Lives and Deaths: Essential Stories

Leo Tolstoy, Boris Dralyuk (Translated by)

$18.00

Publication Date: October 27th, 2020

Publisher:

Pushkin Collection

ISBN:

9781782275411

Pages:

224

Description

Fresh translations of Tolstoy's four richest shorter works by the award-winning Boris Dralyuk

Tolstoy's stories contain many of the most acutely observed moments in his monumental body of work. This new selection of his shorter works, sensitively translated by the award-winning Boris Dralyuk, showcases the peerless economy with which Tolstoy could render the passions and conflicts of a life.

These are works that take us from a self-interested judge's agonising deathbed to the bristling social world of horses in a stable yard, from the joyful vanity of youth to the painful doubts of sickness and old age. With unwavering precision, Tolstoy's eye brings clarity and richness to the simplest materials.

About the Author

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born to an aristocratic family near Tula, Russia. After abandoning his studies he returned to live on his family's estate, later enlisting in the army and serving in the Crimean War. Over the course of his life, he wrote plays, dozens of short stories and many works of philosophy. He is now one of the most widely admired writers of all time.

Praise for Lives and Deaths: Essential Stories

   • "Gratifying and timely." --Times Literary Supplement
   • "When literature has a Tolstoy, it is easy and gratifying to be a writer. Even if you are aware that you have never accomplished anything, you don't feel so bad, because Tolstoy accomplishes enough for everyone"--Anton Chekhov
   • "The greatest of all novelists"--Virginia Woolf