Tolstoy short story recommendations?

[genoveva]

Looking for some recommendations of Leo Tolstoy's short stories. Which ones do you highly recommend? Thanks for your suggestions.

[littlelit]

No story by him will ever disappoint you.
I very highly recommend ' God Sees The Truth.... But Waits' whosse alternative title is 'The Long Exile'. I really love it.

If you like it ,you can also go for ' Where Love Is , God Is'.
I confess both the stories made me cry, specially the first one which is my favorite story by Tolstoy.

Do tell me how much you like them?

[Idril]

Like littlelit said, you really can't go wrong with Tolstoy, just grab a short story collection of his and start reading. However, a few of my favorites are, Kreutzer Sonata, The Devil and Lucerne.

[lavendar1]

If you like it ,you can also go for ' Where Love Is , God Is'.
I confess both the stories made me cry...

Me, too. And it made me think about Tolstoy's life-long search for truth and his wrestle with Christianity.

[johann cruyff]

How Much Land Does a Man need? is great.

[MorpheusSandman]

I have one book of Tolstoy's short stories that's excellent: This (http://www.amazon.com/Great-Short-Tolstoy-Perennial-Classics/dp/0060586974/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217706397&sr=1-5) is the one. I fell so in love with The Death and Ivan Ilyich and Hadji Murad that I decided to buy the 2-volume Everyman Library version of his Collected Short Fiction which supposedly contains all of his short stories (but I haven't read them yet).

I'd recommend starting with The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Hadji Murad as well. Another Tolstoy short work that I think is sadly underrated (I never see it mentioned) is The Forged Coupon. Tolstoy follows a wealth of incredibly diverse characters across a narrative all linked by the forging of a coupon. It will take a couple of reads so as to acclimate oneself to the characters, but I think it's one of his best.

I think you can safely avoid his earlier short works if you really just want to read the best. Of his early stuff I've read The Raid and The Woodfelling and found neither all that interesting - perhaps only from the POV of watching him develop his style.

[Parvez Ahmed]

"Alyosha the Pot" is excellent. It is not so lengthy. Tears are guaranteed.

[Tyler Self]

If you're looking for a terrific message I would recommend "Where love is, God is" and "How much land does a man need?"

This thread is so old I bet you've read them by now however...

[horizonrusted]

I agree with all the above and would emphasize the Death of Ivan Ilych, which chilled me to my bones. Family Happiness is an often frustrating (because of its honesty) analysis of relationships.

[wordeater]

Novellas:
The Kreutzer Sonata
The Death of Ivan Ilyitch

Short stories:
How Much Land Does a Man Need?
Alyosha the Pot
Ivan the Fool
The Devil