Leo Tolstoy

A vibrant translation of Tolstoy’s most important short fiction by the award-winning translators of War and Peace. Here are eleven masterful stories from the mature author, some autobiographical, others moral parables, and all told with the evocative power that was Tolstoy’s alone. They include “The Prisoner of the Caucasus,” inspired by Tolstoy's own experiences as a soldier in the Chechen War, “Hadji Murat,” the novella Harold Bloom called “the best story in the world,” “The Devil,” a fascinating tale of sexual obsession, and the celebrated “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” an intense and moving examination of death and the possibilities of redemption. Pevear and Volokhonsky’s translation captures the richness, immediacy, and multiplicity of Tolstoy’s language, and reveals the author as a passionate moral guide, an unflinching seeker of truth, and ultimately, a creator of enduring and universal art.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories

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‘Yes, she's a fine old lady,' he said from over there in a rather muffled voice. ‘Will God ever let me see her again?’

And how that man suffered, just to appear in his own eyes the way he wanted to appear, for his fellow officers and the soldiers could never see him the way he wanted to be seen.

“[…] No, I don't want to know the gentlemen and I'm sure that they couldn't care less about me. But such is man's nature that although I couldn't give a damn about them they're the reason why I'm ruining the best years of my life, my happiness and whole future.”

“And my love for her just disappeared. That's the way it is with some affairs, and those are the sort of events that change the course of a man's entire life. But you say…” he concluded.

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