Ben Douglass Digest

    This 1862 novel, in a vibrant new translation by Peter Constantine, is Tolstoy's semi-autobiographical story of young Olenin, a wealthy, disaffected Muscovite who joins the Russian army and travels to the untamed frontier of the Caucasus in search of a more authentic life.  While striving to adopt the rough and ready lifestyle of the local Cossacks, Olenin falls in love with a free-spirited girl whose fiance turns out to be a formidable opponent. Showcasing the philosophical insight that would characterize Tolstoy's later masterpieces, this long overdue translation is a revelation.

 In 1851 Leo Tolstoy enlisted in the Russian army and was sent to the Caucasus to help defeat the Chechens.  During this war a great Avar chieftain, Hadji Murad, broke with the Chechen leader Shamil and fled to the Russians for safety.  Months later, while attempting to rescue his family from Shamil's prison, Hadji Murad was pursued by those he had betrayed and, after fighting the most heroic battle of his life, was killed. Tolstoy, witness to many of the events leading to Hadji Murad's death, set down this story with painstaking accuracy to preserve for future generations the horror, nobility, and destruction inherent in war.  By and far, one of the best "anti-war" stories of the time. Also, what makes this such a great story is that Hadji Murad is a deeply complex human being with layer upon layer of nuance.