A Russian Proprietor and Other Stories

About this book

Before the great novels, Tolstoy wrote these sharp, observant stories of Russian life at the edges of empire and estate. A young officer in the Caucasus, duels and discipline, deaths witnessed and barely understood, and the title novella of a proprietor confronting the humanity of the serfs he owns, all are rendered with the physical immediacy that would define his later work. The collection captures restlessness, class cruelty, and flickers of sympathy that have not yet become doctrine. For readers tracing Tolstoy's development, these early pieces are both historical document and lively fiction, offering battlefield clarity and country-estate unease in equal measure.