Figure 1.--Sophia Andreevna Behrs was born in 1844 and died in 1919. She married Leon Tolstoi in 1862. She took this photo in 1896. It shows her two daughters Maria and Alexandra with the farmers' children in Isnaia Poliana. Source: Tolstoy Museum in Moscow.

Tolstoy in 1862 married an 18-year old girl named Sofya Andreyevna Behrs (1844-1919). For such a noted author, Tolstoy's large family is not well understood. They appear to have had an incredible 19 children, but this is not definutive. We have seen some accounts of fewer children as "low" as 13. Andreyevna was not just a housewife and baby machine. She was an important influence in his writing. She inspired him and seems to have fulfilled the adage that behind every great man is a woman. For Tolstoy, Sofya was that woman. Besides bearing his children, she also served as her husband's personal secretary. Inspired by his wife's youthfulness, her intellect ,and her beauty that for Tolstoy, the years between 1865 and 1877 are the those in which he wrote his greatest books. These are of course War and Peace and Anna Karenina (1873-79). She also offers many insights to historians concerning Tolstoy's work. After finishing War And Peace he decided to write a book on German philosophy. He apparantly dismissed Hegel and was taken by Schopenhauer. Andreyevna tells historians that Tolstoy eventually gave up his German philosophy project. Apparently the German gave him headaches.

Sofya Andreyevna Behrs (1844-1919)

Tolstoy in 1862 married an 18-year old girl named Sofya Andreyevna Behrs (1844-1919). Andreyevna was not just a housewife and baby machine. She was an important influence in his writing. She inspired him and seems to have fulfilled the adage that behind every great man is a woman. For Tolstoy, Sofya was that woman. Besides bearing his children, she also served as her husband's personal secretary. Inspired by his wife's youthfulness, her intellect ,and her beauty that for Tolstoy, the years between 1865 and 1877 are the those in which he wrote his greatest books. These are of course War and Peace and Anna Karenina (1873-79). She also offers many insights to historians concerning Tolstoy's work. After finishing War And Peace he decided to write a book on German philosophy. He apparantly dismissed Hegel and was taken by Schopenhauer. Andreyevna tells historians that Tolstoy eventually gave up his German philosophy project. Apparently the German gave him headaches.

The Children

For such a noted author, Tolstoy's large family is not well understood. They appear to have had an incredible 19 children, but this is not definutive. We have seen some accounts of fewer children as "low" as 13. Andreyevna took this photo in 1896 (figure 1). It shows her two daughters Maria and Alexandra with the farmers' children at Isnaia Poliana. A Russian reader writrs, "I saw today the boy doll that Tolstoy's youngest little boy had. Its a bit sad in his little life. He was a very dear child, sensative, bright as button and a lovely kid. The sort of kid everybody wants. I have met and taught at least one with a charming wonderful personality. Everything going for them and then they become illand do not recover from the illness. My pupil developed a childhood cancer and Tolstoy's boy died before reaching 7 from Scarlet fever. Never thought this was a killer illness!"