The Kreutzer Sonata
3 hrs. 56 min.
Language
Russian
Author
Leo Tolstoy
Author
Leo Tolstoy
Narrator
Alexander Ibragimov
Narrator
Alexander Ibragimov
Description
Tolstoy’s main statement on sexual morality.
In the story, Vasily Pozdnyshev describes a frenzy of jealousy that made him kill his wife, and shares thoughts about the harm of sexual desire—turning a person into an animal—and about marriage as a consecration of debauchery. Immediately after writing “The Kreutzer Sonata,” it caused a scandal and almost got banned for publication in Russia; in the more puritanical America, it was banned right away, and the future president Theodore Roosevelt called Tolstoy a pervert. In turn, Chekhov—who adored Tolstoy—accused him of ignorance due to the writer’s views on sex.
In the story, Vasily Pozdnyshev describes a frenzy of jealousy that made him kill his wife, and shares thoughts about the harm of sexual desire—turning a person into an animal—and about marriage as a consecration of debauchery. Immediately after writing “The Kreutzer Sonata,” it caused a scandal and almost got banned for publication in Russia; in the more puritanical America, it was banned right away, and the future president Theodore Roosevelt called Tolstoy a pervert. In turn, Chekhov—who adored Tolstoy—accused him of ignorance due to the writer’s views on sex.
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