Tales of Sexual Desire

By Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy wrote some of the most disquieting short stories the world has known--these three are no exception. Here, the duels and duality of man and woman are played out in tortured--and sometimes tragic--drama. Above all, the characters featured in these pages bring to life universal truths for the human condition; truths that Tolstoy weaves with an almost unrivaled skill. "Father Sergius" is preoccupied with the material desire for the flesh, while "The Kreutzer Sonata" caused a public sensation for its scathing indictment of marriage. Tolstoy had become convinced that "Christian marriage" was an impossibility, and in both "Sonata" and "The Devil" he launches a tirade against human sexuality and the humiliating sexual ties that bind men to women. Together these three stories provide a picture of a man obsessed with questions of moral, sexual, and religious ambiguity, his treatment of female sexuality still having a resonance today.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0955519683
• ISBN13: 9780955519680
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Capuchin Classics
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.7"