Tolstoy for dabblers

 

There are those among us who, while being entirely literary, have never read a book by Leo Tolstoy. Not a word of "War and Peace," not a sentence in "Anna Karenina." This is a grave situation, and these readers should be ashamed. I should know: I'm one of them.

It's not like I haven't tried: I took a Russian literature course in college. We read lots of Dostoevsky and had  full side helpings of Gogol. Heck, I even studied Russian as a language. But did I ever get to Tolstoy? Nope. Never.

The challenge is that Tolstoy's works are so big, it's hard to commit to them amid the ebb and flow of all these other books demanding to be read. But the website The Second Pass has revisited "Hadji Murat," also published as "Hadji Murad," Tolstoy's final, slender work. Critic Viktor Shklovsky once wrote, "Among his great works, Tolstoy has one that’s the best. It’s Hadji Murat." And even if it's not, it might just be the place for me to start.

"Despite running to just 120 or so pages," Levi Stahl writes, "Hadji Murat contains all that is peerless in Tolstoy; it is Tolstoy as bullion cube, each scene packed with the telling details that, for him, comprise the world."

Or then there's "Android Karenina," the new public domain mashup from Quirk Books, the publisher that started the trend with "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." The parts of the book not written by Tolstoy were penned by Ben H. Waters -- the modern writer who provided the beasties in "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters."

And then there is the final resort for the busy reader: a movie. "The Last Station," a historical drama starring Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy and Helen Mirren as his wife, comes to DVD June 22.

-- Carolyn Kellogg
twitter.com/paperhaus

---

Clicking on Green Links will take you to a third-party e-commerce site. These sites are not operated by the Los Angeles Times. The Times Editorial staff is not involved in any way with Green Links or with these third-party sites.

---

Comments

[AgileCipher]

It doesn't even sound like Ms. Kellogg read the books mentioned in the article. Pray tell, what is the value of this piece? "Here are three options a reader can choose rather than dedicating time to classical literature."

Oh LATimes, I'm so disappointed.

[Monica]

The Russian authors and I do not get along...I tried 'War and Peace' and 'Crime and Punishment' and just couldn't finish them. I know I will try again and finish them one day.....hopefully.

I will check out this movie though, interesting.

[A Reader]

Try "The Confession" by Tolstoy. It's short and quite good.

[Jen]

Literature major in college, but never read any Tolstoy either. Found Dostoyevsky a few years ago, loved it. Picked up Anna Karenina this week at the library on CD to listen to on long drive (after several failed attempts at eyes on the tome.) It's an enjoyable (if emotional) driving companion. I'm loving Tolstoy's language, the depth of character analysis, and what's surprising to me (since I guess I never thought much about it ... ever) is how utterly European the Russian aristocrats were. They speak French to each other, read English novels, etc. Growing up as a Cold War kid, I guess I imagined the Russians of times-gone-by as portrayed in the Wendy's "Day Wear/Evening Wear" commercials. Drab, Soviet, sad. Not so, Anna, Count Vronsky et al. Thanks for the timely (for me) post! Maybe you can find it to listen to on librivox...?

[Mathias in Finland]

...And of course there's the lovely little book "The Cosacks". Not his greatest feat, maybe, but still quite worth the read.

If you want Tolstoy super-comprised, try The Death of Ivan Ilyich, one of the best stories I've ever read.

[Nick]

If you love Russian novels, you must read “Earrings for a Black Day” by Mila Austin, who serves as tourist guide to the Russian heart. A compelling, romantic story of a young Russian girl’s life, angst, and glory set against the background of political turmoil, war in Afghanistan and intrigue of Russia’s emerge from communism. You'll like it!