Bibliograph

The Cossacks and other stories, Leo Tolstoy ; translated with notes by David McDuff and Paul Foote ; with an introduction by Paul Foote

Type

Label

The Cossacks and other stories, Leo Tolstoy ; translated with notes by David McDuff and Paul Foote ; with an introduction by Paul Foote

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references

Illustrations

maps

Index

no index present

Literary Form

short stories

Main title

The Cossacks and other stories

Responsibility statement

Leo Tolstoy ; translated with notes by David McDuff and Paul Foote ; with an introduction by Paul Foote

Summary

In 1851, at the age of twenty-two, Tolstoy joined the Russian army and travelled to the Caucasus as a soldier. The four years that followed were among the most significant in his life, and deeply influenced the stories collected here. Begun in 1852 but unfinished for a decade, The Cossacks describes the experiences of Olenin, a young cultured Russian who comes to despise civilization after spending time with the wild Cossack people. Sevastopol Sketches, based on Tolstoy's own experiences of the siege of Sevastopol in 1854-55, is a compelling consideration of the nature of war, while Hadji Murat, written towards the end of his life, returns to the Caucasus of Tolstoy's youth to explore the life of a great leader torn apart by a conflict of loyalties. Written at the end of the nineteenth century, it is amongst the last and greatest of Tolstoy's shorter works

Classification