Publisher Description
Tolstoy’s literal interpretation of the teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance are represented in his short story “A Candle,” which tells the story of a group of peasants suffering under a tyrannical overseer. His beatings are so severe as to be sometimes fatal and when he orders the serfs to plough the fields on Easter Sunday, a discussion begins as to whether they should assassinate the brutal steward. The peasants are divided on the subject. One group, led by Vasili are determined to murder the bully. Another group, swayed by Piotr, believe it is best to bear their sufferings rather than to risk their souls. But neither group can possibly foresee the strange and terrible events that occur when Easter Sunday arrives.
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About Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was born about two hundred miles from Moscow. His mother died when he was two, his father when he was nine. His parents were of noble birth, and Tolstoy remained acutely aware of his aristocratic roots, even when he later embraced doctrines of equality and the brotherhood of man. After serving in the army in the Caucasus and Crimea, where he wrote his first stories, he traveled and studied educational theories. In 1862 he married Sophia Behrs and for the next fifteen years lived a tranquil, productive life, finishing War and Peace in 1869 and Anna Karenina in 1877. In 1879 he underwent a spiritual crisis; he sought to propagate his beliefs on faith, morality, and nonviolence, writing mostly parables, tracts, and morality plays. Tolstoy died of pneumonia in 1910 at the age of eighty-two.