Description:
A work unprecedented in world literature, this unique volume contains a new translation of Lev Tolstoy's controversial novella The Kreutzer Sonata, which was initially banned by Russian censors. In addition, available to English readers for the first time is a fascinating and previously neglected constellation of counterstories written by the author's wife and son in direct response to Tolstoy's provocative tale, each a passionate attempt to undo the message of the original work. These radically conflicting tales, accompanied by excerpts from family letters, diaries, notes, and memoirs, provide readers with a vivid and highly revealing case study of the powerful disputes concerning sexuality and gender roles that erupted within the cultural context of late-nineteenth-century Russian, as well as European, society.
Review Quotes: "Fictive words with the bite of reality to them were weapons of choice not only for Tolstoy, but for his wife and children. In this fascinating assemblage of stories and counterstories against one of the late great tales, Michael Katz shows us the family fighting back."--Caryl Emerson, A. Watson Armour III University Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Princeton University
--Caryl Emerson