INTRODUCTION IN an age of materialism like our own the phenomenon of spiritual power is as significant and inspiring as it is rare. No longer associated with the "divine right" of kings, it has survived the downfall of feudal and theocratic systems as a mystic personal emanation in place of a coercive weapon of statecraft. Freed from its ancient shackles of dogma and despotism it eludes analysis. We know not how to gauge its effect on others, nor even upon ourselves. Like the wind, it permeates the atmosphere we breathe, and baffles while it stimulates the mind with its intangible but...

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. On comparing with the original Russian some English translations of Count Tolstoi's works, published both in this country and in England, I concluded that they were far from being accurate. The majority of them were retranslations from the French, and I found that the respective transitions through which they had passed tended to obliterate many of the beauties of the Russian language and of the peculiar characteristics of Russian life. A satisfactory translation can be made only by one who understands the language and SPIRIT of the Russian people. As Tolstoi's writings...

Presentation This novel first appeared in serial form in the periodical Rousky vestnik (The Russian Messenger or The Russian Courier), but Tolstoy entered into conflict with the editor-in-chief Mikhail Katkov about the content of the last episode. The novel, therefore, appeared in its entirety only when it was published as a book. The soap opera nevertheless achieved great success in nineteenth-century Russia, with some women in the world going so far as to send their servants to print to determine the content of the next episodes. Anna Karenina portrays the Russian nobility, on which Tolstoy...

Presentation This novel first appeared in serial form in the periodical Rousky vestnik (The Russian Messenger or The Russian Courier), but Tolstoy entered into conflict with the editor-in-chief Mikhail Katkov about the content of the last episode. The novel, therefore, appeared in its entirety only when it was published as a book. The soap opera nevertheless achieved great success in nineteenth-century Russia, with some women in the world going so far as to send their servants to print to determine the content of the next episodes. Anna Karenina portrays the Russian nobility, on which Tolstoy...

Extract: On the 12th of August, 18- (just three days after my tenth birthday, when I had been given such wonderful presents), I was awakened at seven o'clock in the morning by Karl Ivanitch slapping the wall close to my head with a fly-flap made of sugar paper and a stick. He did this so roughly that he hit the image of my patron saint suspended to the oaken back of my bed, and the dead fly fell down on my curls. I peeped out from under the coverlet, steadied the still shaking image with my hand, flicked the dead fly on to the floor, and gazed at Karl Ivanitch with sleepy, wrathful eyes. He,...

Olyenin, a young Russian aristocrat, decides to leave the society of Moscow and enter the army as a junior officer for service in the Caucasus. There are a number of reasons for his decision. He squandered a large part of his estate, he is bored with what he considers an empty life, and he is in some embarrassment because of a love affair in which he could not reciprocate the woman's love. Olyenin leaves the city after a farewell party one cold, wintry night. He and his servant, Vanyusha, travel steadily southward toward the Caucasus, land of the Cossacks. The farther Olyenin goes on his...

INTRODUCTION After making a production of Redemption, the chief feeling of the producer is one of deep regret that Tolstoi did not make more use of the theatre as a medium. His was the rare gift of vitalization: the ability to breathe life into word-people which survives in them so long as there is any one left to turn up the pages they have made their abode. In the world of writing, many terms that should be illuminative have become meaningless. So often has the barren been called "pregnant," the chill of death "the breath of life," the atrophied "pulsating," that when we really come upon a...

Extract: CHAPTER I. All the efforts of several hundred thousand people, crowded in a small space, to disfigure the land on which they lived; all the stone they covered it with to keep it barren; how so diligently every sprouting blade of grass was removed; all the smoke of coal and naphtha; all the cutting down of trees and driving off of cattle could not shut out the spring, even from the city. The sun was shedding its light; the grass, revivified, was blooming forth, where it was left uncut, not only on the greenswards of the boulevard, but between the flag-stones, and the birches, poplars...

Read Tolstoy's original War and Peace without the need for a dictionary with this insightful edition. Bringing you nine chapters from various parts of War and Peace, this edition's Russian and English word-by-word translation are displayed side by side on separate pages, the stress labeled in bold for each Russian word, thereby eliminating the need for a dictionary. Study Tolstoy's most moving passages from War and Peace with ease. This edition is a must for Russian language learners and Russian literature lovers wanting to read Tolstoy's original story.

Love and tragedy can go hand in hand when a young man falls in love with already married aristocrat, Anna. She is reluctant to leave her husband for the new love interest due to laws and rules handed down by the state, the church and her social standing. Eventually the two flee to Italy where they can finally be free to be together but a great shunning begins and Anna must overcome the new problems.