A new translation into modern American English directly from the original Russian manuscript. This edition contains an Afterword by the translator, a timeline of Tolstoy's life and works, and a glossary of philosophic terminology used throughout Tolstoy's literature and philosophy. The Cossacks A Caucasian Tale of 1852 (1852) is a novella by Leo Tolstoy that recounts the experiences of a young Russian aristocrat, Olenin, who joins the military and travels to the Caucasus region. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Caucasus Mountains, the novella delves into Olenin's fascination with the Cossack way of life and his romantic involvement with a local girl named Maryanka. Through Olenin's journey of self-discovery and his interactions with the Cossacks, Tolstoy explores the clash between the allure of a simpler, unspoiled existence and the complexities of modern society. The novella's literary merit lies in its vivid descriptions of the natural world, its introspective portrayal of Olenin's character development, and its thematic exploration of the search for authentic meaning and belonging.

A beautiful narrative, The Cossacks reveals a story about soldiers deployed at frontiers of Russia in the nineteenth century. Tolstoy skilfully presents circumstances of a young Russian combatant who falls in love with a Cossack girl, about to wed a local...

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"The Cossacks: A Tale of 1852" by Leo graf Tolstoy (translated by Louise Maude, Aylmer Maude). Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

A brilliant short novel inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s experience as a soldier in the Caucasus, The Cossacks has all the energy and poetry of youth while also foreshadowing the great themes of Tolstoy’s later years. His naïve hero, Olenin, is a young nobleman who is disenchanted with his privileged and superficial existence in Moscow and hopes to find a simpler life in a Cossack village. As Olenin foolishly involves himself in their violent clashes with neighboring Chechen tribesmen and falls in love with a local girl, Tolstoy gives us a wider view than Olenin himself ever possesses of the brutal realities of the Cossack way of life and the wild, untamed beauty of the rugged landscape. This novel of love, adventure, and male rivalry on the Russian frontier—completed in 1862, when the author was in his early thirties—has always surprised readers who know Tolstoy best through the vast, panoramic fictions of his middle years. Unlike those works, The Cossacks is lean and supple, economical in design and execution. But Tolstoy could never touch a subject without imbuing it with his magnificent many-sidedness, and so this book bears witness to his brilliant historical imagination, his passionately alive spiritual awareness, and his instinctive feeling for every level of human and natural life. Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude

Reproduction of the original.

In 1851, at the age of twenty-two, Tolstoy joined the Russian army and travelled to the Caucasus as a soldier. The four years that followed were among the most significant in his life, and deeply influenced the stories collected here. Begun in 1852 but unfinished for a decade, The Cossacks describes the experiences of Olenin, a young cultured Russian who comes to despise civilization after spending time with the wild Cossack people. Sevastopol Sketches, based on Tolstoy's own experiences of the siege of Sevastopol in 1854-55, is a compelling consideration of the nature of war, while Hadji Murat, written towards the end of his life, returns to the Caucasus of Tolstoy's youth to explore the life of a great leader torn apart by a conflict of loyalties. Written at the end of the nineteenth century, it is amongst the last and greatest of Tolstoy's shorter works.