The Cossacks (Modern Library Classics) (Paperback)

by Leo Tolstoy (Author), Peter Constantine (Translator), Cynthia Ozick (Introduction)
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This 1862 novel, in a vibrant new translation by Peter Constantine, is Tolstoy’s semiautobiographical story of young Olenin, a wealthy, disaffected Muscovite who joins the Russian army and travels to the untamed frontier of the Caucasus in search of a more authentic life. While striving to adopt the rough and ready lifestyle of the local Cossacks, Olenin falls in love with a free-spirited girl whose fiancé turns out to be a formidable opponent. Showcasing the philosophical insight that would characterize Tolstoy’s later masterpieces, this long overdue translation is a revelation.

About the Author
Peter Constantine, winner of a PEN Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize and a National Translation Award, has earned wide acclaim for his translation of the complete works of Isaac Babel. His Modern Library translations include Gogol’s Taras Bulba and Voltaire’s Candide.

Cynthia Ozick is the celebrated author of many novels, including The Shawl, The Puttermesser Papers, and Heir to the Glimmering World, and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for her essay collection Quarrel & Quandary.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Modern Library (February 14, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812975049
• ISBN-13: 978-0812975048
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #461,292 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Short Fiction From Tolstoy, November 26, 2002

By	Matthew P. Arsenault (SW Michigan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Cossacks (Everyman's Library) (Hardcover)

Tolstoy is one of the most famous names in Russian literature. Sadly, the sheer size of most of his celebrated works, i.e. War and Peace, tend to make many readers anxious. However, readers fail to realize that Tolstoy has quite a phenomenal collection of short fiction, such as this 178-page novella.

Tolstoy explores the dissatisfaction a young Russian aristocrat holds towards the emptiness of high-society, and his subsequent journey in search of meaning. The aristocrat finds himself as a young Russian army officer, serving at a remote Cossack outpost in the Caucasus. Here he finds that his wealth and breeding do not garner him respect. Instead he is looked upon as an outsider, and an unwelcome one at that.

Nevertheless, the aristocrat finds himself in love with a beautiful Cossack girl, who is promised to a Cossack warrior. Tolstoy discusses the emotions that rise between these three parties regarding love, class, and sacrifice.

Indeed, The Cossacks is great first exposure to Leo Tolstoy and his descriptive writing style is sure to lead the reader to explore more of his works.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "As one needs nothing oneself, why not live for others?": Olenin's epiphany, July 5, 2005

By	vabookreader "Jeff Hotz" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cossacks (Modern Library) (Hardcover)

In the middle of _The Cossacks_, Dmitri Olenin, a young Russian cadet reflects joyfully, "Happiness is to live for others. How clear it is!," while being mercilessly bitten by mosquitos during a deer hunt. Despite the fact that his "whole body [is] consumed by a consuming itch," Olenin revels in the beauties of bountiful nature. It is almost as if he gives himself up to the mosquitos, whom he imagines are yelling out to each other, "Over here, boys! Here's someone we can devour!" Tolstoy develops the scene with such skill. We see Olenin's joy quickly turn into confusion and mortal terror.

Leo Tolstoy's _The Cossacks_ (begun in 1852 and published in 1862) is about a young aristocrat's quest for happiness and his uncertainty about what will make him happy--whether a life given up to the senses or a life devoted to others. The novel begins with a late night discussion in a Moscow alehouse about Olenin's relationship with a wealthy Moscow woman whom he is about to abandon. One of his friends responds, "You have not yet loved, and you don't know what love is!" Dmitri bids his friends adieu and sets out by carriage for a military assignment in the faraway Caucasus to start life anew and to find out what love means (ironically, while serving as a military cadet in a war).

The novel contrasts Dmitri Olenin with Lukashka the Snatcher, a young fearless Cossack soldier admired by everyone in his village. While Dmitri's life lacks purpose and direction, Lukashka is driven to become an ideal Cossack warrior. Lukashka is a carouser who is a brave fighter. Dmitri envies Lukashka's life and, in particular, the defined Cossack traditions to which Lukashka devotes himself.

In an incredible early scene, Tolstoy introduces Lukashka on duty at a military look-out point that protects the Cossack village from Chechen "marauders." The tension of the scene and the philosophical undertones also reminded me immediately of Hemingway--as another reviewer commented. In a brilliant transition, Tolstoy revisits this scene later in the novel as seen through Olenin's eyes.

The novel, while mythic in its discussions of love and youthful idealism, takes place in a background of ethnic conflict and suspicion. The Russian troops are quartered in a Cossack village, and the Russians, Cossacks, and Chechens are all in conflict, either in outright war or deep distrust. One of the most endearing characters of the novel, Uncle Eroksha, a rogish seventy year old villager and hunter, suggests the pointlessness of all this division. Uncle Eroksha, who is "a blood brother to all," maintains that "Everyone has his own rules. But if you ask me, it's all the same."

For the contemporary reader, the book also offers some historical context to the current conflict in Chechnia, between the Chechens and the Russians. Cynthia Ozick's introduction provides useful historical background information and challenges Tolstoy's romanticized depiction of Cossack society. Ozick discusses a history of ethnic cleansing in the region that goes back many centuries. The fierce pride in culture and clan often has dangerous effects, a subject that Tolstoy does not really address.

The novel is steeped in sensuous passages, of nature, war, and physical attraction, which are unforgettable. Over the course of the novel, Dmitri becomes obsessed with a Cossack peasant woman named Maryanka. The passages describing his infatuation are intense. The narrator describes Dmitri's first long look at Maryanka as follows: "With the quick and hungry curiosity of youth, he noticed despite himself the strong virginal lines that stood out beneath the thin calico smock, and her beautiful eyes were fixed on him with childish terror and wild curiousity." This gives a taste of the vividness of Tolstoy's writing and the wonderful skill of the translator, Peter Constantine.

This is a truly excellent novel. I agree with the reviewer who says that it is a great novel to introduce Tolstoy to new readers since it is short and accessible. I would recommend this edition in particular because the translation is great and Ozick's introduction is astute. Many of the major themes in Tolstoy's work are evident here, particularly the conflict between sensual and spiritual impulses.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding tale of aristocrats and peasants., January 19, 1999

By	Chris Willett ([e-mail]) "cwill... (Champaign, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cossacks (Everyman's Library) (Hardcover)

Truly the best novella that I have ever read. The story of a young Russian aristocrat disillusionned with the life of a city gentleman who looks to the simpler life of a soldier in the Caucasus for his completion. An outstanding read.