Customer Reviews

Divine and Human

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those who find Tolstoy's novels too long, or love them anyhow, this is a collection of tiny, perfect short stories written near the end of Tolstoy's life, and newly translated into English. Well-developed characters circle around ethical and spiritual knots which refuse pat endings. All is illuminated by Tolstoy's intense and gentle wisdom. Suitable for children or adults, these characters will stay with you for a long time.

I'll be brief: this is a wonderful book to buy for your child and for your own reading pleasure. These short little stories are so true to life, easy to read and so full of wisdom that they haunted me for a long time after I read them. They make you stop and think. They make you wonder. They make you ask yourself questions. The characters described and their problems are very easy to identify with and, more importantly, they help you draw a line between the temporal and ordinary and the eternal truth of life. Very good read.

For every person who started War and Peace and got bogged down somewhere between page 300 and 1000, this book is for you. For every Christian who thinks that USAmerican churchianity has taken a dreadfully wrong road, this book is for you. For every libertarian, whether you know you are one or not, this book is for you. For every lover of 19th century Russia fiction, this is a must have for your collection.

A collection of short stories, parables, and an essay, you need to know that Divine and Human is not the Tolstoy of War and Peace or Anna Karenina. This is post-conversion Tolstoy. This is the kind of stuff that got Count Leo Tolstoy declared a heretic by the Russian Orthodox Church and an anarchist by the Russian government. Be prepared: although these tales are beautifully written, kind and gentle in their approach, a truly radical Christianity shines brightly through every sentence. Tolstoy seriously believed that the authentic manifestation of Christianity was in the following of Jesus Christ and His gospel, particularly the Sermon on the Mount. Recognizing the authority of Jesus Christ as the vanquisher of principalities and powers and following His teachings is a permanently life-altering experience. This is what Divine and Human is about.

Among these small gems, my personal favorites are "The Poor People," "Kornei Vasiliev," "The Berries," "The Son of a Thief," and the essay "The Requirements of Love." These are parables of generosity, forgiveness, faith and responsibility.

Tolstoy's sword cuts in every direction. He shows very succinctly how neither conservative nor liberal approaches to human and social problems holds the answers, but only the radical following of Christ which brings about the eradication of the causes of those problems. The pursuit of peace and justice is the answer of the authentic Christian, which means, to Tolstoy, simply following Jesus Christ with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds. And, if necessary, to lay our bodies down for Him.

Dr. Mike Kear

Tolstoy considered the stories in this volume to be "the best achievements of Christian literature" infused with "continuous joy." Most of these human-divine stories can fill a reader's soul with the beauty that saves the world. Only when Tolstoy lapses didactic does the book's transfiguring clarity flag. Ten of these sixteen stories were adapted from French, English, Persian, or other Russian tales. I think these re-interpretations are the book's strongest pieces. "Sisters," a Maupassant tale in which "sailors spend six months of their pay in four hours of debauchery" jolts its hero (and readers) into seeing how close "fallen women" may come to us. In Tolstoy's re-telling of Victor Hugo's "The Power of Childhood" a father's determination to shield his boy's innocence meets with a bloodthirsty mob's blind fury. "I cannot judge others," says a merchant in the book's opening story. "We should forgive other people and love them." This theme of forgiveness and humble love weaves throughout Divine and Human. Humble people can be very wise. Is suffering integral to joy?

This has become one of my favorite books. I had never read anything by Tolstoy before, because let's face it, the man's novels are frightening. But Divine and Human is captivating and thought provoking without being boring or pompous. Perfect if you've always wanted to read Tolstoy, but simply don't have the will or time to tackle War and Peace.

Divine and Human is a book of short stories by Tolstoy, it's thin and a pretty book, which is why I opened it in the first place. I was hooked almost immediately.

These stories are injected with Tolstoy's philosophy about life, death, god, and how all things happen for a reason. My favorite story deals with God; in a coffeehouse men high up in their respective religions debate over whose God is best and whose views are right. It takes a fable of the sun, told by a Confucian monk, to help them see that they are all in some sense, right.

A great compilation of Tolstoy! I'm debating over whether or not to give this to my Philosophy professor. You won't be sorry you spent some time on this one!

The collection of stories in Tolstoy's Divine and Human were picked for their connection and concern with political themes. Unfortunately, most of the stories are a bit stiff, obvious, and lack the fine touch of Tolstoy's greatest short fiction.

"What for?" deals with the subjugation of the Polish aristocracy under Russian imperialism. The long story "Divine and Human" with the fate of failed revolutionaries and political disappointment The final story in this slim collection, "Berries" appears to not deal with politics at all, but through the subtle use of the image of under ripe berries, actually is all about the class conflict.

Without an obvious spiritual dimension, these stories don't carry Tolstoy to the grand heights of his more fully realized fiction. In Divine and Human the stories are interesting, in that here we see Tolstoy the social reformer without any guise, but that is as far as the interest goes; these stories are good, but with consideration alongside the rest of Tolstoy's oeuvre, this means they are not very good at all.