En este año saliente, una de mis mayores penas a nivel literario es que no he podido leer tantos clásicos rusos como me prometí a inicios de año. Así que para quitarme ese mal sabor de boca he decidido leer esta breve recopilación de varios relatos de uno de los autores más universales de la literatura de este país, León Tolstoi. Hace muchos, muchísimos años que leí “Anna Karenina” (libro que esta en mi lista de pendientes por releer) y una versión abreviada de “Guerra y Paz” (algún día me veré con fuerzas de meterme en faena con este colosal tocho, lo juro) , y la verdad es que echaba en falta volver a él y ya tenia muchas ganas de ello. Y gracias a esta lectura he recordado porque .Es un autor ágil y con una prosa penetrante , y que es una auténtica gozada de leer. Me maravilla lo fácil que parece salir de su pluma las descripciones psicológicas y personales de sus personajes y sus ambientaciones tan conseguidas. No es un autor para nada complejo de leer por cómo escribe. Es en lo que dice y en como lo expresa dónde está el kit de la cuestión, lo que le hace un escritor aún hoy en día muy leído y admirado.

“La Muerte de Ivan Ilch y Otros Relatos” es una antología de cuatro cuentos, los cuales tienen como hilo conductor la muerte, la búsqueda del sentido de la vida y la religión, temas centrales en la producción tolstoniana. Aunque los cuatro cuentos resulta muy interesante, hay que reconocer que la palma se la lleva el relato principal del volumen, “La Muerte de Ivan Ilch”. No sé si será por las ganas que tenía de leerlo, o por lo mucho que he leído hablar de él, pero ha sido con diferencia en que más me ha gustado e impactado. Destaca totalmente sobre los otros tres, que en comparación, aunque no me ha parecido malos para nada.

Breve reseña de cada historia, a continuación:

“La Muerte de Ivan Ilch”: y por fin leí uno de mis eternos pendientes, uno de los cuentos más famosos que ha dado la literatura rusa. Y tengo que decir que me ha dejado sin aliento durante la mayor parte de la lectura. Como su nombre indica “La Muerte de Ivan Ilch” trata sobre la vida y final de su protagonista, un hombre cuya vida “Había sido bastante sencilla y bastante común, y al mismo tiempo extremadamente terrible”.

Me ha parecido increíble lo que Tolstoi ha logrado hacer en pocas páginas y con una historia tan sencilla, cuyo final y motor principal el lector conoce desde la primera linea, cuando nos introducimos en la historia en el funeral del protagonista, donde queda claro que para todas las personas a su alrededor este suceso es un mero y desagradable contratiempo en medio de lo que se supone que debería ser su jornada. Y es desde ese mismo punto donde empiezan las bofetadas a mano abierta que el autor ruso da sin concesiones ni descansos, criticando a la sociedad rusa de la época, con su hipocresía y todos sus cimientos ideológicos, monetarios y sociales en los que se asienta. Ni siquiera la medicina y el trabajo de los médicos se salvan de la aguda y contundente pluma de Tolstoi. Una maquinaria de la que Ivan Ilch acaba resultando participante y víctima. Toda su vida se ha basado en llevar una existencia “tranquila, agradable y decorosa” según los estándares de las clases altas. Esta necesidad de actuar así le llevara, como entenderá cuando su salud se resienta fatalmente, a llevar una vida vacía y carente de sentido y significado, basada solo en un matrimonio sin amor, una familia desunida y sentimentalmente distante y un trabajo cuyo único placer surge del poder que le proporciona.

Así pues, esta corta obra tiene una meta más profunda que la mera critica social. Es una disección sobre la libertad personal de cada uno y el papel de la religión en nuestras vidas. Y algo más. Ivan Ilch enferma por un accidente fortuito y estúpido al intentar convertir su hogar en un espejo de los de las clases altas; su muerte responde al mismo sinsentido que ha sido toda su vida. A lo largo de su agonía su dolor físico va a la par que su dolor moral, marcado por las cuestiones y sufrimientos que toda esta circunstancia genera. No puede aceptar lo escaso de contenido de su biografía y muerte, se resiste a morir porque esta desesperado por vivir, a la par que se niega q aceptar que ha vivido siguiendo unos estándares que al final no le han aportado nada.

Tolstoi nos regala la crónica de una muerte anunciada, donde el foco no se basa tanto en el inevitable final como en el contenido de este y su mensaje de tintes profundamente cristianos. Al final lo que cuenta es estar con uno mismo, eso es lo que le da un significado real a la muerte. Todo el periplo emocional que sufre Ivan Ilch durante sus últimos días, toda la rabia, el dolor, la soledad, el sufrimiento por la falta de empatía de sus allegados más cercanos… todo queda en nada cuando se acepta que, inevitablemente, todos debemos morir.

En definitiva, tengo que decir que esta breve novela me ha parecido una historia llena de miga y que da para pensar mucho. Es un relato en el que no sobra nada, y en el que la ambientación está magistralmente lograda. Como siempre Tolstoi no defrauda como escritor, tiene una pluma amena y ágil, pero al mismo tiempo cuenta cosas muy fuertes y difíciles de digerir a veces, no deja nada al azar y todo lo que dice y escribe lo hace con una contundencia que llega profundamente al lector. Es cierto que durante la mayor parte de la lectura no le veía el sentido a todo lo que narraba este autor. Es en las últimas líneas donde el todo que es la historia se completa de forma más que satisfactoria.

“Los Tres Ermitaños”: una historia corta y bastante simpática y ligera si lo comparas con las otras, aunque no por ello exenta de un mensaje religioso bastante potente y una moraleja bastante interesante. No es tan simple como puede parecer a simple vista, hay una fuerte dosis de critica a la religión como organismo, abogándose fuertemente por una forma de creer y rezar más sencilla y privada. El autor defiende eso como método para llegar a Dios, dandole una lección de humildad y auténtica creencia al arzobispo protagonista. El cuento es, desde luego, una buena muestra de como en pocas páginas se puede hacer una historia de contenido solido.

“Las Tres Muertes”: sin lugar a dudas el cuento que menos me ha gustado. No sé si será porque soy una torpe o que, pero me ha parecido una historia que no lleva a ningún lado, y por eso ocupa en mi ranking personal dentro de esta antología. Muy bien escrita, como todos los cuentos aquí presentes de Tolstoi, pero no me ha aportado nada. Entiendo la idea de la muerte como gran igualadora de todo ser humano, independientemente de su posición social y de como uno puede encarar el último y definitivo paso que se da en este mundo. Pero la forma en que Tolstoi lo trabaja (que no como lo cuenta, que eso, una vez más está muy bien) me ha dejado indiferente.

“El Ahijado”: una autentica fabula cristiana con toques y elementos budistas sobre el significado de la vida y la búsqueda de la redención. Con un principio que recuerda al cuento de los Grimm “La Muerte Madrina” y una escena esencial que bebe de historias como “Barba Azul” de Perrault, Tolstoi le da a esta historia religiosa y de tintes fantásticos, un ritmo pausado y comedido, y la divide en capítulos cortos. Esto da mucha agilidad a esta lectura corta e ideada para dar que pensar al lector.

This was my first introduction to Tolstoy's writing. I found it easy to read yet also heavy in subject matter. It is a morbid but insightful tale about death and the importance of being true to yourself when living life.

didn’t love all the short stories, but by far TDOII is one of the greatest short stories in literature, Tolstoys 2nd greatest work

Q: How did the Russian author commit suicide?
A: He jumped off of one of his novels.

Russian author Leo Tolstoy is deservedly considered one of the world's greatest writers. This collection of eleven of his short stories would be a great introduction to Tolstoy's amazing talent for those who might be put off or intimidated by his very lengthy but more famous works like Anna Karenina and War and Peace. Here is a short summary of all eleven stories. Obviously, spoilers follow:

The Prisoner of the Caucasus (4 stars)

A Russian officer is captured and held for ransom in a Tartar village. Knowing that no ransom will be forthcoming he escapes with his fat co-prisoner. They are re-captured after several hours and many miles, in large part due to his companion's physical failings and ineptitude. They are again imprisoned in the village, but this time they are kept shackled in a miserable hole in the ground. A young girl who has grown fond of the officer eventually helps him escape. This time his companion is too weak and ill to go along, and so this second escape attempt is successful – but just barely.


The Diary of a Madman (4 stars)

A man writes about his experiences with his mental illness. He suffers from some kind of anxiety disorder which seems to affect him only infrequently, most often when he finds himself in unfamilar lodgings. He also has a deep sense of empathy for the needy and unfortunate which sometimes brings scorn upon him when he refuses to take advantage of such people in order to increase his own standing. He fears death, but fears the futility and hopelessness of life even more, and he questions the existence of God despite his earnest attempts to exercise his faith. To me, only the anxiety syndrome seems anything like a mental illness. In fact, at the beginning of the story the man explains that the experts' diagnosis of his condition is inconclusive. His other fears, concerns, sympathies, and doubts all seem very normal – I know I feel the same way to some degree in all of these regards. Maybe Tolstoy is insinuating that it is society itself that is mentally ill -- that people who don't conform are actually normal and only seem mentally ill in a society that is itself mentally ill. This 12-page story was left unfinished at Tolstoy's death despite his having worked on it for 19 years.


The Death of Ivan Ilyich (4 stars)

Ivan Ilyich, a lawyer of some note, becomes ill with some form of terminal illness (cancer?) which presents itself as persistent and increasing pain in his abdomen and a disagreeable taste in his mouth. He loses weight and becomes increasingly unhealthy in appearance. He realizes that he is dying, as do others around him, yet no one admits it, much less openly talks about it. Death is the proverbial elephant in the room that everyone notices but no one wants to talk about. Ivan Ilyich is very distraught that he is dying. He suffers terribly – physically, mentally, and emotionally. He has experienced the death of others often in his life. In fact, several of his own children died, apparently without affecting him in the way or to the degree that we would think a loving father should be affected. Yet he is completely unprepared, surprised, and angry that death is coming for him. He questions the religious teachings concerning death and the hereafter, and he worries that his life was not what it should have been -- that maybe his attention to business and material possessions should not have been so important to him all his life. After intense suffering, he dies. His colleagues pay their respects. His family mourns and deals with the necessary arrangements. Then life continues.

The Kreutzer Sonata (3 stars)

A man on a train spends 70 pages telling another passenger the story of how he came to murder his wife. His story details how he enjoys women, but feels it is impossible to stay “in love” with one woman for a lifetime. His marriage started out fine, but soon all the troubles and concerns that always accompany marriages began to occur. He and his wife fought against each other in every way. Eventually, suspicions of infidelity arose, and the man is filled with rage and jealousy. Upon returning to his house unexpectedly late one night, he discovered the suspected adulterer there with his wife practicing music. In his rage, the man stabbed his wife to death. He spent nearly a year in prison awaiting trial, before being acquitted for family honor or some such absurdity.

The Devil (4 stars)

A young man (Evgeny) inherits his father's manor along with all its debts, of which there are many. He works hard to keep the business afloat, but his horniness leads him to frequently consort with a young married peasant woman whose husband is nearly always away. He eventually finds a truly devoted and respectable young woman to marry, and he remains very faithful to her. But the peasant girl keeps showing up in her day-to-day activities, and the young man finds it impossible to keep her out of his mind. She obviously would like to resume her past relationship with the young man, but he desperately want to be faithful despite feeling tempted far beyond his ability to resist. He comes to the conclusion that the girl must be the Devil, and that the only way the situation can ever be resolved is for either him or his wife or the peasant girl to die. Tolstoy provided two endings for this story. Both of them are extremely tragic, and both end on this note: “And indeed, if Evgeny was mentally ill when he committed his crime, then all people are just as mentally ill, and the most mentally ill are undoubtedly those who see signs of madness in others that they do not see in themselves.”

Master and Man (4 stars)

A wealthy, money-hungry landowner embarks on a winter journey with his hired hand to close a deal in a nearby town. They travel in a sleigh pulled by a trusty horse. The snow is deep and the road is difficult to follow. A snow storm makes things even worse and covers their tracks. They lose their way and end up in a different village than they planned on, but they set off again for their original destination only to go in a circle back to the same village. A kind-hearted villager offers them lodging for the night, but the man, in his desire to beat his competition to a great deal, refuses, and they continue on once again only to get hopelessly lost in the darkness and blowing snow. They realize they will have to wait out the night and likely perish, but the man determines to save himself and rides off on the horse, abandoning his companion. The weary horse simply returns to the sleigh and the freezing hired hand. The man then recognizes that he can save his companion with his own warmth. He lays on him and covers him with his fur coat. The man and the horse freeze to death, but the hired hand is saved. A good story which contrasts two different perspectives on one's looming death: the poor worker did not fear it, but the rich man did.

Father Sergius (4.5 stars)

A dashing, intelligent, and up-and-coming young officer rises in fame and social stature. Not having been born into the upper classes, he seeks to attain status by becoming engaged to a beautiful, upper-class young woman. But when she reveals to him that she had previously been the mistress to the Tsar himself, he becomes disgusted, and in his anguish he enters a monastery. His story spreads far and wide. Visitors flock to him despite his sincere attempts to remain a recluse. One visiting woman was determined to seduce him, but in his determination to prevent her from invoking sinful thoughts in his mind he chops off his finger with an axe – much to the horror of the woman, who thereafter became a nun. His fame increases when he develops a reputation for being a healer of the sick. In his later years, while blessing a young woman, he succumbs to sexual temptation. Tormented with guilt, he leaves the monastery incognito, visits his cousin whom he had cruelly teased in his childhood, and begs forgiveness from her.

After the Ball (3 stars)

An elderly man describes an experience of lost love from his youth. He becomes enchanted and smitten by a beautiful young woman at a dance. The feeling is obviously reciprocated. Near the end of the dance, the young man meets the young woman's father, a military officer, who dances tenderly with his daughter. Later that night, unable to sleep because of the romantic excitement he feels, he goes for a walk. He encounters a military exercise in progress in which a captured deserter is being forced to run (actually led through) a gauntlet. The young man sees that the officer in charge is his beloved's father, who on one occasion savagely assaults one of the soldiers in the gauntlet for striking too softly. Witnessing such a horrific spectacle doomed the relationship he was previously so excited about.

The Forged Coupon (3.5 stars)

A desperate young man forges the value of a bank note to gain a mere ten roubles. The forged note is then knowingly passed on to a few others. The effects and side-effects and after-effects of this dishonesty ripples around and through several people and communities, being the cause or possibly just a catalyst for changes in the behavior and attitudes of several people – often for the worse, but occasionally for the better, and sometimes both, one after the other. The interweaving of people and events is complicated and intricate, and the unfamiliar Russian names made keeping track of everyone more difficult than I was prepared for.

Alyosha the Pot (4 stars)

A rather simple-minded, but very diligent and optimistic boy is put into servitude to a rich merchant by his father. Because he consistently does his errands well and quickly, he is given ever more work to do. He bears all this with a simple and bright outlook. When he and the manor's cooking girl fall for each other his father forbids their marrying and even their romance. Being the loyal and dutiful son that he is, he complies. After experiencing a serious accident, he eventually succumbs to his injuries. Throughout his agonies he remains cheerful, convinced that the next world will be just as good as this one.

Hadji Murat (4 stars)

A mountaineer rebel leader (Hadji Murat) who has fought against the Russians for years decides to join forces with the Russians in order to fight against the supreme rebel leader. His only request of the Russians is that they bargain with the rebels in the trade of prisoners for his family members. The Russian bureaucracy balks at this. Eventually, in despair, Hadji Murat flees the Russians in a hopeless attempt to save his family or die trying. He and his few loyal aides are tracked down, and after a bloody last stand, they are all killed.

موت إيفان إيلييتش ليو تولستوي

مجموعة من القصص القصيرة.. وهي أول مجموعة قصصية أقرأها لتولستوي.
تتكون المجموعة القصصية من سبع قصص حيث تكون موت إيفان إيلييتش أكبرها.

موت إيفان إيلييتش: تتحدث القصة بكل بساطة عن موت رئيس المحكمة إيفان
إيلييتش.. ولا أخفي أنها أبكتني في صفحاتها الأخيرة حيث أنه لربما يصدف لي أنني أفكر فيما كان يشرحه تولستوي في هذه القصة.

الكلية العائمة، هي الجذع المحوري الذي بدأت حياة إيلييتش تدور حوله حتى أتت على حتفه.. وقد لفتني معرفة تولستوي المذهلة بأعراض هذه الحالة التي يبدو أنها كانت مستعصية في ذلك الزمان بينما هي تتطلب جراحة هذه الأيام لإعادة الامور إلى نصابها. الكلية العائمة هي عندما تتموضع الكلية وخاصة تلك اليمنى في غير موضعها الطبيعي لسبب ما.. ويسبب ذلك الوضع الجديد للكلية إنحباس تدفق الدماء إليها مما يقتلها ببطء شديد.. مسبباً آلاماً مبرحة للمريض كما أنه سيتعرض إلى دوخة وغثيان وإنحباس في البول. ومن المثير في الأمر أن الألم يخف مع تمدد المريض على ظهره ورفع قدميه تماماً كما شرح تولستوي في حكايته بينما كان الأطباء يسخرون من فعل المريض هذا في الحكاية !

ما يحتاج إليه الإنسان من الأرض: هي حكاية تتحدث عن طمع الإنسان الذي لا ينتهي.. وجدتها لطيفة.. ولربما تصلح للأطفال كذلك. ومن الجدير بالذكر أن جواب السؤال المطروح في العنوان هو آخر جملة في القصة.. "وحين بقي الخادم وحده، حفر حفرة بطول الجسم فقط، بطول ثلاثة أذرع، ودفن فيها باكوم".

قصة إيفان الغبي: ينطبق على هذه القصة وصف الحكايا الشعبية.. ولا بأس بها كذلك.. ومن عادة الروس أن يحكوا الحكايا عن مدى نجاح الأغبياء في الحياة. ورأيتها كذلك تصلح للأطفال.

العامل إميليان والطبل الفارغ: يبرز في هذه الحكاية دهاء المرأة كما يحلو لتولستوي تصويره. لطيفة كذلك.

الحبة العجيبة: تمثل رؤية تولستوي للأجيال المتتابعة ويسطع فيها مفهومه عن ضرورة أن تأكل الأجيال مما تصنع�� أيديها كما كان الأمر في قصة إيفان الغبي كذلك.

ثلاثة أبناء: يضرب تولستوي مثلاً هنا عن الله مع البشر.. حكاية معبرة.

نيكولا بالكين: هنا، يذكرني أسلوب تولستوي بذلك الأسلوب المقالي الذي استخدمه في الحرب والسلام. بدأ الحكاية بسرد حكاية الجندي العجوز.. ثم تحول إلى مقال عن الفضيلة والخير والله.

باختصار، مجموعة قصصية مسلية..

honestly expected this to be a slog but i really like how tolstoy writes. very simple to the point yet eloquent at the same time. i also like that its not always as dismal as most russian literature seems to be. loved every single story, 5 stars!!!

Review to come (also in Portuguese) at http://natysbookshelf.wordpress.com

I adore Tolstoy's novels but didn't take too kindly to his shorts. They are formidable shorts, however.

The stories in this collection are:

Family Happiness (1859)
The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886)
The Kreutzer Sonata (1889)
Master and Man (1895)

I actually finished this book weeks ago and I was wondering during that time just what I might say about it here. It's a difficult one, really, as I feel Tolstoy was a wonderful writer, and I adore his prose, and even though I didn't love all of the stories themselves, the writing itself was enough to carry me through.

My favourite story in this collection was 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich'. I thought this was expertly written with plenty of food for thought. It is definitely one of those stories where I shall return to in a few years.

Ο διάβολος = 5*
Πολικούσκα = 4*
Πατήρ Σέργιος = 3.5*
Οικογενειακή ευτυχία = 4*
O θάνατος του Ιβάν Ίλιτς = 4.5*
M.O. = 4.2

Συμπέρασμα: Ο Tolstoy είναι τόσο μεγάλος συγγραφέας όσο μας έχουν πει. Ακόμα και σ' αυτή τη συλλογή διηγημάτων, όπου η έκταση δεν επαρκεί για να ξεδιπλώσει τη συγγραφική του ιδιοφυία, φαίνονται ξεκάθαρα τα στοιχεία που θα αγαπήσουμε σε μεταγενέστερα ή προηγούμενα έργα του. Η απεικόνιση της ανθρώπινης αδυναμίας, είτε αυτή εκφράζεται ως σαρκικό πάθος, ως εθισμός, ως αναζήτηση συγκινήσεων, ειτε ως φόβος μπροστά στο θάνατο. Ο θάνατος. Τιμωρός αλλά και λυτρωτής. Για κάποιους επιλογή, για κάποιους αδικία. Κι όλα αυτά υπό την υπέροχη πένα του Ρώσου κλασικού που με κάνουν να ντρέπομαι, σχεδόν, που έφτασα σε τέτοια ηλικία για να πιάσω Tolstoy στα χέρια μου. Γιατί αυτό που δε μας είπαν είναι το πόσο προσιτή και ρέουσα είναι η γραφή του Lev Nikolayevich. Θα επανορθώσω.

It might be bc it’s currently 5am but imagine being a story that has been written by an author only to be labelled as “other stories” when you get published. Couldn’t be me. A driller is built different fr fr.