L. N. Tolstoy on the 20th-Century Estate: From the “Civilization of Machines” to a New Natural House of the Eastern Type

The article is devoted to the image of the estate and the house in L. N. Tolstoy’s legacy, especially in his later works. The research indicates that at the turn of the century and in the first decade of the 20th century, Tolstoy became an ardent supporter of the protection of the common people and, in fact, a denier of the previous estate culture, impossible without manor houses with gardens and parks, additional buildings maintained by the efforts of peasants and servants who provided for all the everyday aspects of life. In Tolstoy’s perception of estates and the formation of the image of a private house with a small farm in his legacy, the idea of simplification played an important role. The article shows the writer’s complex attitude to estates: with love for Yasnaya Polyana and an understanding of the value of estate life, Tolstoy denied the excessive luxury inherent in the urban and country estates of the nobility and people in power. The article analyzes Tolstoy’s appeal to the philosophy of the East and the way of life of the Eastern peoples, which, according to the writer, preserved the key foundations of life forgotten by European civilization.