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markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause a report on our. again this is all see the headline. dmitri medvedev says russia will take part in the nature of the missile defense plans but only as an equal the statement comes at the historic nato summit in lisbon to present a alliance is cheap hailed moscow's agreement to join the european security system . ensuring the influence of the wood under the flag of spreading democracy money from you and starts past pockets ends up funding america's friendly

politicians overseas the so-called promotion of democracy is being implemented through a network of organizations that officially deny anything that's close to being. one hundred years up to the death of one the world's greatest ever writers deal told stories and words and philosophical ideas are as alive and. the author of celebrated novels real and present and i could write in that is being remembered throughout russia on the. new house nor in tolstoy right now as all good old talks to the writers great grandson who also the director of the museum dedicated to him is here and i'll see him about it.

hello again and welcome to spotlight. on r.t.e. i'm al gore then today my guest in the studio is. this year the world will be commemorating the hundred years since the death of a great russian writer and. his epic war and peace is just a small parts of the. post i was brave enough to question the moral and religious pillows which had been taking for granted of essentially who was behind the lines will learn. something from his great great. story has been praised for his thoughtful writing and versatile characters when he felt he had to say something and he had a lot to say. was peaceful rebellion unusual for that time and not fully

accepted even today this philosophy strongly influenced the pacifism of mahatma gandhi and martin luther king. from the russian orthodox church. is probably the only person who enjoys and i'm questionable authority in the russian caucasus. thank you for joining our program we are very glad to have you here with us today but first of all what's taking place at yasnaya polyana this year this interior on a verse three of leo tolstoy is due. no the main events are taking place in the village of a stopover in a place where tolstoy died and i think that on this day. to be in a place where the great russian writer breathed his last breath he was buried there just two days after he died so naturally we will spend the next two days i mean the

twenty first on the twenty second of november adjust. in a large crowd is expected yes of all religious and philosophical conference is being held as part of the commemorations it will move from moscow to a stopover and from there to two and just and afterwards back to moscow again there's a long list of participants but most visitors are just ordinary people who come to pay tribute to leo tolstoy these days. members of the public attend commemorations you know stop of or yes. absolutely. are special invitations needed. well there are many people there and no preliminary measures are being taken. descendants are also there as usual. this year more than one hundred thirty tolstoy's descendants is it and yes they're planning to attend our traditional

annual family reunion some of them have also come for the commemorative events. how many direct tolstoy descendants are there in the world today. if you mean the living ones the right about three hundred people and how many of them are in russia russia has just twenty descendants just twenty the rest live abroad yes how old is the oldest descendant. i think salman or maybe eighty eight years old that who are they. there. and of who lives in the united states he's a descendant from the female line they are almost nine. years old unfortunately the last granddaughters of leo tolstoy. have recently died they lived in sweden and they were well over ninety so all of grandchildren are now dead there are no grandchildren left as far as i know it was the wish of tolstoy's wife sophia to

turn into public property. great great grandson. and you are running out of states what's the status of this estate today what's the status of the tolstoy family can your descendants inherit your director status. not the state and the government have appointed me the manager of the state and the museum's director so there's no family connection i have a contract so they can easily appoint another person to the post the russian culture minister concludes that. manager and may terminate my contract and appoint a person with any name to this post so the family name has got nothing to do with it however it turned out that family members used to run the state in the most troublesome years in its history first those youngest daughter alexandra was the stage director during the great patriotic war it was always granddaughter associate

. who was also the wife of russian poet said again i am the third member of the tolstoy family who was asked to run the state. i was a cult figure and remains as such in literature and society. i used to be a cult figure even in his lifetime. his own family attitude to him. what was it like to share one roof with him. i think it's always hard for family members to leave with a genius. because such people a bright. attending the usual. but in addition to that. story was a complex person. on the one hand his family loved him very much but. particularly nervous in relations with his family in the last years of his life. that was linked

to the external influence of the situation with his will and the problems which the writer faced in the last two years of his life. left home and died at the railway station. his death was a few knowledge to the drama of his life. in other words. you are saying that. and this year we are commemorating the sin of his death. odds with himself his family and the outside world. no you know why the english phrase rest in peace can hardly be applied to tolstoy that he didn't die peacefully did he. well first of all tolstoy didn't go away to die he was a very strong eighty two year old man who could easily and independently jump on a horse and take long horseback rides. you could physically he was still very fit

the fields know at the age of eighty two he no longer plowed i guess but nevertheless he didn't leave home to die it was just a coincidence. with you moni a while he was travelling by train. fact his death was even primitive. he left home because of the atmosphere that surrounded him on the last years of his life. prevented him from working normally around by the people we call today everywhere what do you mean by you don't mean there were journalists or photographers journalists and photographers were they really photographers photographers cameramen journalist. numerous petitioners yes petitioners are a different thing they were also everywhere. a problem for famous people even at the time. as you've mentioned was a cult figure and superstar so to speak and each of his movements were carefully observed. he was in the center of attention and crowds of people surrounded him all

the time but he wanted peace he wanted to think work and write peacefully and he searched for that piece outside his home. but he died shortly after he left his home. have been linked to yes so intimately that his departure turned out to be fatal and final for him. he had a very large family and i have always admired. almost as if every second person in russia bears the name tolstoy. indeed many bear the surname. exception from this big family and. perhaps you think you. were supposed to know him better than others he was a typical member of your family and all other members are like him to a certain degree. it would be strange to compare anyone to tell

stories in terms of his talent. but some features of character such as emotional disposition and passionate temperament are inherent to most members of the tolstoy family. i think that we are some thermal equal it features to this or that degree. you say that every other person is a tolstoy in russia the thing is that the tolstoy is a bright and down standing people who are well known because there are too many of them but because each family representative has a personality. then noticeable and that creates an impression that there are plenty of them. is it true that the told stories are one big deal and all the tolstoy's who live on earth are distant relatives or do several families bear the surname. but i also think that over tolstoy is a distant relative somewhere in the depths of the centuries. tolstoy family is very

old it has existed for hundreds of years the family tree originates from the thirteenth century. there is documentary proof of that naturally the family has many branches brothers sisters and more distant relatives. some couples had many children some members of the tolstoy family received the title of count and pasta tong to their descendants. some tolstoy's were not counts but they have the same origins yes this is why an extensive family. does the surname tolstoy also originate from the thirteenth century. well the family tree originates from a certain indras came to live in ancient russia together with his two sons. then one of his grandsons in the third or fourth generation was nicknamed.

strange. is a russian word meaning found there were lots of people in russia at the time that only one family. you know today means massive and heavy while in the fourteenth century simply manned big and strong. even at that time members of the tolstoy family still. strong people. yes and so would be initial nickname as we could call it now became their real surname says. great grandson. all of police telstar the great russian author spotlight will be back shortly after break so stay with us we'll continue this interview.

with. welcome back to spotlights algor another in just a reminder that my guest in the studio today is of leadin the great grandson of illegal tolstoy in the russian and famous author russian writer great great great great credit yeah ok. mr tolstoy. wife last october both in russian and in english why did it take one hundred years to finally have them published. i haven't read the memoirs myself yet

i knew that the books almost dethrones tolstoy but i like most people in russia as a cult figure the book is said to portray him as a less magnificent figure than the public traditionally thinks of. you know there are two different levels the everyday routine level and the scale of the personality as a whole. he's a magnificent figure but it's just think of the ninety volumes of his works his nobles are fascinating as for on the careening i think it is one of the greatest novels of the world literature. of war and peace. and the work avant i think on the qur'an is almost impassable as a work of a writer and an artist. is certainly a massive large scale epic work but it is somewhat excessive in some places at

least in my view. there isn't a single word to be added or taken out. like ulysses by joyce an absolutely perfect piece of literature it's rather difficult to compare them i mean the works look perfect yes in terms of a to stick and the static perfection and completeness and the qur'an unease on parallels anyway why did it take one hundred years to publish the memoirs the. point is that personal notes and diaries are always subjective. some time has to pass before they're published. and it is only natural that many people ask for their diaries to be published say fifty years after they die. each time has to pass before some things can no longer have a harmful impact on their children and grandchildren will have their own opinion of

them. did you read those diaries prior to their publication that's your kind of course i read in my life do you think the timing of the publication was right or they should have been published earlier that wasn't they could have been published earlier i'm a kind of a person he believes there is no need of making anything classified there was nothing in tolstoy's live that should have been concealed no secrets period not even family secrets we should be as sincere as himself was i believe this is the best way to handle things well let's see if people in other countries people another continent still know who. he is and was and whether they have read any of his books tolstoy yes i have. russian author writer. books like war and peace. yes anything

else. they are told. my grandfather is from russia so. that's why i know a bit about it could be a hug the name. no. have you ever seen be more in peace with how did. you know i have not heard of that i haven't heard maybe on the phone you know what. we're in peace. noir. never heard of your name. and seen. here ever seen a movie you're very good movie leo tolstoy. author . tolstoy isn't here he wrote

a piece right. i read it no i didn't read it. you. know one piece. that you know that's just. coming up i read that. i read the cliff notes in college which is embarrassing yes i have not tried it and tried it and i couldn't get through it. so. i definitely read it and loved it loved it but i didn't put the name leo tolstoy with the name of the novel apologize. but loved it read it. how can you comment on this is this a usual thing or. any random sample has that you could approach someone in the street and suddenly run into

a tolstoy expert the name is generally known generally people heard it too so things are done. for instance i've been. the same last name whenever i show my id at the passport control they always say oh boy war and peace. in a taxi camera to hotel reception desk whenever i produce my id the majority of people immediately remember leo tolstoy. the same way the name dickens is known in russia it doesn't mean that everyone reads him from cover to cover on the other hand it's unlikely that most russians could name more than two novels by dickens people know his name. there are going to leo tolstoy final day and his fame in the west. michael hoffman's last station just premiered in russia. it's about his final days his final year. that's right did you like the film

is it accurate in patrolling tolstoy and that period of. two different questions give two different answers like the film it's accurate in terms of emotions it's made with great love for tolstoy and his wife. actors helen mirren and christopher plummer played brilliantly and james mcavoy did a great job of tolstoy secretary. general it's a good film with great music. i believe the western audience took it well and hopefully the same will happen in russia. as for your second question about historical authenticity the film deliberately misses out a lot of points some episodes of his life. should be taken as fiction exactly it's not a documentary based on real events it certainly is to the filmmakers consult with

you they did from the very beginning so you have no hard feelings you knew what it would be like no hard feelings at all on the contrary we became friends with michael hoffman and. film crew you've participated in filming in germany does the fact that the film. which marks the one hundredth anniversary of your great great grandfather's death was produced in a foreign country hurt you in any way. well i believe we should be grateful that they made this film. this. is shrug our shoulders and disappoint. great didn't get likewise in his own homeland let's now to kolo look at what tolstoy his last years of life really were in a report by spotlights in the demeter. in those final years dos too wasn't turmoil over his legacy and his life his estate is now

a popular tourist attraction but it's serenity's deceptive the great writer and thinker was never quite at peace with himself and denies in over mistakes made during he's tumultuous youth and trying to come up with the ideal way of living tolstoy's later years were rebellion he challenged popular opinion by writing the critical as soon shakespeare where he doubted the playwrights lee to remarry it he came up with his own vision of face and christianity and attacked religious dogmas the price he had to pay was high and tolstoy was excommunicated from the russian orthodox church but that did not put off his supporters among those who admired tall stories who also he was another great thinker of the time mahatma gandhi with whom tolstoy wasn't correspondence throughout the last year of his life the writer and who lost so far went further in challenging the foundations of society he rejected private property and renounced his ancestral claims to he's

a state this radicalism was not understood by tolstoy's family as a result of the age of eighty two he felt ready to start a new life over nomadic and left home this ultimate rebel and didn't last long after just a few days tolstoy became seriously ill and eventually died. thousands showed up to pay respect to the dad writer whose legacy is much more than his globally renowned novels weren't peace and on the qur'an and. things authors would never dare. have you ever thought about the following. story was as you said such a significant figure in his country. his ideas of not resisting violence of nonviolent resistance zach lee. so how come these ideas became popular in india. and became an important part of

the indian culture whereas in russia. they were totally forgotten and seven years after tolstoy's death most cruel experiment based on violence was lost in the country i mean the bolshevik revolution and all that. it's common knowledge that no man is a prophet in his homeland. indeed ideas became very popular in india. gandhi used them to create. as the foundation for the entire system of government in india exactly and there were others we can say that tolstoy's ideas influenced martin luther king a lot. showed the path of peaceful nonviolent lifestyle. proved. but this path is very difficult. unfortunately even in india it

didn't last very long. any state is always built on some violent functions against individuals. and therefore. therefore the food. ideas are inconvenient for any form of government. he was inconvenient for the tzarist russia and he was equally inconvenient for the bolsheviks then he would have been he will never suit any type of democracy or authoritarianism but the only just doesn't conform to the standards of any form of government for more probably in space thank you perhaps this is what makes him so interesting but sure thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest today was of led to another tolstoy great grandson of a tall side the famous russian author who died hundred years ago and that's it for

now from all of us here at spotlight will be back and ferment and party can take.