A man confesses his secret guilt to a stranger during a train trip. He remembers introducing his wife to an adventurer, a great seducer and skilled musician, thus beginning a game that will become tragically mocking. Increasingly suspicious one evening, as the couple perform Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata in perfect harmony, the man sets aside all doubt. Driven by jealousy he kills his wife over a betrayal that never actually occurred and without realizing the terrible misunderstanding. Published in 1891 after numerous revisions, The Kreutzer Sonata is among Tolstoy's most significant late works. A harsh indictment against the hidden hypocrisies of married life, an almost Dostoevskian tale for its search for the darkest motives of human gestures, it stands as a merciless account of a story that could be true. The Kreutzer Sonata remains an unscrupulous invitation to reflect on morality, great passions and their effects.
This volume includes The Kreutzer Sonata, Ivan the Fool, A lost opportunity, Polikushka, The candle.
