L.N. TOLSTOY ABOUT LITERATURE: HISTORY AND PROSPECTS OF STUDY

The article deals with Tolstoy’s statements about art form. Recognizing the close connection of these ideas with the ethical, religious and philosophical foundations of Tolstoy’s aesthetics, set forth by the writer in articles and treatises, the author of the article refers mainly to literary and critical works and scattered opinions expressed by him in letters, diaries, and conversations with contemporaries. The stages of selection and systematization of Tolstoy’s statements about the formal aspects of a literary work are outlined. Tolstoy’s judgments about composition and artistic speech were attracted by researchers in the course of analyzing his works. The most problematic and topical issue at the present time is the question of the features of the world of the literary work, which is understood by modern researchers as a complex non-verbal sphereof the literary work. Tolstoy repeatedly spoke about the main components of the world: the plot and characters, as well as those elements that make up the image of people and events. In the image of the characters – a portrait, gesture, speech characteristics, connection with the place of development of the action. The writer pays much attention to the content function of «faces», characters, and types. Stating that a number of Tolstoy’s judgments precede the ideas of formalists, the author of the article concludes that it is promising to study Tolstoy’s judgments about formal aspects and literary technique. Presented and understood as a single system, they could be included in the solution of the problems of modern theoretical poetics.