Divine and Human and Other Stories [Paperback]

Leo Tolstoy (Author), Gordon Spence (Introduction, Translator)

List Price:	CDN$ 17.28
Price:	CDN$ 16.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details
You Save:	CDN$ 0.29 (2%)
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Usually ships within 9 to 10 days.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

	Amazon Price	New from	Used from
Paperback	CDN $16.99	--	--
See # more paperbacks

Product Details

Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: Northwestern University Press; 1 edition (Jun 1 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0810117622
ISBN-13: 978-0810117624
Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.1 x 1 cm
Shipping Weight: 172 g

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

These 16 selections from Tolstoy's final eclectic collection of tales titled The Sunday Reading Stories represent the Russian novelist's turn away from the troubling human condition in Anna Karenina toward a growing preoccupation with moral issues. Some are brief vignettes, like "The Archangel Gabriel," "The Repentant Sinner" and "The Son of a Thief," in which a prospective juror disqualifies himself because he cannot sit in judgment on a thief when his own father committed the same crime. Several of the stories are adaptations--"Stones," from a fable by E. Poselianin; "The Power of Childhood," from Victor Hugo's "The Civil War"; and "Sisters," a poignant retelling of Guy de Maupassant's "In the Port," about a sailor's shore leave at Marseilles. "Divine and Human," set in 1870s Russia at a peak of struggle between the government and revolutionaries, centers around student Anatoly Svetlogub, who is convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the government and spends his final days reading the New Testament. With the exception of a few entries, this is the first English translation of these pieces, which were suppressed first by the czarist government and then by the Soviets. Hardly controversial in the eyes of contemporary American readers, these selections are not particularly noteworthy as critiques of either aristocracy or communism, but rather as lovely artifacts that give us further insight into Tolstoy's notions of wisdom and spirituality. Though this book is published by an evangelical house, the fragments of Tolstoyan theology Sekirin has chosen for it are best described as universalist. All in all, it is a delightful addition to any Tolstoy collection or a fine introduction to his work. (May) FYI: Coincidentally, Northwestern University Press is issuing its own translation of three of the stories included in the Zondervan edition, in a volume also titled Divine and Human. "Berries," "What For?" (titled "Why Did It Happen?" in the Zondervan edition) and "Divine and Human" are translated and introduced by Gordon Spence. Spence's introduction stresses the political import and allegory of the tales, all three of which were written around the time of the Russian revolution of 1905. All the royalties from the publication of Northwestern's edition will go to Amnesty International. ($16.95 paper 168p ISBN 0-8101-1762-2; June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description

Tolstoy's last major work, "A Calendar of Wisdom", is a collection of spiritual and philosophical quotations in the form of daily readings. Each week, he included a story for Sunday, and this text represents a collection of the Sunday readings. The stories show a personal side to Tolstoy's work. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca

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

Share your experience with this product with others

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com ^(beta)

Amazon.com: 4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tolstoy Manages to Shine Through a Careless Translation, Mar 4 2001

By K.E. Culbertson - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Divine and Human and Other Stories (Paperback)

Tolstoy, a writer of such undeniable power, proves perhaps by the most extreme scenario that he is not overrated as a transcendant writer: namely, this book is still vital despite a horribly mangled translation by Gordon Spence. Here's one example of the needless contortions Spence plays with Russian/English: "But what he understood now by him to whom he appealed was something he knew to be the most real of everything he knew." Another gem: ". . .and in the same week he drank not only all the money that he had received for the execution, but also all his relatively expensive clothes. . ." Whaat? How does one drink expensive clothes? Yet another: "With the devoted old nurse. . .she sat in her father's closed sleigh, which had been newly repaired for the long journey, and set out on the long journey." Come on. How about ". . .newly repaired for the long journey, and set out."? Yet to read the story "Divine and Human" is a seminal experience nonetheless. Amazing, Tolstoy has to be a titan to shine through this, yet he does.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great stories, May 19 2001

By Plinio "AC" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Divine and Human and Other Stories (Paperback)

The book contains some short stories; one of them is titled "Divine and Human". The content of the stories varies: some of them are fables with a happy ending others, as for instance "Divine and Human", are stories with bleak atmospheres resembling the ones present in "The Death of Ivan Ilich" or in "Resurrection. The author, anyhow, always deploys a positive message of hope. The author clearly depicts last century Russian peasant's poor conditions of life. These very miserable life styles are the base for the author's reflections and considerations about the morally correct behaviour that rich people should hold in order to be useful to others and to be happier themselves.

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews 4.5 out of 5 stars