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Buy Tolstoy's 5 Greatest Novellas Annotated
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After reading War & Peace, Fyodor Dostoevsky put the book down and said, "The fool hath said in heart there is no God." Yet, Tolstoy's shorter novels (i.e., novellas) are filled with all the war, adventure, comedy, religion, tragedy, and Russian tradition that inhabit the longer novels of the Russian bear of literature. Andrew Barger, editor of the best selling anthology, "Leo Tolstoy's 20 Greatest Short Stories Annotated," has gathered the very best of Tolstoy's novellas into one remarkable collection that includes hundreds of annotations of difficult Russian terms and sheds light on historic figures mentioned in the stories. But there is much more to this anthology. Andrew has included a short biography on Tolstoy and a chronology of his life and publications. Read these fascinating stories today:
1) The Invaders - A Russian team moves against Shamyl and his Islamic army in the Caucasus, which is based on Tolstoy's military experiences in the 1850s.
2) The Death of Ivan Ilyich - When a man who has done good his entire life is stricken with an illness, it makes him question everything.
3) Two Hussars - When a hell-raiser takes lodging in a small Russian city, debauchery is inevitable but will it be matched years later by his son?
4) Father Sergius - The taboo subject of a priest being subjected to physical temptation is explored in one of Tolstoy's most scandalous stories.
5) Master & Man - By the end of this snowstorm adventure, you will be asking yourself, Who is the master and who is the servant?
What some of the world's greatest literary minds have to say about Tolstoy:
"A second Shakespeare." Gustave Flaubert
"No English novelist is as great as Tolstoy." E.M. Forster
"The greatest Russian writer of prose fiction." Vladimir Nabokov
"The greatest of all novelists." Virginia Woolf
Read the shorter novels of Leo Tolstoy today.
1) The Invaders - A Russian team moves against Shamyl and his Islamic army in the Caucasus, which is based on Tolstoy's military experiences in the 1850s.
2) The Death of Ivan Ilyich - When a man who has done good his entire life is stricken with an illness, it makes him question everything.
3) Two Hussars - When a hell-raiser takes lodging in a small Russian city, debauchery is inevitable but will it be matched years later by his son?
4) Father Sergius - The taboo subject of a priest being subjected to physical temptation is explored in one of Tolstoy's most scandalous stories.
5) Master & Man - By the end of this snowstorm adventure, you will be asking yourself, Who is the master and who is the servant?
What some of the world's greatest literary minds have to say about Tolstoy:
"A second Shakespeare." Gustave Flaubert
"No English novelist is as great as Tolstoy." E.M. Forster
"The greatest Russian writer of prose fiction." Vladimir Nabokov
"The greatest of all novelists." Virginia Woolf
Read the shorter novels of Leo Tolstoy today.
Reviews
MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW: "Annotated with hundreds of detailed explanations for difficult-to-translate Russian terms, and historic background information relevant to the stories, Leo Tolstoy's 5 Greatest Novellas Annotated is a superb resource for anyone seeking to not only enjoy but also better understand Tolstoy's work. . . Highly recommended especially for public and college literary studies shelves."
Interview with Andrew Barger
Tolstoy's Best Novellas
Q1: You have previously edited Leo Tolstoy's 20 Greatest Short Stories Annotated. What made you turn to his shorter novels that we today call novellas?
A1: A dainty literary word, isn't it? Tolstoy's novellas offer much richer characters than his short stories. His war stories are especially vibrant since he drew from his war experiences in the Caucus.
Q2: What is your favorite Tolstoy novella?
A2: "Master and Man." Only Tolstoy could write a short novel that shows the juxtaposition between the rich and the poor in such a way. There is cruelty, a Russian snowstorm, just deserves, and love. The ending is fabulous.
Q3: Why did you annotate this collection of Tolstoy novellas?
A3: Just like for his best short stories, I wanted to add color to Russian terms and many of the historical figures mentioned by Tolstoy who were popular individuals of the day. I think many people think of Tolstoy as an author who wrote during the long Russian winters in a cabin and was a bit out of touch with popular society. The opposite is true. Tolstoy was very topical for his day. He references the leading artists and met a lot of his contemporaries--at least in Russian literature. Tolstoy came from a high society family with deep ties to the military and Russian aristocrats. He was also well-traveled, which only wealthy families could afford in those days. His story about the Swiss hotel he visited in Lucerne is included in Tolstoy's best short stories and is one of his best.
Q4: What do you think Tolstoy would write about if he were alive today?
A4: He would still be calling out religious wrongs and trying to help the poor. Not much would change. Tolstoy loved gardening and living off the land. He was anti-establishment, too. He was the first to start a Montessori-type school. He wore peasant clothes and didn't shave his beard. Tolstoy was the original hippie. (Laughs)
Q5: What surprised you the most about these short novels?
A5: It has to be Tolstoy's comedic side. As Americans we tend to think of Russians as rather stoic and serious people. Of course, that is not the case all the time, but it is a perception. Tolstoy is no different. Most people, myself included, think of Tolstoy as the serious Russian bear of literature. Yet most of the five novellas included in the anthology have moments that caused to me laugh out loud. That's saying a lot since some of them are 150 years old.
A1: A dainty literary word, isn't it? Tolstoy's novellas offer much richer characters than his short stories. His war stories are especially vibrant since he drew from his war experiences in the Caucus.
Q2: What is your favorite Tolstoy novella?
A2: "Master and Man." Only Tolstoy could write a short novel that shows the juxtaposition between the rich and the poor in such a way. There is cruelty, a Russian snowstorm, just deserves, and love. The ending is fabulous.
Q3: Why did you annotate this collection of Tolstoy novellas?
A3: Just like for his best short stories, I wanted to add color to Russian terms and many of the historical figures mentioned by Tolstoy who were popular individuals of the day. I think many people think of Tolstoy as an author who wrote during the long Russian winters in a cabin and was a bit out of touch with popular society. The opposite is true. Tolstoy was very topical for his day. He references the leading artists and met a lot of his contemporaries--at least in Russian literature. Tolstoy came from a high society family with deep ties to the military and Russian aristocrats. He was also well-traveled, which only wealthy families could afford in those days. His story about the Swiss hotel he visited in Lucerne is included in Tolstoy's best short stories and is one of his best.
Q4: What do you think Tolstoy would write about if he were alive today?
A4: He would still be calling out religious wrongs and trying to help the poor. Not much would change. Tolstoy loved gardening and living off the land. He was anti-establishment, too. He was the first to start a Montessori-type school. He wore peasant clothes and didn't shave his beard. Tolstoy was the original hippie. (Laughs)
Q5: What surprised you the most about these short novels?
A5: It has to be Tolstoy's comedic side. As Americans we tend to think of Russians as rather stoic and serious people. Of course, that is not the case all the time, but it is a perception. Tolstoy is no different. Most people, myself included, think of Tolstoy as the serious Russian bear of literature. Yet most of the five novellas included in the anthology have moments that caused to me laugh out loud. That's saying a lot since some of them are 150 years old.
Copyright (c) Andrew Barger - All rights reserved.