Tolstoy's Short Fiction (Norton Critical Editions)

Leo Tolstoyâs short works, like his novels, show readers his narrative genius, keen observation, and historical acumenâalbeit on a smaller scale.

This Norton Critical Edition presents twelve of Tolstoyâs best-known stories, based on the Louise and Aylmer Maude translations (except âAlyosha Gorshokâ), which have been revised by the editor for enhanced comprehension and annotated for student readers. The Second Edition newly includes âA Prisoner in the Caucasus,â âFather Sergius,â and âAfter the Ball,â in addition to Michael Katzâs new translation of âAlyosha Gorshok.â Together these stories represent the best of the authorâs short fiction before War and Peace and after Anna Karenina.

âBackgrounds and Sourcesâ includes two Tolstoy memoirs, A History of Yesterday (1851) and The Memoirs of a Madman (1884), as well as entriesâexpanded in the Second Editionâfrom Tolstoyâs âDiary for 1855â and selected letters (1858â95) that shed light on the authorâs creative process.

âCriticismâ collects twenty-three essays by Russian and western scholars, six of which are new to this Second Edition. Interpretations focus both on Tolstoyâs language and art and on specific themes and motifs in individual stories. Contributors include John M. Kopper, Gary Saul Morson, N. G. Chernyshevsky, Mikhail Bakhtin, Harsha Ram, John Bayley, Vladimir Nabokov, Ruth Rischin, Margaret Ziolkowski, and Donald Barthelme.

A Chronology of Tolstoyâs life and work and an updated Selected Bibliography are also included.