Works by L.N. Tolstoy in the Reading of Siberians in the Pre-Revolutionary and Post-Soviet Periods. To the 190th Birth Anniversary of the Writer

Abstract

Reading the fiction, owing to its huge impact on formation of spiritual and moral world of a person, is the focus of much attention of foreign and domestic scientists. L.N. Tolstoy belongs to the authors making significant impact on an individual. All this, as well as the 190th birth anniversary of the writer, defined the direction of our research — to reveal the place of works by L.N. Tolstoy in the reading of Siberians in the pre-revolutionary period and the attitude towards the writer of inhabitants of this region in the late 20th — early 21st century.For the main methods of studying the presence of L.N. Tolstoy’s works in the reading of Siberians in the pre-revolutionary period were used the analysis of catalogues and reports of libraries and the comparison of his popularity with other writers by arithmetic calculation of the places taken by the authors in the checkout lists of the books. To study the attitude of modern residents of the region to Leo Tolstoy’s works, the priority was given to the survey, as this method allows to reveal the extent of recognition by Siberians of the need to read the writer’s works for personal development.Studying of catalogues and reports of several dozen Siberian libraries showed the presence of the works of the most famous Russian classical writer and their demand among the inhabitants of the region, who willingly read his works. The collections stored both: the complete works of the writer, as well as separate editions of his works. In the ratings of the authors, compiled by the number of checkouts of their works to readers of libraries of the different cities of Siberia, L.N. Tolstoy was usually in the top three, often holding the highest place.Modern Siberians recognize L.N. Tolstoy is a great writer and consider reading his works is an important indicator of human education and a necessary requirement for personal spiritual and moral development.