How Much Land Does a Man Need? and Other Stories (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Leo Tolstoy (Author), Ronald Wilks (Translator), A. N. Wilson (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: March 1, 1994

These short works, ranging from Tolstoy's earliest tales to the brilliant title story, are rich in the insights and passion that characterize all of his explorations in love, war, courage, and civilization.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian

About the Author

Count Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 on the family estate of Yasnaya Polyana, in the Tula province. He took part in the Crimean war and after the defence of Sevastopol wrote The Sevastopol Sketches (1855-6), which established his literary reputation. He is the author, among many other works, of War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877) and A Confession (1879-82).

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (March 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140445064
• ISBN-13: 978-0140445060
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #331,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction to Tolstoy, October 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: How Much Land Does a Man Need? and Other Stories (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

It is hard to recommend Tolstoy because his best novel is long. These short stories are less intimidating and give a great introduction Leo Tolstoy's beliefs such as resisting violence, loving your neighbor, and following Jesus' example set forth by the gosphel. These stories are often stunning and will provoke and stir your soul.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tolstoy Sampler., August 21, 2002

By 

Robert S. Clay Jr. (St. Louis, MO., USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How Much Land Does a Man Need? and Other Stories (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

Tolstoy wrote some remarkable short fiction. There is, for example, the detached observer of war and its effect. The early stories based on his military experience in the Caucasus "The Raid," "The Woodfelling," and "The Prisoner of the Caucasus" are examples of this aspect of Tolstoy's craft. Tolstoy anticipated authors such as Stephen Crane and Ernest Hemingway in his unglamorous portrait of war. Tolstoy's slice of life sketches have little blood and thunder. The writing speaks more of futility than of glory or Mother Russia. Except for wasteful, impersonal death, men at war do not progress; their only goal is survival. Then there is the spiritual side of Tolstoy's art. Simple parables patterned on the Gospels in their truth and biblical purity. The title piece speaks of a landowner's greed and its result. "Where Love Is, God Is," and "What Men Live By" are examples of the later Tolstoy and his spiritual views. Although Tolstoy was grounded in Chritianity, Russian Orthodoxy and organized religions left him cold. Tolstoy was more mystic than cleric. His spiritual views rejected dogma and flowed from springs of human compassion. Love inevitably provokes action. Feed the hungry, comfort the sick, and care for widows and orphans. Then we find God among us. This collection of stories has an insightful introduction by editor and biographer A. N. Wilson. It's a good cross sample of Tolstoy's short fiction. ;-)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars " A man can only wear one pair of pants at a time" Reuben Kelly Freedman, November 1, 2005

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: How Much Land Does a Man Need? and Other Stories (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

James Joyce considered the title - story of this collection the finest story - ever written. The tale which was part of a series Tolstoy constructed for peasants seems to me to lack much of the subtle description and psychological insight of Tolstoy's greatest works. Nonetheless it is a fine and interesting moral tale.
The message if I read it rightly is that "Greed does not pay". The story which opens with a debate between sisters over the relative advantages of sophisticated city and rustic simple life becomes the tale of a landowner who goes to the spacious country of the Bashkirs , engages in a marathon run to add more and more land to himself, and in the process drops- dead.
Tolstoy in this collection is primarily the moral and spiritual sage , providing advice of the kind he himself never took.
The old great man was however such a great writer that even in these relatively simple pieces one gets a real sense of strong narrative and literary surprise and revelation.