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Notes from the Dramaturg: Heather HelinskyMuch like the central character of Pozdynyshev, Tolstoy’s early life certainly followedthe socially acceptable path for men to first encounter women through a lifestyle of heavydrinking, gambling, and prostitution. Tolstoy lived without a maternal figure as his mother,Princess Marya Volkonskaya, died when Tolstoy was two years old. He dropped out ofuniversity after failing his examinations and inherited his family estate of Yasnaya Polyanaat the age of nineteen. When he traveled to Moscow and St. Petersburg, the young Tolstoydid more than “sow his wild oats” to blow off some steam from his responsibilities. In hisstation as a count with a hereditary title, these were acceptable social behaviors, and hecontinued on the path of a noble Russian as he followed his older brother into militaryservice. It wasn’t until he was thirty-four when he fell in love with the daughter of a childhoodfriend, Sofya Behrs, who was sixteen years his junior and gave him thirteen children.While Tolstoy’s marriage began with great romance in their letters, over the course oftheir forty-eight years, Tolstoy began to drift apart from his wife when he reformed hislife, rejected the excesses of Russian society, and turned to religion and mysticism. Theepigraph to The Kreutzer Sonata begins: “But I say unto you, that everyone that looketh ona woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew5:28) Tolstoy’s judgment on Russian society’s original sin comes not from the actionsof encouraging young men to have their first sexual encounters with prostitutes, but thatRussia lacked the deeper spiritual principle. Tolstoy looked to philosophers like Rousseauas “misunderstood visionaries” that Russians should embrace for a better, healthierlifestyle. Later in life, Tolstoy would be excommunicated for these radical ideas. The moralissues raised in The Kreutzer Sonata may sound extreme, but they were a part of a verypublic debate occurring in Russia about pre-marital and marital relations and the ‘counterliterature’that argued the opposite of Tolstoy’s point of view. And responses to the novellawere not without their parodies, as one writer ridiculed the situation of total abstinencefrom food. An English comic version of Tolstoy’s story twisted the ending where Mrs.Pozdynyshev did not die, but became an inmate in a Catholic nunnery!Yet in his own marriage, Tolstoy’s relationship with Sofya grew strained. In Tolstoy’s beliefsystem, the primary role of a woman was to raise children. Once his children were grown,Tolstoy found reasons to separate himself, even leaving them in Moscow so he couldreturn by himself to his country estate of Yasnaya Polyana. “My presence in Moscow, withthe family, is well-nigh useless; the conditions of that life have a paralyzing effect on me,while the life itself is very repulsive to me---again owing to my general view of life, whichI cannot change---and would greatly hinder my work.”Tolstoy’s final act at the end of his life was a brutal parting. “I could not compel you tochange your mode of life, the habits which I myself had fostered in you nor could I leaveyou before now, fearing to deprive the children while young of what slight influence Imight have over them…Hence I have decided to do what I have long wished to do: togo away.” In 1910, Tolstoy abandoned his wife, admonishing her not to follow him, anddied alone at the Astapovo railway station. Under these dramatic circumstances, one canconclude that while Tolstoy’s genius was as a writer and spiritual reformer, it did not makefor a happy married life.Special thanks to Professor Dawn Secklers at the University of Pittsburgh for heradvice and resources.Bravo!UPMC Health Plan is proud to support thePittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre.