Leo Tolstoy

"A Lost Opportunity" by Russian writer Leo Tolstoy leads in with a quote from the King James Bible, St. Matthew's "The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant". Written as a fable, "A Lost Opportunity" follows two neighbouring families who are, at first, loving and respectful of one another. They treated each other as they wanted to be treated. Then the head of the families changed and the relationship between the families changed. Ivan and Gavryl were...

These three connected early novels from the author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina form an intimate portrait of Russian youth.   Begun when Leo Tolstoy was just twenty-three years old and stationed at a remote army outpost in the Caucasus Mountains, his work known as the Autobiographical Trilogy would win immediate fame and critical praise years before works like War and Peace and Anna Karenina would bring him to the forefront of Russian literature. ...

"The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories" collects six of Tolstoy's finest short stories into one edition. In "How Much Land Does a Man Need?", Tolstoy explores this very question through the story of a peasant with an increasing appetite for land-an appetite which becomes his ruin. "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", one of Tolstoy's short masterpieces, tells of the early death of a high-court judge in 19th century Russian. "Family Happiness" explores the...

Leo Tolstoy's "Two Old Men" is a challenging and delightful story of the pilgrimage of two neighbours. It is filled with rich lessons and insights-from personal habits to family relationships and how we manage our affairs.

"The Imp and the Crust" is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy first published in 1886. It is a cautionary tale against the dangers of alcohol. The story opens with a peasant preparing to plow a field. Having gone without breakfast, he is careful to hide his dinner, a small crust of bread, under his coat. After plowing the field the peasant is hungry and ready for his dinner, but when he picks up his coat he sees that the bread is gone. It...

"Little Girls Wiser Than Men" is a short story by Russian authorLeo Tolstoy first published in 1885. It takes the form of a parable about forgiveness. The story opens at the beginning of Holy Week, when there was still melting snow on the ground. An older girl, Akulya, and a younger girl, Malasha, go outside to play. They both have just been given new frocks, but they insist on wading through one of the puddles from the melting snow. They both take...

Tauchen Sie in eine epische Welt, in der persönliche Schicksale und Geschichte aufeinanderprallen. "Krieg und Frieden" ist ein komplex aufeinander abgestimmtes Meisterwerk zwischen den Spannungsfeldern Krieg und Liebe. Vor dem Hintergrund des napoleonischen Russlands verbindet dieses monumentale Werk die Schicksale unvergesslicher Figuren, die alle mit ihren eigenen Wünschen, Träumen und Schicksalen konfrontiert sind. Folgen Sie dem rätselhaften...

A son was born to a poor peasant. He rejoiced and went to a neighbor to ask him to stand as godfather to the boy. The neighbor refused. He did not want to be godfather to a poor man's son. So the peasant went to another neighbor and he, too, refused. He walked from house to house, but could find no one who would be godfather to his son, so he set out to another village.

The story follows unconventional love and marriage of a young girl, Masha aged 17, and the much older Sergey Mikhaylych , an old family friend. The story is narrated by Masha. After a courtship that has the trappings of a mere family friendship, Masha's love grows and expands until she can no longer contain it. She reveals it to Sergey Mikhaylych and discovers that he also is deeply in love.

The story opens with the family of Ivan Shtchevbakoff; a generally harmonious family that does rather well for itself. They were on good terms with their neighbors, the family of Gabriel Chormoi, until one day when a hen that belonged to the Shtchevbakoff family flew into the yard of the Chormoi family and laid several eggs. Later that day, Ivan's daughter in law went to retrieve the eggs, but grandmother Chormoi takes offense at being accused of...