CREATIVITY L. N. TOLSTOY IN THE EVALUATIONS OF M. O. MENSHIKOV OF THE EARLY PERIOD (FRAGMENTS OF THE DIARY)

The article publishes fragments of the diaries of the famous publicist, one of the ideologists of Russian state nationalism at the turn of the XIX-early XX centuries, M. O. Menshikov, devoted to the analysis of the work of L. N. Tolstoy. The surviving recordings contain reflections of the publicist on the works of Leo Tolstoy: "On the limits of happiness", "The Kingdom of God is within us", as well as a draft letter to the writer. The published fragments are a valuable historical source that reveals the relationship between M. O. Menshikov, during his work in the newspaper "Week" and L. N. Tolstoy. During this period, correspondence is established between them with responses to each other's work. Since 1901, after the closing of the "Week" Menshikov became an employee of A. S. Suvorin's newspaper "Novoye Vremya". Traditionally, it is believed that this was a turning point for Menshikov's views. And regarding the assessments of Leo Tolstoy and his work, Menshikov, the Modernist, really changed his position to the diametrically opposite. The research methodology is based on the fundamental principles of historical cognition: the principle of historicism, objectivity and consistency. In the process of preparing the publication, content analysis and ideographic methods were used.