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florina's review
5.0
I loved the debate, the exchange and defending of ideas. I loved the force of the story. Classics are classics for a reason.
tiaschmidt's review against another edition
4.0
Read for Gender and Identity in Literature class. Will fill in at a later date.
robk's review against another edition
5.0
This was my first glance into Tolstoy's fiction, and as I expected, I was blown away by his writing. The Death of Ivan Ilyich really captures human depravity and societal indifference to others. Ivan's personal and professional lives hardly serve any other function than to build and reinforce his appearance, and are therefore essentially meaningless; he lacks emotion and sincerity and compassion and love and oh so many things that are essential to life. Finally, all is rectified through a sort of spiritual rebirthing that can only be facilitated through death. The paradoxical nature of the story and the main character's relationships with others are brilliantly crafted and thought provoking.
bucket's review against another edition
5.0
In each of these four stories, written over the course of fifty years, Tolstoy's themes are what love really is and the discovery of that meaning over the course of life.
In the Cossacks, written first, Dmitri learns that love is even more than self-sacrifice for the sake of others, it's about loving "the whole of God's world."
In The Kreutzer Sonata and Family Happiness, two stories written around the same time, the "truth" about love (that it changes with time, cannot be based on lust and sex, and that it must go beyond romance with one person and be shared with everyone) is revealed.
For Masha in Family Happiness, she learns the truth and misses the romance she once had with her husband, but is able to change her perspective and move forward, loving her children and enjoying her life. For Pozdnyshev in The Kreutzer Sonata, this lesson is learned much too late.
The final story, writting six years before Tolstoy's death, is the story of Hadji Murad, a resilient warrior who survives and wins many battles based on his strength, intelligence, and willingness to to switch sides as needed. In the end, he makes his own sacrifice for his imprisoned family.
I enjoyed all four stories, though my favorite was The Cossacks. It was nice to read Tolstoy in short form (before this I'd read War and Peace, and Anna Karenina) as his style is still there, yet he still succeeds in bringing a theme full circle in far fewer pages. It's also interesting to have learned more about his religious inclinations in the introduction to this book and to see how his themes progressed over the course of his life.
In the Cossacks, written first, Dmitri learns that love is even more than self-sacrifice for the sake of others, it's about loving "the whole of God's world."
In The Kreutzer Sonata and Family Happiness, two stories written around the same time, the "truth" about love (that it changes with time, cannot be based on lust and sex, and that it must go beyond romance with one person and be shared with everyone) is revealed.
For Masha in Family Happiness, she learns the truth and misses the romance she once had with her husband, but is able to change her perspective and move forward, loving her children and enjoying her life. For Pozdnyshev in The Kreutzer Sonata, this lesson is learned much too late.
The final story, writting six years before Tolstoy's death, is the story of Hadji Murad, a resilient warrior who survives and wins many battles based on his strength, intelligence, and willingness to to switch sides as needed. In the end, he makes his own sacrifice for his imprisoned family.
I enjoyed all four stories, though my favorite was The Cossacks. It was nice to read Tolstoy in short form (before this I'd read War and Peace, and Anna Karenina) as his style is still there, yet he still succeeds in bringing a theme full circle in far fewer pages. It's also interesting to have learned more about his religious inclinations in the introduction to this book and to see how his themes progressed over the course of his life.
darwin8u's review against another edition
3.0
"Love, marriage, family,—all lies, lies, lies."
- Leo Tolstoy, The Krutzer Sonata
First, let me start this review by stating I think [b:Anna Karenina|152|Anna Karenina|Leo Tolstoy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1350285139s/152.jpg|2507928] might just be a perfect novel. So, I love Tolstoy. [b:War and Peace|656|War and Peace|Leo Tolstoy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1413215930s/656.jpg|4912783], also amazes me and easily belongs on the list of Great World Novels. But 'The Kreutzer Sonata' plays like the writings of an over-indulged, philosophically-stretched, cranky, Fundamentalist older man. It is the sad, second wife to Anna Karenina*. That said, I enjoyed the structure. It is basically a man, Pozdnyshev, discussing his feelings on marriage, morality, and family on a train ride with some strangers. During this discussion he admits that in a jealous rage he once killed his wife (and was later aquited).
The story was censored briefly in 1890 (its censorship was later overturned), but that didn't stop Theodore Roosevelt calling Tolstoy a "sexual moral pervert". The novel does allude to masturbation, immorality, adultery, abortion, etc. Which is funny, because the whole premise of the book is to rage against our moral failings. In a later piece Tolstoy wrote (Lesson of the"The Kreutzer Sonata") defending the novella, he basically explained his views:
1. Men are basically immoral perverts with the opposite sex when young. Society and families wink at their dissoluteness.
2. The poetic/romantic ideal of "falling in love" has had a detrimental impact on morality.
3. The birth of children has lost its pristine significance and the family has been degraded even in the "modern" view of marriage.
4. Children are being raised NOT to grow into moral adults, but to entertain their parents. They are seen as entertainments of the family.
5. Romatic ideas of music, art, dances, food, etc., has contributed and fanned the sexcual vices and diseases of youth.
6. The best years (youth) of our lives are spent trying to get our "freak on" (my term, not Count Tolstoy's). That period would be better spent not chasing tail, butserving one's country, science, art, or God.
7. Chasity and celibacy are to be admired and marriage and sex should be avoided. If we were really "Christian" we would not "bump uglies" (again, my term not the Count's).
It might seem like I am warping Tolstoy's argument a bit, but really I am not. I think the best response to Tolstoy came in 1908 at a celebration of Tolstoy's 80th* from G.K. Chesterton (not really a big libertine; big yes, libertine no):
"Tolstoy is not content with pitying humanity for its pains: such as poverty and prisons. He also pities humanity for its pleasures, such as music and patriotism. He weeps at the thought of hatred; but in The Kreutzer Sonata he weeps almost as much at the thought of love. He and all the humanitarians pity the joys of men." He went on to address Tolstoy directly: "What you dislike is being a man. You are at least next door to hating humanity, for you pity humanity because it is human”
* There are even a couple lines that seem to borrow scenes from, or allude to, Anna Karenina:
"throw myself under the cars, and thus finish everything."
"I was still unaware that ninety-nine families out of every hundred live in the same hell, and that it cannot be otherwise. I had not learned this fact from others or from myself. The coincidences that are met in regular, and even in irregular life, are surprising."
** Which, if the backward math works, means Kreutzer Sonata was written/published when Tolstoy was in his early 60s.
- Leo Tolstoy, The Krutzer Sonata
First, let me start this review by stating I think [b:Anna Karenina|152|Anna Karenina|Leo Tolstoy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1350285139s/152.jpg|2507928] might just be a perfect novel. So, I love Tolstoy. [b:War and Peace|656|War and Peace|Leo Tolstoy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1413215930s/656.jpg|4912783], also amazes me and easily belongs on the list of Great World Novels. But 'The Kreutzer Sonata' plays like the writings of an over-indulged, philosophically-stretched, cranky, Fundamentalist older man. It is the sad, second wife to Anna Karenina*. That said, I enjoyed the structure. It is basically a man, Pozdnyshev, discussing his feelings on marriage, morality, and family on a train ride with some strangers. During this discussion he admits that in a jealous rage he once killed his wife (and was later aquited).
The story was censored briefly in 1890 (its censorship was later overturned), but that didn't stop Theodore Roosevelt calling Tolstoy a "sexual moral pervert". The novel does allude to masturbation, immorality, adultery, abortion, etc. Which is funny, because the whole premise of the book is to rage against our moral failings. In a later piece Tolstoy wrote (Lesson of the"The Kreutzer Sonata") defending the novella, he basically explained his views:
1. Men are basically immoral perverts with the opposite sex when young. Society and families wink at their dissoluteness.
2. The poetic/romantic ideal of "falling in love" has had a detrimental impact on morality.
3. The birth of children has lost its pristine significance and the family has been degraded even in the "modern" view of marriage.
4. Children are being raised NOT to grow into moral adults, but to entertain their parents. They are seen as entertainments of the family.
5. Romatic ideas of music, art, dances, food, etc., has contributed and fanned the sexcual vices and diseases of youth.
6. The best years (youth) of our lives are spent trying to get our "freak on" (my term, not Count Tolstoy's). That period would be better spent not chasing tail, butserving one's country, science, art, or God.
7. Chasity and celibacy are to be admired and marriage and sex should be avoided. If we were really "Christian" we would not "bump uglies" (again, my term not the Count's).
It might seem like I am warping Tolstoy's argument a bit, but really I am not. I think the best response to Tolstoy came in 1908 at a celebration of Tolstoy's 80th* from G.K. Chesterton (not really a big libertine; big yes, libertine no):
"Tolstoy is not content with pitying humanity for its pains: such as poverty and prisons. He also pities humanity for its pleasures, such as music and patriotism. He weeps at the thought of hatred; but in The Kreutzer Sonata he weeps almost as much at the thought of love. He and all the humanitarians pity the joys of men." He went on to address Tolstoy directly: "What you dislike is being a man. You are at least next door to hating humanity, for you pity humanity because it is human”
* There are even a couple lines that seem to borrow scenes from, or allude to, Anna Karenina:
"throw myself under the cars, and thus finish everything."
"I was still unaware that ninety-nine families out of every hundred live in the same hell, and that it cannot be otherwise. I had not learned this fact from others or from myself. The coincidences that are met in regular, and even in irregular life, are surprising."
** Which, if the backward math works, means Kreutzer Sonata was written/published when Tolstoy was in his early 60s.
assimbya's review against another edition
2.0
I expected far better from the author of Anna Karenina than the bitter, both self-deprecating and self-righteous diatribe that was "The Kreutzer Sonata". Though I appreciate the work as a personal struggle to articulate philosophies that Tolstoy was attempting to work out within his own head, the judgmental, life-denying tenor of those philosophies left me with a bitter, unpleasant taste in my mouth.
However, a later story in the book, "The Forged Coupon", was far more thoughtful and thought provoking, though still a disappointment after the brilliance that was Anna Karenina. I am rather counting on War and Peace being better than the contents of this volume.
However, a later story in the book, "The Forged Coupon", was far more thoughtful and thought provoking, though still a disappointment after the brilliance that was Anna Karenina. I am rather counting on War and Peace being better than the contents of this volume.
andijosan's review against another edition
4.0
I gave it (me) 4 stars because I listened to an audio version and I have the feeling that I missed some details as I couldn't focus properly to what I heard. But overall I loved it and realized that Tolstoy was a feminist. This is a psychological essay, which points to some main cultural, behavioral problems of the Russian society of that era. A remark: I would loved to hear what does the wife thinks. Though I think this way the author underlines also the main point of the novel, the suppression of womens in general.
I also think this is a reread for me and also other Tolstoy novels would get soon on my tbr.
I also think this is a reread for me and also other Tolstoy novels would get soon on my tbr.
claireclements's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars!
Tolstoy wrote this several years after Anna Karenina, which is the only other work by him I have read. If I am not mistaken, The Kreutzer Sonata is, to a certain extent, a reflection of Tolstoy's unhappiness with his marriage, and the development of rather peculiar views on sex, love, marriage, and children. I think this explains why I was rather surprised whilst reading this, considering some of the points that he made, as well as his further analysis at the end.
This novella follows the story of Posdnicheff as he spirals into a sphere of jealousy and unhappiness within his marriage, while analyzing women, marriage, and children in Russian society. Tolstoy straddles a fine line of disclosing a story and explaining his own philosophy, which I believe was done adequately enough (although I will not dive into that).
First, he examines the advantages that women seem to hold over men. While women lacked political and economic rights and mobility at this time, he emphasizes this idea that the world sort of caters to women. Obviously, this is not true, however if one further analyzes the reasoning behind this, one can see his perspective lol.
I believe what really spoke to me was the discussion of the unhappiness that marriage entails. While Tolstoy is ultimately arguing that marriage does not inherently follow the ideals of Christianity (which I obviously disagree with), I believe that he made some valid points that are incredibly relevant today... "The whole difference is that to one it comes sooner, to the other later. It is only in stupid novels that it is written that 'they loved each other all their lives.' And none but children can believe it. To talk of loving a man or woman for life is like saying that a can can burn forever." Maybe it's because I've always found marriage constraining and ridiculous (at least for myself, I'm not trying to be preachy here lol), but I enjoyed the point that is largely asserted: that a truly happy marriage is incredibly rare.
The Kreutzer Sonata is obviously a novella, and is much shorter than many of his other works, however it fell short for me in some aspects. Primarily, I found that this story did not come alive as I expected it to. It was rather dull in many areas despite that it had extreme potential to be utterly vivid. However, I will note that the days leading up to the murder were full of compelling writing, especially regarding music..."Music makes me forget my real situation. It transports me into a state which is not my own. Under the influence of music I really seem to feel what I do not feel, to understand what I do not understand, to have powers which I cannot have." I would really love to read Tolstoy discussing music all day!
It was definitely intersting to read about Tolstoy's views on these subjects, and while many of them I disagreed with, in general I enjoyed this novella :)
Tolstoy wrote this several years after Anna Karenina, which is the only other work by him I have read. If I am not mistaken, The Kreutzer Sonata is, to a certain extent, a reflection of Tolstoy's unhappiness with his marriage, and the development of rather peculiar views on sex, love, marriage, and children. I think this explains why I was rather surprised whilst reading this, considering some of the points that he made, as well as his further analysis at the end.
This novella follows the story of Posdnicheff as he spirals into a sphere of jealousy and unhappiness within his marriage, while analyzing women, marriage, and children in Russian society. Tolstoy straddles a fine line of disclosing a story and explaining his own philosophy, which I believe was done adequately enough (although I will not dive into that).
First, he examines the advantages that women seem to hold over men. While women lacked political and economic rights and mobility at this time, he emphasizes this idea that the world sort of caters to women. Obviously, this is not true, however if one further analyzes the reasoning behind this, one can see his perspective lol.
I believe what really spoke to me was the discussion of the unhappiness that marriage entails. While Tolstoy is ultimately arguing that marriage does not inherently follow the ideals of Christianity (which I obviously disagree with), I believe that he made some valid points that are incredibly relevant today... "The whole difference is that to one it comes sooner, to the other later. It is only in stupid novels that it is written that 'they loved each other all their lives.' And none but children can believe it. To talk of loving a man or woman for life is like saying that a can can burn forever." Maybe it's because I've always found marriage constraining and ridiculous (at least for myself, I'm not trying to be preachy here lol), but I enjoyed the point that is largely asserted: that a truly happy marriage is incredibly rare.
The Kreutzer Sonata is obviously a novella, and is much shorter than many of his other works, however it fell short for me in some aspects. Primarily, I found that this story did not come alive as I expected it to. It was rather dull in many areas despite that it had extreme potential to be utterly vivid. However, I will note that the days leading up to the murder were full of compelling writing, especially regarding music..."Music makes me forget my real situation. It transports me into a state which is not my own. Under the influence of music I really seem to feel what I do not feel, to understand what I do not understand, to have powers which I cannot have." I would really love to read Tolstoy discussing music all day!
It was definitely intersting to read about Tolstoy's views on these subjects, and while many of them I disagreed with, in general I enjoyed this novella :)
johnaggreyodera's review against another edition
5.0
Kreutzer is, in my opinion, Tolstoy's best short work (of the nearly twenty that I have read) - and not just because it was inspired by, and named after, one of my favourite works of music - Beethoven's Sonata 9 in A major. I do not agree with much (nearly everything) Tolstoy says in the novella, but it was amazing how much he managed to cover, and how impassioned and eloquent his positions were (even if I found them unconvincing). The story begins with a discussion of love and the "Woman question", which was particularly important in Russia at the time (Right after the serfs had been freed). There's the "independent woman" - who asserts the basic equality of men and women, there's Pozdnyshev - the story's main character, and, as in most of Tolstoy's works, a very poor veil for Tolstoy himself (whose views I will shortly elucidate), and then there's the old man who still lives in the old days of the Domostroy (a set of 16th century imperial Russian household guidelines that were largely seen as subjugating to women).
Pozdnyshev (thus Tolstoy) argues for absolute sexual abstinence in society using his (Pozdnyshev's) own life story as the illustration (he met his wife; they were in love, passionately; they lived together and had five kids; fell out of love; she cheated on him with a violinist - who seduced her with his music, precisely the Kreutzer Sonata; he killed her, wanted to kill the violinist too, but then realized he’d look ridiculous running in socks- so he didn’t; he was arrested for her murder, but then was acquitted on account of her adultery). Pozdnyshev thinks none of that would have happened if the relationship between the sexes was a fundamentally different one, which he then goes on to elucidate.
Sex, Pozdnyshev argues, transforms the relationship between the sexes, and is what is responsible for the subjugation of women. Because of sex, men view women as nothing more than objects for their (sexual) pleasure, and treat them as such, not giving them any respect and consideration as human beings i.e. sisters - fellow animals. And because they are treated this way, women too take it out on men. How many men, Tolstoy asks, die because they try to provide for the flighty needs of woman? Capitalism and its exploitative industries - garment and jewellery manufacture, perfumes, shoes - basically everything serving the domain of comme-il-faut- ness, which is the domain of women, are sustained only because women are subjugated - so they too in turn oppress, and they are subjugated simply because they are viewed as no more than sexual objects. Music too, is the domain of comme-il-faut; it seduces, and in doing so, leads to sex - and with it all that is negative about sex.
Tolstoy's recommendations is therefore that we abstain completely from sex - if the species dies out, well, so it dies out. Tolstoy wants us instead to view others as brothers and sisters (thoughts he expresses in his other works such as "The Kingdom of God is within you" and "What is Religion and what does its essence consist of?"). For married people, this vision seems best expressed in another of Tolstoy's novellas - Family Happiness, and in the first epilogue of the epic War and Peace, where again, the only couples able to live together in peace, not killing each other, are those who treat each other not as lovers - for amorous love dies soon into a relationship- but rather as brother and sister.
Whereas in Family Happiness and in the case of Natasha and Pierre in War and Peace Tolstoy is a bit more lenient on sex than he is in Kreutzer (allowing it, for example, for procreative purposes), in all three books, he is clear what the role of woman ought be. Woman's principle role ought to be mother and carer. To seek roles in public life, Tolstoy thinks, is for woman to attempt to become man, and this will never be successful. Such a woman will always be seen as a poor attempt at maleness, and thereby denied the respect she seeks- woman will not break the shackles of her subjugation by turning into her subjugator. A woman, Tolstoy further thinks, should not care about how she looks, or smells; should not give much thought to her words in a way that is supposed to reflect society's ideals of how women should act (and perhaps some modern feminists might find this part liberatory). A woman, rather, he argues, should be wholly consumed with loving and taking care of her family - as a mother and sister , and this should be her sole focus (I doubt feminists would look well upon this part).
Tolstoy speaks on lots of debates we are still having - for example, the idea of various feminisms - that feminism- and the liberation we think it brings- doesn’t look the same to all women; that it isn’t just a corporate job and power - i.e. the supposed traditional domains of masculinity; that it can mean staying home to take care of one’s kids etc. He writes in clear prose that is very enjoyable to read, and he makes one think a lot. Again, I do not agree with him on most points but I still think that this is a truly great work by a master.
Pozdnyshev (thus Tolstoy) argues for absolute sexual abstinence in society using his (Pozdnyshev's) own life story as the illustration (he met his wife; they were in love, passionately; they lived together and had five kids; fell out of love; she cheated on him with a violinist - who seduced her with his music, precisely the Kreutzer Sonata; he killed her, wanted to kill the violinist too, but then realized he’d look ridiculous running in socks- so he didn’t; he was arrested for her murder, but then was acquitted on account of her adultery). Pozdnyshev thinks none of that would have happened if the relationship between the sexes was a fundamentally different one, which he then goes on to elucidate.
Sex, Pozdnyshev argues, transforms the relationship between the sexes, and is what is responsible for the subjugation of women. Because of sex, men view women as nothing more than objects for their (sexual) pleasure, and treat them as such, not giving them any respect and consideration as human beings i.e. sisters - fellow animals. And because they are treated this way, women too take it out on men. How many men, Tolstoy asks, die because they try to provide for the flighty needs of woman? Capitalism and its exploitative industries - garment and jewellery manufacture, perfumes, shoes - basically everything serving the domain of comme-il-faut- ness, which is the domain of women, are sustained only because women are subjugated - so they too in turn oppress, and they are subjugated simply because they are viewed as no more than sexual objects. Music too, is the domain of comme-il-faut; it seduces, and in doing so, leads to sex - and with it all that is negative about sex.
Tolstoy's recommendations is therefore that we abstain completely from sex - if the species dies out, well, so it dies out. Tolstoy wants us instead to view others as brothers and sisters (thoughts he expresses in his other works such as "The Kingdom of God is within you" and "What is Religion and what does its essence consist of?"). For married people, this vision seems best expressed in another of Tolstoy's novellas - Family Happiness, and in the first epilogue of the epic War and Peace, where again, the only couples able to live together in peace, not killing each other, are those who treat each other not as lovers - for amorous love dies soon into a relationship- but rather as brother and sister.
Whereas in Family Happiness and in the case of Natasha and Pierre in War and Peace Tolstoy is a bit more lenient on sex than he is in Kreutzer (allowing it, for example, for procreative purposes), in all three books, he is clear what the role of woman ought be. Woman's principle role ought to be mother and carer. To seek roles in public life, Tolstoy thinks, is for woman to attempt to become man, and this will never be successful. Such a woman will always be seen as a poor attempt at maleness, and thereby denied the respect she seeks- woman will not break the shackles of her subjugation by turning into her subjugator. A woman, Tolstoy further thinks, should not care about how she looks, or smells; should not give much thought to her words in a way that is supposed to reflect society's ideals of how women should act (and perhaps some modern feminists might find this part liberatory). A woman, rather, he argues, should be wholly consumed with loving and taking care of her family - as a mother and sister , and this should be her sole focus (I doubt feminists would look well upon this part).
Tolstoy speaks on lots of debates we are still having - for example, the idea of various feminisms - that feminism- and the liberation we think it brings- doesn’t look the same to all women; that it isn’t just a corporate job and power - i.e. the supposed traditional domains of masculinity; that it can mean staying home to take care of one’s kids etc. He writes in clear prose that is very enjoyable to read, and he makes one think a lot. Again, I do not agree with him on most points but I still think that this is a truly great work by a master.
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