The Sebastopol Sketches: 7

by Leo Tolstoy

Book Overview

These three short stories stem from Tolstoy's military experience during the Crimean War. They are: Sebastopol in December, Sebastopol in May, and Sebastopol in August 1855.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140444688
• ISBN13: 9780140444681
• Release Date: July 1986
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

A Vital Prologue to War and Peace

For readers who enjoy War and Peace, The Sebastopol Sketches provides interesting insight not only in the military career of the author, Count Leo Tolstoy, but gives ample evidence of where he found the human experience to make such a classic novel. The book is set during the Crimean War in 1854-55, when Tolstoy was a 25-year-old artillery officer. A 31-page introduction by David McDuff lays out the background of Count Leo Toltsoy's life, his entrance into the Russian Army and the beginning of the Crimean War. This introduction is well-written and informative. The sketches are divided into three chapters. December 1854 This opening section is the shortest, at only 16 pages, and covers a brief visit that Tolstoy made to Sebastopol in search of supplies for his battery on 5 December 1854. Tolstoy was a very keen observer of detail and although brief, this section acts as a "you-are-there" sort of tour of the city, from the harbor quays out to one of the bastions. Here, Tolstoy makes several interesting observations, such as noting the conversations of several gunners and remarking that, "a feeling...of savage hatred for the enemy, and a wish to have revenge on him, a feeling that lurks in the soul of every human being." Tolstoy was also impressed with the Russian character, claiming that, "the strength of the Russian people cannot possibly ever falter, no matter in what part of the world it may be put to the test." This is the kind of tough talk of a chauvinistic young officer in love with his country, but one wonders what Tolstoy thought of his earlier writing when he lived long enough to see Russian arms humiliated in Manchuria in 1905. May 1855 In Tolstoy's second visit to Sebastopol, he initially focuses on a card game between several Russian officers (Tolstoy was an inveterate gambler, himself). This provides a useful literary device for sketching several "types" of Russian officers of the period. For example, one snobbish noble officer exclaims, "I really don't see how men in dirty underwear, suffering from lice and not even able to wash their hands, can possibly be capable of bravery." This is interesting commentary on how Russian upper-crust officers viewed the enlisted men who doing most of the fighting and dying (this theme appears again in War and Peace). Then, Tolstoi shifts as the card game ends and several officers make their way by a casualty dressing station, with them witnessing the suffering of these "dirty" enlisted soldiers. Later, Tolstoy notes the removal of dead Russian soldiers, and one of the characters says, "What a God-awful stink! That was all that remained of this man in the land of the living." Tolstoy makes interesting comment along the way, noting that "once fear has found its way into the soul, it does not readily give way to any other emotion." Indeed, there are no heroes in this account (Tolstoy says, my hero is truth), and Tolstoy describes junior Russian lieutenants as, "each is a little Napoleon, a little

Tolstoy at War

The young Tolstoy took part in the defence of Sebastopol (1854-55) during the Crimean War, and these sketches (parts of which were written under fire) record his impressions of the drama and tumult of war. The first sketch, "Sebastopol in December" was published anonymously and attracted the attention of Tsar Alexander II and Turgenev. It is a short, emotionally patriotic piece recording the author's empathetic reaction to the bravery of the ordinary soldiers and sailors during the siege. "Sebastopol in May" is more ambitious and more ambiguous, recording the experiences of a group of Russian officers during an attack by the Allies on the 4th bastion of the defences, a position dreaded by everyone on the Russian side. There are no heroes in this piece, says Tolstoy, except "truth," as he depicts flawed human beings struggle to reconcile their petty vanities with the "higher" duties that have brought them to that terrible place. The final sketch, "Sebastopol in August," records the fall of Sebastopol through the eyes of the doomed Kozeltsov brothers and features some of the finest battle descriptions I have ever read. Tolstoy published it openly under his own name, and it seems to have helped him finally to choose literature rather than the army for his future career. "The Sebastopol Sketches" is a marvellous book not only for its own merits but also for the insight it gives us into a literary master trying out his wings for the first time.

a witness to many atrocities.

In 1855, Tolstoy was a soldier in the Crimean War and a witness to many atrocities. One that would stay with him was the image of two children killed in a shelling. His experiences during the war made up the contents of his work The Sebastopol Sketches, many of which he drafted on the battlefield.The book is divide in three short stories stem from Tolstoy's military experience during the Crimean War: "Sebastopol in December," "Sebastopol in May," and "Sebastopol in August 1855." During this time, the young Tolstoy gave himself over to the decadent life that was common for men of his class, catching a venereal disease as well as drinking heavily and sustaining enormous gambling debts which included the loss of some of his prized property at Yasnaya.I really enjoy reading this book,Tolstoy's reactions to the fighting at Sebastopol are really crude, if you are interesting in The Crimean War but from the Russian side you may find what you are looking for in this great book

The Beginnings of a Great Writer

As a first work (one of the first), these sketches bear the identifying marks of a genius in the beginning of his career.What better place to start, and what more challenging scene, than the defeat of the Russians by the British and French at Sevestopol during the same war that brought us "The Charge of the light Brigade" from the other side.This is obviously written by a man who had been in War, and had experiences the combination of fear, duty, and bravery that it takes to survive. The world has suffered through several more senseless wars since then, but few stories capture the truth of it all better than these.

Afraid to embark on "War and Peace"? Try "Sevastopol" first

What can I say after this great previous review by a reader from Dayton, OH? It is true, in this book Tolstoy was a little bit obsessed about revealing the characters' vanity and feigned bravery, but he also did not conceal the other side of war experience: "He truly would have become a hero, if from P. he had gotten straight onto the bastions, but now he needed to go through a great deal of moral tribulations in order to mould into that calm, patient man, in toil and danger, the kind of man we are used to seeing in a Russian officer. But it was already too hard to revive enthusiasm in him." (Sevastopol in August 1855, Chapter 5, last paragraph")Tolstoy shows here that eventually a lot of Russian officers get used to the danger and nearness of death and consequently become more at peace with themselves and vain no more. So there was objectivity in his reasoning! There was another episode in "Sevastopol in May 1855" about a naval officer who had gone through the same stages to become that "calm, patient" type.I regard "Sevastopol" as a much better piece of prose than "Childhood, Boyhood and Youth", esp. "May" and "August". The descriptions are sometimes so realistic and characters so alive that one feels his/her personal involvement, you feel like "you're there"! The ugliness of war becomes vividly indelible, our moral obligation for peace and Christian love is put forth with as the only humanly acceptable option and as the previous reviewer noticed, you can see one of the greatest novelists ever, emerging on the literary field.I really think that "Sevastopol" as well as a number of his other stories about war (The Invaders", "Cutting of the Forest", etc.) were a preparation for his giant "War and Peace". As any talented writer, or artist, rather, Tolstoy grew as he created and so he could not stop until he could fully realize himself and create something equal to his stature, something as beautiful and live as life itself, as opposed to something ugly and terrifying as war and death. All that was accomplished in "War and Peace", so if you like "Sevastopol" and the like, welcome to the world of "War and Peace": you will be fully gratified!PS By the way, I read "Sevastopol" in Russian, and it was the uncensored (!) version. See, what happened was that in 1855-56 the censors cut out a great deal of the most poignant, critical text, without which the work became a literary cripple. Only years after that was it restored to its original condition. This "Penguin" edition seems to be not only very informative about the background of the work, but the translation is based on the CORRECT original version, and, of course, David McDuff did a wonderful translation job. "Penguin" is not known for durability of its copies, but in this case I highly recommend this particular translation. The difference between the correct and censored versions is outrageous! For example, in "Sevastopol in August" (see "P