2 h 11 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What is a fortune worth when the road disappears beneath the snow?
Vasili Andreevich Brekhunov wants to buy a grove cheaply, and he cannot bear to lose the deal. The prosperous merchant sets out by sleigh with Nikita, his patient laborer, into the Russian winter. As wind drives snow across the fields, a business journey becomes a struggle against a storm that leaves them barely able to see their horse.
In Master and Man, Leo Tolstoy brings two different lives into close quarters. Vasili trusts his wealth and will; Nikita meets hardship calmly and tends their horse, Mukhorty, with care. As the cold closes in, the story turns inward. What does it mean to live for yourself, and what might it mean to live for someone else?
What you’ll discover
- Ambition against the storm Follow a merchant whose hunger for profit carries him into dangerous open country.
- A quiet strength Meet Nikita, whose patience and gentle care stand beside his master's restless drive.
- The vanishing road Feel the journey tighten as drifting snow hides the way ahead.
- Two lives laid bare Look closely at how wealth and poverty shape two men's thoughts in the cold.
- A question of conscience Explore the gap between building a fortune and finding meaning beyond yourself.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who like a short, tense story with a moral at its center, and anyone curious about Tolstoy but wary of his long novels. If you want a fast plot with many characters, you may find it too spare.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A merchant who wants more
- Nikita the laborer joins the trip
- The road disappears in the snow
- Out again and lost in the storm
- Two ways of facing the cold
- What the story is about and how it works
Who’s who
- Vasili Andreevich BrekhunovA proud, energetic merchant and church elder who wants to buy a grove cheaply and trusts his own will and wealth.
- NikitaA patient, poor laborer of about fifty, once a heavy drinker, now sober, who serves Vasili quietly and meets hardship calmly.
- MukhortyThe bay gelding that pulls the sleigh, tended gently by Nikita and often wiser about the road than either man.
- Vasili's wifeThe merchant's wife at home in Kresty, who sees the pair off as the weather turns uncertain.
- The peasant family at GrishkinoVillagers who offer the travelers tea and shelter from the storm, and who give Vasili a real chance to stop.
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Maître et serviteur
by Léon Tolstoï· 1895
A merchant and his worker lose their way in snow.
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Language: Français
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A merchant who wants more
The story opens in a Russian village called Kresty, on a winter day in the 1800s, just after a church feast. Vasili Andreevich Brekhunov is a merchant, a man of some standing, and he serves as the church elder. He is proud of this. He is forty-odd, strong and energetic, and he has built his life around trade and gain.
That morning he is in a hurry. A landowner in a nearby village is selling a grove of trees, and Vasili means to buy it before another dealer gets there. He knows the price should be low if he moves fast and bargains hard. Other buyers are interested, and he fears being beaten to it.
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The author
Leo Tolstoy
1828–1910 · Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Leo Tolstoy was a Russian author born in 1828 at Yasnaya Polyana, where he lived for much of his life. He wrote novels, stories, and essays. War and Peace appeared in 1865–1869 and Anna Karenina in 1875–1877. He died in 1910 at Astapovo, Russia.
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What is Master and Man about?
It tells of a rich merchant and his poor laborer who drive by sleigh through a Russian blizzard to close a land deal. The storm tests the merchant's values and shows how differently the two men face danger.
When was Master and Man written?
Tolstoy published it in 1895, after his religious turn in the late 1870s and 1880s. It is a work of fiction, though it draws on ordinary rural Russian life that he knew well.
Who are Vasili and Nikita in Master and Man?
Vasili Andreevich Brekhunov is a prosperous merchant who treats money as the measure of life. Nikita is his long-serving, poorly paid peasant laborer, patient and humble, who drives the sleigh.
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