Tolstoy meets Vladimir Chertkov

When Chertkov is 30 years of age he seeks out Tolstoy, who is about 25 years older, because he has read some of his work and expects them to think similarly about certain issues. They have very similar backgrounds and life experiences. “Chertkov belonged to the St Petersburg aristocracy. His father, a general and aide-de-camp to the Tsar, had a huge fortune; his mother, nee Chernishev-Kuglikov, was an intimate friend of the empress. He himself, after graduating from the military academy, had chosen to make his career in the army. Handsome, rich, elegant, impeccably educated, he could expect, thanks to his parents’ connections, a brilliant future in uniform. Yet, as early as 1879, he contemplated resigning his commission to devote himself to social work. At his father’s behest, he agreed to confine himself to applying for a year’s leave of absence and, after a long stay in England, he returned to his horse guards, albeit with heavy heart. Before, he had played cards, drunk and flirted with the girls, but he no longer derived the slightest pleasure from joining his comrades in their debauchery. His dream now was to retire to his family estate in order to live in closer union with the peasants.” (p456, Tolstoy, Troyat). At that first meeting, after discussing how military service is incompatible with the doctrine of Christ, Tolstoy reads his visitor passages from his latest religious essay. It cements a relationship between master and disciple that lasts until the end of Tolstoy’s life.