The Cossacks, and The Raid
by Leo Tolstoy
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To read Tolstoy's early sketch, The Raid and his first novel, The Cossacks, is to enter the workshop of a great writer and thinker. In The Raid, Tolstoy explores the nature of courage itself, a theme central to War and Peace. In The Cossacks, he sets forth all the motifs of his whole future life and his work. The hero is a young man-about-town who has squandered half his fortune - and his life - and retires to the desultory existence of a regiment stationed in mountainous Cossack country, where he takes part in the daily life of a Cossack village. But his love for the beautiful Maryanka precipitates a conflict between the belief that "Happinesss lies in living for others" and a passion that sweeps self-abnegation aside.
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2,490+ Works 129,211 Members
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in Russia. He is usually referred to as Leo Tolstoy. He was a Russian author who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. Leo Tolstoy is best known for his novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877). Tolstoy's fiction includes dozens of short stories and several show more novellas such as The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Family Happiness, and Hadji Murad. He also wrote plays and numerous philosophical essays. Tolstoy had a profound moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870's which he outlined in his work, A Confession. His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist. His ideas of nonviolent resistance which he shared in his works The Kingdom of God is Within You, had a profund impact on figures such as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. On September 23, 1862 Tolstoy married Sophia Andreevna Behrs. She was the daughter of a court physician. They had 13 children, eight of whom survived childhood. Their early married life allowed Tolstoy much freedom to compose War and Peace and Anna Karenina with his wife acting as his secretary and proofreader. The Tolstoy family left Russia in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent establishment of the Soviet Union. Leo Tolstoy's relatives and descendants moved to Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the United States. Tolstoy died of pneumonia at Astapovo train station, after a day's rail journey south on November 20, 1910 at the age of 82. (Bowker Author Biography) Count Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 on the family estate of Yasnaya Polyana in the Tula province. He married in 1862 & was the father of 13 children. Tolstoy managed the estate of Yasnaya Polyana & ran its peasant schools, while writing his great novels, "War & Peace" (1869) & "Anna Karenina" (1877). He died in 1910. (Publisher Provided) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Cossacks, and The Raid
- Original publication date
- 1853 (The Cosacks) (The Cosacks); 1852; 1853 (the Raid [Nabeg]) (the Raid [Nabeg])
- People/Characters
- Olenin; Luke; Enouska; Maryanka; Vania
- Important events
- Chechena
- First words
- Moscow has grown quiet.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Neither the old man nor the girl turned to look at him.
Classifications
- Genres
- General Fiction, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 891.7 — Literature & rhetoric Asian Literature East Indo-European and Celtic literatures Russian and East Slavic languages
- LCC
- PZ3 .T588 .C — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction in English
- BISAC
Statistics
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- 174
- Popularity
- 187,530
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.46)
- Languages
- English, Russian
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 10
