The Cossacks and Other Stories

THE COSSACKS is one of the finest portrayals in all Russian literature. Written in part in 1852 while Tolstoy was serving in the army of the Caucasus (though not published until 1862, three years before the first installment of his epic WAR AND PEACE), this novel is rich in the descriptions of that superb region.

In a uniquely Russian form, this story is the old romantic European drama of "The Noble Savage." The young hero, Olenin, an educated aristocrat like Tolstoy, comes to the Caucasus to find himself. Olenin falls in love with a young Cossack girl, Maryanka, She shreds his cherished control and refinement, and the desires she awakes in him take his emotions by storm.