When Marshal of the Nobility Pozdnyshev suspects his wife of having an affair with her music partner, his jealousy consumes him and drives him to m...
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Feb 12, 2012
Paquita Maria
rated it: 
Lookie here, folks, this is me giving a 4-star rating to a massively sexist, pro-Christian, anti-sex, anti-birth-control novella about a guy who murders his wife for maybe cheating on him, feels justified in doing so, and gets away with it! (All of that plot-reveal is in the book's description, spoiler-markers. This story isn't about that basic series of events, but about a man's rationalization process concerning that quickly-summarized back-story, so keep your dirty mouse-clicks off of my re
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26 comments
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(32 people liked it)
Jan 12, 2012
Shovelmonkey1
rated it: 
Well that was a short, sharp burst of Tolstoy all wrapped up in the pleasingly presented package that is the Great Loves series by Penguin. Constrained to the length of a train journey, two men sharing a carriage also share a secret. One explains to the other how you can be transformed from ardent lover to cold blooded killer within a few short years of marriage. So how does one make the smooth transition from Don Juan to homicidal maniac?
There are some fairly sexist, misogyni More...
7 comments
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(14 people liked it)
May 24, 2011
Jeanette
rated it:
I drew my conclusions about this novella prior to reading Tolstoy's Afterword. In the Afterword, he reveals his intended messages for the book---and also reveals himself to be a serious headcase!
I waited until I'd finished the book before reading Doris Lessing's introduction about Tolstoy's life. He was a total hypocrite, making demands on his wife that were entirely at odds with the "ideal" he promotes in the Afterword.
But no matter. My rating is based on my experi More...
I waited until I'd finished the book before reading Doris Lessing's introduction about Tolstoy's life. He was a total hypocrite, making demands on his wife that were entirely at odds with the "ideal" he promotes in the Afterword.
But no matter. My rating is based on my experi More...
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Jan 19, 2008
Katherine
rated it:
Opening scene: Three passengers on a train are hotly debating the future of marriage. One man, a lawyer working on a divorce case, complains that people and their values have fallen since the old days. His traveling companion, a woman intellectual, argues that the propriety of the old days was harmful to women and that the future of marriage will bring them greater freedom of choice.
And the third passenger disagrees, stating that marriage is bad for men, bad for women, and bad for so More...
And the third passenger disagrees, stating that marriage is bad for men, bad for women, and bad for so More...
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Aug 05, 2011
Tatiana
rated it: 
This must be the most disturbing view of love, sex and marriage I've come across in classical literature. I wish Tolstoy in his time had an opportunity to explore his feelings about his sexuality with a good psychotherapist. According to him, sex is vile and degrading, being sexually attracted to even one's spouse is disgusting, having sex for any reason other than procreation is disgusting, women are disgusting objects of men's disgusting desires. Every person's life goal should be chastity and
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(8 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Tim
rated it:
That dude Pozdnischeff is straight crazy...although he makes some good points about sex ed.
(If you read The Kreuzer Sonata, you should listen to the eponymous Beethoven work. It won't particularly enrich the story for you, but it's a remarkable piece...I think Hilary Hahn has recorded it, and her sensible vibrato and laser-like high notes serve it extraordinarily well.)
(If you read The Kreuzer Sonata, you should listen to the eponymous Beethoven work. It won't particularly enrich the story for you, but it's a remarkable piece...I think Hilary Hahn has recorded it, and her sensible vibrato and laser-like high notes serve it extraordinarily well.)
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Oct 29, 2011
Marius
rated it:
Mare figură Tolstoi ăsta!...
Povestioara e plină de idei exotice. Dar nu aş merge aşa departe ca puritanul de Theodore Roosevelt să spun că Tolstoi e un pervers sexual moralist.
O recomand ca lectură obligatorie pentru cei care vor să se căsătorească. Nu în felul unei povestioare moralizatoare din care să se extragă înţelepciune de viaţă, ci ca o pauză, un respiro înainte de saltul în viaţa de cuplu.
Povestioara e plină de idei exotice. Dar nu aş merge aşa departe ca puritanul de Theodore Roosevelt să spun că Tolstoi e un pervers sexual moralist.
O recomand ca lectură obligatorie pentru cei care vor să se căsătorească. Nu în felul unei povestioare moralizatoare din care să se extragă înţelepciune de viaţă, ci ca o pauză, un respiro înainte de saltul în viaţa de cuplu.
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Aug 04, 2011
Jan
rated it:
Een vertelling in een vertelling. Je wordt niet vrolijker van het beeld van de vrouw, van het huwelijk en van de liefde dat naar voren komt uit deze novelle. Geen wonder dat Tolstoy's vrouw hierop reageerde met een eigen roman.Sofja Tolstaja schreef als reactie'Een zuivere liefde.'
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Jan 18, 2012
Cheryl
rated it:
Beethoven wrote the Kreutzer Sonata during a time of personal crisis while recognizing his encroaching deafness. His music referenced struggle and heroics during this period.
Tolstoy wrote the novella by the same name during a time of religious crisis. Unable to reconcile his behavior with the ideals of religious dogma, his view of life became dark and uncompromising. Love, marriage, sensuality, children were compared with the words of scripture, and none measured up to the rules applie More...
Tolstoy wrote the novella by the same name during a time of religious crisis. Unable to reconcile his behavior with the ideals of religious dogma, his view of life became dark and uncompromising. Love, marriage, sensuality, children were compared with the words of scripture, and none measured up to the rules applie More...
Nov 13, 2011
Madame Charlotte
rated it:
Un homme raconte le drame de sa vie à un voyageur durant un trajet en train. Il a tué sa femme, a été acquitté, et explique ce qui l’a poussé à passer à l’acte.
Ce personnage est profondément exécrable, mais fascinant. Il relate sa vie passée depuis son adolescence jusqu’à son mariage, puis sa vie conjugale, jusqu’à l’inexorable tragédie. Sa vision des choses est abominable et reflète un tempérament instable, presque délirant. D’abord libéré et coureur de jupon, il devient misogyne, coincé, More...
Ce personnage est profondément exécrable, mais fascinant. Il relate sa vie passée depuis son adolescence jusqu’à son mariage, puis sa vie conjugale, jusqu’à l’inexorable tragédie. Sa vision des choses est abominable et reflète un tempérament instable, presque délirant. D’abord libéré et coureur de jupon, il devient misogyne, coincé, More...
Oct 11, 2011
Gonçalo
rated it:
Na boca de um passageiro/narrador e sobre um ritmo semelhante à sonata de Beethoven, Tolstoi vai lançando reflexões em 'Adagio' sobre o papel da família, do casamento, dos médicos, dos filhos...
Com tanto moralismo hodierno, acredito que alguns se incomodem com frases como: "É que só nós, os homens, não sabemos (...) mas as mulheres sabem muito bem que o amor mais sublime, dito poético, não depende das qualidades morais mas da intimidade física, e, além disso, do penteado, da cor More...
Com tanto moralismo hodierno, acredito que alguns se incomodem com frases como: "É que só nós, os homens, não sabemos (...) mas as mulheres sabem muito bem que o amor mais sublime, dito poético, não depende das qualidades morais mas da intimidade física, e, além disso, do penteado, da cor More...
Aug 13, 2011
Proustitute
rated it:
Praised by many as Tolstoy's best short story—or novella, really—I'm shocked that I've never read this until now, if only for the reason that Tolstoy's best inevitably mean one of the best novellas ever written. And The Kreutzer Sonata is definitely that; it's also one of the beginnings of existentialist literature, and I can imagine Camus and even Proust reading this with relish. In a mere hundred or so pages, Tolstoy attacks everything: the oppressive system of gender inequality; the class sys
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Aug 05, 2011
Julie at All Ears
rated it: 
The story is set on a train in Russia where the passengers are debating about the future of marriage. One passenger who had been silent speaks up. He is Pozdnyshev, who is infamous for killing his wife who he suspected of infidelity. The rest of this short novel is told by Pozdnyshev who recounts the story of his marriage and how it led to him murdering his wife. He shares his views on how the act of marriage subjugates the woman and hardly differs from prostitution. He is incredibly extrem
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Jan 04, 2011
Ririenz
rated it:
THE KREUTZER SONATA
Kisah Suami Pencemburu
Penulis : Leo Tolstoy
Penerjemah : Wawan Eko Yulianto
Penerbit : Jalasutra
Cetakan : I, November 2009
Tebal : viii+160 Halaman
Lagi-lagi kudapatkan salah satu karya terbaik dari sastrawan kelas dunia di event Book Fair. Dengan harga miring aku bisa dapatkan salah satu karya Leo Tolstoy. Bukunya memang tipis tetapi isinya benar-benar dahsyat, kriti More...
Kisah Suami Pencemburu
Penulis : Leo Tolstoy
Penerjemah : Wawan Eko Yulianto
Penerbit : Jalasutra
Cetakan : I, November 2009
Tebal : viii+160 Halaman
Lagi-lagi kudapatkan salah satu karya terbaik dari sastrawan kelas dunia di event Book Fair. Dengan harga miring aku bisa dapatkan salah satu karya Leo Tolstoy. Bukunya memang tipis tetapi isinya benar-benar dahsyat, kriti More...
May 03, 2009
Katie
rated it:
This was interesting in that at the same time Tolstoy represented a somewhat current view of feminism (that of being against the objectification of women and sole use of them as objects of pleasure) at the same time it was so full of anti-woman (hate for the very thing that incited such lust and so purposefully and solely lived to do so) that the result is a Hamlet-like monologue that goes back and forth between self-hate at being such a sexual animal (as well as hate toward society for bringing
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Jun 14, 2011
Mark
rated it:
This is a fascinating novella Tolstoy had published in 1889. While reading it I was often amazed that this story is over 100 years old given its topic, the candid discussion of sex, love and lust, and the views Tolstoy expressed.
Though the sum of the story's parts leads Tolstoy to argue a rather simplistic answer (celibacy), many of the parts sound almost modern.
In this story, Tolstoy argues that sex and lust can lead to disastrous consequences, even in a marriage. Throug More...
Though the sum of the story's parts leads Tolstoy to argue a rather simplistic answer (celibacy), many of the parts sound almost modern.
In this story, Tolstoy argues that sex and lust can lead to disastrous consequences, even in a marriage. Throug More...
Jan 16, 2011
Pat
rated it:
The narrator of this story tells us about a conversation he has with a man on a train who introduces himself as the infamous man who has been in all of the papers for murdering his wife. He proceeds to explain to the narrator why he committed the murder and how the very nature of love and sexual attraction between men and women inevitably leads to heartbreak and anger.
It was easy to empathize, if not exactly sympathize, with the murderer and his wife, and there were many facets of thei More...
It was easy to empathize, if not exactly sympathize, with the murderer and his wife, and there were many facets of thei More...
Dec 11, 2010
Madame Charlotte
rated it:
Un homme raconte le drame de sa vie à un voyageur durant un trajet en train. Il a tué sa femme, a été acquitté, et explique ce qui l’a poussé à passer à l’acte.
Ce personnage est profondément exécrable, mais fascinant. Il relate sa vie passée depuis son adolescence jusqu’à son mariage, puis sa vie conjugale, jusqu’à l’inexorable tragédie. Sa vision des choses est abominable et reflète un tempérament instable, presque délirant. D’abord libéré et coureur de jupon, il devient misogyne, coincé, More...
Ce personnage est profondément exécrable, mais fascinant. Il relate sa vie passée depuis son adolescence jusqu’à son mariage, puis sa vie conjugale, jusqu’à l’inexorable tragédie. Sa vision des choses est abominable et reflète un tempérament instable, presque délirant. D’abord libéré et coureur de jupon, il devient misogyne, coincé, More...
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Jan 16, 2012
Natallia
rated it:
Странный осадок остался. С одной стороны повесть пропитана таким женоненавистничеством, что хочется пойти и вытереть руки. Ну совсем не вписывается в школьный образ Толстого. То есть он, конечно, всегда был женоненавистником, но здесь его агрессивность даже пугает. С другой, какая-то правда в этих мыслях есть. Невозможно запихать в одно существо два предназначения - вещь и источник поклонения. Мужчины как всегда всё перепутали и теперь пожинают плоды.:)
Сложный язык повествования. Толстой More...
Сложный язык повествования. Толстой More...
Feb 05, 2012
Annett
rated it: 
Mein erster Tolstoi und wenn ich von diesem auf andere schliessen würde, dann würde ich wohl so schnell keinen wieder in die Hand nehmen. Wahrscheinlich ist das Thema für mich "zu weit weg", denn Enthaltsamkeit als oberstes Ziel in der Manifestation der Liebe zu Gott ist nicht gerade eines meiner Hauptthemen. Aber als ich das Buch vor vielen Jahren gekauft habe, hat mich wohl nur der Name gereizt. Posdnyschew ersticht aus Eifersucht seine Frau und erzählt die Geschichte, die zu diesem
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Nov 12, 2010
Jennifer
rated it:
This story, in one word: radical. Tolstoy had a radical idea and he was NOT afraid to write about it. This book was banned? Yes, I can see how that happened...and understandably so, when the time and place in which he wrote it is taken into consideration. To top it off, he was labeled a "sexual pervert" for writing it. It really isn't perverted by today's standards. This story, mainly about marriage, will stick with me (for better or for worse). It challenged the way I viewed the dynam
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Apr 27, 2011
Tora
rated it:
Utrolig fornøyelig lesning! To menn samtaler i en togkupé. Den ene har drept sin kone fordi hun var utro, og har fullstendig mistet troen på ekteskapet. Samtalen - som forøvrig mest er en monolog, men som også inneholder avbrytelser der den andre arresterer argumentene - dreier seg om hvorvidt det er mulig å leve et liv etter høye etiske standarder som gift. Filosofisk, samfunnskritisk og samtidig følelsesladd.
Og så er det etterordet, skrevet av Tolstoy selv - skrevet fordi han "h More...
Og så er det etterordet, skrevet av Tolstoy selv - skrevet fordi han "h More...
Nov 05, 2011
Cassandre
rated it:
J'étais dans le train. Tolstoï, Beethoven et Pozdnychev aussi. Je reliais Paris - Normandie, mais dans ma tête j'étais transportée sur les rails de Russie, en plein XIXe siècle. Plongée dans La sonate de Kreutzer, les pages et les paysages défilant, je me suis retrouvée dans une fascination mêlée de perplexité. Tolstoï, il est extraordinaire. Je suis loin de partager les thèses et théories exposées dans son roman, mais pourtant, et malgré moi, je ne pouvais pas décrocher les yeux de mon livre. E
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Jun 13, 2011
Cinzia
rated it:
Uhmmm... mi è piaciuto? Direi di sì, ma l'irritazione è stata pari al piacere.
Per certi versi lo trovo assolutamente delirante e non riesco a capire (o meglio non lo so, non conosco in dettaglio la vita dell'autore) se le idee di Pozdnyšev sono tali perché è completamente fuori di testa oppure se quelle sono le idee reali di Tolstoj espresse attraverso il suo personaggio.
In ogni caso, pur tenendo presente l'epoca, la nazionalità e la crisi mistica, il considerare il sesso (tutto il s More...
Per certi versi lo trovo assolutamente delirante e non riesco a capire (o meglio non lo so, non conosco in dettaglio la vita dell'autore) se le idee di Pozdnyšev sono tali perché è completamente fuori di testa oppure se quelle sono le idee reali di Tolstoj espresse attraverso il suo personaggio.
In ogni caso, pur tenendo presente l'epoca, la nazionalità e la crisi mistica, il considerare il sesso (tutto il s More...
Nov 15, 2010
Caitlin
rated it:
A provocative psychological melodrama, a vehicle for Tolstoy's tortuous and contradictory extremist religious and philosophical ideology. At first utterly repulsive in its misogyny, Tolstoy's fable careens suddenly at times into what sounds like prescient feminism--or at least tender humanism--only to lunge back again into the most dangerous kind of vilification of sexuality, femininity, and, indeed, most things human.
This story also fairly begs for a Freudian interpretation, while outward More...
This story also fairly begs for a Freudian interpretation, while outward More...
Sep 18, 2011
gergana
rated it:
Няма начин да не я намразиш (може и да има, но не мога да си представя какъв да е аджеба).. Толкова безобразни мнения, омраза и помия. Също както в Ана Каренина има безброй много отпратки към неговия собствен семеен живот (върху това е построена цялата фабула всъщност) - някъде бях мернала, че жена е била дълбоко огорчена от написването на това нещо. И напълно разбираемо - "Кройцеровата соната" е нещо като манифест на "непорочието". Сексът и изобщо свинската (многократно подч
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Dec 17, 2011
Ensiform
rated it:
A short novella; I read the printed version, not the longer, “privately circulated” lithograph. Translated by Louise & Aylmer Maude. Anyway, it is the confession of a man who murdered his wife when he becomes convinced of her infidelity. Some of the man’s rant is boring or silly: a beastly farrago of 19th century nonsense about man’s passions becoming inflamed from an over-abundance of food, women’s “hysteria” and notions that women enslave men despite their oppression because men make for an
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Jan 31, 2009
Eric
rated it:
Reasons this little story still delights:
1. Madmen on trains. Don't they always give you that gut-wrenching apprehension yet still excite your morbid curiosity?
2. Any who have been gripped by jealousy or suspicion will appreciate Tolstoy's vividly accurate descriptions and expertly-led trip down "Oh my God I can't believe I really felt and acted like that" memory lane.
3. You can tell people you're reading AND listening to the Kreutzer Sonata. Tolstoy wrote one, More...
1. Madmen on trains. Don't they always give you that gut-wrenching apprehension yet still excite your morbid curiosity?
2. Any who have been gripped by jealousy or suspicion will appreciate Tolstoy's vividly accurate descriptions and expertly-led trip down "Oh my God I can't believe I really felt and acted like that" memory lane.
3. You can tell people you're reading AND listening to the Kreutzer Sonata. Tolstoy wrote one, More...
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Aug 30, 2009
Ronny
rated it:
2009#54
ini mah ocehan orang gila di kereta. orang yang merasa diri bermoral, padahal otaknya bejat, sehingga ke dunia luar dia melihat segala sesuatunya salah dan bejat (cerminan dari dirinya sendiri yang terdalam). di lain pihak dia menganggap cuma dirinya sendiri yang paling benar. sampai akhirnya segala tindak tanduk istrinya yang biasa2 aja dianggapnya tak bermoral, orang main piano dianggap menutupi bunyi percumbuan, dan ujung2nya dia pun membunuh istrinya.
Tolstoy mampu me More...
ini mah ocehan orang gila di kereta. orang yang merasa diri bermoral, padahal otaknya bejat, sehingga ke dunia luar dia melihat segala sesuatunya salah dan bejat (cerminan dari dirinya sendiri yang terdalam). di lain pihak dia menganggap cuma dirinya sendiri yang paling benar. sampai akhirnya segala tindak tanduk istrinya yang biasa2 aja dianggapnya tak bermoral, orang main piano dianggap menutupi bunyi percumbuan, dan ujung2nya dia pun membunuh istrinya.
Tolstoy mampu me More...
Feb 06, 2009
Bruce
rated it:
How brilliantly Tolstoy creates a mood dark and claustrophobic in this short novella. The compulsion with which Pozdnyshev relates his terrible tale reminded me of Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." And how bitter and crabbed Tolstoy's own philosophy became toward the end of his life. While reading this work I could not get out of my mind the fact that he, while composing it, dictated it to his wife, who was his transcriptionist, his wife who was offended with him for ha
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