NONVIOLENȚA. PRINCIPIUL FUNDAMENTAL AL INTEGRITĂȚII ȘI LIBERTĂȚII DE CONȘTIINȚĂ ÎN VIAȚA LUI TOLSTOI

Abstract

Nonviolence. Fundamental Principle of Integrity and Freedom of Conscience in Tolstoi’s Life

Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is considered one of the greatest author of all times, a noted writer during the period known as the Golden Age of Russian literature, which began in 1820 with Pushkin’s first poetic works and ended in 1880 with  Dostoevsky’s last writings. He received multiple nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature and multiple nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. His religious, philosophical and aesthetic beliefs and ideas taught throughout his life in his works  are reunited and known as Tolstoyism. The times in which he lived were strongly imprinted in the psychic structure of the author and implicitly in his works which are not only results of objective observation but also transmit their own experiences  through the multitude of situations present in his writings and lived personally by him, through characters inspired by members of his family or notoriety in social interaction. Deeply affected by the tragedy of the lower class, in the  last period of his life, Tolstoy experiences a strong moral crisis, which makes him give up wealth, alienate himself from the Orthodox Church, approach the lives of many, seek the meaning of existence in the love of people and despite the  repressive measures taken by the tsarist authorities, to protest in writing against abuses and to demand reforms to improve the lot of the oppressed. The appearance of the novel „Resurrection”, an extremely suggestive title in emphasizing the  moral regeneration of the writer, integrity and freedom of conscience, is pure dynamite in the Orthodox Church which will also sign his excommunication.