Lives and Deaths: Essential Stories

by Leo Tolstoy, Boris Dralyuk (Translator)

’When we read Tolstoy, it feels easy. This is life itself’ Howard Jacobson

’No other writer wrote so often, or so imaginatively, about the actual moment of dying’ Orlando Figes

Tolstoy’s stories contain many of the most acutely observed moments in his monumental body of work. This new selection of his shorter works, sensitively translated by the award-winning Boris Dralyuk, showcases the peerless economy with which Tolstoy could render the passions and conflicts of a life.

These are works that take us from a self-interested judge’s agonising deathbed to the bristling social world of horses in a stable yard, from the joyful vanity of youth to the painful doubts of sickness and old age. With unwavering precision, Tolstoy’s eye brings clarity and richness to the simplest materials.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Short Stories, Russian Literature, Short Story Collection, Russia

225 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 28, 2019

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

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Maybe I did not live as I ought to have done,” it suddenly occurred to him. “But how could that be, when I did everything properly?” he replied, and immediately dismissed from his mind this, the sole solution of all the riddles of life and death, as something quite impossible.

“Then what do you want now? To live? Live how? Live as you lived in the law courts when the usher proclaimed ‘The judge is coming!’ The judge is coming, the judge!” he repeated to himself. “Here he is, the judge. But I am not guilty!” he exclaimed angrily. “What is it for?” And he ceased crying, but turning his face to the wall continued to ponder on the same question: Why, and for what purpose, is there all this horror? But however much he pondered he found no answer. And whenever the thought occurred to him, as it often did, that it all resulted from his not having lived as he ought to have done, he at once recalled the correctness of his whole life and dismissed so strange an idea.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed Lives and Deaths from the library because I felt like reading something that had been through more than a century of peer review. This beautiful Pushkin Press edition appealed despite an ominous quote on the back from Orlando Figes: 'No other writer wrote so often, or so imaginatively, about the actual moment of dying'. I am terrified of death, but blithely disregarded Figes' warning and began reading. The first novella, 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich', is a literary masterpiece detailing the slow painful death of a judge aged 45. It's utterly existentially terrifying, to the point I had to put it aside and read some fanfiction about cartoon pirates so that I could sleep. Even then anxiety woke me up at 4am. I absolutely cannot say I wasn't warned, as in addition to Figes' comment the translator's introduction states states:

The novella is difficult to read, and difficult to translate - for that requires a much slower, more careful reading - but it is impossible to forget. However one understands the judgement meted out to Ivan Ilyich, and regardless of whether one agrees with it or rebels against it, one is changed forever by the trial.

It was a stroke of genius by Tolstoy to begin with the funeral, from the perspective of a colleague who wants to get away and play cards. After showing the reader Ilyich's legacy, the narrative shifts into biographical mode to give a swift synopsis of his life then a meticulously detailed account of his slow painful death. As he deterioriates, he reflects upon how he has lived his life and upon his fear of death. His story captures the fundamental human experience of wanting desperately to keep on living:

And he grew angry at the misfortune or at the people who were causing him trouble, who were killing him, and he could feel that the anger itself was killing him but he could not restrain it. It seems it should have been clear to him that his exasperation at circumstances and people aggravated his illness, and that he should therefore ignore all these unpleasant incidents, but his mind came to a wholly different conclusion: he said he needed peace, kept a close eye on anything that might disturb that peace and grew irritated at the slightest disturbance. His situation was made worse by the fact that he read medical books and consulted doctors. The deterioration of his condition was so gradual that he could deceive himself by comparing one day to another - there was hardly any difference. But when he consulted doctors, it seemed to him that he was indeed getting worse, and rather quickly too. Yet he consulted them constantly.

The other three stories are much shorter and did not have the same detrimental mental effect, while also being exquisitely written and full of human (and horse) tragedy. I'm not sure whether I want to read War and Peace now, although I have no doubt that the writing is exceptional. Tolstoy may be too much for my delicate sensibilities, although his ostensible 20th century successor Vasily Grossman is one of my all-time favourite authors. Lives and Deaths certainly deserves five stars, but I'm withholding one because of the existential terror.

[Jason Furman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love taking the opportunity to read books/authors I like in new translations. And I love Pushkin Press, their choice of books, their excellent translators, and just the formatting/feel of their physical books. They are now doing an "Essential Stories" series including two excellent volumes I have already read, Anton Chekhov's The Beauties: Essential Stories and Franz Kafka's The Unhappiness of Being a Single Man: Essential Stories. Both of those collections really were the "essential stories" and a reasonable starting place for either author, ~200 pages so not overwhelming but a showcase of the range of the authors and, in the case of Kafka, most of his actual published short stories (obviously only a tiny fraction in the case of Chekhov).

Lives and Deaths is less Tolstoy's "essential stories," something that is impossible in a ~200 page book since so many of his greatest stories were really more like novella's or novelette's. Instead Boris Drayluk chose to focus on lives and especially deaths in Tolstoy's stories (but hardly a complete accounting of that theme, for example "Master and Man" would have fit well in this collection). And he chose two canonical stories ("The Death of Ivan Ilyich" and "Alyosha the Pot") and two I had never heard of before and I don't think are that commonly anthologized ("Pace-setter: The Story of a Horse" and "Three Deaths"). All were well translated and worth reading (a very minor note, I last read "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" decades ago but still distinctly remember that when he moved into his dream house he still felt it had one too few "closets" in the Louise and Aylmer Maude translation, this translates that as "rooms" which I think is more accurate, although it is possible that "closet" actually meant "room" when the Maudes did their translation).

Some thoughts on each of them:

"The Death of Ivan Ilyich": One of the most powerful renderings of the life but mostly the slow and painful death of a man, seen at first from the distant perspective of the idle living and then from his own. Although it is not a story about marriage, it is a bit of a shame that his wife is presented so one dimensionally without Tolstoy's amazing ability to show such a wide variety of perspectives being extended to her.

"Pace-setter: The Story of a Horse": On the subject of Tolstoy's amazing ability to show such a wide variety of perspectives, in this story he does it for horses! It begins with an old gelding being chased around by other horses, it gets into the heads and thoughts of the different sides of this. Then the old gelding tells his story, it has some elements of fairy tale but more of psychological realism, at least insofar as you can ascribe something resembling human psychology to a horse, their perception of themselves, their fellow horses, and humans. An amazing feat of storytelling and empathy.

"Three Deaths": I didn't like this very much, just felt like people being sick, in pain and dying.

"Alyosha the Pot": I've read this a few times, even if you know what is going to happen it is hard not to have a tear in your eye by the end, but also hard not to be mad at Tolstoy for not appearing to idealize passivity and obedience in the face of injustice.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tolstoy may be the best crafter of short fiction to have ever lived. This precise and newly-translated collection of his mega-hits offers good evidence of that. Touching, human; deeply acquainted with death but full of life. This is an attractive collection of moving short stories that could be consumed in a weekend as an introduction to the master or as a reminder of his prowess.

[Nicki Markus · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for a light-hearted read to lift your mood, Lives and Deaths by Tolstoy is not the direction in which I'd point you. As the title suggests, death plays a major part in all four stories included in this volume, so it's far from a merry read. If, however, you enjoy Tolstoy's writing, you shouldn't pass by this selection of shorter pieces, which prove he is as adept at a concise narrative as he is at a lengthy tome. All the stories are beautifully written, and the translation flows smoothly. There is much to ponder here and much to enjoy. The opening piece is a fascinating character study, entering the world of horses offers a wonderful change of pace, and Three Deaths is short but compelling. My favourite, though, was Aloysha the Pot, which was still deep and sad but a little lighter than the others.

I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Maggie Rotter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautifully translated collection of the eclectic short fiction of the master of domestic drama is part of the Pushkin Press set of Essential Stories. No need to be put off by the reputation for extreme length of the novels. These are diverse, focused and touching stories that should encourage the reader to venture further into Tolstoy's world.

[Shachi (notesfromchi) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a collection of stories so the rating is an average of all.
1. The Death of Ivan Ilyich : 5 stars (100000000 tbh because wow)
2. Pace-setter: The Story of a Horse: 3 Stars because it was quite slow and boring but very nuanced.
3. Three Deaths: 3.5 stars - the underlying themes in this one were quite subtly done
4. Alyosha the Pot: 4 stars - Tolstoy's attempt to give a character something that he searched his whole life - the spiritual light.
3.8 stars

[Preethiba · Rating 5 out of 5]

All deaths moved me tremendously, whether or not the ones who were claimed by Death were good or bad. This was Tolstoy's magic.

And of course, what those who are gone leave behind for Life - be it eternal Love, or a sense of inspiration, as did the tree when it was felled, "and the branches of the living began to sway slowly, with dignity, over the dead, fallen tree". This was something else Tolstoy meditated on through his stories.

[Mandy Hazen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t think something written by Tolstoy would entertain me. And I stood corrected. The storylines were engaging and had me flipping the pages not able to wait to see what was coming next. This book contains four short stories and is on the quicker side of a read. Highly recommend. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Robert Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tolstoy is a titan of world literature, as this excellent collection of short stories amply demonstrates. The stories cover the breadth of Tolstoy's career; the unifying thread is how people (and animals!) face their own deaths.

I can't judge the quality of the Russian translation, but the stories are written in clear idiomatic English that is highly readable while capturing the depth of Tolstoy's insights. The book also has a brief introduction by the translator, in which he provides a short summary of Tolstoy's life and explains how he came to choose the stories for the book.

[Kozbi BC · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this collection from an English bookstore in Krakow. Loved it soooo much. I forget how much of a Tolstoy fan I am

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely little volume of Tolstoy stories on a theme. Seamlessly translated, well designed. Highly recommended.

[Mariana Costa de Melo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pace-setter: it really looks like Tolstoy knows what it is being a horse

[Ed Kazyanskaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the exception of The Death of Ivan Ilyich, which I read decades ago, all these stories were new to me. Like most people, I am more familiar with Tolstoy's novels than his stories. As such, I was pleasantly surprised at how readable such thoughtful and insightful works truly were. As I cannot read Russian, I cannot attest to the quality of translation from the original, but the language presented before me was worthy of the esteem held for Tolstoy himself.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

A primer for how to face one’s own mortality? A very clear readable translation.

[Kay-Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary in a quote: "Why must I suffer like this? And the voice would reply: No reason. That's just how it is."

Although I was a literature student and read around 50 books a year, I have never read a Tolstoy... This collection of 4 short stories was the perfect way to be introduced to his style and themes. Death and the process of dying are at the core of this collection, however, it seems to be a theme that leaks into all his writing. If you have never read Tolstoy but are interested in tasting his style, this is the perfect starting point.

These stories were first published in the late 1800s, and yet they are strikingly relevant for our contemporary experience. The way in which Ilyich's colleagues receive news of his death is so true to corporate environments now. They are very briefly surprised and then begin contemplating who will replace him. The story goes on to reveal the pain, futility and shame of dying,

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this collection. It is honest about the human condition. We are duped into thinking that we can be anything and do anything we want if we just try hard enough. I can be a unicorn or a princess if I just believe in myself, right? And if you are struggling in life, it's your own fault for not accessing the power of affirmations and astral projection... I'm being snotty, excuse me. But I do believe we are being lied to. You can not stop death. You can not will yourself into different circumstances. We can only take each day as it comes and the grace that comes with it.

In the throes of his pain, his soul asks him; "What was so good and pleasant about your life?" This, it seems to me, is the message for us who think we are alive. We think we are living a "good" life, obeying social convention and ticking all the appropriate boxes, but is that even a life?

Death tolls are a part of our every day and most people have lost someone in their close circle to Covid-19. This disease is isolating, to put it bluntly. It is scary and lonely. And many people shrug it off as though it's all a hoax. I can imagine that patients have this same inner conversation: "Why must I suffer like this? And the voice would reply: No reason. That's just how it is."

[Shelby Bollen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somehow, I had gone through life oblivious to the fact that Leo Tolstoy had also written short stories in addition to the tomes that are War & Peace and Anna Karenina.

This is a compilation of four short stories including "The Death of Ivan Ilyich ", "Pace-Setter: The Story of a Horse", "Three Deaths", and "Alyosha the Pot". All of the stories offer discussions surrounding the conflicts and passions of a life, but perhaps not always from a perspective that you would initially expect!

Tolstoy's writing in these stories is so dramatically different from War & Peace and Anna Karenina. In fact, I'd go so far as saying that the writing read quite modern, making this a perfect introduction for anyone who is yet to explore his work. The stories aren't particularly cheerful, which can probably be assumed just based on the book title alone, but be assured that each story provides a fascinating tale. My favourite of the four had to be "Pace-setter: The Story of a Horse", as it offers such a unique perspective that was unlike anything I had ever read before. The narrative was really well done throughout and the translation was super smooth.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories, and they're proof of the marvel that was Tolstoy's writing style. Definitely would love a physical copy to add to my shelves one day!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

[Qy Low · Rating 5 out of 5]

a real lesson in writing short stories

[Scott Lupo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Tolstoy stories about death and life and all the questions each brings. Pace-Setter, about a horse, and Alyosha The Pot, about a peasant boy, are poignant and beautiful.

[Theediscerning · Rating 2 out of 5]

This shortish selection of four fictional works may well be the first option you pick up when the thought occurs to read some Tolstoy (especially if, like me, you always have an eye for the shorter, perhaps more esoteric works, and not the huge chunks that achieved a place in the canon), but it's not exactly a bundle of light-hearted joy for the commute or bath, and with 90 other books of his output left aside, may well not be representative. We take on board the introductory note that these things – the life of his characters, and the elegance, worth, regret or otherwise in them dying – seemed his metier. First off, a lengthy novella, where Ivan Ilyich (and if you've not read much Russian literature, be prepared to see him with not one but two nicknames that at first glance, to the novice, don't even seem connected to his name) is indeed dying. Being an ex-judge, though, he makes a trial of his trial, and weighs up the worth of his life while wallowing in pain in the eyes of his family and doctors.

For the shorter works, there again is death – 'Three Deaths' in the story of that name, and again it's not entirely morbid but didn't exactly strike me as entertaining; at least the three deaths aren't entirely the ones we might have expected. 'Alyosha the Pot' closes things, with, well, someone dying. So, nothing is really a full-on gloomfest, but I don't call these a great advert for the man and his literary concerns. Still, another well-known name ticked off and given a try, which with such a slender volume is the least you can expect.

The eager-eyed amongst you will have seen me not mention the fourth story here, which yacks on about, and presumes to get into the mind of, a load of horses. I said 'neigh'.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the four stories of Lives and Deaths, Tolstoy writes with an efficient, crystalline directness that should be recognisable to any reader as being purely human; the anxieties and hapless fears that each and every one of us feel are described in a effecting accuracy that feels pathologically, desperately personal, still fresh and compelling after over a century.

Here's a passage from The Death of Ivan Ilyich that stood out to me as beautiful, it's Ivan Ilyich's all-too-late realisation that he's lived a wasted life.

The marriage... So accidental... The disillusionment, the smell of his wife's breath, the sensuality, the pretence... And the soul-deadening work, the worries about money - a year of that, then two, ten, twenty - all the same. Only more deadening with each step... It's as if I had been trudging steadily downhill, all the while imagining that I was going uphill.

Pace-Setter: The Story of a Horse was probably my favourite of the collection; in it, a withered pie-bald colt tells us and his paddock mates the story of his dismal, tortured life. This was the first story I've read set from the point of view of a horse, and in a pleasantly odd manner it seemed to have the most feeling, it was the most depressingly real of the four. Pace-Setter is confounded at the vile power-hungry tendencies of man, whose inherent nature is to possess as much of anything as possible.

... I just couldn't comprehend what it meant to say that I was the personal property of a human. The words "my horse" in reference to me, a living horse, seemed as strange as the words "my land" "my air" or "my water".

Boris Dralyuk's new translations are for the most part fantastic; Tolstoy comes across with a simple immediacy that becomes almost hypnotic. Unfortunately, the spell breaks in a section or two, sentences seem to have been smushed together haphazardly in places which I couldn't help but feel could have been done better with a little more thought. I haven't read the originals, so maybe these parts are exacting translations of Tolstoy's original Russian prose, but anywho, here's an example that I thought read particularly badly.

Ivan Ilyich saw that he was dying, and he was in constant despair. Deep down, Ivan Ilyich knew that he was dying, but he not only failed to accustom himself to this fact, he simply did not and could not understand it.

Pushkin Press really knocked it out of the park with this little edition. The stories are newly collated and translated, and though they only display a tiny sliver of Tolstoy's short story library, I feel this selection does a terrific job of encasing his emotive precision and human understanding in an elegant, enticing nutshell.

[Jake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Purchased solely for the novelty of reading a POV talking-horse story by Tolstoy. If you're buying the collection mainly to read the classic, Death of Ivan Illych, while I have nothing against this translation, I would recommend other collections that include better companion pieces such as Master and Man.

[levenza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply like the way he writes, page turner.
The death of Ivan ilyich reminded us how fleeting life is, even after you had lived a life and crossed out check list, you can’t stop death.

[Scotland · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Death of Ivan Ilyich - 5/5
The Story of a Horse - 4/5
Three Deaths - 3.5/5
Alyosha the Pot - 4/5

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly not the best Tolstoy work. Would not feel inclined to re-read.

[Amy Drozdowicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death of Ivan Ilyich is the best short story ever written and it’s not even close I fear

[lily anna brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

horse girl!Tolstoy confirmed

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ - Tolstoy never lets me down. Death of Ivan Ilyich 5* and made me cry / Pace-Setter 3* / Three Deaths 4* / Aloysha the Pot 5* and made me cry