Museum of the History of Russian Literature named after V.I. Dahl”]. Aleksei Tolstoi: dialogi so vremenem [Alexey Tolstoy: Dialogues with Time], issue 4. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2024, pp. 478–488. https://doi.org/10.22455/978-5-9208-0747-2-478-488 (In Russ.)

15.

15 Litvin, E.Iu. “Aleksei Tolstoi” [“Alexey Tolstoy”]. Knizhnoe Obozrenie, 31 May, 1985, p. 15. (In Russ.)

16.

16 Lichnaia biblioteka A.M. Gor’kogo v Moskve. Opisanie: v 2 kn. [Gorky’s Personal Library in Moscow. Description: in 2 books.]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1981. (In Russ.)

17.

17 Mez’er, A.V. Slovarnyi ukazatel’ po knigovedeniiu [Dictionary Index on Book Studies]. Leningrad, Kolos Publ., 1924. 926 col. (In Russ.)

18.

18 Modzalevskii, B.L. Biblioteka A.S. Pushkina: bibliograficheskoe opisanie [Pushkin Library: Bibliographic Description]. St. Petersburg, Imperial Academy of Sciences Publ., 1910. 442 p. (In Russ.)

19.

19 Morozov, S.N., and Iu.N. Ivanov. “Darstvennye nadpisi na knigakh iz parizhskoi biblioteki I.A. Bunina” [“Donation Inscriptions on Books from the Paris Library of I.A. Bunin”]. Kul’turnoe nasledie rossiiskoi emigratsii, 1917–1940: v 2 kn. [Cultural Heritage of Russian Emigration, 1917–1940: in 2 vols.], vol. 2. Moscow, Nasledie Publ., 1994, pp. 237–243. (In Russ.)

20.

20 Petrovskaia kollektsiia v lichnoi biblioteke D.A. Granina: katalog [Petrovsky Collection in the Personal Library of D.A. Granin: Catalog]. St. Petersburg, Rostok Publ., 2022. 375 p. (In Russ.)

21.

21 Rukavitsyn, A.P. “Chitatel’ L’va Tolstogo — Aleksei Tolstoi” [“Alexey Tolstoy as a Reader of Leo Tolstoy”]. Khudozhestvennoe proizvedenie i ego chitatel’: mezhvuzovskii tematicheskii sbornik [A Work of Art and its Reader: An Interuniversity Thematic Collection]. Kalinin, Kalinin State University Publ., 1980, pp. 160–172. (In Russ.)

22.

22 Seregina, S.A. “S.A. Esenin i N.V. Pokrovskii: k istorii izucheniia kruga chteniia poeta i ego predstavlenii ob iskusstve” [“Yesenin and N.V. Pokrovsky: On the History of Studying the Poet’s Reading Circle and His Ideas About Art”]. Studia Litterarum, vol. 7, no. 1, 2022, pp. 282–297. https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2022-7-1-282-297 (In Russ.)

23.

23 Skorokhodov, M.V. Sergei Esenin: istoki tvorcheschtva (voprosy nauchnoi biografii) [Sergey Yesenin: The Origins of Creativity (Questions of Scientific Biography)]. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2014. 383 p. (In Russ.)

24.

24 Subbotin, S.I. “Biblioteka Sergeia Esenina” [“Sergey Yesenin’s Library”]. Esenin na rubezhe epokh: itogi i perspektivy: Materialy Mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii, posviashchennoi 110-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia S.A. Esenina [Yesenin at the Turn of the Epochs: Results and Prospects: Materials of the International Scientific Conference Dedicated to the 110th Anniversary of the Birth of S.A. Yesenin]. Moscow, Konstantinovo, Riazan, Pressa Publ., 2006, pp. 331–355. (In Russ.)

25.

25 Umriukhina, N.V. “Biblioteka Andreia Platonova v fonde IMLI RAN” [“Andrey Platonov’s Library at the IWL RAS Fund”]. “Strana filosofov” Andreia Platonova: problemy tvorchestva [Andrey Platonov’s “Country of Philosophers”: Unanswered Questions], vol. 9. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2024, pp. 970–1002. https://doi.org/10.22455/978-5-9208-0745-8-970-1002 (In Russ.)

26.

26 Ianushkevich, A.S. “Biblioteka V.A. Zhukovskogo v Tomske” [“Zhukovsky’s Library in Tomsk”]. Voprosy literatury, no. 6, 1997, pp. 309–314. (In Russ.)