3 Review(s)

Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (1828?1910) is revered for both his novels and his brilliantly crafted short stories. This collection features some of the master’s finest short stories in translation. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a long, lyrical, and poignant exploration of a man’s arduous journey towards the acceptance of his own mortality. It is also an incisive comment on the hypocritical modern middle-class lifestyle and its limitations. By confronting death, the hero of the story contemplates the meaning of life and man’s place in the world. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is considered one of the masterpieces of Tolstoy’s later fiction and it was written soon after his religious conversion in the 1870s. The Kreutzer Sonata is an unflinching portrayal of marital discord and breakdown and The Devil traces the complex trajectory of sexual temptation and desire. Tolstoy’s short stories dissect familial bonds, romantic love, the irrationality of human impulses as well as significant social and political churnings in 19th- century Russia.