Entre lo divino y lo humano

by Leo Tolstoy

Es una brillante obra de Tolstoi inédita en castellano, una historia tejida de amor, obstruida por el orgullo y el clasismo imperante, de ambiciones obligadas y prosperidad, de tormentos autoinfligidos, de miedos, de la creencia en la fe en Dios quien lo ve todo y castiga a quienes no obran según sus Escrituras y, de este modo, viven atemorizados y con el propósito de saldar sus pecados. Pero sobre todo de la lucha interior que todo ser humano libra como respuesta al progreso y a la educación, de inteligencia y de esperanza.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Short Stories, Philosophy, Russia, Religion, Literature

108 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1906

About the author

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; most appropriately used Liev Tolstoy; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.

His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reviews

[Issa Deerbany · Rating 4 out of 5]

المعارضة السياسية للحكومة وطريقة الكفاح ضدها.

كالعادة تولستوي يحبذ التغيير بدون اراقة الدماء وعدم استخدام العنف والاغتيالات السياسية لانه تكون نتيجتها دائما عكسية على الشعب.

من خلال ثلاثة نماذج للسجناء السياسيين يحلل تولستوي المنهج المتبع للمعارضة والنتيجة التي افضت اليها.

ايضا لا تقاوم الشر بالشر

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book includes selections from Tolstoy's Sunday Reading Series. I'll have to get that book. All the very short stories are well done, but the last one - entitled "Sisters" was my favorite. "The Requirements of Love" was also very special in that it explores the difficult decisions involved in being willing to live for others. "Divine and Human" is unforgetable.

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories either originally written or slightly edited by Leo Tolstoy. He felt that this book was the most valuable book any person could ever read. While I might not go quite that far, it was an excellent book. The focus of each story is how a man might come to be closer to God. They're fantastic little parables that are short enough to read in the few moments you may have that day, but still leave you thinking after you're done. I'd like to add it to my own collection one day.

[Regan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I keep this book at work because the short stories are perfect when I need a quick break. Within just a few words, I am immersed in the lives of these characters. Short stories don't typically grab me because they lack character development - not true with Tolstoy. I find this to be so refreshing; if I haven't read anything in a while, I jump into one of these stories and am immediately filled to the brim with passion for reading.

And then, sadly, I wonder why I don't have a job working with books. :)

[julieta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una pequeña obra maestra, esta historia de Tolstoy, de un hombre que vive su vida entera temiendo un castigo de Dios, que cuando ve que no llega en la forma en que se lo imagina, deja de creer en el. Es una belleza, y lo que más me encantó es la pregunta, dejar de creer en Dios, digamos, perder la fe, te hace perder la fe en todo? en los seres humanos, en el amor, en el respeto a la vida? Cuando este hombre se da cuenta de que en realidad no le va a pasar nada, duda de Dios, y eso lo hace dudar hasta de sus hijos. Es duro y hermoso. Tolstoy es un genio, para mi sus libros siempre tienen una claridad que con unas pocas paginas, te dice todo lo que te tiene que decir, y más. Me encantó la historia, igual porque últimamente me cuestiono mucho la relación humana-divina, la necesidad de los humanos de sentir que existe alguien en el más allá, que da cierto orden al universo, no se, pero este libro realmente es hermoso, porque lo plantea desde otro lado, no es que te lleguen castigos, como te anunciaba la iglesia, es que el verdadero castigo es no creer en que existe alguien por encima de todo, aunque eso solo sea para darte paz.
Muy recomendado!

[Derek Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great compilation of Tolstoy's latter, and more spiritually-centered, short stories. They are wonderful and usually light reading. The translation is outstanding as well.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing!!! learn life lessons

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book definitely turned me on to Tolstoy and makes me want to read some of what he considers the greatest short stories ever written in his other book “the circle of reading.” Not every one of the shorts in this book really hit me all that hard but there is something really poignant about the way he writes narratives and doesn’t always answer the central questions they propose. I’m not a religious person whatsoever but these stories helped me connect with some philosophical Christian ideas that I hadn’t been confronted with before. Still not enough to win me over on the whole religion thing, but I really do appreciate the author’s philosophy and hopefully will keep a more open mind in the future about spirituality.

[Eric Hollen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible collection of stuff written in the waning years of Tolstoy’s life. It’s an interesting sampling of stories, what some might consider novellas, parables, diary entries, and Tolstoys reworkings of fiction by authors like Hugo and Maupassant. As a collection it does a good job of showing the range of Tolstoys beliefs in his later life, his critiques of poverty, Tsarist Russia, the evil or indifference of man, and his salves, a spirituality without borders (namely Christianity but he accepts the impulse behind other religions,) art, the brotherhood of man. “Kornei Vasilev,” “Why Did It Happen,” and “Divine and Human” are masterpieces.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top tier 5/100

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve heard a lot of great things about Tolstoy & plan to read some of his other works. This book is a collection of his short stories that were recently translated into English.

A lot of the stories are vivid and have an interesting plot. However, I found the ends of these stories to be very unsatisfying. I liked how his philosophy bled into the stories he wrote, but I only found two stories to have a nice intellectually challenging end.

It was hard/difficult to find meaning in a number of his other writings, although I am sure they had philosophical underpinnings.

Was a quick read but would not recommend.

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have not read much from Leo Tolstoy, but that will definitely change. This book right here has changed my life and has made me more aware of how fortunate I am to have what I have. This book is broken down into three different stories and each has a powerful message. The first one, What For?, is a story about a girl who falls in love with a man. The man is sent to war and she sets out on a journey to find him. Once he finds him they start a life together… but that life soon takes a tragic turn that leads the main character, Albina, to ask herself the question; what for? A question that readers will also contemplate. I wish I could relive the first time reading this book, I was hooked.

[Danna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a story by Tolstoy titled, "Where Love Is There God Is". It is the basis for a film made by byutv. What I discovered are many volumes of short stories about man and man, man and God and man and God and man. They all lead the reader to faith and an affirmation of God's existence and the joy of moral and ethical living. One I enjoyed was about a man who is imprisoned but somehow finds a copy of a book (The New Testament) that touches his heart. He determines to live according to its precepts in spite of his circumstances.

[Javier Muñoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

La historia me pareció perfectamente integrable a la novela Resurrección: se repiten varios tópicos fundamentales, como la figura del General con su poder para otorgar indultos, los reos de la Revolución, y una trama centrada en la transformación moral y existencial del personaje (Personaje o héroe principal que vemos que va cambiando según avanza el relato). Todo ello enmarcado en un enfrentamiento con la finitud, que es, según Camus en El mito de Sísifo, el único problema verdaderamente serio del que debería ocuparse la filosofía.

[Rachel Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Then why do I ask myself about this? Why? Really, why? Rather than asking these things, I need to live like I was when I wrote this letter. Because we were all sentenced to death, a long time ago, all of us, eternally—and yet we all live. And we live with joy only when…we love. Yes, when we love. When I wrote this letter, I was in love, and I felt good. And that’s how we need to live. And it’s possible to live like this, everywhere and always, in prison or free, now and tomorrow and till the very end.”

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding little collection of parables written or adapted by Tolstoy, each of which prompts thought on our relationship with God and humankind. Admittedly there were two or three that were less interesting, but overall I found myself at the conclusion of this book even more enamored with Tolstoy's writing and particularly with his thoughtful approach to significant Christian themes and ideas.

[Pamela Caballero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joyita de poco más de 100 páginas donde Tolstoi nos revela una etapa de la vida de Trochim (protagonista) y de cómo una acción que comete marca toda su vida, al punto de vivir atemorizado, una lucha interna por la creencia de Dios, de ese ser superior capaz de ver todo y castigar a quien ha pecado.
¿Qué somos sin fe? Dejar de creer nos libera o, por el contrario, nos ata a una duda constante, a desconfiar de uno mismo y de todos los que nos rodean, al punto de que vivir se vuelve un castigo.

[Cecilia Rolón · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leon Tolstoi escribe de una manera maravillosa y muy directa. Además, entrecruza debates éticos con lo lírico, exponiendo una crítica social a través de las voces de los personajes. Me sirvió para reflexionar, siendo ameno el formato ya que expresa sus mensajes a través de la narración (no en un ensayo).
Se lee rapidísimo y te adentrás en el mundo de los personajes desde la primera hoja. Me encantaría seguir leyendo más del autor.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories all broadly fit within Tolstoy’s aesthetic vision of What Is Art? lauding the fairy tale or simple folk story as an immediately graspable parable that is also profound. They of course tend didactic, but that’s the point, and it is enjoyable in the same way as the kinds of movies and stories that get revisited during the Christmas season.

[Suparna Salahuddin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a collection of short stories which were mostly written by Tolstoy and few of them were edited by him. Each story conveys message of morality. I encouraged my two daughters to read few of them too.

[Daniel Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories were the heart and soul of my 2019 summer. I read them all several times over as I sat on the bridge listening to the James river flow beneath me. Tolstoy may have been unorthodox in some of his views, but they explained confusion to me. For me, "it is enough, it will suffice".

[_Liebert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similar to moral parables with their combination of simplicity and pious thought, while there are thus those I see barely anything in, each to the last ends with an profoundly elegant expression of Tolstoy's grace and compassion.

[Crystal Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful addition to anyone's library.

[Stella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is must read book for all. I learned so much.
I just love Tolstoy! so amazing!

[Henri Dobbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t recommend these short stories highly enough with Divine and Human, Sisters and A Coffee House in the City of Surat being my favourite.

[julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

the chicken egg story and the principles of love story are the best ones tbh

[Sindre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historisk interessant hvis en vil lese om Russland på slutten av 1800t., men var for kort til å bidra med mer.

[NotMe · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐️

[Kerri]

Lost interest in reading

[Mart B · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who wrestle with his big stories like war and peace. Leo's short stories packed a punch with their lessons in life