Hadji Murad. The Cossacks

by Leo Tolstoy

The book includes three novels by Leo Tolstoy: "Hadji Murad" and "The Raid", dedicated to the Caucasus War of the 19th century, and "The Cossacks", a semiautobiographical story of a young Russian aristocrat who leaves Moscow and travels to the Caucasus in search of his ideal of the perfect man and society.

Genres: Classics, Russian Literature, Fiction, Russia, Novels, Literature

457 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 18, 2013

About the author

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; most appropriately used Liev Tolstoy; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.

His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reviews

[Jack Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stunningly poetic book.

[Jonathan Corfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mozart could thrash out a tune or two.
Van Gogh was pretty handy with a brush.
Tolstoy could spin a yarn.

The two stories in this book hark back to when Count Leo Tolstoy served in the army on the Southern border war with Chechnya, yes it has been going for that long. The locals weren't too pleased with the Russians colonialist interfering with their happily ouroboros cycle of fornicating and blood-feuding and the Cossacks where there as Russian mercenaries who were also partial to boozing and cutting heads off.
If you were a Russian subaltern, chances were you were fleeing gambling debts or trying to mend a reputation soured by rogering a senior official's wife/daughter/mistress/favourite horse. This, by the way, is not a synopsis of either of the stories. Tolstoy was out there for a couple of years and so knew his characters well. These sum up the action of those times and not the interminable boredom of soldiering and, untypically for Tolstoy, no-one ends their story in a happy state. Usually in his dits one person ends up getting what they want but here you either end up headless or rising the morrow morn a sadder and a wiser man.
Not a book for optimists.

[Simone Pelizza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two short novels set in the Caucasus in the mid-19th century. The first one is partially based on young Tolstoy's military service in the region, while the second refers to a real historical figure who fought with the legendary Imam Shamil (1797-1871) against the Russians. What strikes the reader of both is the intense humanity of the characters and the vivid depiction of local rural life. In the second novel, Tolstoy also makes some interesting point on the brutality of war and the vanity of powerful men, especially through an ironic portrait of Tsar Nicholas I (1796-1855). Recommended for anyone interested in classic Russian literature or Russian history.

[Emily Petroff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not Tolstoy's most developed or interesting work. Almost nothing happens in The Cossacks although the short novel Hadji Murat has a bit more sparkle. Still, both pale in comparison to his more famous works, so perhaps Tolstoy is really only in his element with the epic novel format. It's clear that he really missed the Caucuses when writing these short novels because the love of the mountains, scenery, and people comes across, but still not good enough to recommend, unfortunately.

[Jane Fudger · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am a fan of Russian literature with Tolstoy a real favourite. However these two short novels are not his best work potentially the cause maybe due to the fact that these are short stories whereas Tolstoy's best novels tend to be of greater volume
Nevertheless I did enjoy these military themed novels - my only criticism would be that the plots were simplistic and particularly Hadji Murat the story ended suddenly with his death without any explanation of how this occurred.

[Mark Ashbourne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't your grandmothers Tolstoy. A contrast of an early story and one written nearing the end of the train line. Both offer insight into the life of warriors, whom Tolstoy admires, yet cannot become. The early work is far more subjective, offering up, who Tolstoy was right after he had blown half his inheritance and felt all the way empty.

[Philippa Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Dedi Setiadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s my very first Leo Tolstoy’s and I’m struggling to finish this book. 😂😂

[Anya Loginova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Как обычно, Лев Толстой не разочаровал. Ещё один шедевр из арсенала его произведений.

[Inés ramirez · Rating 3 out of 5]

#good but not #great.

Easier Russian than I’ve read before and it gets interesting when thinking about gender dynamics. The protagonist is a cutie patotie

[Kasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hadji Murad - As great as anything Tolstoy ever wrote, the brilliant postlude to what may have been the greatest career by any novelist ever, and easily the best thing he wrote post-The Death of Ivan Ilych (and in my humble opinion even better than that). 5 stars.

The Cossacks - The greatest book by Tolstoy that isn't quite a masterpiece, I would say this is his fifth greatest work (although I have yet to read The Devil or The Forged Coupon). The improvement from Childhood/Boyhood/Youth and Family Happiness is very noticeable. Unlike Hadji Murad, which is as close to perfect as any book I've read (except Madame Bovary), I think that this definitely could have been a little longer. 4 stars.

[Emphyrio · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Cossacks is a historical adventure novel in which a young Russian officer, troubled by debts and failed love, is billeted in a Cossack settlement near the Terek frontier. As the protagonist falls in love with one of their women and makes new acquaintances, he reflects on the simpler Cossack way of life.

The David McDuff translation renders all of the camaraderie and hospitality of the Cossacks in a manner that is earthy, and comical where appropriate. The descriptive passages of the steppe landscape are poetic, and Tolstoy's writing about the nature of happiness and love is presented fluidly and vividly. Overall, it is a more brisk read than many readers coming to Tolstoy would expect, without being glib.

The Pocket Penguin edition is printed in the smaller 'A' format (mass market paperback), but the printing remains the same size as a trade paperback. The book is opened easily and so the spine is not easily distressed. There are also endnotes which elaborate on Cossack customs e.g. clothing, toasts, proverbs.

(review of Haji Murat, the second novel within, forthcoming.)

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book embedded with an amazingly nostalgic narrative which didn't fail to ignite my imagination!

[Michael Percy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One can only imagine how good Tolstoy is in the original Russian. In Cossacks I found a story that resonates with the short-lived camaraderie of living in close proximity that peters out and then vanishes with distance, and becomes a barely-recalled memory over time. Yet, at its zenith, the relationships are admirable and true. Hagan, in a journal article about the novel, suggests that Tolstoy is writing about ambivalence. While this may be true it is hard not to actually feel Tolstoy's work. This was nowhere more so than in Hadji Murat. The novella leaves one feeling the horror, the banality, the honour, the futility of war, but also its raw carnality. Not endlessly, but in a conclusion that takes one from the present to the past and back to the present again, leaving one "ambivalent" about the future. Tolstoy was so clever he seems to be far beyond my understanding, now or ever. That this is merely a translation boggles the mind.