The Kreutzer Sonata in Never too Late to Read Classics

Feb 02, 2021 Chrissie rated it it was ok

Shelves: philo-psychol, 2021-read, free, classics, hf, russia, relationships, audible-plus-us, crime

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Leo Tolstoy's 1889 novella The Kreutzer Sonata is named after Beethoven’s sonata of the same name. It figures in the story told.

A few Russians sit in a railway wagon. They eye each other. Conversation is made. A picturesque beginning draws one in--the scene in the wagon is both atmospheric and realistic. Some passengers have been traveling for days. Others have recently climbed on board One, with curly hair and having a peculiar nervous tic, he emits a cut off laugh ...more

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Jun 10, 2021 Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, 1001-books, russian-lit, read-in-2021

Tolstoy's novella The Kreutzer Sonata is disturbing and will make you question the author's views of women. However, the writing is so impeccably written that you cannot help but find yourself immerse in the world of his main character. He is a suspicious, jealous, methodical, and crazed man who is confessing the murder of his wife. Because of its first person narrative and direct style, the book is an intimate look inside the mind of this man. It makes the story feel more claustrophobic and voy ...more

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Feb 09, 2012 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: e-books, fiction-19th-century, read-2012, russian-fiction, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, novellas

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Free download available at Gutenberg Project.

Opening lines:
Travellers left and entered our car at every stopping of the train. Three persons, however, remained, bound, like myself, for the farthest station: a lady neither young nor pretty, smoking cigarettes, with a thin face, a cap on her head, and wearing a semi-masculine outer garment; then her companion, a very loquacious gentleman of about forty years, with baggage entirely new and arran ...more

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May 08, 2022 Sharon rated it it was ok

Shelves: library-book, classics, 2022-read, translated, russian

I can’t believe I made it through this entire story. At first, I was surprised at how easy it was to read with regard to language, word choice, etc. I had expected it to be more difficult - however, it was the actual content that was so difficult.

I’m not overly familiar with Tolstoy (I’ve barely read any of his works), so I can only go by what is in this book, and in this book, he has such a strong hatred for women it’s palpable. He loves sex, but hates women, and somehow I think hates himself a I can’t believe I made it through this entire story. At first, I was surprised at how easy it was to read with regard to language, word choice, etc. I had expected it to be more difficult - however, it was the actual content that was so difficult.

I’m not overly familiar with Tolstoy (I’ve barely read any of his works), so I can only go by what is in this book, and in this book, he has such a strong hatred for women it’s palpable. He loves sex, but hates women, and somehow I think hates himself as well.

-- THERE WILL BE SPOILERS BELOW --

Here are some of my highlights:

“A woman must not have her own way at first. Don’t trust a horse in the field or your wife in your house.” - page 7

(Don't trust your wife in your house? What on earth went on in Tolstoy's mind?)

“All the luxury of life is demanded and maintained by women. Count the factories! A vast proportion of them are manufacturing useless adornments—such as carriages, furniture, trinkets—for women. Millions of men, generations of slaves, perish in slave work in factories merely to satisfy the caprice of women. Women, like queens, hold ninety per cent of the human race as prisoners in slavery and hard labor. And all this because they have been kept down, deprived of their equal rights with men! And so they avenge themselves by taking advantage of our passions, by ensnaring us in their nets. Yes, everything comes from that.” - page 22

(So, since men want sex, and women want things, men must slave away for their entire life to buy things to keep women happy - so they can have sex. And, the fault of all this rests with women, of course.)

“…when nine out of ten men who go to the altar do not believe in the sacrament and do not even believe that what they are doing is binding; when out of a hundred men there is scarcely one who has not been married before, and out of fifty not more than one who is not ready to deceive his wife on any convenient pretext; when the majority regard going to church as merely a special condition for possession of a certain woman—think what a terrible significance, in view of all this, all these details must have!” - page 24

(Men only marry women to have sex, and that is all. What does this say about Tolstoy and his relationship with his wife? He goes on to compare marriage as being like a sale of women. Wow).

“We were like two convicts fastened to one chain, hating each other, each poisoning the life of the other and striving not to recognize the fact.” - page 43

(Damn, dude.)

Dare I mention that after he thrust the knife into his wife, he removed it, saw what he had done, and then went into the other room and TOOK A NAP.

“It is bad to use means to prevent the birth of children, both because so doing frees people from the cares and troubles caused by children, which should serve to redeem sexual love, and also because it comes very near to what is most revolting to our conscience—murder.” - page 83

(Birth control is the same as murder, got it. Tolstoy would fit right in with the Conservatives of today, wouldn’t he?)

“The publication of The Kreutzer Sonata was a significant intellectual event around the world. Its publication, at the beginning of the 1890s, set off an explosive debate in Europe, America, and Asia on matters that were then called the “sexual question” and the “woman problem.”” - page 97

My thoughts are spinning. I'm torn between wanting to know more about Tolstoy and learn about why he wrote this, if I can find anything like that, or, simply moving on and forgetting that I ever read this.

I feel like I need to go cleanse my brain now... ...more

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