Ever since the mid-1860s Tolstoy had fallen more and more out of sync with Russian cultural life, feeling acutely his ideological and spiritual isolation. Referring to himself as an 'anchorite', he spent most of his time in Pustynka (near Saint Petersburg) and his Krasny Rog estate, worsening financial situation and deteriorating health adding to his troubles. Tired of fighting his many opponents, totally disillusioned with what he saw around him, A. K. Tolstoy wrote to his friend Boleslav Markevich in 1869: