Hadji Murad | Leo Tolstoy | One of the greatest novellas ever written

Hadji Murad | Leo Tolstoy | Good Story, Bad Text

books:

Hadji Murad

	Hadji Murad Leo Tolstoy FQ Classics, 2008 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 21 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Hadji Murad (also known as Hadji Murat) is a novel written by Leo Tolstoy and not published until after his death in 1912. The final work of Tolstoy, Hadji Murad is about an Avar revel commander who seeks personal revenge and forges an uneasy alliance with the Russians who he had been previously fighting. Hadji Murad is highly recommended for those who enjoy the writings of Leo Tolstoy and also for those who are discovering Leo Tolstoy works for the first time.

One of the greatest novellas ever written

Certainly, the life and death of Hadji Murad left trenchant impression on young Tolstoy. So much so that Tolstoy wrote this novella few years before he died, and obviously did not intend to publish it. However fortunately it was published against his wish and it turned out to be the one of the most sublime novellas ever. The plot is based on what Tolstoy personally heard about legendary Hadji Murad; The "Red Devil", when he served in Caucasus . you will immediately figure out Tolstoy indeed meticulously researched background information about all Hadji Murad , Shamil business and rapacious Russian expansionism .All of this are conveyed through the objective and impartial lense of a narrator.
It's a great literary work .In spite of it brevity, it succeeds to show whole gamut of human behavior such as cruelty, vanity,avarice,hatred ,betrayal, and heroic courage that could redeem just mentioned humanly follies. And, the subtle moral of story Tolstoy give readers far exceeds the mere scope of historicity and relevance of the story to current situation in Caucasia and the revival of Russian expansionism. For example, there is the death Petrukha Avdeyev which Tolstoy intentionally inserted . Petrukha is a minor character ,but through his character Tolstoy shows Russian peasant soldiers and their suffering for vanity of imperial cause. In addition to that , the death of Petrukha and his family reaction , especially his unfaithful wife who is pregnated by another man, contrasted to Hadji Murad's effort to save his family hostaged by Shamil. Stylistically , the work shows the Tolstoy's superb technique. The opening chapter of thistle and its dual purpose both symbol and a mean of flashback is immaculate. It's a novella but its resounding power perhaps excells any book has 10 time longer than "Hadju Murad".

for more information click here

Good Story, Bad Text

This is a little known short novel by Leo Tolstoy, and the story could easily take place today - an ongoing conflict between Russia and Chechen tribesmen leads Chechen warrior Hadji Murad to side with Russia in order to exact vengeance on a chechen rival and enemy. The story and premise are well developed, but the text suffers from an apparent bad translation - which occasionally garbles the syntax, and serves up a host of typographical errors. I would hope the publisher would re-do this translation and test to resurrect this topical story.

Reading history by a great author

This book is perhaps a short story for Tolstoy, but a novel in modern terms.
The prose has a quality of poetry that translation sometimes fails.
It reminds me of Thomas Moore's Lalla Rookh in that the writer
was trying to get across a culture foreign to him. He appears to be more familiar
with the traits and frailty of a Russian nobility that is more English than Russian than the
Islamic Turkish tribesmen that warred with the Russian Empire just prior to the first world war.
Both England and Russia where wide Empires ruled by related families.
Here the Russian Prince bungles a chance to put down the rebellion cheaply
and kills the Islamic holy war prince who has sworn to help him if only he would ransom his family.
Some places the story reaches high poetry levels,
but like some epic poetry it tends to drag out the plot line.
I think the current Russian rulers could learn from this book
and maybe our own leaders as well.
Lalla Rookh An Oriental Romance

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

products you might be interested in