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Strider: The Story of a Horse
Known worldwide for his masterpieces Anna Karenina and War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy takes a less dramatic but no less poignant approach in Strider: The Story of a Horse. Told from Strider’s own aged, equine perspective, the tale nonetheless addresses such perennial human concerns as prejudice, fortune, and mortality.
Tolstoy subtly illustrates the parallels and contrasts between horse and human, as we see through Strider’s eyes the decline of his most memorable owner—a rich, arrogant hussar officer in his youth and a depleted, decrepit figure in his dotage. Completed in Tolstoy’s own old age, Strider offers a compelling glimpse into the author’s growing obsession with mortality.
Published in 1885, the story idea first occurred to Tolstoy in 1856 and thus spans the two main periods of his writing career. Strider, of interest to general readers and students of Russian literature alike, offers considerably more than simply a story of a horse.
Tolstoy subtly illustrates the parallels and contrasts between horse and human, as we see through Strider’s eyes the decline of his most memorable owner—a rich, arrogant hussar officer in his youth and a depleted, decrepit figure in his dotage. Completed in Tolstoy’s own old age, Strider offers a compelling glimpse into the author’s growing obsession with mortality.
Published in 1885, the story idea first occurred to Tolstoy in 1856 and thus spans the two main periods of his writing career. Strider, of interest to general readers and students of Russian literature alike, offers considerably more than simply a story of a horse.
104 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1886
43 people are currently reading
881 people want to read
About the author
Leo Tolstoy
7,957 books28.5k followersLev 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
May 11, 2025
What a heartless world! If God helps my memory, here have I read but nothing of the sort. Lord, God almighty, it hurts! Ridiculous to contemplate yet this story is both a fine and a cruel thing. Impossible, no! Here is the fact: I am a horse, and also a piebald..
January 27, 2019
Die Geschichte des Pferdes namens Leinwandmesser ist keine gängige Tier- oder Gestüterzählung, mit der man kleinen pferdevernarrten Mädchen eine Freude machen kann. Leinwandmesser war früher ein stolzer, schneller Schecke, der aufgrund seiner ungewöhnlichen Fellfärbung immer auffiel und auch immer eine Außenseiterrolle unter den Pferden genoß. Jetzt im hohen Pferdealter hat sich das nicht geändert. Er befindet sich bei seinem letzten Besitzer, doch ist dies kein Gnadenhof, sondern ein Hof, wo er nach wie vor die volle menschliche Brutalität abbekommt. Peitsche, wenn er nicht gehorcht oder unerlaubt wiehert. Von den jungen Pferden wird er respektlos behandelt.
Doch dann ändert sich die Erzählweise und plötzlich spricht Leinwandmesser am Abend zu den anderen Pferden und erzählt seine tragische Lebensgeschichte. Bis dahin ist es eine normale Pferdegeschichte, doch wenn Leinwandmesser auf einmal über den eigentümlichen Gebrauch des Begriffs „Eigentum“ bei den Menschen philosophiert, merkt man, dass Tolstoi seine Gesellschaftskritik tierisch gut verpackt hat. Sehr geschickt zieht er dann Parallelen und Unterschiede zwischen Mensch und Tier beim Altern auf. Während Leinwandmessers früherer wohlhabendener Besitzer verarmt und übergewichtig stirbt und seine Gebeine mit Uniform geziert nutzlos der Erde übergeben werden, kommt dem tragischen Ende des Pferdes noch eine Art Sinn im Lebenskreislauf zu. Das Ende des Buchs ist sehr eindrucksvoll und berührt auch Menschen wie mich, die Pferden zwar respektvoll, aber vergleichsweise gleichgültig gegenüber stehen.
Doch dann ändert sich die Erzählweise und plötzlich spricht Leinwandmesser am Abend zu den anderen Pferden und erzählt seine tragische Lebensgeschichte. Bis dahin ist es eine normale Pferdegeschichte, doch wenn Leinwandmesser auf einmal über den eigentümlichen Gebrauch des Begriffs „Eigentum“ bei den Menschen philosophiert, merkt man, dass Tolstoi seine Gesellschaftskritik tierisch gut verpackt hat. Sehr geschickt zieht er dann Parallelen und Unterschiede zwischen Mensch und Tier beim Altern auf. Während Leinwandmessers früherer wohlhabendener Besitzer verarmt und übergewichtig stirbt und seine Gebeine mit Uniform geziert nutzlos der Erde übergeben werden, kommt dem tragischen Ende des Pferdes noch eine Art Sinn im Lebenskreislauf zu. Das Ende des Buchs ist sehr eindrucksvoll und berührt auch Menschen wie mich, die Pferden zwar respektvoll, aber vergleichsweise gleichgültig gegenüber stehen.
February 1, 2019
Leinwandmesser (russ. холстомер) ist ein Pferd, das diesen Beinamen aufgrund seines ausgreifenden Schrittes bekam. Doch anstatt für Trabrennen trainiert zu werden, wurde er kastriert und an einen Stallmeister verschenkt, da er ein Schecke ist und damit dem Schönheitsideal seines Besitzers widerspricht.
Die Erzählung ist in dreigeteilt. Zuerst lernen wir Leinwandmesser als altes, geschundenes Pferd kennen, das einem Stallknecht als Reituntersatz dient. Die anderen Pferde verachten und necken ihn. Nachdem aber eine alte Stute in ihm den begnadeten Traber wiedererkannt hat, erzählt er im zweiten Teil den anderen Pferden während mehrerer Nächte seine Lebensgeschichte. Im dritten Teil wird der sein derzeitiger Besitzer, ein reicher Prahlhans, von Serpuchowskoj, einem der Vorbesitzer Leinwandmessers besucht. Dieser, ehemals ein schmucker Husar, hat sein Vermögen durchgebracht, ist dick, kahl und Säufer geworden. Das Pferd ist jedoch in so schlechtem Zustand, dass Serpuchowskoj ihn nicht erkennt, obwohl er derjenige ist, der den Wallach zu Schanden geritten und damit sein weiteres Schicksal besiegelt hat.
Üblicherweise bin ich Tiergeschichten und Fabeln gegenüber skeptisch. Entweder langweilen sie mich, oder rühren mich zu Tränen, was im stattlichen Mannesalter von 55 Jahren auch nicht komod ist. Leinwandmesser ist aber weit mehr als eine Fabel. Vielmehr erinnert mich sein Leben an das Schicksal der Sklaven in „Onkel Toms Hütte“. Sein Leben und Denken ist eine Allegorie auf die Unfreiheit, die Äußere, wie auch die Innere durch den Zwang Besitz anzuhäufen, und spiegelt somit die Geisteshaltung des alten Tolstoi. Die Natürlichkeit der Pferde weist den Weg zu richtigem Verhalten, bzw. in den Worten Leinwandmessers: Die Menschen streben im Leben nicht danach, so zu handeln, dass sie für anständige Menschen gelten, sondern sie trachten, möglichst viele Dinge ihr e i g e n zu nennen. … Die Handlungen der Menschen … sind von Worten getragen, die unseren von Taten. …. Ich war dreifach unglücklich: ich war ein Schecke, ich war ein Wallach, und die Menschen bildeten sich von mir ein, dass ich nicht Gott und mir gehörte, wie es jedem lebenden Wesen eigentümlich ist.
Die Erzählung ist in dreigeteilt. Zuerst lernen wir Leinwandmesser als altes, geschundenes Pferd kennen, das einem Stallknecht als Reituntersatz dient. Die anderen Pferde verachten und necken ihn. Nachdem aber eine alte Stute in ihm den begnadeten Traber wiedererkannt hat, erzählt er im zweiten Teil den anderen Pferden während mehrerer Nächte seine Lebensgeschichte. Im dritten Teil wird der sein derzeitiger Besitzer, ein reicher Prahlhans, von Serpuchowskoj, einem der Vorbesitzer Leinwandmessers besucht. Dieser, ehemals ein schmucker Husar, hat sein Vermögen durchgebracht, ist dick, kahl und Säufer geworden. Das Pferd ist jedoch in so schlechtem Zustand, dass Serpuchowskoj ihn nicht erkennt, obwohl er derjenige ist, der den Wallach zu Schanden geritten und damit sein weiteres Schicksal besiegelt hat.
Üblicherweise bin ich Tiergeschichten und Fabeln gegenüber skeptisch. Entweder langweilen sie mich, oder rühren mich zu Tränen, was im stattlichen Mannesalter von 55 Jahren auch nicht komod ist. Leinwandmesser ist aber weit mehr als eine Fabel. Vielmehr erinnert mich sein Leben an das Schicksal der Sklaven in „Onkel Toms Hütte“. Sein Leben und Denken ist eine Allegorie auf die Unfreiheit, die Äußere, wie auch die Innere durch den Zwang Besitz anzuhäufen, und spiegelt somit die Geisteshaltung des alten Tolstoi. Die Natürlichkeit der Pferde weist den Weg zu richtigem Verhalten, bzw. in den Worten Leinwandmessers: Die Menschen streben im Leben nicht danach, so zu handeln, dass sie für anständige Menschen gelten, sondern sie trachten, möglichst viele Dinge ihr e i g e n zu nennen. … Die Handlungen der Menschen … sind von Worten getragen, die unseren von Taten. …. Ich war dreifach unglücklich: ich war ein Schecke, ich war ein Wallach, und die Menschen bildeten sich von mir ein, dass ich nicht Gott und mir gehörte, wie es jedem lebenden Wesen eigentümlich ist.
December 6, 2015
The one criticism of Tolstoy is that he was never able to write from a peasants point of view. All of his characters came from his own life experiences and when he did attempt to write a well rounded peasant character he never seemed able to really make them come alive on the page.
This is telling not just of Tolstoy but of all Russian society of his time. There was a sharp divide between those who have and those who have not, those who own land and those who work the land, those who give orders and those who follow. And Tolstoy was always painfully aware of this divide and saw how unfair it was - and not only Tolstoy but plenty of the Russian well-to-do were pained by this inequality in their society and much of the social change came from the privileged and not just from the ground up.
Tolstoy's struggle with this "sin" in Russia society (a sin much like what Americans felt with slavery in the south) is apparent in nearly all his major works, especially in his two most famous characters: Pierre (in War and Peace) and Levin (in Anna Karenina). Both characters know what is right and wrong and try to live their life by a more moral and simple code of conduct. They go against decent society, are seen as outcasts and a little odd and eccentric, but in the end are enlightened unlike those who wallow around them.
Yet where Pierre goes through one tortured transformation and another and is never sure of anything except that he wants to be good, and where Levin instinctively knows what is right and wrong because he is 'a good man', this story takes a much bleaker look at the class divide.
Most obviously is the fact that Tolstoy uses a horse as a stand-in for the peasant class. Take what you will of this, but it there is no denying the implications of using an animal to represent a man. However, since we are reading Tolstoy we can look deeper into this and also understand how important horses are to Russian society in the 19th century (as they were important to everyone up until the automobile). Horses were a status symbol, took brave men into battle, drove the wealthy about, pulled farm equipment, and made possible all of civilization. Without the horse Europe would have been much like the Americas. So the importance of the horse cannot be understated meaning that though Tolstoy paints a picture of an entire class of people with that of a beast of burden, he does not do so out of spite, but rather because that's the way people like him thought. It was not cruel, it was misinformed, and unenlightened, but not overtly meant to debase. Joseph Conrad famously has these same issues when describing black people in his novels and he can be fairly criticized but one has to be aware of the broader picture, too.
But what Tolstoy is trying to show in this story is how a trick of fate, in this case being piebald (black and white spotted) can mean the difference between a good life and one of servitude. Had Strider (the horse as we learn his name to be) not been piebald he would have never been gelded and would have had a fine life, but fate played its hand and ruined him with those spots that no man wanted on his thoroughbred. And what Tolstoy is saying here is that man, too is made the same way - a twist of fate determines if we live in opulent pleasure in the Winter Palace or sends us to work the fields until our backs break and we die starving in the winter. There is no real difference between men, just random chance.
This is radical stuff for 19th century Russian living under the autocratic rule of an absolute Emperor whose power is given to him by God above. The Emperor would not agree with anything Tolstoy has to say in this story because he would believe there is a difference between men: those who rule and those who serve and that distinction is made by God.
For us this might seem a little too "on the nose", the point is pretty obvious and we all feel like we have learned the lessons of the past concerning class and society - especially Americans. Yet the lines are still drawn. Race and economics still divide us. We may not have actual slaves and serfs, but we'd be kidding ourselves if we said we all lived equally.
Yet we all die equally. And that's what sets this story apart from Tolstoy's other major works. The ending is bleak and painful. I felt as if Tolstoy was sick of treating this subject matter with kid gloves and finally just decided to lay the facts bare on the ground. Joyce, too, in Ulysses makes this very same point during the funeral and that rat who eats away at the corpses underground (it's all the same to the worms).
The lesson is still valid today as it was when he wrote this and it will probably always be as valid because it's unlikely we will ever live equally. Sure, we might try and we may start a revolution and force everyone to be equal, but we saw how that turned out for the Russians just a generation after Tolstoy wrote this.
And I do think Tolstoy almost managed to write one really good peasant character in this story with Strider because all he needed to do was realize there is no difference between peasant and gentry - they're all the same breed so why bother even making a distinction?
Seems simple enough, right?
Yet it's really hard to actually do both in fiction and in real life.
This is telling not just of Tolstoy but of all Russian society of his time. There was a sharp divide between those who have and those who have not, those who own land and those who work the land, those who give orders and those who follow. And Tolstoy was always painfully aware of this divide and saw how unfair it was - and not only Tolstoy but plenty of the Russian well-to-do were pained by this inequality in their society and much of the social change came from the privileged and not just from the ground up.
Tolstoy's struggle with this "sin" in Russia society (a sin much like what Americans felt with slavery in the south) is apparent in nearly all his major works, especially in his two most famous characters: Pierre (in War and Peace) and Levin (in Anna Karenina). Both characters know what is right and wrong and try to live their life by a more moral and simple code of conduct. They go against decent society, are seen as outcasts and a little odd and eccentric, but in the end are enlightened unlike those who wallow around them.
Yet where Pierre goes through one tortured transformation and another and is never sure of anything except that he wants to be good, and where Levin instinctively knows what is right and wrong because he is 'a good man', this story takes a much bleaker look at the class divide.
Most obviously is the fact that Tolstoy uses a horse as a stand-in for the peasant class. Take what you will of this, but it there is no denying the implications of using an animal to represent a man. However, since we are reading Tolstoy we can look deeper into this and also understand how important horses are to Russian society in the 19th century (as they were important to everyone up until the automobile). Horses were a status symbol, took brave men into battle, drove the wealthy about, pulled farm equipment, and made possible all of civilization. Without the horse Europe would have been much like the Americas. So the importance of the horse cannot be understated meaning that though Tolstoy paints a picture of an entire class of people with that of a beast of burden, he does not do so out of spite, but rather because that's the way people like him thought. It was not cruel, it was misinformed, and unenlightened, but not overtly meant to debase. Joseph Conrad famously has these same issues when describing black people in his novels and he can be fairly criticized but one has to be aware of the broader picture, too.
But what Tolstoy is trying to show in this story is how a trick of fate, in this case being piebald (black and white spotted) can mean the difference between a good life and one of servitude. Had Strider (the horse as we learn his name to be) not been piebald he would have never been gelded and would have had a fine life, but fate played its hand and ruined him with those spots that no man wanted on his thoroughbred. And what Tolstoy is saying here is that man, too is made the same way - a twist of fate determines if we live in opulent pleasure in the Winter Palace or sends us to work the fields until our backs break and we die starving in the winter. There is no real difference between men, just random chance.
This is radical stuff for 19th century Russian living under the autocratic rule of an absolute Emperor whose power is given to him by God above. The Emperor would not agree with anything Tolstoy has to say in this story because he would believe there is a difference between men: those who rule and those who serve and that distinction is made by God.
For us this might seem a little too "on the nose", the point is pretty obvious and we all feel like we have learned the lessons of the past concerning class and society - especially Americans. Yet the lines are still drawn. Race and economics still divide us. We may not have actual slaves and serfs, but we'd be kidding ourselves if we said we all lived equally.
Yet we all die equally. And that's what sets this story apart from Tolstoy's other major works. The ending is bleak and painful. I felt as if Tolstoy was sick of treating this subject matter with kid gloves and finally just decided to lay the facts bare on the ground. Joyce, too, in Ulysses makes this very same point during the funeral and that rat who eats away at the corpses underground (it's all the same to the worms).
The lesson is still valid today as it was when he wrote this and it will probably always be as valid because it's unlikely we will ever live equally. Sure, we might try and we may start a revolution and force everyone to be equal, but we saw how that turned out for the Russians just a generation after Tolstoy wrote this.
And I do think Tolstoy almost managed to write one really good peasant character in this story with Strider because all he needed to do was realize there is no difference between peasant and gentry - they're all the same breed so why bother even making a distinction?
Seems simple enough, right?
Yet it's really hard to actually do both in fiction and in real life.
November 28, 2021
A short novella written by Tolstoy about a hard life of a horse. It is actually based on a true story of a horse Tolstoy heard. While written from a view point of a horse Tolstoy is using this trick to criticize the human society and it's injustices he saw around him. Especially on topics of property and freedom.
This technique gave Tolstoy more freedom to be open about his disagreement and I would say it works especially well because it is written about a horse. I don't think this was necessarily the case in the time it was written as it was during the time when human suffering equivalent to that of Holostomer was very common. In our days when we live in a different world a suffering of an animal in movies and literature upsets people more, I for example need to prepare myself mentally before I start such a book, because we see them as more helpless and innocent. So this book really opened a lot of emotions.
If one isn't familiar with Russian history of the time and just reads it as a book about a horse it works as well. It a book about pain of an animal written in great Tolstoy style. Glad it was a nivella though, I wouldn't be able to handle that much sadness if it was the length of Anna Karenina.
This technique gave Tolstoy more freedom to be open about his disagreement and I would say it works especially well because it is written about a horse. I don't think this was necessarily the case in the time it was written as it was during the time when human suffering equivalent to that of Holostomer was very common. In our days when we live in a different world a suffering of an animal in movies and literature upsets people more, I for example need to prepare myself mentally before I start such a book, because we see them as more helpless and innocent. So this book really opened a lot of emotions.
If one isn't familiar with Russian history of the time and just reads it as a book about a horse it works as well. It a book about pain of an animal written in great Tolstoy style. Glad it was a nivella though, I wouldn't be able to handle that much sadness if it was the length of Anna Karenina.
March 26, 2022
Il castrone è un cavallo castrato.
Nei modi di dire popolari russi, il castrone, specie se bigio, è un imbroglione, un mentitore.
Nel racconto di Tolstoj, nessuno conosce la vera identità di Cholstomer, ma lui è ben lontano dall'essere una falsa personalità equina.
Ad un certo punto inizia a parlare e non ce n'è per nessuno.
E' il punto di vista dell'animale, per forza di cose essenzialmente diverso da quello umano. La dignità è ciò che lo contraddistingue. Pure nella morte.
Nei modi di dire popolari russi, il castrone, specie se bigio, è un imbroglione, un mentitore.
Nel racconto di Tolstoj, nessuno conosce la vera identità di Cholstomer, ma lui è ben lontano dall'essere una falsa personalità equina.
Ad un certo punto inizia a parlare e non ce n'è per nessuno.
E' il punto di vista dell'animale, per forza di cose essenzialmente diverso da quello umano. La dignità è ciò che lo contraddistingue. Pure nella morte.
September 18, 2012
The masterly Tolstoy certainly knew his horses; in fact, he rode daily into old age. In “Strider” he details a sad life as the old horse speaks to his herd, in particular the young fillies who have taken delight in tormenting him (and he’s spot on describing their behavior as well). “Strider” is a rawer, more wrenching version of “Black Beauty” with a realistic instead of an idealistic conclusion.
March 13, 2018
Tolstoy at his best, the War and Peace of horses.
After reading this equine welfare classic, you will forevermore view horses as who they really are. You do not know horses until you read the story of this noble piebald they called Kholstomer, translated as Strider, in English. Some English versions of this book title the tale “Strider, the story of a horse.”
Tolstoy at his best, the War and Peace of horses.
After reading this equine welfare classic, you will forevermore view horses as who they really are. You do not know horses until you read the story of this noble piebald they called Kholstomer, translated as Strider, in English. Some English versions of this book title the tale “Strider, the story of a horse.”
Tolstoy at his best, the War and Peace of horses.
May 11, 2025
Very beautiful but fucking triste
October 27, 2024
“Es gibt Menschen, die andere Menschen die ihren nennen, und diese Menschen nie gesehen haben, und deren ganze Beziehung zu diesen Menschen darin besteht, dass sie ihnen Böses tun.”
January 10, 2021
A meditation on the tyranny of ownership, the cruelty of beauty and the desolation of aging.
Tolstoy explores horse breeding during the Russian Aristocracy to show our capture of not just "natural" beings under the guise of property, but also the capture of ourselves as commodified beings alienated from nature. The spontaneous joy of lively existence is suppressed through a regimentation of bodies into a caste system based on arbitrary aesthetic values.
Horses (and humans) become the aesthetic and instrumental tools of a callous world, that, in measuring all things by exchange value, renders the singularity of each and every life replaceable, and the possessors of such life, self-centred and cold.
Tolstoy explores horse breeding during the Russian Aristocracy to show our capture of not just "natural" beings under the guise of property, but also the capture of ourselves as commodified beings alienated from nature. The spontaneous joy of lively existence is suppressed through a regimentation of bodies into a caste system based on arbitrary aesthetic values.
Horses (and humans) become the aesthetic and instrumental tools of a callous world, that, in measuring all things by exchange value, renders the singularity of each and every life replaceable, and the possessors of such life, self-centred and cold.
October 28, 2020
A moving life story told from the perspective of a horse - yet (as expected), the parallels with humans are plenty.
In few pages, Tolstoy makes a beautiful case for the futility of ownership and the importance of kindness.
One of my favourite quotes (in Portuguese): "As pessoas não orientam a vida pelas ações, mas pelas palavras."
In few pages, Tolstoy makes a beautiful case for the futility of ownership and the importance of kindness.
One of my favourite quotes (in Portuguese): "As pessoas não orientam a vida pelas ações, mas pelas palavras."
August 18, 2022
Kholstomer the story of a horse is a short tale about the troublesome life of a horse. The story does bring out some more philosophical issues, like the conversation about ownership, wealth and valuing someone based on their appearances. But, the overall story is short and kind of rushed. I wouldn't say this one is the best of Tolstoy's works, but it is a nice sad short story.
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May 6, 2025my goat (horse) 🐎😫
August 8, 2025
Un relato breve pero profundo. Narrado desde la visión de un peculiar caballo nos presenta una serie de reflexiones acerca de la vida. No sólo lo obvio relacionado con la vejez, sino que también es posible visualizar sentimientos y emociones que van desde la ilusión hasta la más triste desolación. Recomendable para adentrarse en la narrativa de Tolstoy. (A modo de sugerencia, no estaría demás previamente a su lectura, indagar en el vocabulario propio de los utensilios que usan los caballos, así como también de como se denominan los colores de su piel).
July 23, 2022
La historia del caballo Jolstomir da bastante pena. La sucesión de amos es algo indistinta.
Al menos en mi edición (sacada de Gutenberg) cuando el primer amo vuelve a aparecer y no reconoce a su viejo caballo, le mencionan por su apellido, que nunca antes había sido mencionado en el libro.
Al menos en mi edición (sacada de Gutenberg) cuando el primer amo vuelve a aparecer y no reconoce a su viejo caballo, le mencionan por su apellido, que nunca antes había sido mencionado en el libro.
December 28, 2025
Envie de lire Anna Karenine
April 10, 2025
pfff es que nadie toca la condición humana tan hondo y tan duro como Tolstói
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April 13, 2025moartea căprioarei level impact
July 29, 2022
I read this last year and I loved it so much I think about it constantly and I’m going to make it into a movie somehow mark my words bitches I swear.
June 19, 2024
ai si us dic que mhe retirat per nar a plorar
June 20, 2024
4.5
Los rumores son ciertos: Tolstói era un genio.
Los rumores son ciertos: Tolstói era un genio.
May 9, 2023
Le cheval : une histoire si simple qui m’a pourtant bouleversée. On découvre la vie d’un cheval mal intégré dans son troupeau. L’arpenteur profite de la nuit pour raconter son histoire qui va au-delà d’une simple fiction.
On y découvre un beau parti pris de la part de Tolstoi. Il dénonce notamment la maltraitance, l’utilisation des animaux pour le plaisir humain et finalement la façon dont ces derniers sont traités. La façon est prévisible et inattendue, elle est, pour moi, l’évidence et l’injustice même du rapport homme / animal : l’irrespect
Albert : j’ai été tout simplement touchée par l’histoire de ce jeune violoniste. Je trouve intéressant la façon dont Tolstoï a eu de dépeindre la vie d’un artiste incompris (ou du moins ayant pas/peu de notoriété). Il utilise des stéréotypes mais ce qui est a retenir c’est qu’il interroge la question de la perception du beau dans la musique, la façon dont celle-ci nous transporte.
ce que je retiendrais de ces deux nouvelles c’est que Tolstoï n’est pas quelqu’un de très gai, mais qui écrit merveilleusement bien !
On y découvre un beau parti pris de la part de Tolstoi. Il dénonce notamment la maltraitance, l’utilisation des animaux pour le plaisir humain et finalement la façon dont ces derniers sont traités. La façon est prévisible et inattendue, elle est, pour moi, l’évidence et l’injustice même du rapport homme / animal : l’irrespect
Albert : j’ai été tout simplement touchée par l’histoire de ce jeune violoniste. Je trouve intéressant la façon dont Tolstoï a eu de dépeindre la vie d’un artiste incompris (ou du moins ayant pas/peu de notoriété). Il utilise des stéréotypes mais ce qui est a retenir c’est qu’il interroge la question de la perception du beau dans la musique, la façon dont celle-ci nous transporte.
ce que je retiendrais de ces deux nouvelles c’est que Tolstoï n’est pas quelqu’un de très gai, mais qui écrit merveilleusement bien !
May 2, 2024
Such insightful, sad story. From the perspective of a horse, a story of both animals and humans is told about the absurdity of men's choices and priorities compared to the simplicity of that of a horse's.
"Men are guided in life not by deeds but by words. They like not so much to do or abstain from doing anything, as to be able to apply conventional words to different objects. Such words, considered very important among them, are my and mine, which they apply to various things, creatures or objects: even to land, people, and horses. They have agreed that of any given thing only one person may use the word *mine*, and he who in this game of theirs may use that conventional word about the greatest number of things is considered the happiest. Why this is so I do not know, but it is so. For a long time, I tried to explain it by some direct advantage they derive from it, but this proved wrong."
"The dead body of Serpukhovskoy, which had walked about the earth eating and drinking, was put underground much later. Neither his skin nor his flesh nor his bones were of any use."
"Men are guided in life not by deeds but by words. They like not so much to do or abstain from doing anything, as to be able to apply conventional words to different objects. Such words, considered very important among them, are my and mine, which they apply to various things, creatures or objects: even to land, people, and horses. They have agreed that of any given thing only one person may use the word *mine*, and he who in this game of theirs may use that conventional word about the greatest number of things is considered the happiest. Why this is so I do not know, but it is so. For a long time, I tried to explain it by some direct advantage they derive from it, but this proved wrong."
"The dead body of Serpukhovskoy, which had walked about the earth eating and drinking, was put underground much later. Neither his skin nor his flesh nor his bones were of any use."
March 9, 2024
The narrative point of view was known to me before I began reading—something I almost regret. I would have appreciated the process of it dawning upon me.
The story is used as an example of the literary technique of defamiliarisation, precisely due to the unusual narrator. A hundred and fifty years ago this kind of writing would have been more unusual and enlightening. Today, it reads as a familiar tragic arc, though one that maintains your interest and resists the usually sweeping swiftness of comprehension.
At the philosophical centre is a critique of human possession: 'And men strive in life not to do what they think right, but to call as many things as possible their own . I am now convinced that in this lies the essential difference between men and us'.
The story is used as an example of the literary technique of defamiliarisation, precisely due to the unusual narrator. A hundred and fifty years ago this kind of writing would have been more unusual and enlightening. Today, it reads as a familiar tragic arc, though one that maintains your interest and resists the usually sweeping swiftness of comprehension.
At the philosophical centre is a critique of human possession: 'And men strive in life not to do what they think right, but to call as many things as possible their own . I am now convinced that in this lies the essential difference between men and us'.
June 24, 2025
Quien me regaló este libro me dijo que había llorado leyéndolo, a mi esto no me pasa, lo entendí como una reacción exagerada, ajena.
Hoy, durante una espera lo terminé, y lloré sin lágrimas. Un caballo viejo me dio una patada que me empujó a la realidad, a lo que menospreciamos, a lo que debemos callar, a lo que sufrimos y hacemos sufrir. Buen caballo este, que a tantos años de haber sido desollado todavía es útil.
Hoy, durante una espera lo terminé, y lloré sin lágrimas. Un caballo viejo me dio una patada que me empujó a la realidad, a lo que menospreciamos, a lo que debemos callar, a lo que sufrimos y hacemos sufrir. Buen caballo este, que a tantos años de haber sido desollado todavía es útil.
November 15, 2020
Pour Le Cheval, je n'ai pas aimé l'histoire que j'ai trouvé très moyenne, rien de mémorable, peut être parce que ça parle d'un cheval que ça ne m'a pas plu. Le récit était un peu lent aussi.
Pour Albert, j'ai bien aimé, le récit était plus vivant et moins lent que le cheval, juste la fin qui est un peu floue.
Pour Albert, j'ai bien aimé, le récit était plus vivant et moins lent que le cheval, juste la fin qui est un peu floue.
November 17, 2019
Una historia que nos enseña a valorar la vida; a evitar las apariencias; a creer en las personas por lo que son; a ser justos y auténticos.
La historia de Jolstomer es triste pero llena de reflexiones y enseñanzas.
La narrativa es hermosa...¡divina!
La historia de Jolstomer es triste pero llena de reflexiones y enseñanzas.
La narrativa es hermosa...¡divina!
December 14, 2024
Un maravilloso trabajo por parte de Tolstoy. Gran labor de observación y, sobretodo, del saber plasmar los resultados de esa observación de manera que, además, resulte en crítica social. A su vez, la recreación del mundo animal me ha parecido majestuosa en su nobleza y su dignidad.
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