The Cossacks and Other Stories
The Cossacks and Other Stories

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2006-09-28

Total Pages: 565

ISBN-13: 0141926872

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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.

Sevastopol Sketches
Sevastopol Sketches

Author: Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy

Publisher: Digireads.com

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781420949285

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Sevastopol Sketches (Sebastopol Sketches)" is a collection of three works of historical fiction in which Tolstoy draws upon his real life experiences during the Siege of Sevastopol. The titular location draws its name from that of a city in Crimea and takes place during the Crimean war. The three tales in this collection are respectively titled "Sevastopol in December", "Sevastopol in May", and "Sevastopol in August". In the December tale Tolstoy introduces us to Sevastopol by giving the reader a tour and introducing us to the settings, mannerisms, and background that would relevant in the following tales. In the May tale Tolstoy examines the senselessness of war, musings that would lay the foundation for his much larger work and magnum opus "War and Peace." In the third and final tale the fall of the town is detailed. Published in 1855 "Sevastopol" was written near the beginning of the author's literary career. It is a book in which we begin to see the writer exhibit a quality of prose that would one day establish him as the greatest of all writers in the Russian and any other language.

The Lady with the Little Dog and Other Stories, 1896-1904
The Lady with the Little Dog and Other Stories, 1896-1904

Author: Anton Chekhov

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2002-08-29

Total Pages: 476

ISBN-13: 0141906855

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the final years of his life, Chekhov had reached the height of his powers as a dramatist, and also produced some of the stories that rank among his masterpieces. The poignant 'The Lady with the Little Dog' and 'About Love' examine the nature of love outside of marriage - its romantic idealism and the fear of disillusionment. And in stories such as 'Peasants', 'The House with the Mezzanine' and 'My Life' Chekhov paints a vivid picture of the conditions of the poor and of their powerlessness in the face of exploitation and hardship. With the works collected here, Chekhov moved away from the realism of his earlier tales - developing a broader range of characters and subject matter, while forging the spare minimalist style that would inspire such modern short-story writers as Hemingway and Faulkner.

The Cossacks and Other Early Stories
The Cossacks and Other Early Stories

Author: graf Leo Tolstoy

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions

Published: 2012-09-07

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 9781840226911

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This edition of Tolstoy's earlier works includes The Cossacks, together with other examples which demonstrate the quality of his writing in the years before War and Peace and Anna Karenina.