Vasily Ivanovich Alekseev (Василий Иванович Алексеев) was tutor to the Tolstoy children.1 He was a correspondent in the years when A Confession (1879–82) was written, and the recipient of a letter of November 1881 that describes the first months in Moscow and the people met there.
The letter of November 1881
The editors of the PSS date the letter to 15–30 November 1881, from Moscow, with a query.2 It opens: “Things are very hard for me in Moscow.”3 The letter compares Alekseev’s own experience: he had known Kansas from geography but came to know it only on arrival there.4
The letter weighs ways out: preaching by word and print, or doing good to people. The only way it sees is “to live well — always to turn one’s good side to everyone”, and it adds that this is not yet within reach, as it is for Alekseev.5 It then names the people met in Moscow: Orlov, and above all Nikolai Fyodorov, librarian of the Rumyantsev library. A visit to Vasily Sutaev is reported. Orlov and Fyodorov had read the Brief Exposition (the gospel synthesis), and “we are of one mind”; with Sutaev, “in everything”.6 The letter closes with greetings to Lizaveta Aleksandrovna, Liza and Kolya.7
Later letters
The dive’s sweep of PSS volume 63 lists further letters to Alekseev, which were not extracted. A joint letter to A. A. Bibikov and Alekseev of 1–5 September 1881 marks the arrival in Moscow.8 A letter of July 1884 calls Alekseev the first person “touched by education” whom Tolstoy knew to profess the new faith “not in words, but in the heart”.9
Open questions
- The tutor role and the years of tutoring rest on the dossier and sweep note, not on an extract; needs a primary citation.
- Who Lizaveta Aleksandrovna, Liza and Kolya are (presumably Alekseev’s family) is in the PSS notes to the letter, which were not extracted.
- The 1884 letter (PSS 63, no. 238) is quoted only from the sweep note; byte-check against the TEI before relying on it.
- Dates of birth and death are not in this dive.
Dive provenance
- 1879-1882-a-confession — the November 1881 letter (PSS 63:80–83), the dossier entity and the PSS 63 letters sweep, 2026-10-02.
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From the dive’s dossier and its sweep of PSS 63 letters (secondary note), not from a primary extract. ↩
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«1881 г. Ноября 15—30? Москва.» (PSS 63:80–83, letter no. 79). Old style is not stated in the extract. ↩
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«Мне очень тяжело в Москве.» (PSS 63:80–83, letter to V. I. Alekseev, 15–30 November 1881). English: ours. ↩
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«как вы знали, что есть Канзас… по географии, но узнали его только когда приехали в него» (PSS 63:80–83, letter to V. I. Alekseev, 15–30 November 1881). English: ours. ↩
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«Единственный выход, который я вижу — это жить хорошо — всегда ко всем поварачиваться доброй стороной. Но этого все еще не умею…» (PSS 63:80–83, letter to V. I. Alekseev, 15–30 November 1881). English: ours. ↩
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«Книгу мою — Краткое изложение… читали и Орлов, и Федоров и мы единомышленны. С Сютаевым во всем до малейших подробностей.» (PSS 63:80–83, letter to V. I. Alekseev, 15–30 November 1881). English: ours. ↩
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«Поцелуйте за меня Лизавету Александровну… Лизу… Колю.» (PSS 63:80–83, letter to V. I. Alekseev, 15–30 November 1881). ↩
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PSS 63, letter no. 76, to A. A. Bibikov and V. I. Alekseev, 1–5 September 1881; known here only from the dive’s letters sweep (secondary note). ↩
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«Я вас узнал первого человека (тронутого образованием), не на словах, но в сердце исповедующего ту веру, которая стала ясным и непоколебимым для меня светом» (PSS 63, letter no. 238, to V. I. Alekseev, July 1884; quoted from the dive’s letters sweep, not from an extract). English: ours. ↩