Name: Childhood
Author: Leo Tolstoy

How you explore Childhood on Literah

The cast, the places, the objects, the plot, and the author’s own words — each one a card in a feed you scroll on your phone. One at a time, at your pace, in any order you like.

Built for your phone. Literah is designed for mobile, so your worlds travel with you. On a laptop it shows a QR code to carry the world to your phone.
A feed, not a wall of text. 24 characters, 13 places, 19 objects and 7 plot beats, each its own card with its own illustration.
The author’s own words. 45 passages of Childhood sit in the feed verbatim, exactly as Leo Tolstoy wrote them, each with a short reading of what it is doing. The map is ours; the prose is always the book’s.
The same scroll, a better world. The gesture you already give away to feeds, spent on Leo Tolstoy instead.

9:41

The Cast

Nikolai Irtenyev

Main · Irtenyev family

A watchful child turns every irritation, embarrassment, and tenderness into moral memory.

Locations

The Schoolroom

room

A penknifed table, patched maps, and a kneeling corner: a whole childhood learned in one room.

Passage

A child's morning begins with irritation, wounded pride, and sudden dislike for his tutor.

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The Author’s Pen

Karl Ivanitch Wakes Me

On the 12th of August, 18-- (just three days after my tenth birthday, when I had been given such wonderful presents), I was awakened at seven o’clock in the morning by Karl Ivanitch slapping the wall close to my head with a fly-flap made of sugar paper and a stick. He did this so roughly that he hit the image of my patron saint suspended to the oaken back of my bed, and the dead fly fell down on my curls. I peeped out from under the coverlet, steadied the still shaking image with my hand, flicked the dead fly on to the floor, and gazed at Karl Ivanitch with sleepy, wrathful eyes. He, in a parti-coloured wadded dressing-gown fastened about the waist with a wide belt of the same material, a red knitted cap adorned with a tassel, and soft slippers of goat skin, went on walking round the walls and taking aim at, and slapping, flies.

Reading

A grown man in a tasselled cap and goatskin slippers, marching solemnly around a child's bedroom swatting flies, is the first thing this narrator chooses to remember, and he remembers it down to the fly that lands in his hair. Nikolenka is ten, freshly woken and furious, yet even half asleep he reaches out to steady the little icon of his patron saint that Karl Ivanitch's swatting has knocked askew. That small careful gesture, made with sleepy, wrathful eyes, catches the whole tone: a boy who is annoyed and dutiful at once, watching a beloved, faintly ridiculous old man go about his morning.

World Index

The Plot

The Morning at PetrovskoePapa Announces MoscowCountry Life and Natalia SavishnaThe PartingThe Letter and MoscowThe MazurkaGrief

The Cast

Nikolai IrtenyevMammaPapaKarl IvanitchVolodyaGrishaLyubochkaKatyaMimiNikolaYakov MikhailovichNatalia SavishnaGrandmammaSonetchka ValakhinFokaIgnatTurkaGabrielPrince Ivan IvanovitchMadame ValakhinPrincess KornakoffEtienneIvan VassilitchThe Doctor

Locations

Grandmamma’s Drawing Room and SalonGrandmamma’s HouseKalinovo Wood and Hunting FieldNikola’s PantryPapa’s StudyPetrovskoe Estate Grounds and GardenPetrovskoe Estate HouseThe Children’s BedroomThe Drawing RoomThe Moscow HouseholdThe Road from Petrovskoe to MoscowThe SchoolroomThe Sickroom and Mourning Room at Petrovskoe

Objects of Note

Grisha’s Holy ImagesGrisha’s StaffHunting Equipment, Horses, and HoundsKarl Ivanitch’s Fly-FlapKarl Ivanitch’s Handmade BoxKarl Ivanitch’s Red CapKarl Ivanitch’s Snuff-BoxKarl Ivanitch’s SpectaclesKarl’s Schoolbooks and German BooksMamma’s Embroidery FrameMamma’s LetterMamma’s Tea ServiceMimi’s NoteNatalia Savishna’s Trunks and Linen ListsPapa’s Estate Papers and Money EnvelopesSchoolroom Maps and BlackboardThe Carriage and Luggage-CartThe Coffin and Mourning CandlesYakov Mikhailovich’s Tablets

Core Concepts

Childhood PerceptionLoss Ends ChildhoodLove in Ordinary LifeMemory Makes MeaningService and DignityShame as Moral EducationSociety and PerformanceSpiritual Sincerity

The Author's Pen

The Youngest TormentedKarl's SympathyThe Children’s LibraryForgotten In The CornerKarl No Longer WantedMamma Through TearsMamma Not NoticingBeauty In a SmileWhy Did You CryCounting Expected RoublesA Mistake In The AccountsTaken To MoscowGoodbye to MilkaTears Over a LessonExpect No GratitudeKarl Ivanitch No Longer WantedThe Hideous Stranger EntersPity Grief And FearThe Mysterious Purple ForestTurka's Contemptuous LookPicnic After the HuntYes My Love YesNatalia's Sudden PunishmentThe Young PostillionImpatience to Be OffThe Last KissWatching the Led HorseThe Recollections of ChildhoodReal Trousers and Rebellious HairHiding Behind Karl IvanitchChildren Ruled Through FearSeen By SonetchkaGrandmamma Holds My HandReady For AnythingEvery One Was LookingMamma In MemorySonetchka’s Hand and GaietyWhen I Could Not CountWill They Forget MeThe Sixth DayRecognising Her FaceRecognising Her FaceGenuine Grief And VanityParting From Natalia

Plot point 01

The Morning at Petrovskoe

A boy wakes to his tutor’s fly-flap and moves through a morning of small resentments, love, and the warm order of home.

Objects of Note

Karl Ivanitch’s Red Cap

A red knitted cap fixes the old tutor in a boy's memory before Karl says a word.

The Cast

Mamma

Main · Irtenyev family

Her smile makes the drawing room brighter and becomes the child’s measure of love.

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Childhood

Leo Tolstoy

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 128 classics in the Literah library

The Childhood feed, as it appears in your mobile

The plot of Childhood

The story beat by beat, as Literah maps it.

The Morning at Petrovskoe
Papa Announces Moscow
Country Life and Natalia Savishna
The Parting
The Letter and Moscow
The Mazurka
Grief

The author's pen in Childhood

The passages themselves, Leo Tolstoy's own words, as Literah maps it.

Karl Ivanitch Wakes Mech. 1
The Youngest Tormentedch. 1
Karl's Sympathych. 1
The Children’s Librarych. 1
Forgotten In The Cornerch. 1
Karl No Longer Wantedch. 1
Mamma Through Tearsch. 2
Mamma Not Noticingch. 2
Beauty In a Smilech. 2
Why Did You Crych. 2
Counting Expected Roublesch. 3
A Mistake In The Accountsch. 3
Taken To Moscowch. 3
Goodbye to Milkach. 3
Tears Over a Lessonch. 4
Expect No Gratitudech. 4
Karl Ivanitch No Longer Wantedch. 4
The Hideous Stranger Entersch. 5
Pity Grief And Fearch. 5
The Mysterious Purple Forestch. 7

The characters of Childhood

Who is who, as Literah maps it.

Nikolai Irtenyevmajor
Mammamajor
Papamajor
Karl Ivanitchmajor
Volodyamajor
Grishasupporting
Lyubochkasupporting
Katyasupporting
Mimisupporting
Nikolasupporting
Yakov Mikhailovichsupporting
Natalia Savishnasupporting
Grandmammasupporting
Fokaminor
Ignatminor
Turkaminor

The locations in Childhood

Where it happens, as Literah maps it.

The Schoolroomroom
The Children’s Bedroombedroom
The Drawing Roomroom
Papa’s Studystudy
Nikola’s Pantryservants room
Petrovskoe Estate Houseestate house
Petrovskoe Estate Grounds and Gardenestate grounds
Kalinovo Wood and Hunting Fieldwood
The Road from Petrovskoe to Moscowroad
The Moscow Householdcity household
Grandmamma’s Housefamily house
Grandmamma’s Drawing Room and Salonsalon
The Sickroom and Mourning Room at Petrovskoesickroom

The core concepts in Childhood

What the book keeps returning to, as Literah maps it.

Childhood Perception
Memory Makes Meaning
Love in Ordinary Life
Service and Dignity
Shame as Moral Education
Society and Performance
Spiritual Sincerity
Loss Ends Childhood

The objects of note in Childhood

The things that carry meaning, as Literah maps it.

Karl Ivanitch’s Red Cap
Karl Ivanitch’s Fly-Flap
Karl Ivanitch’s Snuff-Box
Karl Ivanitch’s Spectacles
Karl’s Schoolbooks and German Books
Schoolroom Maps and Blackboard
Mamma’s Tea Service
Mamma’s Embroidery Frame
Papa’s Estate Papers and Money Envelopes
Yakov Mikhailovich’s Tablets
Grisha’s Staff
Grisha’s Holy Images
Hunting Equipment, Horses, and Hounds
Natalia Savishna’s Trunks and Linen Lists

The offer

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How you explore Childhood on Literah

The plot of Childhood

The author's pen in Childhood

The characters of Childhood

The locations in Childhood

The core concepts in Childhood

The objects of note in Childhood

Explore Childhood. And 127 more.

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