Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: 袥械胁 袧懈泻芯谢邪械胁懈褔 孝芯谢褋褌芯泄; 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.
袛褜褟胁芯谢 = The Devil, Leo Tolstoy = Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoi
The Devil is a novella by Leo Tolstoy. It was written in 1889, given an alternative ending in 1909, but published only posthumously in 1911.
Two young men, Eugene Irtenev and his brother, are left a large inheritance after the death of their father. However, the inheritance is saddled with debts, and the brothers must decide whether or not to accept it.
Eugene accepts the inheritance and buys off his brother's portion, thinking that he can sell off large tracts of land while making improvements to the rest. Living alone with his mother while working on the farm, Eugene misses the relations he had with women while living in St. Petersburg.
He inquires around the village, and the watchman introduces Eugene to a local peasant named Stepanida whose husband lives away in the city.
For several months Eugene and Stepanida have encounters, with Eugene paying her each time. Eventually, Eugene's mother thinks it is time for him to get married, preferably to an heiress who will help them with their debts.
To her disappointment, Eugene falls in love with Liza Annenskaya, a charming middle-class girl, and they are married after Eugene breaks off relations with Stepanida. ...
鈥溌縋ero es posible que no pueda dominarme? 鈥搒e dijo-, 驴Es posible que haya sucumbido ya? 隆Se帽or! Pero Dios no existe. Solo existe el Diablo. Y es ella. Me tiene en su poder.鈥�
Luego de leer el volumen completo de Relatos de Lev Tolst贸i, necesitaba escribir algunas l铆neas acerca de este poderoso cuento en el que se mezclan la obsesi贸n, el adulterio, la sensualidad, la traici贸n y las pasiones desenfrenadas. La historia de un rico hacendado, Yevgueni Irt茅niev que cae en una desenfrenada obsesi贸n por Stepanida, una campesina que termina trabajando para 茅l y que est谩 casada. Toda la historia est谩 contada a modo de una verdadera 鈥渁tracci贸n fatal鈥� que va arrastrando a Yevgueni a los sus bajos instintos. Tolst贸i, de f茅rreos concepto morales y cristianos comienza el cuento con un ep铆grafe tomado de un vers铆culo de la Biblia (Mateo 5, 28-30) establece claramente su posici贸n para el resto del relato. Durante todo el transcurso de la narraci贸n el lector terminar谩 posicion谩ndose en la atormentada mente de Yevgueni quien cuyos impulsos no puede frenar hacia Stepanida. La resultante de estas acciones ser谩 que detonar谩n en su cabeza una serie de pensamientos encontrados muy del estilo de Rodion Rask贸lnikov de 鈥淐rimen y castigo鈥�. Narrado en forma soberbia por Tolst贸i, el relato absorbe completamente al lector y como corolario y por motivos de trabajo del autor sobre el relato entre 1889 y 1909, podemos leer dos desenlaces distintos para el cuento, en los que el autor nos da la elecci贸n de elegir el que m谩s nos guste. Un cuento impecable, apasionante y verdaderamente entretenido surgido de la pluma del gran Lev Tolst贸i.
An affair began; it was simply necessary for his health. As with every obsession, he thought he could break it off when needed. After some time, he found reassurance in what seemed to be a good marriage. By an act of mischievous gods or the mere absurdity of the world that usually goes against our wishes, he found his former lover again. Time involves, if not oblivion, an illusion of it that gives humans a chance of survival. But one glance and the past becomes real again. *'Too Much Love Will Kill You' plays in the background* That distressing time of looking for opportunities to meet her again had begun. A restless mind that could no longer decide the nature of his thoughts, for they were all about her. He was waiting. Always waiting, expecting that by some miracle she would be aware that he was expecting her, and would come here at once... Too much passion might tempt the fates and tragedy would be right there, waiting for its opportunity.
Well. My little tragedy was reading this novella. I reached a level of boredom I did not think it was possible while reading Tolstoy. The writing, the overly sentimental way of portraying the story, the characters, the endings (yes, it has two endings and found them both equally irritating). Since I am reading at this moment, this novella seems to have been written by Tolstoy's drunk shadow. It has some good ratings here so maybe you will enjoy it. It just wasn't my thing. I was going to give it three stars only because of the author. But that's not how things should work around here. (Yes, if it were a book by Dostoyevsky, I would have given it three stars...)
When he was fifty-two Tolstoy was mad with lust for a twenty-two years old beautiful servant girl named Domna who seemed very much willing to oblige his tormented desires. Apparently he was eventually able to overcome it, partly by accident and partly by willpower.
In this story, the male protagonist is much younger, 26 years old and a bachelor. He feels the need to have sex, not for the sake of debauchery, but only for health's sake, so he tells himself. Through the help of someone he then arranges trysts with a willing woman, very attractive, and whose husband is away. The sex is satisfactory and he gives her money after each session. He asks her once why she does it with him and she says she knows her husband plays around when away from home so why can't she have fun too?
Eventually the guy gets married. He cuts of his relationship with his whore. His business prospers and he has a daughter. But his whore keeps on popping up in his life and worse: he still has the hots for her. His problem now: how to find peace amidst the torments of his past and his unkillable desires.
Tolstoy wrote two endings for this, both of them gruesome. A way, perhaps, to convince himself that he shouldn't really regret not tasting the sweetness of Domna.
I just spent 25 minutes writing a heartfelt review of this novella about how I never liked fiction, how I got into reading, why I stopped reading for the last month, and how I disagree with the main interpretive theses of the story. But 欧宝娱乐 glitched and deleted it. So, I'm just going to share my interpretation instead:
Wikipedia claims this is a story about sexual emotion. A few literary bloggers said they don't like the story because it portrays Eugene's temptation as the woman's fault. I think both miss the point. This is a novella about temptation, addiction, and the mind's ridiculous capacity to rationalise actions and trick us into doing stuff that is not in our best interest when we are at our weakest (think Aristotle's akrasia).
Eugene, when away from the temptation, has a great time because he doesn't find himself in situations where his weaknesses can come out, due to exhaustion or frustration. But when the temptation is right in front of you, eventually the inner war will see some battles being lost. There's a lesson in behaviour design and psychology there.
Very insightful and enjoyable. After a month away from reading, this is what has dragged me back.
Si intr-adevar, daca Evgheni Irteniev va fi fost tulburat psihic, atunci toti oamenii sunt la fel de tulburati psihic, cei mai tulburati psihic fiind, fara indoiala, aceia care vad in alti oameni semnele nebuniei pe care nu le zaresc insa niciodata in ei insisi.
The devils can have many forms. In this book, it comes as lust. A sexual desire so uncontrollable, the main character turns insane.
Tolstoy hasn鈥檛 yet disappointed me. I love his straightforward message within each of his stories. This one is as clear as daylight鈥攍ust can be deadly.
The young man gives into his sexual desires and, at first, he feels in charge. 鈥淚 am no monk; it鈥檚 a natural need鈥�, he convinces himself. However, as the story progresses, the sexual desires start taking charge of him鈥攕lowly taking his free will, moral judgment, and sanity.
鈥淚 thought I had taken her, but it was she who took me; took me and does not let me go.鈥�
La prima variante del finale 猫 quella che ho preferito. Impossibile non riconoscersi nei tormenti di Evgenij, diviso tra il desiderio di volere la cosa giusta e l鈥檈ssere tentato dal fare quella sbagliata.
It is generally supposed that Conservatives are usually old people, and those in favour of change are the Young. That is not quite correct. Usually Conservatives are young people: those who want to live but who do not think about how to live, and have not time to think, and therefore take as a model for themselves a way of life that they have seen.
Eugene is a young man of this sort, and very anxious too. On the outside he appears like a perfectly normal man, but as the reader hears more of his thoughts, his anxiety becomes evident. As is the case for any anxious person, he mulls only over what is out of his control and pay very little attention to what is. Poor little anxious man, holding onto a goal, but without a plan. This book has two possible endings and both are dreadfully depressing.
Feeling sorry for Eugene, I sat clutching the book against my chest and stretching my legs on the empty seat next to mine, when another anxious little woman walked up to me. Her phone was broken and she wished to make a call from mine. That wasn't the end of it and the lady, after a dozen more requests, sat on the vacant seat next to me. Twenty minutes after the whole episode started, I was cursing the woman for invading my little private sanctum and I really didn't care about anything she had to stay. Plotting what to do that might not be too rude but would keep her away, I grew restless and uneasy. I felt tormented by this woman's presence and then I thought of poor Eugene. I felt sorry for both of us. Was it not easier to accept that I had no entitlement to a vacant seat, and that it really is my annoyance that was doing more harm than the woman herself. Much like Eugene, whose sexual impulse he attributed to an external agent, instead of himself. In associating this devil outside of himself, he loses a the potential to tame it.
In a world radically obsessed with the dichotomy of good and evil, each separate and distant from the other, is it possible to accept a little filth in ourselves without labelling ourselves as scum?