Master And Man And Other Stories: Father Sergius; Master And Man; Hadji Murat (Classics)

by Leo Tolstoy (Author), Leo Tolstoy (Author), Leo Tolstoy (Author), Paul Foote (Translator)

• Used

  Paperback
  2004

  $4.74

  These three stories of Tolstoy's maturity show him increasingly grappling with fundamental issues of religion and morality. In Master and Man , he depicts an employer, bent on closing a business deal, travelling with his servant through the swirling snow - little realizing how soon he may have to settle his accounts with his maker. Father Sergius portrays a priest tormented beyond endurance by the longings of his body, while Hadji Murat dramatizes the divided loyalties of a leading figure in Russia's struggle to subdue the Caucasus. With a compelling combination of moral seriousness and extraordinary sympathy and understanding, these stories reveal Tolstoy as a writer at the height of his creative powers.

• New

  Paperback
  2005

  $13.11

  The ten stories collected in this volume demonstrate Tolstoy's artistic prowess displayed over five decades - experimenting with prose styles and drawing on his own experiences with humour, realism and compassion. Inspired by his experiences in the army, 'The Two Hussars' contrasts a dashing father and his mean-spirited son. Illustrating Tolstoy's belief that art must serve a moral purpose, 'What Men Live By' portrays an angel sent to earth to learn three existential rules of life, and 'Two Old Men' shows a peasant abandoning his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in order to help his neighbours. And in the highly moving 'Master and Man', Tolstoy depicts a mercenary merchant travelling with his unprotesting servant through a blizzard to close a business deal - little realizing he may soon have to settle accounts with his maker.