Leo Tolstoy’s Sevastopol Stories: Spiritual Meanings of the Crimean War

Abstract

The article examines L.N. Tolstoy’s Sevastopol stories. The analysis is provided with hitherto unpublished archival sources, namely letters to Archbishop Innokenty (Borisov) of Crimean monks and white clergy. The study reveals the reasons why the Crimean War, according to some, turned out to be a defeat for Russia, and according to others, it was the victory of the indestructible Russian spirit. The author shows how Tolstoy recreated the psychological picture of the Crimean War in the Sevastopol stories, clearly outlined its spiritual meanings; and how an artistic, imaginative system of Tolstoy’s narrative is built in an interpolar space: peace and war, eternal and momentary, divine and human. Truth is the protagonist of the Sevastopol stories, and it is revealed in them in all the variety of Tolstoy’s artistic techniques, the origin of which lies in real life. Tolstoy’s own unique system of moral assessments was further developed in the novel “War and Peace.” The author of the article outlines parallels between the Crimean War and the Patriotic War of 1812 — both in historical memory and in the work of Tolstoy.