Nicholas dies in the arms of his younger brother, Leo Tolstoy

Nicholas dies in the arms of his younger brother, Leo Tolstoy. This is what Tolstoy says in a letter to his friend, the poet AA Fet: “On 20 September he died, literally in my arms. Nothing in my life has made such an impression on me. It is true, as he said, that nothing is worse than death. And when one seriously reflects that, which all is said, is the end of everything, then there is nothing worse than life. Why strive, or try, when of what was Nicholas Tolstoy nothing remains for him? He did not say that he felt the approach of death, but I know he watched each step of its approach and knew just how much time was left. Some minutes before his death he drowsed off, but then suddenly awoke and whispered with horror: ‘What is that?’ That was when he saw it – the absorption of himself into nothingness. And if he found nothing to cling to, what can I find? Still less!” (p176, Tolstoy, Crankshaw).