Books by Leo Tolstoy

Book SynopsisA major new translation of the classic work interweaves the stories of an idealist, a cynical intellectual, and a count''s daughter against a backdrop of Napoleon''s invasion of Russia, in a volume that attempts to resolve ambiguities of other modern translations and is complemented by character listings, battle descriptions, and chapter summaries. Reprint.Trade Review“There remains the greatest of all novelists—for what else can we call the author of War and Peace?” —Virginia Woolf

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Book SynopsisTolstoy's powerful semiautobiographical stories based on his time spent in the Russian army, part of our series of fresh new Tolstoy translations In 1851, at the age of twenty-two, Tolstoy joined the Russian army. The four years he spent as a soldier were among the most significant in his life and inspired the tales collected here. In The Cossacks, Tolstoy tells the story of Olenin, a cultured Russian whose experiences among the Cossack warriors of Central Asia leave him searching for a more authentic life. The Sevastopol Sketches bring into stark relief the realities of military life during the Crimean War. And Hadji Murat paints a portrait of a great leader torn apart by divided loyalties. In writing about individuals and societies in conflict, Tolstoy has penned some of the most brilliant stories about the nature of war.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700Table of ContentsThe Cossacks and Other StoriesChronologyIntroductionA Note on the TextsMapsThe CossacksSevastopol StoriesSevastopol in DecemberSevastopol in MaySevastopol in August 1855Hadji MuratNotesGlossary

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Book SynopsisA collection of some of Tolstoy''s most powerful powerful storiesThe violent spiritual crisis in Tolstoy''s life that inspired his last period of creativity produced the stories in this compelling and startling collection. They portray the multifaceted nature of desire, from idealistic romance to sexual jealousy, from desperate lust to relentless longing. The K reutzer Sonata caused a public sensation with its indictment of so-called Christian marriage, a theme echoed in Family Happiness. In The Devil, a young man finds it impossible to resist a beautiful peasant woman with whom he had an affair before his marriage. And Father Sergius shows a man going to increasingly desperate ends in order to avoid the temptations of the flesh.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and

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Book SynopsisDescribing Tolstoy''s crisis of depression and estrangement from the world, A Confession is an autobiographical work of exceptional emotional honesty. It describes his search for ''a practical religion not promising future bliss but giving bliss on earth''. Although the Confession led to his excommunication, it also resulted in a large following of Tolstoyan Christians springing up throughout Russia and Europe. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.

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Book SynopsisTolstoy''s epic novel of love, destiny and self-destruction, in a gorgeous new clothbound edition from Penguin Classics. Anna Karenina seems to have everything - beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky. Their subsequent affair scandalizes society and family alike and soon brings jealously and bitterness in its wake. Contrasting with this tale of love and self-destruction is the vividly observed story of Levin, a man striving to find contentment and a meaning to his life - and also a self-portrait of Tolstoy himself. This acclaimed modern translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky won the PEN/ Book of the Month Club Translation Prize in 2001. Their translation is accompanied in this edition by an introduction by Richard Pevear and a preface by John Bayley ''The new and brilliantly witty translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is a must'' - Lisa Appignanesi, Independent, Books of the Year ''Pevear and Volokhonsky are at once scrupulous translators and vivid stylists of English, and their superb rendering allows us, as perhaps never before, to grasp the palpability of Tolstoy''s characters, acts, situations'' - James Wood, New YorkerTrade ReviewThe new and brilliantly witty translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky is a must -- Lisa Appignanesi * Independent, Books of the Year *Pevear and Volokhonsky are at once scrupulous translators and vivid stylists of English, and their superb rendering allows us, as perhaps never before, to grasp the palpability of Tolstoy's "characters, acts, situations" -- James Wood * New Yorker *

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Book SynopsisA Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition of Tolstoy's great Russian epic. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American ReadSet against the sweeping panoply of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, War and Peace—presented here in the first new English translation in forty years—is often considered the greatest novel ever written. At its center are Pierre Bezukhov, searching for meaning in his life; cynical Prince Andrei, ennobled by wartime suffering; and Natasha Rostov, whose impulsiveness threatens to destroy her happiness. As Tolstoy follows the changing fortunes of his characters, he crafts a view of humanity that is both epic and intimate and that continues to define fiction at its most resplendent.This edition includes an introduction, note on the translation, cast of characters, maps, notes on the major battles depicted, and chapter summaries.Praise for Antony Brigg's translation

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsFamily Happiness ; The Cossacks ; The Kreutzer Sonata ; Hadji Murad

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Book SynopsisA beautiful Penguin Classics clothbound edition of Tolstoy''s magnificent epic novel of love, conflict, fate and human life in all its imperfection and grandeur At a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805, conversations are dominated by the prospect of war. Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleon''s army marches on Russia, and the lives of three young people are changed forever. The stories of quixotic Pierre, cynical Andrey and impetuous Natasha interweave with a huge cast, from aristocrats and peasants to soldiers and Napoleon himself. In War and Peace, Tolstoy entwines grand themes - conflict and love, birth and death, free will and faith - with unforgettable scenes of nineteenth-century Russia, to create a magnificent epic of human life in all its imperfection and grandeur.Translated with an introduction and notes by Anthony Briggs, and with an afterword by Orlando Figes Anthony Briggs''s superb translation combines stirring, accessible prose with fidelity to Tolstoy''s original, while Orlando Figes''s afterword discusses the novel''s vast scope and depiction of Russian identity. This edition also contains appendices, notes, a list of prominent characters and maps.''A masterpiece ... This new translation is excellent'' - Anthony BeevorTrade ReviewA masterpiece ... this new translation is excellent -- Antony BeevorWar and Peace is like no other novel ... Tolstoy writes of both war and peace more marvellously than anyone else has done -- John Bayley * The Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisLittle Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world''s greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.Dmitry Andreich Olenin, in the hope of escaping the hollowness of his privilege, joins the army and heads to the Caucasus. There among the foothills he will meet the Cossacks: a people he considers to be at one with the land. In their company he will hunt, he will drink, he will fall in love and, slowly, he will begin to understand that between people, between cultures, there is often a space that cannot be traversed...''It is the richness of Tolstoy''s genius that strikes us most in this story'' Virginia Woolf

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Book Synopsis90 classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin BooksI'm not the sort of husband you dream of when you're walking alone along the avenue in the evening, am I? And it would be a disaster, wouldn't it?'How does love die? This question lies at the heart of Tolstoy's desperately sad novella. It tells the story of seventeen-year-old Masha who, despite their differences, falls passionately in love with an older man, and marries him. Soon, however, the gap between them becomes unbridgeable.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“The translation is the most accurate Tolstoy we have in English. Marian Schwartz has been a major force in bringing Russian literature into English for many years, but this is her masterpiece.”—Michael Holquist, author of Dostoevsky and the Novel -- Michael Holquist“If there is a Tolstoyan out there who is interested in reading a translation that is exquisitely mindful of the book’s complex texture, or someone who has meant to get to Karenina but hasn’t yet got around to this particular pleasure, Schwartz’s tribute to Tolstoy’s craft and sensitivity should be at the top of the list.”—Jim Kates, Arts Fuse -- Jim Kates * Arts Fuse *Longlisted for the 2015 American Literary Translators Asssociation, National Translation Prize in Prose. -- NTA * National Translation Awards *

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Book SynopsisA 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

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Book SynopsisTolstoy’s final work—a gripping novella about the struggle between the Muslim Chechens and their inept occupiers—is a powerful moral fable for our time. Inspired by a historical figure Tolstoy heard about while serving in the Caucasus, this story brings to life the famed warrior Hadji Murat, a Chechen rebel who has fought fiercely and courageously against the Russian empire. After a feud with his commander he defects to the Russians, only to find that he is now trusted by neither side. He is first welcomed but then imprisoned by the Russians under suspicion of being a spy, and when he hears news of his wife and son held captive by the Chechens, Murat risks all to try to save his family. In the award-winning Pevear and Volokhonsky translation, Hadji Murat is a thrilling and provocative portrait of a tragic figure that has lost none of its relevance.

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Book SynopsisWritten over a period of more than half a century, Leo Tolstoy’s stories reflect every aspect of his art and personality. They cover his experiences as a soldier in the Caucasus, his married life, his passionate interest in the peasantry, his cult of truth and simplicity, and his growing preoccupation with religion.             The stories in Volume 1 of the Collected Shorter Fiction date from the period in which the young Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina and War and Peace. Ranging from brief, masterfully sketches of military life such as “The Wood-Felling” to novellas like Family Happiness, an uneasy imagining of the idyllic possibilities of marriage by the not-yet-married writer, all feature Tolstoy’s characteristically lavish deployment of detail, shrewd observation, and imaginative power.  

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Book SynopsisRanging in scope from lengthy novellas to fables and folktales only a few pages long, Leo Tolstoy’s short fiction provides a marvelous opportunity to become closely acquainted with Russia’s great novelist. Volume 2 of the Collected Shorter Fiction reveals how Tolstoy’s growing spiritual preoccupations flowered into a series of extraordinary late masterpieces that equal anything in the earlier novels for intensity and power. Readers of The Death of Iván Ilých, The Kreutzer Sonata, Father Sergius, Master and Man, and Hadji Murád will recognize the brilliant novelist now transfigured by his passionate quest for salvation and forgiveness.             Aylmer and Louise Maude’s classic translations are supplemented by new translations by Nigel J. Cooper of six stories, including two that have never before appeared in English.

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Book SynopsisIntroduction by A. N. Wilson • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American ReadOften called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is at once an epic of the Napoleonic Wars, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the Russian spirit. Tolstoy’s genius is seen clearly in the multitude of characters in this massive chronicle—all of them fully realized and equally memorable. Out of this complex narrative emerges a profound examination of the individual’s place in the historical process, one that makes it clear why Thomas Mann praised Tolstoy for his Homeric powers and placed War and Peace in the same category as the Iliad: “To read him . . . is to find one’ s way home . . . to everything within us that is fundamental and sane.”

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Book SynopsisThis new edition combines Tolstoy’s most famous short tale, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, with a less well known but equally brilliant gem, Master and Man, both newly translated by Ann Pasternak Slater. Both stories confront death and the process of dying: In Ivan Ilyich, a bureaucrat looks back over his life, which suddenly seems meaningless and wasteful, while in Master and Man, a landowner and servant must each confront the value of the other as they brave a devastating snowstorm. The quintessential Tolstoyan themes of mortality, spiritual redemption, and life’s meaning are nowhere more movingly and deftly explored than in these two tales. This unique edition also includes a critical Introduction and extensive notes by Ann Pasternak Slater, a Fellow at St. Anne’s College, Oxford.

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Book SynopsisLeo Tolstoy’s short works, like his novels, show readers his narrative genius, keen observation, and historical acumen—albeit on a smaller scale.

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Book SynopsisThe text of this revised edition of Tolstoy's novel is based upon the 1939 translation by Louise and Aylmer Maude. The editor has made several textual changes and has revised and added to the footnotes. New critical material has been added to this edition, reflecting current ideas.

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Book SynopsisThis "Critical Edition" is based on the Maude translation. The text includes three maps of Napoleon's campaigns and battles in Russia, the publication history of "War and Peace", selections from Tolstoy's letters and diaries, three drafts of his introduction to the novel, and 20 critical essays.

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Book SynopsisIt is universally acknowledged that Tolstoy, author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, was as much a master of the short story as he was of the full-length novel. This original collection features some of his most hard-to-find tales including the posthumously published Alyosha the Pot, the two-part novella The Forged Coupon, and After the Dance, aka After the Ball.

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Book SynopsisHailed as one of the world's supreme masterpieces on the subject of death and dying, The Death of Ivan Ilyich is the story of a worldly careerist, a high court judge who has never given the inevitability of his death so much as a passing thought. But one day death announces itself to him, and to his shocked surprise he is brought face to face with his own mortality. How, Tolstoy asks, does an unreflective man confront his one and only moment of truth?This short novel was the artistic culmination of a profound spiritual crisis in Tolstoy's life, a nine-year period following the publication of Anna Karenina during which he wrote not a word of fiction. A thoroughly absorbing and, at times, terrifying glimpse into the abyss of death, it is also a strong testament to the possibility of finding spiritual salvation.

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Book SynopsisA Stunning Three-Volume Boxed Set of Tolstoy’s masterwork—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read—War and Peace. War and Peace broadly focuses on Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 and follows three of the most well-known characters in literature: Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a count who is fighting for his inheritance and yearning for spiritual fulfillment; Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, who leaves his family behind to fight in the war against Napoleon; and Natasha Rostov, the beautiful young daughter of a nobleman who intrigues both men. As Napoleon's army invades, Tolstoy brilliantly follows characters from diverse backgrounds—peasants and nobility, civilians and soldiers—as they struggle with the problems unique to their era, their history, and their culture. And as the novel progresses, these characters transcend their specificity, becoming s

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Book SynopsisLeo Tolstoy’s earliest published work, the trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth, was written when he was in his twenties, offering a tantalizing first glimpse of the literary talents that would come to fruition in his later masterpieces. Chronicling the experiences of a wealthy landowner’s son as he grows up and becomes aware of the world and his place in it, these three short novels were only loosely inspired by Tolstoy’s own memories. In old age he condemned the work as “an awkward mixture of fact and fiction,” but the imaginative powers that enabled him to capture so vividly the universal emotions and sensations of childhood have enthralled generations of readers. We are blessed to have, alongside the mature writer of Anna Karenina and War and Peace and the revolutionary mystic of the later years, the young Tolstoy who wrote these elegiac tales. In their sensitivity to nature and their evocations of fugitive

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Book SynopsisA brilliant short novel inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s experience as a soldier in the Caucasus, The Cossacks has all the energy and poetry of youth while also foreshadowing the great themes of Tolstoy’s later years. His naïve hero, Olenin, is a young nobleman who is disenchanted with his privileged and superficial existence in Moscow and hopes to find a simpler life in a Cossack village. As Olenin foolishly involves himself in their violent clashes with neighboring Chechen tribesmen and falls in love with a local girl, Tolstoy gives us a wider view than Olenin himself ever possesses of the brutal realities of the Cossack way of life and the wild, untamed beauty of the rugged landscape. This novel of love, adventure, and male rivalry on the Russian frontier—completed in 1862, when the author was in his early thirties—has always surprised readers who know Tolstoy best through the vast, panoramic fictions of his middle years. Unlike those works, The Cossacks is lean and supple, economical in design and execution. But Tolstoy could never touch a subject without imbuing it with his magnificent many-sidedness, and so this book bears witness to his brilliant historical imagination, his passionately alive spiritual awareness, and his instinctive feeling for every level of human and natural life.   Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude

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Book SynopsisConsidered by some to be the greatest novel ever written, Anna Karenina is Tolstoy''s classic tale of love and adultery set against the backdrop of high society in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. A rich and complex masterpiece, the novel charts the disastrous course of a love affair between Anna, a beautiful married woman, and Count Vronsky, a wealthy army officer. Tolstoy seamlessly weaves together the lives of dozens of characters, and in doing so captures a breathtaking tapestry of late-nineteenth-century Russian society. As Matthew Arnold wrote in his celebrated essay on Tolstoy, ''We are not to take Anna Karenina as a work of art; we are to take it as a piece of life.''

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Book SynopsisOffers an integration of the four biblical Gospels into a single account of the life of Jesus. This title explains that the author's goal is a solution to 'the problem of life', not an answer to theological or historical questions. It focuses on the words and teachings of Jesus, what the author regarded as the Church's distortions.Trade Review"Are you acquainted with Tolstoy's The Gospel in Brief? At its time, this book virtually kept me alive... If you are not acquainted with it, then you cannot imagine what an effect it can have upon a person." Ludwig Wittgenstein, in a letter to Ludwig von Ficker.

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Book SynopsisThis 1862 novel, in a vibrant new translation by Peter Constantine, is Tolstoy’s semiautobiographical story of young Olenin, a wealthy, disaffected Muscovite who joins the Russian army and travels to the untamed frontier of the Caucasus in search of a more authentic life. While striving to adopt the rough and ready lifestyle of the local Cossacks, Olenin falls in love with a free-spirited girl whose fiancé turns out to be a formidable opponent. Showcasing the philosophical insight that would characterize Tolstoy’s later masterpieces, this long overdue translation is a revelation.

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Book SynopsisA pairing of Tolstoy’s most spiritual and existential works of fiction and nonfiction from the renowned translator of Turgenev and Chekhov.Trade Review"Over the past hundred years we have had numerous versions, from serviceable to excellent, of the major works. This volume, however, is arguably the best so far..." -- The Times Literary Supplement"...this volume which, for all its sombreness of subject, is a vindication of the human spirit." -- The Spectator

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