Written over a period of more than half a century, Leo Tolstoy's stories reflect every aspect of his art and personality. They cover his experiences as a soldier in the Caucasus, his married life, his passionate interest in the peasantry, his cult of truth and simplicity, and his growing preoccupati...

Written over a period of more than half a century, Leo Tolstoy's stories reflect every aspect of his art and personality. They cover his experiences as a soldier in the Caucasus, his married life, his passionate interest in the peasantry, his cult of truth and simplicity, and his growing preoccupation with religion.

The stories in Volume 1 of the Collected Shorter Fiction date from the period in which the young Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina and * War and Peace.Ranging from brief, masterfully sketches of military life such as "The Wood-Felling" to novellas like Family Happiness *, an uneasy imagining of the idyllic possibilities of marriage by the not-yet-married writer, all feature Tolstoy's characteristically lavish deployment of detail, shrewd observation, and imaginative power.