Collected Shorter Fiction, Volume 1

CHRONOLOGY

DATE

AUTHOR’S LIFE

LITERARY CONTEXT

1828

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy born 28 August at Yasnaya Polyana, his father’s estate 130 miles south of Moscow.

1830

Death of his mother.

Stendhal:

Scarlet and Black

.

Pushkin:

Boris Godunov

.

1832

1833

Pushkin:

Eugene Onegin

.

1835

Balzac:

Old Goriot

.

1836

The family moves to Moscow.

Gogol:

The Government Inspector

.

1837

Death of his father.

Pushkin dies after a duel.

Dickens:

Oliver Twist

(to 1838).

1838

Death of his grandmother.

1840

Lermontov:

A Hero of Our Time

.

1841

On the death of their guardian (an aunt), the Tolstoy children move to Kazan to live with another aunt.

Lermontov killed in a duel.

1842

Loses his virginity. Starts to read Rousseau.

Gogol:

Dead Souls Part 1, The Overcoat

.

1843

Dickens:

Martin Chuzzlewit

(to 1844).

1844

Enters Kazan University.

Thackeray:

Barry Lyndon

.

1846

Dostoevsky:

Poor Folk, The Double

.

1847

Inherits Yasnaya Polyana and leaves Kazan University without graduating. Suffering from a venereal disease. Returns to Yasnaya Polyana and attempts to institute a programme of social reform directed at the peasants.

Herzen:

Who is to Blame?

Goncharov:

An Ordinary Story

.

Belinsky:

Letter to Gogol

.

Charlotte Brontë:

Jane Eyre

.

Emily Brontë:

Wuthering Heights

.

Thackeray:

Vanity Fair

(to 1848).

Herzen:

From the Other Shore

(to 1851).

Turgenev:

A Sportsman’s Notebook

(to 1852).

1848

Goes to Moscow.

HISTORICAL EVENTS

France: July Revolution.

Rebellion in Poland (to 1831).

Great Britain: First Reform Act.

Great Britain: Factory Act.

Great Britain: Accession of Queen Victoria.

First Russian railway line constructed.

Ban on sale of individual peasants.

Tsar Nicholas I visits England.

Herzen leaves Russia.

Revolution in France: Second Republic declared.

First Californian Gold Rush.

DATE

AUTHOR’S LIFE

LITERARY CONTEXT

1849

Goes to St Petersburg, studies law for a time. Becomes local magistrate in Tula.

Dickens:

David Copperfield

(to 1850).

1850

Living in Moscow. Reads and translates Sterne.

Death of Balzac.

1851

First serious attempt at writing fiction:

A History of Yesterday

(fragment). Goes to the Caucasus with eldest brother Nikolai to serve as a volunteer in the army. Begins

Childhood

, first part of a projected tetralogy entitled

Four Periods of Growth

.

Melville:

Moby-Dick

. Stowe:

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

(to 1852).

1852

Enlists officially in the army.

Childhood

published in

The Contemporary

.

Death of Gogol. Dickens:

Bleak House

(to 1853).

1853

During campaigns in the Caucasus writes

Boyhood

and stories of army life. Writes

A Christmas Night

. Publishes

The Raid

.

Ostrovsky’s first play produced.

1854

Promoted to ensign and transferred to Crimea.

Boyhood

appears in

The Contemporary

.

1855

Publishes

A Billiard-Marker’s Notes, Sevastopol in December, Sevastopol in May, The Wood-Felling

. Returns to St Petersburg.

Trollope:

The Warden

.

1856

Death of his brother Dmitri. Publishes

Sevastopol in August, The Snow Storm, Two Hussars, Meeting a Moscow Acquaintance, A Landlord’s Morning

. Resigns from the army, returns to Yasnaya Polyana.

Aksakov:

A Family Chronicle

.

Turgenev:

Rudin

.

Nekrasov:

Poems

.

1857

Visits France and Switzerland. Publishes

Youth, Lucerne

.

Flaubert:

Madame Bovary

. Trollope:

Barchester Towers

. Birth of Conrad.

1858

Visits St Petersburg. Publishes

Albert

.

Pisemsky:

A Thousand Souls

.

1859

Publishes

Three Deaths, Family Happiness

. Critical enthusiasm more muted than for his earlier works. Starts an experimental school for the peasants at Yasnaya Polyana.

Goncharov:

Oblomov

. Turgenev:

A Nest of the Gentlefolk

.

Ostrovsky:

The Storm

.

Eliot:

Adam Bede

.

Darwin:

The Origin of Species

.

HISTORICAL EVENTS

Russian intervention in Hungary.

Dostoevsky sentenced to forced labour in Siberia.

Great Exhibition in London.

St Petersburg-Moscow Railway opened.

France: Second Empire established.

Turkey declares war on Russia.

Crimean War begins.

Death of Tsar Nicholas I. Accession of Alexander II.

Crimean War ends.

Indian Mutiny.

Committees set up to prepare the gentry for the Emancipation of the serfs from private ownership.

Russia acquires Amur and Maritime Provinces from China.

Russian conquest of Caucasus completed: surrender of Shamil.

DATE

AUTHOR’S LIFE

LITERARY CONTEXT

1860

Second (and last) visit to western Europe. Death of his brother Nikolai, in France. Visits Rome.

Turgenev:

On the Eve, First Love

.

Eliot:

The Mill on the Floss

.

Dickens:

Great Expectations

(to 1861).

Chekhov born.

1861

Visits Paris, London, Brussels. Back in Russia, quarrels with Turgenev. Serves as Arbiter of the Peace. Resumes school work at Yasnaya Polyana.

Dostoevsky:

The House of the Dead

.

Herzen:

My Past and Thoughts

(to 1867).

1862

Starts publication of educational magazine. Gives up being Arbiter of the Peace. Police raid on his house. Marries Sofya Andreyevna Behrs, daughter of a court physician. Closes the school.

Turgenev:

Fathers and Children

.

Hugo:

Les Misérables

.

Flaubert:

Salammbô

.

1863

Publishes

The Cossacks, Polikushka

. Sergei born (first of thirteen children).

Death of Thackeray.

Chernyshevsky:

What is to be Done?

1864

Dostoevsky:

Notes from Underground

.

Nekrasov:

Who can Live Happy in Russia?

(to 1876).

Dickens:

Our Mutual Friend

(to 1865).

1865–6

Publishes

1805

(volumes 1 and 2 of

War and Peace

).

Leskov:

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

.

1866

Unsuccessful defence of soldier court-martialled for striking an officer.

Dostoevsky:

Crime and Punishment

.

1867

War and Peace

volume 3 published.

Turgenev:

Smoke

.

1868

War and Peace

volume 4 published.

Dostoevsky:

The Idiot

. Gorky born.

1869

War and Peace

volumes 5 and 6 published. Experiences acute fear of death in a hotel room at Arzamas.

Goncharov:

The Precipice

.

1870

Begins a novel about Peter the Great. Starts learning Ancient Greek.

Death of Dickens, Herzen. Kuprin born.

1871

Dostoevsky:

Demons

(to 1872).

1872

Reopens Yasnaya Polyana school. Poor health. Reading philosophers notably Schopenhauer. Writes

A Prisoner in the Caucasus, God sees the Truth but Waits

.

Leskov:

Cathedral Folk

.

HISTORICAL EVENTS

Vladivostok founded.

Italy: Garibaldi captures Naples and Sicily.

Emancipation of the serfs.

American Civil War begins. Lincoln President of the USA.

Bismarck becomes Prime Minister of Prussia.

American slaves freed.

Polish Rebellion crushed.

Zemstva and trial by jury introduced in Russia.

First International formed in London.

Russia captures Tashkent.

American Civil War ends.

First attempt on the life of Alexander II.

Russia captures Samarkand and Bukhara.

Franco-Prussian War. End of Second Empire; Third Republic inaugurated in France.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) born.

Paris Commune.

Russian translation of Marx’s Capital published.

DATE

AUTHOR’S LIFE

LITERARY CONTEXT

1873

Begins writing

Anna Karenina

.

Leskov:

The Enchanted Wanderer

.

1875

Publishes

New Primer, Russian Reader

. Increasingly preoccupied with religious problems, troubled by war with Turkey.

Saltykov-Shchedrin:

The Golovlyovs

(to 1880).

1875–7

Anna Karenina

appears in instalments.

1876

Begins to practise Orthodoxy.

James:

Roderick Hudson

.

1877

Turgenev:

Virgin Soil

.

Garshin:

Four Days

.

1878

Anna Karenina

published in book form. Reconciliation with Turgenev. Moral crisis leads him into theological studies. Abandons practice of Orthodoxy.

Hardy:

The Return of the Native

.

1879

Begins writing

A Confession

.

Dostoevsky:

The Brothers Karamazov

(to 1880).

1880

Begins

Critique of Dogmatic Theology, Translation and Harmony of the Gospels

. 4th edition of

Collected Works

appears (11 vols).

Death of Flaubert. Blok, Bely born.

1881

Writes to the Tsar asking for a pardon for the assassins of Alexander II. Visits monastery of Optina Pustyn.

Death of Dostoevsky.

James:

The Portrait of a Lady

.

1882

Finishes

A Confession

(banned in Russia). Studies Hebrew. Moves his family to Moscow.

1883

Writes

What I Believe

. Hands over control of property to his wife. Chertkov arrives as a visitor, stays as a disciple.

Death of Turgenev.

Korolenko:

Makar’s Dream

.

Garshin:

The Scarlet Flower

.

1884

What I Believe

banned. Publishes fragments from

The Decembrists

(unfinished novel). Writes

Memoirs of a Madman

.

Huysmans:

Against Nature

. Zamyatin born.

1885

Renounces hunting, meat, tobacco and alcohol. Publishes ‘popular’ tales including

What Men Live By, Where Love is, God is, Ivan the Fool, Two Old Men

.

Zola:

Germinal

.

HISTORICAL EVENTS

Russian Populist movement begins.

Russia invades Chinese Turkestan.

Universal Exhibition in Vienna.

Land and Liberty movement formed in Russia.

Russia declares war on Turkey.

Russo-Turkish War ends. Congress of Berlin.

Afghan War.

Trial of Vera Zasulich.

People’s Will party formed in Russia.

Governor of Kharkov assassinated.

Osip Vissarionovich Djugashvili (Stalin) born.

Alexander II assassinated. Accession of Alexander III.

Jewish residence in Russia severely restricted.

Great Britain: Married Women’s Property Act.

University riots. Censorship laws strengthened.

Plekhanov and others form Marxist study groups.

DATE

AUTHOR’S LIFE

LITERARY CONTEXT

1886

The Death of Ivan Ilych, How Much Land Does a Man Need?, The Godson

published. Tolstoy’s play

The Power of Darkness

offends the Tsar and is forbidden. Finishes

What Then Must We Do?

Denounced as heretic by Archbishop of Kherson.

Chekhov: first volume of stories.

James:

The Bostonians, The Princess Casamassima

.

1887

1888

Publishes

Strider

(written 1861).

The Power of Darkness

performed in Paris.

Chekhov:

The Steppe

. Death of Garshin.

1889

Begins writing

Resurrection

. Publication of

Collected Works

(12 vols). Unauthorized copies of

The Kreutzer Sonata

in circulation.

Akhmatova born.

1890

Tsar gives permission for publication of an edited version of

The Kreutzer Sonata

. Writes

The Devil

.

Pasternak born.

Wilde:

The Picture of Dorian Gray

.

1891

Renounces copyright on his works post-1881, divides property among family. Writes

Why do Men Stupefy Themselves?

Ehrenburg, Bulgakov born.

1891–2

Engaged in famine relief work.

1892

The Fruits of Enlightenment

produced in Moscow.

Chekhov:

Ward Mo. 6

.

Merezhkovsky:

Symbols

.

Gorky publishes his first story.

Mandelstam, Tsvetayeva born.

1893

Publishes

The Kingdom of God is within you

.

Death of Maupassant.

1894

Publishes

Christianity and Patriotism, Reason and Religion, Religion and Morality, How to Read the Gospels, Walk in the Light

.

Babel born.

1895

Publishes

Master and Man

. Intervenes to defend the Dukhobors against persecution.

1896

Chekhov:

The Seagull

. Merezhkovsky:

Christ and Anti-Christ

(to 1905).

1897

Chertkov arrested and exiled.

1898

Finishes

Father Sergius

. Publishes a censored version of

What is Art?

Zola:

J’Accuse

.

Blok:

Ante Lucem

(to 1900).

HISTORICAL EVENTS

Five students (including Lenin’s brother) hanged for an attempt on the Tsar’s life.

Second International founded.

Beginning of Trans-Siberian Railway construction.

Famine in southern Russia.

Witte becomes Finance Minister.

Famine in some Russian regions.

Massacres in Armenia.

Great Britain: Independent Labour Party founded.

Death of Tsar Alexander III. Accession of Tsar Nicholas II.

Great Britain: Greenwich bomb outrage.

Socialist Revolutionary Party founded in Russia.

Pobedonostsev urges the Tsar to imprison Tolstoy.

Spanish-American War. Curies discover radium.

Russian Social Democrat Party founded.

DATE

AUTHOR’S LIFE

LITERARY CONTEXT

1899

Publishes

Resurrection

(begun 1889). Son Sergei accompanies Dukhobors to Canada.

Leonov, Olesha, Nabokov born.

Gorky:

Foma Gordeyev

.

Chekhov:

The Lady with the Dog

.

1900

Freud:

The Interpretation of Dreams

.

Chekhov:

In the Ravine

.

1901

Excommunicated by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. Writes

Reply to the Synod’s Edict

. Convalescing in Crimea, meets Gorky, Chekhov.

Chekhov:

Three Sisters

. Fadeyev born.

1902

Writes to the Tsar about the evils of autocracy and private land ownership. Finishes

What is Religion?

Gorky:

The Lower Depths

.

Death of Zola.

1903

Protests against anti-Jewish pogroms in Kishinyov and contributes three short stories for a benefit anthology published in Warsaw. Writes

After the Ball

.

Kuprin:

The Duel

.

1903–6

Writes

Reminiscences

.

1904

Death of brother Sergei. Finishes

Hadji Murad

. Writes a pamphlet against the war with Japan,

Bethink Yourselves!

, published in England. Writes

The Forged Coupon, Divine and Human

.

Chekhov:

The Cherry Orchard

.

Death of Chekhov.

Blok:

Verses about the Beautiful Lady

.

Bely:

Gold in Azure

.

1905

Writes

Alyosha Gorshok, Fëdor Kuzmich. The One Thing Needful seized by police

.

Rilke:

The Book of Hours

.

Sholokhov, Panova born.

Sologub:

The Petty Demon

(to 1907).

1906

Writes

What For?

Wife seriously ill

1907

Police raid Yasnaya Polyana and seize books.

Gorky:

Mother

.

Blok:

The Snow Mask

.

Bryusov:

The Fiery Angel

.

1908

Writes

I Cannot Be Silent

, a protest against the hanging of the 1905 revolutionaries. Tolstoy’s secretary Gusyev arrested and exiled. Chertkov returns from exile to live nearby.

Andreyev:

The Seven who were Hanged

.

HISTORICAL EVENTS

Student riots: temporary closure of universities.

Boer War begins.

Russia occupies Manchuria.

Social Democrat Party brings out newspaper The Spark.

Great Britain: Death of Queen Victoria; accession of Edward VII.

Wave of political assassinations in Russia.

Boer War ends.

Lenin’s faction (Bolsheviks) prevails at Social Democrat Party congress in London.

Massacre of Jews in Kishinyov.

Lenin launches newspaper Forward.

Russo-Japanese War (to 1905); Russian fleet destroyed in Tsushima Straits.

First Russian Revolution: Bloody Sunday, general strike, Tsar’s October Manifesto. Witte becomes First Minister.

Meeting of the first Duma (elected parliament).

Austria annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina.

DATE

AUTHOR’S LIFE

LITERARY CONTEXT

1908

cont

.

Growing quarrels with his wife and Chertkov about mss. and copyright ownership.

1909

Draws up will relinquishing copyright on his published works since 1881 and his unpublished works from before 1881. Chertkov expelled, goes to Moscow.

Bely:

The Silver Dove, Ashes, The Urn

.

Wells:

Tono-Bungay

.

1910

More quarrels with wife (now seriously unbalanced) about wills and copyright. Tolstoy leaves home and sets out to visit the monastery at Optina Pustyn. Taken ill on a train, he dies at the station of Astapovo on 7 November, aged 82. His body is buried without religious rites on the edge of the forest near Yasnaya Polyana.

Kuprin:

The Pit

.

Bunin:

The Village

.

Forster:

Howards End

.

Rilke:

Sketches of Malte Laurids Brigge

.

HISTORICAL EVENTS

Blériot flies the English Channel.

Great Britain: Death of Edward VII; accession of George V.

Street demonstrations and strikes in response to Tolstoy’s death.