On February 28, 2026, the cultural and exhibition center “L. N. T.” will host the sixth lecture in the series Myths about Tolstoy. Elizaveta Piskareva, a member of the Yasnaya Polyana museum’s press service, will speak about a side of Leo Tolstoy’s personality that often remains in the shadows: his self-irony, wit, and sense of humor.
In the lecture “The Myth of Humor: Leo Tolstoy Did Not Joke or Laugh,” the speaker will dispel the notion of the author of War and Peace as severe and morose. Visitors will see Tolstoy through the eyes of his wife and children, friends and close associates, as well as the pupils of the Yasnaya Polyana school — as a life-loving and quick-witted man whose laughter proved infectious.
“It is impossible in imagination to reconcile the colossus Tolstoy with a gentle, joke-loving, charming old man. And only reality convinced us, eyewitnesses, of the possibility of this rare harmony: of the identity of the most serious teacher of humanity and genius with a warm-hearted, witty, and captivating person,” wrote the artist Leonid Pasternak of Leo Tolstoy.
At “L. N. T.” the audience will hear amusing stories from the writer’s childhood, discover Tolstoy as an athlete, a musician, and a diligent estate manager. They will learn how humor and self-irony manifested themselves in his pedagogical practice, literary work, and even in philosophical debates. The lecturer will recall comic episodes connected with Tolstoy’s relationships with Ivan Turgenev and Afanasy Fet, and will also explore the place that anecdotes and jokes about Tolstoy occupy in contemporary culture.
The lecture will present unique objects from the Tolstoy House: the writer’s bicycle bag, a lawn tennis racket, and a “Bibabo” hand puppet. Visitors will also see caricatures of the writer published in the album Count Leo Tolstoy. The Great Writer of the Russian Land: in Portraits, Engravings, Medals, Paintings, Sculpture, Caricatures, etc. Published during Tolstoy’s lifetime in 1903, the album is preserved in the research library of the Yasnaya Polyana museum and will also be on display at “L. N. T.”.
In the lecture “The Myth of Humor: Leo Tolstoy Did Not Joke or Laugh,” the speaker will dispel the notion of the author of War and Peace as severe and morose. Visitors will see Tolstoy through the eyes of his wife and children, friends and close associates, as well as the pupils of the Yasnaya Polyana school — as a life-loving and quick-witted man whose laughter proved infectious.
“It is impossible in imagination to reconcile the colossus Tolstoy with a gentle, joke-loving, charming old man. And only reality convinced us, eyewitnesses, of the possibility of this rare harmony: of the identity of the most serious teacher of humanity and genius with a warm-hearted, witty, and captivating person,” wrote the artist Leonid Pasternak of Leo Tolstoy.
At “L. N. T.” the audience will hear amusing stories from the writer’s childhood, discover Tolstoy as an athlete, a musician, and a diligent estate manager. They will learn how humor and self-irony manifested themselves in his pedagogical practice, literary work, and even in philosophical debates. The lecturer will recall comic episodes connected with Tolstoy’s relationships with Ivan Turgenev and Afanasy Fet, and will also explore the place that anecdotes and jokes about Tolstoy occupy in contemporary culture.
The lecture will present unique objects from the Tolstoy House: the writer’s bicycle bag, a lawn tennis racket, and a “Bibabo” hand puppet. Visitors will also see caricatures of the writer published in the album Count Leo Tolstoy. The Great Writer of the Russian Land: in Portraits, Engravings, Medals, Paintings, Sculpture, Caricatures, etc. Published during Tolstoy’s lifetime in 1903, the album is preserved in the research library of the Yasnaya Polyana museum and will also be on display at “L. N. T.”.
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