- Published: 30 June 2005
- ISBN: 9780141913667
- Imprint: Penguin eBooks
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 336
Master and Man and Other Stories
Contains ten stories: The Two Hussars; Strider; A Prisoner in the Caucasus; God Sees the Truth But Waits; What Men Live By; Neglect a Spark; Two Old Men; How Much Land Does a Man Need; The Three Hermits; Master and Man
The ten stories collected in this volume demonstrate Tolstoy's artistic prowess displayed over five decades - experimenting with prose styles and drawing on his own experiences with humour, realism and compassion. Inspired by his experiences in the army, 'The Two Hussars' contrasts a dashing father and his mean-spirited son. Illustrating Tolstoy's belief that art must serve a moral purpose, 'What Men Live By' portrays an angel sent to earth to learn three existential rules of life, and 'Two Old Men' shows a peasant abandoning his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in order to help his neighbours. And in the highly moving 'Master and Man', Tolstoy depicts a mercenary merchant travelling with his unprotesting servant through a blizzard to close a business deal - little realizing he may soon have to settle accounts with his maker.
- Published: 30 June 2005
- ISBN: 9780141913667
- Imprint: Penguin eBooks
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 336
Other books in the series
About the author
Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 in the Tula province. He studied at the University of Kazan, then led a life of pleasure until 1851 when he joined an artillery regiment in the Caucasus. He established his reputation as a writer with The Sebastopol Sketches (1855-6). After a period in St Petersburg and abroad, he married, had thirteen children, managed his vast estates in the Volga Steppes and wrote War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877). A Confession (1879-82) marked a spiritual crisis in his life, and in 1901 he was excommuincated by the Russian Holy Synod. He died in 1910, in the course of a dramatic flight from home, at the railway station of Astapovo.
