Leo Tolstoy

A parable of a Russian peasant's bargain with the devil - considered by James Joyce to be the world's greatest story.

How Much Land Does a Man Need?

Reiza H

Fast enough to read on a 2-hour short trip.

It consists of two short stories: 
1. How Much Land Does a Man Need? - A story about man's unlimited greed and a harsh reality about its end.

2. What Men Live By - About finding the real truth about life, and the goodness among humans.

It's easy to read and easy enough to bring you into the stories.

Maximus

This book contains 2 stories: 
1. "How Much Land Does a Man Need?"
2. "What Men Live By".

- Story 1 is a story about a peasant farmer named Pakhom who monitors his wife and sister-in-law squabbling because the sister-in-law claims to live a better life than her sister (Pakhom's wife). Upon hearing this boastful conversation, Pakhom believes that owning lots of land is his answer to escaping poverty and by extension making himself invulnerable to fearing the devil. However, the devil is secretly present in the room and hears Pakhom's claim. - The moral of this story focuses on the notion of greed and how its consequences can easily lead to one's ruin. 

- Story 2 follows a man and wife (Semyon and Martyona) during a season of Winter and their encounter with a man who Semyon has found freezing oustide by a chapel and has subsequently brought home. A decision that will unexpectedly change their lives. - This story encompasses the effects and lessons gathered from moral decision-making, highlights the influence of faith/religion and expresses, both brief and brilliantly, how people do not realise how much they really need one another.

Both stories were wonderful. It was interesting to learn that James Joyce considered "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" to be the world's greatest story. I was also surprisingly enticed and enlightened by the second story given its religious centre of interest and how I do not consider myself religious. 

Overall, a great reading experience. Highly recommend.

read this for at most an hour and it was so amusing. this falls under the stories that i don't necessarily, personally like but i like because it's sooo well-written. i never had much of trouble reading, most of the words are simple but so powerful (favourite scene was so vivid), and i never thought i would relate to the mc so much... i can't put out a literary criticism or articulate what's it all about atm but it's so goodddd

Aislinn G.

the penguin little black classic had both how much land does a man need? and what men live by and its an interesting decision to put these fables together when they sit at opposing aspects of human nature: how much land does a man need? explores human greed and our inclination to take more than what we need and what men live by is about our innate desire to help others.

overall, i preferred how much land does a man need? over what men live by. the ending of the how much land does a man need? was very !!! tolstoy you madman!! medj mas mababa yung impact ng what men live by compared to how much land does a man need but i still enjoyed it.

pano ba magreview nang matino shuta naman di ko to kaya

Wilde

E-thar

This is a timeless story. We can easily see that the devil is this dystopian society where the ideal employee is a slave. People work all day and night like dogs to gain more and make their lives more comfortable. Unfortunately in the process they lose themselves. Lots of people nowadays suffer from anxiety and depression, and even commit suicide. We all are Pahóm in a way. We are products of this ruthless, greedy society.

Toyah Blackburn

An ageless parable that's still as relevant today as it was when it was written.

Tija

diya

jess

Nica Rhiana

Reymarck Esaguirre

Witek Bobrowski

jack

Athiyya adristi

isa/bella

'Although he feared death, he could not stop. 'If I stopped now, after coming all this way - well, they'd call me an idiot!' A pair of short stories about greed, charity, life and death from one of Russia's most influential writers and thinkers. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910). Tolstoy's works available in Penguin Classics are Anna Karenina, War and Peace, Childhood, Boyhood, Youth,The Cossacks and Other Stories, The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories, What is art?, Resurrection, The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories, Master and Man and Other Stories, How Much Land Does A Man Need? & Other Stories, A Confession and Other Religious Writings and Last steps: The Late Writings of Leo Tolstoy.

How Much Land Does A Man Need?

Lexy Tex

Carmen Maria

Andy

In the land of the Bashkirs, Pakhom is promised as much land as he can walk around in one day.

How Much Land Does a Man Need?

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