{"product_id":"the-cossacks-introduction-by-john-bayley-9780679431312","title":"The Cossacks: Introduction by John Bayley","description":"\u003cp\u003eA brilliant short novel inspired by Leo Tolstoy's experience as a soldier in the Caucasus, \u003ci\u003eThe Cossacks \u003c\/i\u003ehas all the energy and poetry of youth while also foreshadowing the great themes of Tolstoy's later years. His naïve hero, Olenin, is a young nobleman who is disenchanted with his privileged and superficial existence in Moscow and hopes to find a simpler life in a Cossack village. As Olenin foolishly involves himself in their violent clashes with neighboring Chechen tribesmen and falls in love with a local girl, Tolstoy gives us a wider view than Olenin himself ever possesses of the brutal realities of the Cossack way of life and the wild, untamed beauty of the rugged landscape. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis novel of love, adventure, and male rivalry on the Russian frontier--completed in 1862, when the author was in his early thirties--has always surprised readers who know Tolstoy best through the vast, panoramic fictions of his middle years. Unlike those works, \u003ci\u003eThe Cossacks \u003c\/i\u003eis lean and supple, economical in design and execution. But Tolstoy could never touch a subject without imbuing it with his magnificent many-sidedness, and so this book bears witness to his brilliant historical imagination, his passionately alive spiritual awareness, and his instinctive feeling for every level of human and natural life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Everyman's Library\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/10\/1994\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780679431312\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.73lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.36h x 5.20w x 0.69d","brand":"Leo Tolstoy","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52259527196853,"sku":"9780679431312","price":22.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_dd5c0f36-c4c4-46c5-b2ca-204339ff31e6.jpg?v=1771341994","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-cossacks-introduction-by-john-bayley-9780679431312","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}