Author Description

Our ambitious program of new Tolstoy editions continues with two collections of powerful stories The violent spiritual crisis in Tolstoyas life that inspired his last period of creativity produced the stories in this compelling and startling collection. They portray the multifaceted nature of desire, from idealistic romance to sexual jealousy, from desperate lust to relentless longing. aThe K reutzer Sonataa caused a public sensation with its indictment of so-called Christian marriage, a theme echoed in aFamily Happiness.a In aThe Devil, a a young man finds it impossible to resist a beautiful peasant woman with whom he had an affair before his marriage. And aFather Sergiusa shows a man going to increasingly desperate ends in order to avoid the temptations of the flesh.