Diary of Secretary Leo Tolstoy

This book encompasses a not-so-large piece of the life of the great Russian writer - the last year, but due to its special drama, the importance of this diary testimony is very great.

«Then… then strange convulsions began one after another, from which the whole body of the person, helplessly lying in bed, twitched and trembled. The legs were thrown out with force. It was hard to keep them still. Dushan hugged Lev Nikolaevich by the shoulders, I and Biryukov rubbed his legs. There were five convulsions in total. The fourth was particularly strong, when the body almost turned completely across the bed, the head rolled off the pillow, and the legs dangled on the other side. Sofia Andreevna fell to her knees, hugged those legs, pressed her head against them, and remained in that position for a long time until we properly laid L.N. back on the bed.»

From this excerpt, it is clear that the diary's author had to perform not only purely secretarial duties for Lev Nikolaevich.

Valentin Fedorovich Bulgakov was born into the family of an official from the provincial town of Kuznetsk and enrolled in the historical and philological faculty of Moscow University. However, in 1910, he left his studies, became a follower of Tolstoy, and began working as his secretary, which made him a witness to the last, most eventful year of the great writer's life.

After Tolstoy's death, Valentin Fedorovich, at Sofia Andreevna's request, helped sort through the writer's manuscripts, and then for several years managed the Tolstoy museum in Moscow. He actively participated in the work of the Committee that was engaged in helping the starving. This led to his arrest and expulsion from the country on the «philosophical barge» in 1921.

In Prague, Bulgakov headed the Union of Russian Writers and helped, among others, Marina Tsvetaeva. In 1941, he was sent by the Germans to the concentration camp in Weißenburg, where he spent four years. Later, in 1948, he moved to the USSR, where for a long time he headed the museum-estate of Yasnaya Polyana.

The first edition of the diary entitled «At L.N. Tolstoy's Last Year of His Life» was published in 1911, but since many of the actors were still alive, major reductions had to be made in the text. The full text of the diary was published only in 1957.