HUMANITARIAN RESEARCHES

Journal of fundamental and applied researches

Lev Tolstoy's ideas about death as a conceptual platform for his self-identification in personal diaries

2022. №3, pp. 90-95

Tokarev Grigoriy V. - Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University, Tula, Russia

The article discusses the features of the death conceptualization, objectified in the diary entries of Leo Tolstoy. The research has been carried out by commenting and conceptual analysis of diary entries that deal with the topic of death. The notes reflect the heterogeneity of the writer's emotional reflection on death: fear and willingness to accept it, hopelessness and joy. The paper reveals contradictions in the conceptualization of death: on the one hand, the writer demonstrates indifference to his life, on the other - fear for it. Death devalues life. Ideas about death are closely intertwined with ideas about life, moreover, these mental categories are used for mutual determination. Death is objectified by the image of sleep. The cyclicity of falling asleep and waking up can be interpreted as a model of being in Tolstoy's sphere of concepts. The article establishes that, when conceptualizing death, Tolstoy uses Buddhist, Christian, atheistic concepts. Tolstoy interprets death as a transition from one state to another, as a continuous change of existence forms. At the same time, Tolstoy denies the concept of eternal life of an individual. He believes that immortality is outside of man, which manifests itself in absolute reason, love, God, nature. Tolstoy distinguishes two types of death: carnal and spiritual, which do not always coincide. Death in Tolstoy's mind acts as a kind of final threshold. Such an attitude to death causes fear in Tolstoy's mind for an unfulfilled life program. For Tolstoy, it is important to die well, that is, to fully fulfill the obedience given to him by the Master (God). Tolstoy perceives the impending death in a bright, positive way like a garden. Death appears in Tolstoy's personal discourse as a means of self-awareness and self-identification. Tolstoy believes that death is given to a person by God, so it should be accepted with joy.

Key words: concept, sphere of concepts, self-identification, death, diary, Leo Tolstoy

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