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Tolstoy (Толстой) Aleksey Nikolaevich
(1883—1945)

Aleksey Nikolaevich Tolstoy, nicknamed the Comrade Count, was a Soviet Russian writer who wrote in many genres but specialized in science fiction and historical novels.

He was born in Nikolaevsk (now Pugachyov, Saratov Oblast) in 1883 into an impoverished branch of the Counts Tolstoy. His father was a retired hussar and landowner, Count Nikolay Alexandrovich Tolstoi, and his mother was a children's writer Alexandra Leonievna Bostrom (born Turgeneva, also known as Alexandra Tolstoy). Aleksey was the fourth child in the Tolstoy's family. When his mother was two months pregnant, she fled the family with her lover, Aleksey Apollonovich Bostrom. In accordance with the divorce law of the time, the guilty party (Alexandra) was forbidden to remarry, and the only way for her to keep her newborn son was to register him as a son of Bostrom. Thus, until the age of thirteen, Aleksey had lived under the name of Aleksey Bostrom and had not suspected that Aleksey Bostrom Sr. was not his biological parent. In 1896 both Tolstoy and Bostrom families went into bureaucratic pains to re-register Aleksey as count Tolstoy. Still, he considered Aleksey Bostrom his true father and had hardly ever seen Nikolay Tolstoy and his older siblings.
In 1900 Nikolay Tolstoy died, having left Aleksey with 30,000 rubles and a famous family name. Later, he assumed a rather humorous attitude towards the Tolstoy's heritage. He was known for filling the walls of his apartment with darkened portraits and telling newcomers tales about his Tolstoy ancestors; then he would explain to his friends that all the portraits were purchased at random from a nearby secondhand store and that the stories were complete fiction.

Tolstoy's early short stories were panned by Alexander Blok and other leading critics of the time for their excessive naturalism, wanton eroticism, and general lack of taste in the manner of Mikhail Artsybashev. Some pornographic stories published under Tolstoy's name in the early 1900s were purportedly penned by him; however, most critics remain sceptical as to whether Tolstoy is the real author.

Aleksey Tolstoy left Russia in 1917 during the Bolshevik October Revolution and emigrated first to Germany and later to France. In 1923, he repatriated and accepted the Soviet regime, having become one of its most popular writers. He became a staunch supporter of the Communist Party to the end, writing stories eulogizing Stalin and collaborating with Maxim Gorky on the infamous account of their trip to the White Sea-Baltic Canal.

He published two lengthy historical novels, «Peter the First» (1929-45), in which he sought to liken Peter's policies to those of Stalin, and «The Road to Calvary» (1922-41) tracking the period from 1914 to 1919 including the Russian Civil War. He also wrote several plays.
Aleksey Tolstoy is usually credited with having produced some of the earliest (and best) science fiction in the Russian language. His novels «Aelita» (1923) about a journey to Mars and «The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin» (1927) have gained immense public popularity, the former having spawned an pioneering sci-fi movie in 1924. Besides «Aelita» (1924), several other movies released in the USSR are based on Tolstoy's novels.

Tolstoy also penned several books for children, starting with «Nikita's Childhood», a memorable account of his early years (the book is sometimes mistakenly believed to be about his son, Nikita; in truth, however, he only used the name because it was his favorite - and he would later give it to his eldest son). Most notably, in 1936, he created an adaptation of the famous Italian fairy tale about Pinocchio entitled the «Adventures of Buratino or The Golden Key», whose main character, Buratino, quickly became hugely popular among the Soviet populace.

Tolstoy became a full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1939.

Russia, 1992, Buratino

Russia, 2001, Mikhail Zharov, film «Petr I»

Russia, 2008, Aleksey Tolstoy

USSR, 1958, Aleksey Tolstoy, «Bread»

Russia, 2008.01.08, Moskow. Aleksey Tolstoy

Russia, 2001, Stamps with popular cinema actors

Russia, 2006, Yakov Protazanov and «Aelita»

USSR, 1962, Aleksey Tolstoy

USSR, 1975, Aleksey Tolstoy Monument in Moskow

USSR, 1981, Puppets of the Theatre of Sergey Obraztsov

USSR, 1982, Aleksey Tolstoy

Russia, 2001, Birth Centenary of Actor Iliinsky

Russia, 2001, Birth Centenary of Actor Nikolay Simonov

USSR, 1987.01.16, Aleksey Tolstoy museum in Kuibishev