Izabrana djela 8: Kavkaske pripovijetke / Sevastopoljske pripovijetke / Kozaci

The eighth volume of Selected Works of Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, published by Matica hrvatska, includes the novel Cossacks, the cycle Caucasian Tales and Sevastopol Tales. The works are based on the author's personal experiences from military service in the Caucasus and during the Crimean War and represent a transition from the author's early realistic creativity to Tolstoy's mature artistic and moral reflection.

The novel Cossacks follows the young Moscow nobleman Dmitry Olenin who, disillusioned with the empty life of Russian high society, goes to the Caucasus in search of a simpler and more meaningful life. Among the Cossacks, he discovers a different world, marked by closeness to nature, warrior tradition and a strong sense of community, while his unhappy love for Maryanka reveals the insurmountable differences between the two cultures.

Caucasian Tales presents a series of stories about soldiers, officers, highlanders, and border dwellers, exploring themes of courage, friendship, the clash of civilizations, and human destiny. In Sevastopol Tales, Tolstoy describes the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War from the perspective of ordinary soldiers and officers, rejecting the romantic image of warfare. Instead of celebrating heroism, he depicts fear, suffering, moral dilemmas, and the senselessness of violence, emphasizing the dignity of the individual in the face of death.

As a whole, the eighth volume provides an extraordinary insight into Tolstoy's development as a writer and thinker. Combining autobiographical experiences, psychological analysis, and realistic depictions of war and life on the Russian periphery, these works herald the thematic and philosophical preoccupations that would find full expression in his later novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina.