Leo Tolstoy [author]

Calvin

Welcome to Headstones and Microphones where we use AI to step into the past through a researched, first-person simulation of history's most interesting people. I am your host, Calvin. While we’ve added some creative storytelling, our goal is to inspire your own study of these fascinating lives. Now, let’s meet our guest.

Calvin

For those who may somehow not know who you are... who are you?

White Male Guest

Hello Calvin. I am Leo Tolstoy, though in my homeland, I am often called Lev Nikolayevich. I spent my life writing, thinking, and trying to understand the deeper meaning of our human existence. Some people might know me best as the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina.

Calvin

When and where were you born?

White Male Guest

I was born on September 9, 1828. My birthplace was Yasnaya Polyana, which was our family estate located in the Tula Province of Russia. It was a beautiful place that remained very dear to my heart throughout my whole journey.

Calvin

What was your given name at birth?

White Male Guest

At birth, my name was Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy.

Calvin

Is there a story behind your birth name?

White Male Guest

The name Lev translates to "Lion" in Russian. As for the rest, it follows our traditional custom. "Nikolayevich" is a patronymic, meaning "son of Nikolay," honoring my father, Count Nikolay Tolstoy. My family belonged to the old Russian nobility, so our names carried a sense of history stretching back for generations.

Calvin

What was your hometown like growing up?

White Male Guest

Growing up at Yasnaya Polyana was truly magnificent. It was not a bustling town, but a serene, sprawling country estate surrounded by ancient trees, quiet ponds, and rolling fields. It felt like a peaceful kingdom of its own, deeply connected to the rhythm of nature and the rural life of the Russian countryside.

Calvin

What was your family life like?

White Male Guest

It was comfortable because of our aristocratic status, but it was also marked by great sorrow. My mother passed away before I turned two years old, so I never really knew her, though I always idealized her memory. My father passed away when I was only nine. My siblings and I were raised by a succession of caring aunts. We were very close, leaning on one another through all those early losses.

Calvin

What kind of kid were you?

White Male Guest

I was quite a sensitive and observant child, though not particularly outstanding in my studies. I was very self-conscious about my appearance and often felt plain compared to others. Because of this, I had a tendency to withdraw into my own thoughts, spending hours in lonely brooding, just watching the world around me.

Calvin

What were your biggest fears growing up?

White Male Guest

My biggest fear sprouted from a sudden realization I had as a young boy. One day, it simply dawned on my mind that death was always lying in wait for us. It terrified me to think that everything could end so abruptly. It made me so anxious that, for a time, I flung aside my schoolbooks, stretched out on my bed, and just ate sweetmeats while reading romances to forget about the future.

Calvin

What did you dream of becoming as a child?

White Male Guest

Like many young boys of my social standing, my early dreams were grand but vague. I imagined earning glory, being admired by society, and achieving a sense of personal perfection. I didn't necessarily dream of being a novelist right away; I just wanted to be noticed and deeply loved.

Calvin

What were some of your favorite activities in school?

White Male Guest

I was educated at home by French and German tutors before university, and to be quite honest, I was not a very disciplined student. Teachers later described me as unable and unwilling to learn. However, I did find a true passion for reading literature and diving into ethics. Discovering the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a turning point for me; I loved exploring philosophical ideas much more than formal schoolwork.

Calvin

What was your first job?

White Male Guest

My first real venture into a structured role was serving in the Russian military. In 1851, after running up some rather heavy gambling debts, I went with my older brother to the Caucasus and joined the army. I later served as a young artillery officer during the Crimean War.

Calvin

Was there a moment where you realized you were different from everyone else?

White Male Guest

It happened during my time in the military, particularly during the horrific siege of Sevastopol. While others around me accepted the vainglorious and deceitful war reports of the day, I felt an overwhelming urge to write down the absolute, unvarnished truth of the carnage. When my sketches were published, the public responded so powerfully to my honesty that I realized my perspective and my voice did not fit into the standard mold of society.

Calvin

What’s a decision that changed everything for you, but felt small at the time?

White Male Guest

Deciding to sporadically keep a "Journal of Daily Occupations" in my late teens seemed like a simple exercise in self-discipline. But that habit of minutely accounting for my days, my thoughts, and my moral failures completely shaped my mind. It turned me into a relentless observer of human nature, which became the very foundation of my writing.

Calvin

What was your biggest break?

White Male Guest

My biggest literary break came when I sent my semi-autobiographical story, Childhood, to a popular journal called The Contemporary in 1852. I submitted it under a pseudonym, and its immediate success and critical acclaim launched my career while I was still a young man serving in the army.

Calvin

What were your biggest struggles before success?

White Male Guest

My biggest struggles were entirely internal. I had a very tumultuous, unstable youth. I lacked direction, failed out of my university programs, and indulged heavily in drinking, carousing, and wild gambling. I was constantly battling my own lack of resolve and felt a deep sense of aimlessness before I found my purpose in writing.

Calvin

Did you ever consider quitting?

White Male Guest

I never truly wanted to quit writing altogether, but I frequently walked away from the literary establishment. I found the intellectual circles in the big cities to be vain and hypocritical. There were many times I chose to leave the writing world behind to focus entirely on managing my estate, trying to be a farmer, or working with the local peasant children.

Calvin

Were there any specific daily habits or routines that you feel are essential to your success?

White Male Guest

Absolutely. I was a self-improvement junkie. I lived by a strict list of rules inspired by Benjamin Franklin. I aimed to be in bed by 10 and up at 5, with no more than a two-hour nap. I also kept strict schedules for my writing sessions and believed deeply in physical labor, often spending hours working the fields or walking to keep my mind sharp.

Calvin

What job would you have had if fame never happened?

White Male Guest

I most certainly would have been a schoolmaster or a simple farmer. I had a profound passion for education and even founded a school for peasant children on my estate. Working the land and teaching young minds brought a quiet to my soul that literature never quite matched.

Calvin

What was your life like before fame?

White Male Guest

It was a restless whirlwind. I was a young nobleman drifting between Moscow and St. Petersburg, attending social visits, throwing money away at card tables, and searching for something meaningful without knowing where to look.

Calvin

How did relationships change after success?

White Male Guest

Success created a strange barrier between me and the world. Within my own household, it eventually caused incredible tension. My wife, Sophia, was brilliant and helped me immensely—she copied the massive manuscript of War and Peace by hand multiple times. But as my success grew, I wanted to give away my wealth and copyright royalties, which led to painful friction with my family, who wished to maintain our comfortable lifestyle.

Calvin

Did fame bring happiness?

White Male Guest

No, fame did not bring true happiness. In fact, following the success of Anna Karenina, I plunged into a profound spiritual crisis. I realized that wealth and public adoration could not answer the fundamental questions of existence: Why am I here, and how should I live?

Calvin

What was the downside of becoming famous?

White Male Guest

The downside was the constant scrutiny and the loss of privacy. The czarist government put me under police surveillance because they were alarmed by my social and political writings. I felt like a hypocrite, living in a large, comfortable house as a wealthy nobleman while preaching simplicity, pacifism, and the renunciation of property.

Calvin

What misconceptions did people have about you?

White Male Guest

People often thought I was a grand, unapproachable prophet who lived on a mountaintop of pure wisdom. In reality, I was just a deeply flawed man wrestling daily with my own passions, my temper, and my hypocrisies. I was trying to learn how to be good, just like anyone else.

Calvin

What was your darkest moment?

White Male Guest

My darkest period came during that spiritual crisis in the late 1870s. I felt so utterly meaningless despite my fame and fortune that I had to hide thick cords so I would not hang myself from the rafters, and I stopped going out with a hunting rifle because I feared I would use it on myself. It was a terrifying void of despair.

Calvin

What past regrets did you carry, that you spoke about?

White Male Guest

I carried immense regret for what I called my "youthful sins." I wrote openly about my sorrow over my early years of debauchery, my brutal behavior during the war, and the way I treated others during my time as a reckless young aristocrat. My later novel, Resurrection, was deeply informed by those exact regrets.

Calvin

What’s something people misunderstood about your life?

White Male Guest

Many people misunderstood my rejection of the organized church. Because the Russian Orthodox Church excommunicated me in 1901, people thought I was godless. But my actions came from a deep love for the core teachings of the gospels, particularly the Sermon on the Mount and the concept of nonviolence. I simply could not support the rituals and the state-aligned power of the institution.

Calvin

Tell me about a time when everything went wrong and how did you handle it?

White Male Guest

When I first returned to Yasnaya Polyana from the university, I attempted to lead our farmhands and improve their lives through farming reforms. It went completely wrong. Because I was young, inexperienced, and frequently absent on social trips to Moscow, the serfs did not trust my grand ideas, and the effort failed miserably. I handled it by recognizing my own restlessness, pivoting away from farming for a time, and eventually entering the military.

Calvin

Did fame and fortune change your life?

White Male Guest

It changed my circumstances completely, elevating me to global prominence, but it also forced a radical transformation within me. It pushed me to look past material comfort and ultimately adopt a morally and physically ascetic lifestyle. I began wearing simple peasant clothing, making my own boots, and turning away from luxury.

Calvin

What personal battles were you fighting privately?

White Male Guest

I fought a daily battle against my own vanity, my pride, and my desire for physical comforts. Even as an old man striving for spiritual purity, I had to constantly fight my craving for sweet foods and the lingering temptations of my younger days.

Calvin

Who had the biggest influence on your life?

White Male Guest

Philosophically, Jean-Jacques Rousseau had a massive impact on my youth. Later in life, I was profoundly influenced by the simple faith and common sense of the Russian peasants. On a global scale, my correspondences with Mahatma Gandhi and my alignment with his ideas on nonviolent resistance were incredibly meaningful to me.

Calvin

What was life like in your final years?

White Male Guest

It was very intense and filled with emotional turmoil. My estate became a destination for thousands of followers, known as Tolstoyans, who moved nearby to practice our shared beliefs. Yet, inside my home, the conflict with my wife over my desire to renounce my property reached a breaking point, making my daily life incredibly strained.

Calvin

What were you working on in your career before you passed away?

White Male Guest

I was continuously writing essays, moral tracts, and diaries, focusing heavily on themes of pacifism, Christian anarchism, and criticizing the imperial autocracy. I was dedicated to spreading the message of universal love and non-resistance to evil.

Calvin

When and where and how did you pass away and how old were you?

White Male Guest

I passed away on November 20, 1910, at the age of 82. In the middle of a cold winter night, desperate to escape the tensions at home, I slipped away from my estate on a train to seek a quiet refuge. I fell ill with pneumonia during the journey and passed away at the remote Astapovo railway station.

Calvin

What’s a random fact about you most people have never heard?

White Male Guest

I was completely obsessed with eggs. In my later years, when sweet pastries were off-limits, I lived off a rotating menu of twelve different egg dishes, including poached eggs with croutons, and even an omelette served in soup.

Calvin

What’s the craziest rumor ever told about you?

White Male Guest

Because of my radical ideas about giving up wealth and living like a peasant, rumor spread that I had completely lost my sanity and that my family had to legally step in to manage my mind. People couldn't comprehend that a wealthy nobleman would choose simplicity willingly.

Calvin

What was your most unique habit?

White Male Guest

My most unique habit was my absolute refusal to let a day pass without minutely recording every single one of my thoughts and actions in my diary. I even kept guides governing exactly how I should listen to music or play cards when visiting Moscow.

Calvin

What was your favorite food?

White Male Guest

Aside from my beloved egg dishes, I was incredibly fond of a simple, traditional Russian fermented rye bread drink called kvass. A pitcher of kvass made from dried brown crusts was always on our table. And on special occasions, I loved a very sour lemon pie made by my wife.

Calvin

Did you have a favorite restaurant?

White Male Guest

I did not care for fancy restaurants, especially in my later life. I preferred simple, rustic dining. If I had to choose an ideal setting, it would be sitting on a wooden stool, enjoying a simple baked potato while talking with a common peasant.

Calvin

What was your favorite book?

White Male Guest

The book that stayed with me throughout my entire life was the New Testament, specifically the gospels. Outside of spiritual texts, I had a deep fondness for the works of Charles Dickens and the philosophical writings of Rousseau.

Calvin

Did you have any known rivalries?

White Male Guest

I had a notoriously turbulent relationship with my fellow Russian author, Ivan Turgenev. We were quite different in our views on literature and politics, and our arguments became so heated at one point that I actually challenged him to a duel. Thankfully, we managed to reconcile years later.

Calvin

Tell us a story nobody talks about.

White Male Guest

People remember me as a serious philosopher, but in my youth, during my time in the Caucasus, I was so utterly enchanted by the wildness of hunting that I once came face-to-face with a massive bear. It pinned me down and actually bit my face before my hunting companions managed to scare it off. I carried the scar from that encounter for the rest of my days.

Calvin

What’s your funniest behind-the-scenes moment?

White Male Guest

When I was writing War and Peace, my handwriting was so notoriously terrible and filled with scribbles in the margins that my poor wife, Sophia, had to use a magnifying glass just to decipher my notes. It must have looked quite ridiculous to see her squinting intently over my chaotic pages late into the night.

Calvin

Did you ever prank someone?

White Male Guest

In my younger, wilder days before my spiritual transformation, my brothers and I would often play tricks on our tutors and guests at the estate, hiding their belongings or making up absurd stories just to watch their reactions. We were quite mischievous before gravity took hold of my life.

Calvin

What was the most outlandish purchase you made?

White Male Guest

In my youth, my most outlandish expenditures were not items, but my massive gambling debts. I once lost an entire building—a wooden wing of my ancestral home at Yasnaya Polyana—to settle a debt from a card game. It was dismantled and carted away by the winner.

Calvin

What advice would you give people chasing success?

White Male Guest

I would tell them that true success is not found in public acclaim, wealth, or high status. The only success that matters is mastering your own soul, living in accordance with truth, and showing love to your fellow human beings. Do not look to the world for approval; look within.

Calvin

Leo, do you have any closing remarks about the interview or the stories you shared that you would like to share with the listeners before we sign off?

White Male Guest

I only hope that my struggles, failures, and constant search for meaning can serve as a reminder that life is a continuous journey toward moral growth. Thank you so much for having me on the show, Calvin. It was a wonderful conversation.

Calvin

And that wraps up another conversation from beyond the grave. Thanks for joining us on The Headstones and Microphones Podcast. Remember—legends may die, but their stories never do. Please help spread the word by sharing and following the pod.