Abstract:
The article highlights distinctive features of war representation that is considered to be crucial in artistic and publicist works of Leo Tolstoy. The concept particularity is manifested in the writer's lexicon against the background of the 19th stereotypes and conventions. It is stated that the inherent nature of the concept is encoded in words sumasshestviye (madness), zlo (evil), nasiliye (violence), and the idea gets its conceptualization by being denied, Leo Tolstoy considers it an unnatural power that contradicts human existence laws. However, in his early works Tolstoy used to appreciate people's war for liberation, which in his late works was totally rejected – the writer and publicist called it manifestation of evil and violence, his evaluation of patriotism in military actions changed to complete negation. The concept constituents and their linguistic representations are described and shaped in evolutionary mental and sign series. The article presents some fragment of the writer's worldview in which the war is seen as a consequence of state institutions activity. Being firstly stated in Tolstoy's literary works, it was then transferred to the publicist writings where he could openly and clearly express his opinion, and the writer's lexicon there becomes less figurative and elusive but more explicitly and direct.
