Leo Tolstoy

The Cossacks

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Andrew John Kinney

I had never read Tolstoy, and I chose The Cossacks to start my Tolstoy education because it is a fairly short novel. It starts slowly, with a lot of interior dialogue, but then picks up the pace as young aristocrat Olenin settles in to life as an Army cadet in a remote post on the Terek River at the border of Russia and Chechnya. He is fleeing Moscow at least in part because of gambling debts, and he needs some time away to save money from his Army salary. His "duties" are pretty light, and he spends most of his time hunting and drinking with the Cossacks. Tolstoy's description of duty at the Cossack guardpost on the Terek River was immediately recognizable to me as a true description of Army life in the field - lots of boredom with occasional terror. It reminded me of service on the DMZ in Korea. 

Tolstoy's description of the forests of the region bring them to life, and make the natural landscape almost another character in the book. In the forest one day, Olenin has a revelation that he is one with the universe, and it is his task to love and help others.

But soon Olenin begins to fall in love with Maryanka, the most beautiful woman in the village where he is quartered, despite her being engaged to the dashing young Cossack, Lukashka.. He realizes that marrying her would bring disgrace to him in Moscow society ("Who marries a Cossack girl?", they would say), but he is drawn to her, and she begins to accept the idea of marrying him. Olenin begins to see the superficiality of Moscow society as contrasted to the down to earth Cossack way of life, and he tells Maryanka he will live with her in the village when they are married. The description of a young man falling in love with an idealized woman is well-written, and it makes you wonder if this is autobiographical.

I will avoid a spoiler with regard to the ending. Once past the first few chapters, I found this book to be a page-turner, not at all what I expected, and I was impressed by Tolstoy's character development and descriptive ability. His mystical and anti-war side also is on display, if only briefly.

I would recommend this book to someone who would like to get a sense of Tolstoy, but is not ready to tackle War and Peace.