Never been able to make it through War and Peace? Anna Karenina? Fortunately Oxford professor John Bayley has put together a collection of Leo Tolstoy’s most well known short works, appropriately titled Great Short Works of Leo Tolstoy. He includes nine stories within the 700 page collection that explore a variety of aspects 19th century Russian life and in general, the many complexities of human existence.
Each story is rife with ethnic issues, class delineations, the Orthodox religion and the prevailing power of the Russian military—all themes prevalent in Tolstoy’s own life. The contemporary struggle between Russians and Chechens evinces itself in “Hadji Murad” and “The Cossacks.” He highlights the religious and ethnic differences between the two groups, a familiar depiction of many 20th and 21st century conflicts and wars.
I find Tolstoy’s mastery of the written word to be most prevalent in his straightforward rendering of complex human relationships, particularly within the story “Family Happiness.” The male protagonist in this story tells the wife of his fractured marriage, “ ‘Don’t let us try to repeat life,’ he went on. ‘Don’t let us make pretences to ourseleves. Let us be thankful that there is an end of the old emotions and excitements.” For the average Wake Forest student, this imperative is entirely applicable, as each student stands on the brink of life after college, a veritable vista of new emotions, excitements and opportunities that are unimaginably different from collegiate life.
“Father Sergius” examines the potential and realization of hypocrisy within the confines of the Russian Orthodox Church through the titular character’s deliberate choice of the hermitic lifestyle, which he uses to gain power in the same way a secular politician would rise to power. The average American reader will be intrigued by the ancient traditions of Russian Orthodoxy, including relics, the reclusive lifestyle of holy people, and the pilgrimage tradition.
Arguably the most famous short story in the collection is “The Death of Ivan Ilych,” a dark piece that traces the fatal journey of Ivan Ilych, an ordinary man with an unknown illness.. “He struggled as a man condemned to death struggles in the hands of the executioner, knowing that he cannot save himself.” The story is overwhelmingly bleak and the narrator dwells myopically on Ilych’s illness. In all of its gloomy overtones, Tolstoy bluntly forces the reader to consider life’s “bigger questions”—the purpose of existence, the agonies of ordinary life and just how easy it is not to be understood by those who should be closest to you.
While this collection of stories may not be on your immediate radar screen, those seeking to take a taste of the famous Russian writing tradition should indulge in Tolstoy’s great short works. Despite their original publishing dates (late 19th century), the universality of each story carries forth through today and makes them appropriate for modern readership.