as a soldier in the Caucasus, his married life, his passionate interest in the peasantry, his cult of truth and simplicity, and his growing preoccupation with religion.             The stories in Volume 1 of the Collected Shorter Fiction date from the period in which the young Tolstoy wrote Anna Karenina and War and Peace. Ranging from brief, masterfully sketches of military life such as “The Wood-Felling” to novellas like Family Happiness, an uneasy imagining of the idyllic possibilities of marriage by the not-yet-married writer, all feature Tolstoy’s characteristically lavish deployment of detail, shrewd observation, and imaginative power.   Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude

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