Russian literature you can read for FREE: Leo Tolstoy
The 'Gateway to Russia' content hub has uploaded many timeless works in acclaimed English translations. Enjoy!
‘The Death of Ivan Ilych’
Death occupies a prominent place in Russian literature. And Leo Tolstoy's novel is the quintessential Russian reflection on it, an attempt to look death in the face. Tolstoy describes the hero's dying process in detail and, at the very end, in the last second before his death, he discovers that death no longer exists. Just as life no longer exists.
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‘Sevastopol’
As a young man, Leo Tolstoy served in the Caucasus for several years and, during the Crimean War of 1853-1856, he participated in the defense of Sevastopol for almost a year. He depicted this difficult time and all the horrors of war in his ‘Sevastopol Sketches’, essentially becoming, in his own right, Russia’s first war correspondent.
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‘The Cossacks’
This novel is another take on the Caucasian theme. A young Russian aristocrat named Dmitry Olenin, disillusioned with social life, enlists in the Caucasian Infantry Regiment. He finds himself in the world of free Cossacks, living in harmony with nature, tradition and duty…
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‘Hadji Murad’
Yet another Caucasian themed and true story, which are the basis for the plot. Hadji Murad, the right-hand man of a highlander leader named Imam Shamil, defects to the Russian army. He’s received as an honored guest by the army's commanding officers. He promises the Russians that he will convert all of Dagestan to their side, if they help him rescue his family from Shamil's captivity. However, not everyone believes in the defector's loyalty…
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‘War and Peace’
Tolstoy's magnum opus, a four-volume epic novel, which tells the story of several Russian families set against the backdrop of important historical events, primarily Russia's war with Napoleonic France.
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‘Anna Karenina’
This is the incredible story of a woman, who gives up everything for love. In the novel, Tolstoy focuses on the nature of happiness and unhappiness in family life. Moreover, the novel features a hero remarkably similar to the writer himself: Konstantin Levin, who leaves behind social life and begins plowing the fields with his peasants.
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