The Cossacks

The protagonist Olenin casts himself out of well-heeled Russian society to try and find meaning with the Terek Cossacks in the Causasus, but inevitably fails dismally to connect with the likes of the old drunken hunter Eroshka and the young pragmatic maiden Maryanka. Reminded me of my human rights tourism to Guatemala and vain attempts to bond with rural folk there. Even in this earlier work, Tolstoy has mastered the clear-eyed ability to distinquish the real from the romantic, although the book does feel a bit uneven. His rhapsody on seeing mountains cannot be begrudged though, "when he had realised the distance between himself and them and the sky and whole immensity of the mountains, and felt the infinitude of all that beauty..." Ah show more I know that feeling. show less

In this lovely and perceptive novella, the beauty of the Caucasus region, where, the Russians are fighting with the Chechens -- its mountains, streams, forests, and wildlife -- jumps off the page. Tolstoy also portrays the wilder, "simpler" lives of the Cossacks who live there, lives that seem so attractive to his somewhat naive protagonist, a young Moscow aristocrat, Olenin, who joins the Russian army largely as a way to keep himself from gambling, running up debts, and leading a dissolute life. (This, in fact, mirrors some of Tolstoy's own experiences as a young man.) He meets some of the local people, goes hunting, and then falls in love, or so he thinks, with the daughter of his landlord, who is also loved by one of the young show more Cossacks. One of the beauties of the book is that the reader simultaneously sees the world through Olenin's eyes and through the more experienced eyes of the author. show less

The Cossacks is considered Tolstoy's best novel from his early years. Begun in 1853 and completed in 1862, after nearly 10 years of fits and starts, he was compelled to finish it after loosing badly at cards to pay the debt. The novel describes life among the martial Cossacks as seen through the eyes of a young Russian soldier stationed in a native village on the frontier. Descriptions of Caucuses geography and wildlife are the strongest part of the novel in my opinion, the story itself is slow and uneventful. The Cossack's are a clannish community and the outsider Olenin who tries to penetrate it with modest success discovers himself in the process. It's like Dances with Wolves where a soldier who is sent to subjugate and civilize on show more the frontier instead discovers indigenous wisdom and attempts to go native but finds in the end he can never fully cross over and returns a changed man. show less

Really cool love triangle that considers the way that cultures clash when feelings get involved.

On second read: moves slower than I remember, but still good story.

Really cool love triangle that considers the way that cultures clash when feelings get involved.

On second read: moves slower than I remember, but still good story.

I really did enjoy reading this book a lot, I like the story and the way it was written. However, Russian literature is drowned in metaphors and rich history so it can be hard to digest at a fast past so it took me a while to read. Overall, I like Tolstoys writing a lot. 10/18/25

A short novel based on Tolstoy's early life as a soldier in the Caucusus. It has the energy and poetry of youth while at the same time foreshadowing the great themes of Tolstoy's later years. Tolstoy explores the birth and death of love and the transience of life.