The Kreutzer Sonata and Other StoriesWhile "The Kreutzer Sonata" caused a public sensation, Tolstoy's wife, Sonya, was hurt and furious that he should have enriched his scathing indictment of marriage with private details from theri own life together. Tolstoy, during two years of obsessive unhappiness, had become convinced that the idea of a "Christian marriage" was an impossibility. Here he lets loose all his frustration and disgust at human sexuality, and the humiliating, ungodly, sensual tie that binds men to women. The curious result, part self-lacerating, confession, part Christian polemic, is moving, above all, as the story of a man whose sexual jealousy, inflamed by guilt, drives him to murder his wife. |
Contents
The Kreutzer Sonata | 25 |
The Devil | 119 |
The Forged Coupon | 175 |
After the Ball | 255 |
Postface to the Kreutzer Sonata | 267 |
Alternative Conclusion to The Devil | 283 |
Notes | 286 |
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Page 9 - For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.