Posthumous Notes of the Hermit Fëdor Kuzmich

"Posthumous Notes of the Hermit Fëdor Kuzmich" ("Посмертные записки старца Федора Кузьмича") (AKA: "Posthumous Notes of the Elder Fëdor Kuzmich") is a short story by Leo Tolstoy written in December, 1905,[1] and then only published in 1912, over the ferocious objections of the tsarist censors and two years after Tolstoy's death.[2] It was never completed.[3]

The preface of the work indicates that it is the fictional notes of the real hermit Feodor Kuzmich.[4] Its translators were Louise Maude and Nigel J. Cooper.[4] It is narrated from the point of view of Alexander I, who suddenly has a religious awakening and discovers that living the lavish, decadent lifestyle of an emperor was wrong and that it was time to live among the common people.[2] According to Solomon Volkov, the theme here is a fictional death (the religious conversion) as a means of escaping one's former life.[2]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Sophia Tolstoy (1985). Sofʹi︠a︡ Andreevna Tolstai︠a︡, O. A. Golinenko (ed.). The Diaries of Sophia Tolstoy. Random House. p. 939. ISBN 9780394528182.
  2. ^ a b c Solomon Volkov (2011). Romanov Riches: Russian Writers and Artists Under the Tsars. Knopf. p. 81. ISBN 9780307595522.
  3. ^ Leo Tolstoy (2015). R.F. Christian (ed.). Tolstoy's Diaries. Vol. 1: 1847-1894. Faber & Faber. ISBN 9780571324040.
  4. ^ a b Leo Tolstoy (2001). Collected Shorter Fiction. Vol. 2. Translated by Louise Maude; Aylmer Maude; Nigel J. Cooper. ISBN 9780375412875.

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