The event concluded a series dedicated to a new professional holiday—Day of the Artist.
Avangard Leontiev is an outstanding actor and a longtime friend and reader of the Russian State Art Library (RSAL). The main theme of his speech was Leo Tolstoy and Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy and their classic Russian works.
Leontiev, The People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, spoke about the Caucasian period of Leo Tolstoy’s life, the events, and key figures he depicted in his prose—Imam Shamil and his companion Hadji Murad, and the military leaders Mikhail Vorontsov and Alexander Chernyshev.
The young Leo Tolstoy volunteered for the Caucasus with his brother Nikolai and served in the artillery for about two years. There, he completed the first draft of the story “Childhood” from his famous trilogy and sent it to Nikolay Nekrasov at Sovremennik magazine with the note, “If you find it useful, publish it.” Leo later fought in the Crimean War and chronicled its events in his famous Sevastopol Sketches.

Avangard Leontiev noted the uniqueness of the novella Hadji Murat—Leo Tolstoy’s final work of fiction, which the writer worked on for eight years. “An archetypical book, where everything superfluous has been squeezed out. As [Aleksandr] Tvardovsky said, there’s nothing to add, nothing to subtract.” The People’s Artist of the Russian Federation read Chapter 15 of the novella: in it, the author shows what unlimited power can do to a person.
Avangard Leontiev emphasised the scale of Tolstoy's texts: “Very rich, ahead of their time in structure—computer-like.” The meeting was accompanied by a display of rare photographs and portraits.
At the end of the evening, Leontiev read “Popov’s Dream,” the satirical poem by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy.