Image and theme of the war in Tolstoy's “Sevastopol Stories”
In the military stories (“Raid”, “Forest Cutting”, “Sevastopol in December 1854, in May and August 1855”) Tolstoy dwells on the question of how legitimate war, demanding so many bloody victims,…

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strip tease
Bulgakov "Crimson Island"
But - yet, how much more I read in the house of E.S. [Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova]. At first I reached for the “Crimson Island” (1927) - a brilliant satire, to…

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Goncharov "Zion of agony"
In his article “Zion of agony”, I. A. Goncharov begins the characterization of the comedy “Woe from Wit” (see the summary, analysis and full text) with an indication of its…

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but light

Katerina Akhmakova in Dostoevsky’s “Teenager”

To the unearthly friend of his, Sofia Andreevna, the main character of the “Teenager” Versilov faces a bright face. Dark, he turned to the earth of his love – Katerina Nikolaevna Akhmakova. Throughout the first two parts of the novel, the truth of this love is closed from us by a thick veil of gossip, slander, and vile suspicion. Versilov’s son, Arkady, heard that his father abroad had some kind of suspicious history with this woman and that they were shared by an old feud. He is prejudiced against Akhmakova and, having met her for the first time at Prince Sokolsky, sees him as an enemy. “She somehow raised her face, looked at me badly and. smiled cheekily. And yet its beauty strikes him. The author repeats the technique he used in “Idiot” to portray Nastasya Filippovna: the hero first sees a portrait of a beautiful woman, and then her own. Continue reading

Leo Tolstoy "Confession"
The first of the works of Leo Tolstoy, in which he preached the moral-religious teaching (Tolstoyanism) that appeared in his mature age, was Confession (started in 1879 and completed in…

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Homer Iliad
Homer's poem "The Iliad" (see its full text and analysis) begins with a description of the wrath of the protagonist of the Greek army - Achilles. Nine years already spent…

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