Collected Shorter Fiction of Leo Tolstoy, Volume I: Introduction by John Bayley

This book by Leo Tolstoy is great for reading in installments. I like reading several books at a time and switch back and forth. So short stories works great! His writing is like photography. This edition is from Everyman's Library and I am quite pleased.

Both these volumes are a treasure. Volume 2 contains much of Tolstoy's later short works that emphasize a Christian simplicity. The Stories incude the famous "Where Love Is, God Is" sometimes refered to as Martin the Cobbler, as well as "How Much Land Does a Man Need?", "The Kruezer Sonata", and "The Death of Ivan Ilych", among many others. These stories are thought provoking and a joy to read.

This is an excellent translation of some of Tolstoy's shorter fiction. The binding is also excellent, which makes this particular collection a wonderful gift to someone who enjoys Tolstoy, or a delicious treasure to savor for oneself. For those who can be intimidated by the longer (much longer) works, this is a fine introduction to Tolstoy's voice and worldview. I recommend this edition unreservedly.

What a beautiful set of volumes!! All of Leo Tolstoy's great, great shorter works all in one two volume set! Leo Tolstoy was a perfect storyteller. When you look at a photo or portrait of Tolstoy in his later years, you see that lovable, wise old man who, when he is not helping others, sits on an old chair in the corner of the tavern, attracting all that pass by with his beautiful tales. He has touched many with his two great novels, War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878), he has touched even more with his wonderful short stories. When you start reading these lovely short stories, you can just see that lovable image of the wise old Tolstoy telling a story, with his shaggy, long white beard, and his friendly eyes with a laughing fire in them burning out from beneath the bushy eyebrows smiling down at you, a small child, laughing on his knee. He was the perfect novelist, reveared by many, equally great and legendary. In his time, Dostoyevsky called him, "The greatest living novelist." Virginia Woolf referred to Tolstoy as follows, "There remains the greatest of all novelists, for what else can we call the author of War and Peace?!" Tolstoy's short stories usually have a moral in it such as the lovely short story, "Where Love is, God is." In that, there is a lonely old cobbler named Martin who finds God in the good deeds he does and is reminded of God's love for man. This two volume set is not perfect as it does not have Tolstoy's early 1862 masterpiece, The Cossacks. I guess that was just too big to fit into the Collected SHORTER Fiction. That is only a minor quibble. The beauty and marvel frothing and bubbling from the other stories in this precious set dwarf that complaint and make this reviewer forget of having even thought about mentioning it at all. Buy this set. You will treasure it for the rest of your days and will always look forward to pulling out one of these two volumes off your shelf, blowing off the dust and partaking in the magic of Tolstoy, the wise old storyteller.

This is a really handsome book and with it's companion (vol. 2) makes a great addition to world lit. on your bookshelf. Some stories are novellas and some are only a page or two long but they're all artfully written and come from old established translations from late 19th century/early 20th. For anyone who wants to tackle WAR AND PEACE or ANNA KARENINA they should read a little of Tolstoy's more accessible short works and they can't go wrong here. My only complaint (and this goes for all Everyman series books) is that the text printed on the other side is annoyingly visible making reading a bit of a chore. This is a major blunder for any series of books purporting to capture the world's best literature but if you can ignore this (or at least get used to it) this would be a smart purchase because the price is right (if you buy it here).