I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 93 Tolstoy as a Nobleman (Two Chapters Combined)

When the latest issue of The Contemporary magazine went on sale, Mikhail's previous novels and collections of essays published with Nekrasov were not entirely without impact.

On the contrary, literature is often the kind of thing that needs the most time to ferment. Whether a lot of literature is worth reading can only be judged fairly after thirty to fifty years or even longer.

It caused many once-popular works to fade into oblivion, while simultaneously highlighting the indelible brilliance of works that had endured countless years of solitude.

Mikhail was lucky; thanks to Belinsky's strong recommendation, he was able to immediately take up a position at the center of Russian culture.

However, in those days, due to the difficulties of printing and transportation, even within the same country, it still took a long time for some things to spread.

Therefore, even though Mikhail has made a name for himself in St. Petersburg's cultural circles, he is only known to a small number of people in Moscow, which is some distance from St. Petersburg. Moreover, even among those who are known, the evaluation of him is probably worse than in St. Petersburg.

Ultimately, this is a contest between the new capital and the old capital, and between new ideas and old ideas.

From a geopolitical perspective, Moscow would be a safer location than St. Petersburg.

The reason is that Moscow is located deep inland and has a broad strategic depth, which is one of the important reasons why the newly established country later moved its capital to Moscow.

However, prior to that, Peter the Great, in order to facilitate foreign expansion and better learn from advanced Western European countries and strengthen economic and trade exchanges, chose to take a different approach and establish his capital in St. Petersburg.

Based on this, St. Petersburg and Moscow can actually be roughly divided into two cultural spheres.

St. Petersburg has been continuously influenced by European Enlightenment thought, civil society, and customs. As a result, not only did the local nobles fully emulate Europe in their lifestyles, but the city planning, architectural style, and the lifestyles of its citizens also became more Westernized.

As for Moscow, as the former capital, it places greater emphasis on Orthodox traditions and national identity, and highly values ​​Russia's village community system and ancient patriarchal society.

Simply put, St. Petersburg is more urban, Moscow is more rural, St. Petersburg has more Western Europeans, and Moscow has more Slavs.

In this context, to be honest, even though Mikhail's works had already received a lot of criticism in St. Petersburg, in Moscow, especially among the aristocratic upper class, it was considered a waste of time to even glance at them. Even if one patiently looked at them a little longer, all that was produced was ridicule.

As Tolstoy wrote in his memoirs:
"I wholeheartedly desire to be a good person, but I am young, I have all sorts of desires, and when I seek good things, I am alone, all by myself."

Whenever I try to confide my deepest desire—to be a person of good character—I am met with scorn and ridicule; but whenever I indulge in base desires, I am praised and encouraged. Vanity, lust for power, greed, passion, pride, anger, revenge—all of these are respected.

As I indulged in these desires, I gradually became like an adult, sensing that others were pleased with me.

Even Tolstoy's aunt, whom he considered the purest of all, harbored the greatest wish for the young Tolstoy: to have relations with married women.

"Nothing can mold a young man more than having relations with a woman from high society."

She also hoped that Tolstoy could find another kind of happiness, which was to become the emperor's aide-de-camp. At the same time, she hoped that Tolstoy's greatest happiness would be to marry a very wealthy girl, thereby gaining more serfs.

In short, in Russia these days, expectations of most so-called upper-class people are lowered to an extreme degree; the higher one's social standing, the more vulgar they are, and this is often the case.

In this environment, Mikhail's poetry was still more popular, as for his novels? What were they even about?

Even if one tried to discuss these matters with other nobles, the result would undoubtedly be nothing more than ridicule and attacks from the crowd.

At this moment, the robust young man or boy walking down the street had recently received such treatment. However, due to his status, the other nobles did not dare to go too far. Moreover, this boy was irritable and easily angered. If he was displeased, he would very likely start a duel on the spot that could take someone's life.

Incidentally, although the journey was long, they still needed to make money, so after Mikhail and his colleagues' collection of writings sold in St. Petersburg for a while, they naturally tried to find someone in Moscow to test the waters.

Despite its relatively feudal and conservative nature, Moscow is undoubtedly the second largest city in Russia after St. Petersburg, and there are still many people interested in culture and knowledge. Therefore, although the "Petersburg Anthology" was ridiculed here, its sales were generally quite good.

Therefore, even though the main battlefield was not here, Nekrasov still put in some effort here, using someone as an intermediary and also doing some simple advertising here.

Of course, this was just a simple test; the main focus was still on St. Petersburg.

Not many people are interested in their magazine, but there are some, and the boy walking on the street is one of them.

He had a very ordinary appearance, even somewhat unattractive, with short, stiff hair, a broad nose, thick lips, and a pair of small gray eyes. However, he dressed very well, and it was immediately obvious that he came from an extraordinary family and was very likely of noble birth.

And that is indeed the case.

Although he is not very old, only sixteen years old, and is currently studying in the philosophy department of Kazan University, it will not be long before he returns to his hometown to inherit his count title and the family property that has already been divided.

His family estate consisted of approximately 5,400 acres of land and 330 serfs and their families.

Even within Russia's upper echelons, such wealth was considered substantial, enough for him to squander for several lifetimes without ever running out.

Perhaps for this reason, his expression appeared particularly cold and arrogant, and the judge-like look in his eyes was quite unsettling. In daily life, he was also prone to anger, rudely rebuking others, and almost never acknowledging greetings from some people, as if to indicate that he was completely unequal to others for some reason.

As for his name, his full name was Leo Tolstoy.

But his steps were quite hurried, and the place he went to seemed somewhat out of character for him. In any case, he had indeed come to the place advertised in the newspaper.

Upon arriving at his destination, he took out the newspaper again to check the address, and then went straight inside.

This famous bookstore in Moscow was doing brisk business, and there were quite a few people browsing around at the moment, but the boy still rushed around as if he were in an empty space, and those who saw his actions quickly gave way.

After scanning the room with his small, gray eyes and not finding what he wanted at first glance, he quickly found a shop assistant and asked in an almost commanding tone, "Where is 'Modern Man'?"

"Modern people?"

The shop assistant was startled by the sudden, rude question, but quickly began searching for what the customer wanted. Due to the distance, Moscow has its own popular magazines and newspapers; finding magazines from St. Petersburg is not an easy task.

Fortunately, the clerk was experienced and soon found the few copies of "Modern People" magazine in total.

After receiving the magazine, the boy immediately paid and left. He hurriedly found a place to read, then immediately opened the magazine and went straight for the name that he already recognized.

Actually, judging from his recent hobbies, he shouldn't have been exposed to any literary works.

Entering Moscow's aristocratic circles from the countryside, the young man was exposed to many new things and inevitably became immersed in social life. In the process, he also began to gamble heavily in casinos and seek pleasure in brothels, just like other nobles.

But no matter how much he gambles, his family can always cover for him.

But perhaps it was his nature, as he did this frequently, he would also weep bitterly for his actions from time to time, only to be dragged into the casino by grinning gamblers the next day. Just as he wrote in his diary: "I am despicable, stupid, and live like an animal."

The young Tolstoy came into contact with literary works partly because he was reading Rousseau's works extensively, and partly because he heard a moving poem at a ball. However, for some reason, while the poet's poems were praised by many, his novels were dismissed as worthless by many.

Driven by this curiosity, he began to learn about the poet's novels. Once he started reading, even though he felt that much of the content was very different from his own understanding, he somehow got absorbed in it and became more and more interested. To the point that he can now completely recite some of the sentences from those novels.

Back to the present, he's about to see the new novel, and he'll be able to read a lot of it at once, since it's a long novel!
Upon finding that familiar name, the young man immediately turned to the page with great excitement, and the title of the novel quickly appeared before him: "The Insulted and Hurt".

Although the name seemed to have nothing to do with him, he lingered on it for a long time, and his heart began to tremble involuntarily.

After calming down from this inexplicable feeling, he began to read the main text:

“Last year, on March 22nd, in the evening, something very strange happened to me. I spent the whole day running around the city looking for a place to live. The place I was living in was very damp, and I had already started coughing and felt very uncomfortable.”

Perhaps because this novel is serialized, its beginning is quite suspenseful.

The first thing I'll talk about is a special experience I had. While I was looking for a house, I kept running into an old man who was so thin he was just skin and bones at Miller's grocery store, along with his old dog who was just as sick and emaciated as he was.

This skinny old man often sits here for a long time, his eyes vacant and his face expressionless, as if he has something on his mind.

And once he had a conflict with someone, he would “stand up from his chair with a pitiful smile—the groveling smile of a poor man being kicked out for sitting in the wrong place—and prepare to walk out and leave the room.”

Seeing the poor old man's resigned and obedient demeanor, I felt a pang of unease. So, after his dog suddenly died of old age in front of him, I followed the distraught old man and tried to take him home.

As it happened, "The old man didn't move. I grabbed his arm; it fell down like a dead man's arm. I looked at his face and touched it—he was dead. I felt as if it were all happening in a dream."

Out of compassion, I began to help him with his funeral arrangements and wanted to notify his family, "but five days after his death, no one came."

The first chapter is like that, and the second chapter begins to introduce "my" identity: a young writer who is making a name for himself in the literary world, an orphan who was taken in by a good family, and has a childhood sweetheart named Natasha with whom he grew up.

Chapter Three tells the story of my adoptive father, Nikolai Sergeyich, who gambled away his family fortune in his youth, then quit gambling and began to live a serious life.

During this process, he met a duke who was very good at manipulating people's hearts, and he devoted himself to being the duke's steward and managing the duke's property.

Because he was "a very kind, naive and somewhat romantic person. Although some people gossip about them, they are well-regarded in Russia. Once they fall in love with someone (sometimes only God knows why), they will devote themselves to that person to the point of death. Their one-sided infatuation is sometimes so ridiculous that it is almost laughable."

He was so loyal and kind that he almost treated the duke as his own brother.

And what kind of person was that duke?
Born into a fallen noble family, he was forced to marry the daughter of a merchant. With his wife's dowry, he gained a foothold and revitalized his family business.

The merchant's daughter was only rudimentary in literacy, could barely write a few characters, and was ugly, but she was kind-hearted and obedient to the duke.

The duke took full advantage of this, separating from her a year later and beginning to mistreat her. Six or seven years later, the merchant's daughter finally died.
Immediately afterwards, the duke began to rise rapidly in rank by virtue of his acquired wealth and his ability to curry favor with everyone. During this process, the duke sent his son to Nicholas for a period of time. Then, the duke seemed to have heard some rumors that his steward had embezzled his property and that his daughter was seducing his son.

The Duke initially only wanted to find himself a reliable butler and had no interest in getting to know him well. So he quickly believed these words and publicly insulted the butler who worked hard for him and trusted him, calling him a thief.

Enraged by the insult, the elderly man abandoned everything and decided to move his entire family to St. Petersburg to personally seek justice for his wrongful conviction.

The Duke seemed to realize quickly that he shouldn't have insulted Ikhmenev for no reason. But for the sake of his reputation, the Duke decided to do everything in his power to win the case: "In other words, it was really about taking away the last piece of bread from his former steward and making him completely penniless."

Upon reading this, the young Tolstoy felt a burning itch, for he saw too many familiar things in these contents, but as far as he knew, those people were all proud of their actions and felt no shame whatsoever.

On the other hand, I unconsciously got into the situation, and anger welled up inside me. I wanted to shoot that hypocritical and disgusting duke.

But when he thought about his recent behavior, he fell into a somewhat silent state.

Regardless, he was completely engrossed in the story and couldn't wait to see what happened next. So, with trembling hands, he hurriedly flipped to the next page and quickly saw the words: "To be continued."

Young Tolstoy: "???"

An inexplicable rage made the young man tremble. He even dared to swear to God that if the author finished writing the novel but refused to upload the entire story, he would definitely shoot him dead!

"A chirp!"

Mikhail, walking down the street, suddenly sneezed several times. Although he didn't feel any cold, he still wrapped his coat tighter to avoid catching a cold or other illness.

"It's really weird."

Mikhail couldn't help but mutter to himself.

(End of this chapter)