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Tolstoi Aleksei Nikolaevich
(1883-1945)

Aleksei Nikolaevich Tolstoi, 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 count N.A.Tolstoi and his mother was a children's writer A.L.Bostrom (born Turgeneva).

Tolstoy's early short stories were panned by Alexander Blok and other leading critics for their excessive naturalism, wanton eroticism, and general lack of taste in the manner of Mikhail Artsybashev. Some pornographic stories were published under Tolstoy's name in the 1990s, purportedly written by him in his early years, but most critics remain sceptical as to Tolstoy's authorship of them.

Aleksei Tolstoi left Russia in 1917 during the Bolshevik October Revolution but changed his political beliefs and returned in 1925. He became a staunch supporter of Communist Party until the end of his life, 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 novels on historical subjects, Peter the First (1929-45), seeking to demonstrate the similarity of Peter's policies to those of Stalin, and The Road to Calvary (1922-41), tracking the Russian Civil War over the period from 1914 to 1919. He also wrote several plays.

Aleksei Tolstoi is usually crediting with writing some of the first and best science fiction in the Russian language. His novels Aelita (1923), about a journey to Mars, and Engineer Garin's Death Ray (1927) proved popular with the teenage public. The former novel spawned a pioneering sci-fi movie in 1924. Besides Aelita (1924), there were many movies based on his novels released in the USSR.

Tolstoy also wrote several books for children, starting with Nikita's Childhood, a memorable account of his son's childhood. In 1936, he produced a hugely popular adaptation of Italian fairy tales about Pinocchio, entitled the Adventures of Buratino and the Golden Key.

Belarus, 2010, Children read book

Bulgaria, 1964, The Big Turnip

Bulgaria, 1964, The Wolf and the Seven Kids

Czechoslovakia, 1961, Buratino

Czechoslovakia, 1979, Ivan the Prince on the grey wolf

DDR, 1973, Catching the Pike

DDR, 1973, The work makes itself

DDR, 1973, Voevoda turns out

DDR, 1973, Emelia on the Stove

DDR, 1973, Tun in the Sea

DDR, 1973, Wedding

DDR, 1974, The Woodchopper