Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Die Kosaken
Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers who love a short, vivid novel with a strong sense of place, and anyone who has wished to start life over somewhere simpler. A love story and questions of belonging unfold in a Cossack village.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
The Cossacks is a short novel by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1863. Tolstoy drew it from his own years in the Caucasus in the early 1850s, when he left a restless life in Moscow and served in the army near the Terek River. He began it as a young man and finished it when he was in his thirties, and you can feel both the memory and the distance in its pages.
The story follows Dmitri Olenin, a rich young nobleman who is tired of society, in debt and unsure what to do with his life. He goes south to the mountains and settles in a Cossack village, where people live by hunting, fishing, wine and war. You get a love story, a portrait of a village, and a question that Tolstoy asked all his life: how should a person live honestly? The book begins with Olenin's departure from Moscow, so let us start there.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A bored nobleman leaves Moscow behindFree
- 2The mountains and the village on the Terek
- 3Uncle Eroshka teaches another way to live
- 4Lukashka, the frontier, and the danger across the river
- 5Love for Maryanka and what it asks of him
- 6How Tolstoy tells it: nature, contrast and honest doubt
Punkt 1 von 6
A bored nobleman leaves Moscow behind
The novel opens in Moscow on a winter night. Dmitri Olenin is about to leave the city, and his friends have gathered to see him off. He is young, orphaned, wealthy and used to pleasure, but he feels that his days have been wasted. He has run up debts, he has loved without commitment, and he has begun many things without finishing any.
He decides to join the army as a cadet and serve in the Caucasus. Part of him wants a fresh start. Part of him wants adventure and the chance to be brave, as the books of his day promised a soldier could be. He takes his servant Vanyusha, his horses and his belongings, and he sets out on a long road south.
Tolstoy lets us see the gap between what Olenin believes and what is true. He tells himself that he is leaving everything behind, yet he carries his habits, his money and his sense of rank with him. He is sincere, but he is also fond of his own feelings.
This opening matters because it sets the question for the whole book. Can a man simply decide to become a new person? Olenin thinks that a change of place will do the work. The rest of the novel tests that hope, scene by scene.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Dmitri Olenin
- Dmitri Olenin is a wealthy young Russian nobleman who seeks a different life among Maryanka's fellow villagers.
- Maryanka
- Maryanka is a proud young Cossack woman, Ulita's daughter and Lukashka's intended bride, who attracts Olenin's attention.
- Lukashka
- Lukashka is an admired young Cossack soldier whose expected marriage to Maryanka places him in contrast with Olenin.
- Uncle Eroshka
- Uncle Eroshka is a talkative, generous Cossack hunter who befriends Olenin and shares his pleasures and beliefs.
- Beletsky
- Beletsky is a fashionable fellow officer who brings society manners to the frontier and advises Olenin about Maryanka.
- Vanyusha
- Vanyusha is Olenin's loyal servant, accompanying his master from Moscow and attending to his household in the village.
- Ulita
- Ulita is Maryanka's mother and Olenin's landlady, concerned with her household and the interests of her family.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 64,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 4 h 15 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Die Kosaken
What is The Cossacks by Tolstoy about?
It follows Dmitri Olenin, a young Russian nobleman who leaves Moscow for a Cossack village in the Caucasus. He hopes to find a more honest life, and falls in love with a Cossack woman, Maryanka.
Is The Cossacks based on a true story?
It is fiction, but it draws on Tolstoy's own army service in the Caucasus in the early 1850s. Olenin is partly a portrait of the author as a young man. It was published in 1863.
Who are the Cossacks in the novel?
They are frontier settlers and warriors who live along the Terek River in the Caucasus. They farm, hunt and make wine, and the men guard the border against raids from the mountains.
Is The Cossacks hard to read?
No. It is short and clear, and it moves at a steady pace. The story is simple to follow and rich in landscape.
What is the main message of The Cossacks?
Tolstoy asks whether a person can escape their class and habits by changing place. He shows the appeal of a simple life close to nature, and also the limits of that dream.