Daniel Ramirez’s Reviews > The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories > Status Update

“The Woodfelling” begins with Nikolay Petrovich receiving orders to take his platoon to chop trees. He outlines the three types of Russian soldiers with their respective subdivisions. 1. a) the coolly submissive b) the fussily submissive, 2. a) the sternly domineering b) the diplomatically domineering, and 3. a) the reckless humorists b) the reckless libertines

The Raid - Set during the Caucasian War in Chechnya, the narrator observes fighting between the various Caucasian peoples (mostly Muslim) and Russia with their allies - some of whom were Muslim caucasians themselves. A young ensign excited for his first battle dies due to his brave stupidity and the narrator idolizes an old steadfast captain who represents wordless Russian valor as a contrast to French chivalry.

“Can it be that there is not enough space for man in this beautiful world, under those immeasurable, starry heavens? Is it possible that a man’s heart can harbor, amid such ravishing natural beauty, feelings of hatred, vengeance, or the desire to destroy his fellows? All the evil in man, one would think, should disappear on contact with Nature, the most spontaneous expression of beauty and goodness” (17).