Журнал «Филоlogos»

STRATEGIES OF LEO TOLSTOY'S SELF-IDENTIFICATION IN DIARIES, 1904-1906

Author: Tokarev G.V.

The article deals with the analysis of Leo Tolstoy's diary entries written from 1904 to 1906. The analysis of the texts has identified self-identification strategies. The strategy of self-identification in the article refers to the choice of the method, form, and means of self-determination of the individual. The reconstruction of the self-identification strategy is carried out by interpreting the content of the utterance, its logical and pragmatic analysis, component analysis of the sememes characterizing the personality. The paper reveals the following self-identification strategies. Tolstoy positively perceives his old age. He expresses high appreciation to it, because the writer understands it as the beginning of spiritual life. Tolstoy does not resent physical weakness, but, on the contrary, rejoices that a different meaning of life opens up to him. In the psycholinguistic aspect, this strategy is characterized as optimistic, reclamation, approving. Self-perception is understood in the context of death, which Tolstoy interprets as a different form of life. This strategy of self-reflection is supported by a sense of self outside of time and space; an understanding of oneself as a part of God. Tolstoy writes about the gradual development of personality, that a person reveals oneself only at the end of life. Tolstoy connects the process of self-disclosure, on the one hand, with the understanding of oneself, and, on the other, with the perception of life. It is possible to understand yourself through attitude to others. For Tolstoy, the process of self-identification consists in self-analysis, intellectual work, self-awareness. Another self-identification strategy of Tolstoy is associated with identifying oneself with God, understanding oneself as a part of God. As part of this strategy, Tolstoy comes to a pan-chronic sense of self: Self, like God, beyond time, beyond the boundaries of life. While analyzing the records, the author of the article concludes that, in general, the strategies of self-reflection are positive. The paper establishes that individual records reflect strategies of self-deprecation and split personality, which is characteristic of the self-identification of the previous stages. The article confirms the fact of the multiplicity of Tolstoy's self-identification strategies at the age of 76-78 years, which is the evidence of instability, variability of the inner world of the personality.