My copy included :
Family Happiness (1859) : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Superb writing with beautiful descriptions and delightful dialogues. In depth portrayal of interrelationship between men and women, the nature and development from the self-delusion built up in romance, the disillusionment in marriage life, deception, deterioration and the death and the new shape formed in marital partnership.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886) : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Any story contemplating death in its stages is always thought provoking, Tolstoy's though is of a supreme quality. This is also where for the first time I detected a sense of humor in Tolstoy.

The Kreutzer Sonata (1889) : ⭐
A shocking disappointment, after the brilliance of The Death of II. The whole lengthy story is mere excuse to whine endlessly, and rant about sex and women, and abstinence. 'Oh WE, WE men, such poor creatures, always so helplessly overwhelmed by lust, and women are the real dominators, the source of madness and evil! torturing us wretched men with their bare shoulders and their becoming clothes, if only they wore shapeless sacks! And, music, that's trickster, the ruin of souls! But, what can we do? Oh, poor us, oh, all you doomed men are unware of this, but I discover this SECRET!' In short, women are the lab mice in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And also we should abstain from sex to save humanity, do physical work until we almost faint from exertion, and Police! Remove these women! and blah blah blah.

The Devil (1911) : ⭐⭐⭐
Has a similar theme and purpose as in The Kreutzer Sonata, but appropriately focus on the story line, writing is good and plot is compelling enough.

I had terrible time with Anna Karenina and had hoped to start again from new perspective with him who was acclaimed as possibly the greatest novelist ever lived. So far, I've read Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Chekov and Gogol besides; except for Gogol, any of them is superior in my opinion.

My issue with Tolstoy, I think, is he's too serious for me and had almost no sense of humor. I cannot fathom how anyone can understand life without it. In The Kreutzer Sonata and The Devil, I see a romantic, splendid writer whose later works became so ridden with disappointment, paralyzing fear and shame of his own sexual desire, self-destructive guilt and deep sense of utter helplessness. I have lost half of the respect I just formed for him. Perhaps, I am wrong, I'll read War and Peace, and make my conclusion then.

I'm not a typically a fan of short stories, but this collection is unbelievable. Each story covers one or two topics central to life, society, and death. I can't help but think that stories like these gave way to the idea that fiction is better at conveying truth than any nonfiction possibly could.

The first story is Family Happiness. It concerns romantic, passionate love and its passing nature, and how unhappiness is driven by our internal wants and losing sight of what brought happiness to begin with. Tolstoy also outlines the demands and dangers of social obligations, subordinating the marital relationship, and vanity. It's a good story to kick off this book.

Next up is The Death of Ivan Ilych. What a masterful piece of writing. We learn right from the start that Ilych has died. he rest of the story is about his acceptance of his death and his perception of how others around him react to and deal with it. The story also details Ilych's death from a few other's perspective. The overarching message is that none of us live life considering death as a possibility.

The third story is the Kreutzer Sonata. It begins as a story about love, but quickly evolves into an all-out war against the very notion. The commentary is just as relevant today as it was in the 19th century. This was my favorite of the four stories.

The final story is Master and Man. It's about a wealthy landowner who takes a servant with him on a short journey to a neighboring town to buy a piece of land. The twist is that they leave in the middle of a snowstorm. The theme here is in the neighborhood of the Death of Ivan Ilych, again commenting on what it means to live and what we hold important during that time.

These may not be "Anna Karenina" by any means, but they are amongst Tolstoy's better work in my opinion. They are certainly worth checking out, especially for people who are unfamiliar with Tolstoy's shorter work (this being a relative term). "The Kreutzer Sonata" was a bit much of a moral tract as opposed to a story for my tastes, but I found the other stories to be very fine indeed.

La morte di Ivan Ilic è un capolavoro assoluto. La descrizione del contrasto tra l’angoscia del morente e le diverse reazioni degli altri non penso abbia paragoni letterari possibili. Tre morti è un racconto minore, con un finale sorprendente (rispetto al titolo). Il resto è costituito da minuzie, spesso didascaliche come può essere Tolstoj quando vuole risultare edificante.

Great story and collection of short stories. Will update this review once reading club goes through it, because there is simply too much to say.

For now, all I will say is that I am Ivan Ilyich . We all are.

It's nice to be reminded every now and then that moralization can be used to make great literature, since our literature is so dominated by the idea that moralizing is always a flaw. Tolstoy appears to have been a natural at moralizing.

Others will not doubt disagree, but I'm willing to argue that the best stories here are precisely those in which the moral of the story (or morality of the author) comes through most clearly: Ivan Ilyich, of course, but also The Kreutzer Sonata, The Devil, Master and Man, Father Sergius, and After the Ball (Alyosha the Pot is also moralizing, but unbearably dull. Alyosha is just good. It's important to the other stories that we see the evil as well as the simple hearts. The Forged Coupon is moralizing, but is also a Dostoevsky novel shrunk down to 1/10th of its original size and given a happy ending. No thank you).

The bookending tales set in the Russian borderlands, on the other hand, are rollicking, but not particularly inspiring. I was very disappointed with Hadji Murat, in particular, though it made me want to learn more (something, anything) about the region.

Anything else I have to say will be said better by Tolstoy. Well, almost anything. The Kreutzer Sonata features a wonderful proto-Bernhardian rant, in this case against marriage. I'd love to know if Bernhard had read it, what he thought of it, and if anyone has compared his work with Tolstoy's story.

A short work for the epically prolific Tolstoy, but none the less impressive. Ivan Ilych's existential crisis about whether or not he has lived life the right way or they way society believes it is right is such a humanizing and relatable concept. The last few chapters were brilliantly penned, and they reinvigorated my curiosity about his other works. I don't know if I'm mentally ready for War and Peace, but The Death of Ivan Ilych has renewed my faith in Tolstoy as a viable and enjoyable author.

The movie Living led me to Ikiru, which, in turn, led me to this collection of short stories. I wonder what will lead or led you to this book. So many different paths with the same ending.

قام بتجاهل رأي البشر وأراد أن يرضي ربه من خلال العمل البسيط السهل المتواضع، فكلما زهد في رأي البشر شعر أكثر فأكثر بوجود الرب بداخله.

Primo libro che leggo di Tolstoj... bella scrittura!

ست قصص قصيرة تختزل فيها الفلسفة العميقة وشيئاً
من المواعظ.
تبدأ أحداث أولى القصص عن موظف يدعى إيفان إيليتش الموظف الجاد والمثالي في عمله والطامح للإرتقاء في السلم الوظيفي والسلم الإحتماعي ذلك ببساطة كان هدفه. بينما هو يرتب الأثاث الجديد الذي اقتناه حدث له حادث بسقوطه من على حافة النافذة لتنقلب حياته كلياً ويكتشف زيف العلاقات الإجتماعية من جانب أصدقائه الذين ينتظرون موته لنيل الترقيات ومن جانب آخر زوجته التي تقيم الحفلات والولائم وزوجها طريح الفراش في حين يلقى إيفان العطف والحنان من خادمه الشاب ولهذا يطرح إيفان تساؤلاً عميقاً هل الموت باب أرحب للوصول إلى عالم آخر؟ وأن الموت هو عتق ونحن جواهر ستلتحق بتاج من المُلك في الآخرة من خلال بوابة الموت. القصة على الرغم من قصرها فهي ملحمية رائعة ترسم لنا عن قوة تأثير النفس البشرية وضعف الإنسان اتجاه المال إلى جانب العلاقات الإنسانية.
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أما في القصة الثانية من " يُمهل ولا يهمل " فتناولت عن أهم مبدأ وجوهر القصة العفو والتسامح والغفران وما أحوجنا إليه في زماننا هذا يتحدث المتهم المتهم إيفان أكسيونوف والمحكوم ظلماً بتهمة القتل بفلسفة عميقة في داخل نفسه " إذا لم أشِ به وأنجيته من هذه المصيبة هل يجدي ذلك نفعاً لا سيما أنه الشخص الذي دمرّ حياتي؟ لا يتعين عليّ مسامحته دعه يدفع مقابل ماعانيته. لكن إذا وشيت به فإنهم سيجلدونه ويضربونه حتى الموت. وماهي الفائدة التي سأجنيها؟.. " مؤلم جداً أن تتهم وتحاكم بتهمة أنت بريئاً منها القصة أجدها قريبة إلى نوع من المثالية المفرطة كيف لي أن أتنازل بصمتي والمجرم يقف أمام عيني دون حساب؟؟!! يقال أن أساس الحكم هو العدل فهل من العدل أن يفعل المجرم مايريد دون حساب؟؟؟!!!...
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في القصة الثالثة من " متى وجد الحبّ فثمَّ وجه الله " فهي تروي عن حياة إسكافي بسيط يدعى مارتن أفدييتش يلتقي في ساعة يأس بصوفي سائح ينتقده بقسوة عن ضعف النفس البشرية من خلال الإيمان إلى جانب النصح والإخلاص والخلوص في العمل من أحل الله ولله فقط. وفي حدث آخر فلسفي بين بائعة التفاح والصبي الذي حاول في سرقة البائعة بسرقة تفاحة تحاول البائعة بملاحقة الصبي من أجل استرداد ما أخذه ومعاقبته لكن يتدخل الإسكافي بالتوسل للبائعة بقوله " يا جدّة، يا جدّة، هذه طرائقنا لكن طريقة الرّب تختلف. إذا أردت أن تجلديه بسبب تفاحة، ماسيكون عقاب خطايانا نحن بالله عليك؟ " إن من أعظم نبل الإنسان أن يكون متسامحاً وغفوراً طالما هناك شخص اقترف بالذنب وأقرّ بإعتراف خطئه. لسنا معصومين من الأخطاء ومن الإنسان أن يأخذ فرصته ليعفو عنه فمن نحن حتى لا نسامح أو لا نغفر؟؟؟!!!
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إن من أقبح وأسوأ مافي النفس شيطنات النفس الخبيثة في القصة الرابعة تطرقت عن أولئك الأشخاص الساقطين أخلاقياً الذين لا يشغلهم أي شيء سوى حب الشهوة ليتلبسهم ذلك الهوس العبثي برغم مايتوافر لديهم شريكة مخلصة ومحبة..
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أما في القصة ماقبل الأخيرة فتناولت في فهم ماهية الخير والشر إلى جانب بلوغ الكمال الفردي والحاجة المنطقية المسبقة إلى تغيير الظروف التي يعيش فيها الناس وإلى جانب التناقض بين حال السادة وحال عمال الأرض البسطاء الذين يبيعون جلود الأخصنة الميتة من أجل العيش ومع هذا لا يحدون مايكسون به عيالهم رغم جهد العمل. كما وركز الكاتب بالحاشية الفاسدة وظلم القياصرة للروس..
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أما في القصة الأخيرة فكانت عميقة جداً في الطرح والمعنى فتطرقت عن الشك و الفضيلة وإلى جانب الرذيلة والحياة المثالية..
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القصص كانت كعناوين رائعة لكن في الطرح أجده اسلوباً عادياً جداً اسلوب الأدب الروسي صحيح بأنه يمتاز بالواقعية والفلسفة التي تسبر في أغوار النفس البشرية لكن ليس بهذا النمط. لا أدري هل من قراءتي التي تكللت كثيراً بالملل أم من الترجمة لا أعلم لكن تبقى قصص تستحق القراءة.

تقييمي لها ٣ نجوم

The story "The Death of Ivan Ilych" is one of my favorite stories ever written. Everything about it is so true. Tolstoy had that knack of speaking plain truth about subjects like death and war that we almost instinctively idealize for ourselves in our thoughts and writings, so that the simple truth, when we read it, hits us like a powerful revelation. This narrative of one man's journey from a busy, full middle class life into sickness and then his final slide into death is like death itself, both mundane and profound. The image of Ivan Ilych's black bag shall be a part of my mental landscape forever.