PROBLEM OF THE SOURCES OF THE UNFINISHED WORK "PRINCE FEDOR SHCHETININ" BY LEO TOLSTOY
The article is devoted to studying the real basis of one of the most enigmatic creative ideas of Leo Tolstoy - the unfinished work “Prince Fedor Schetinin”. The hypotheses about the time of writing, as well as historical sources of the fragment, expressed by the domestic experts in Leo Tolstoy’s creative work of the XX century, are analyzed. The version about V. A. Perovsky and A. N. Baryatinsky as the prototypes of the main characters of the work is examined in a critical manner. The events at the Caucasus seat of the Crimean (Eastern) War of 1853-1856 are considered for the first time as a probable basis of the failed conception.