Leo Tolstoy
Circle of Reading
Krug Chteniya — 53 weekly readings and 8 monthly essays, newly translated from the Russian Jubilee Edition.
A year-long journey through wisdom, faith, and the moral life.
January
View allFebruary
View allReason
Razum
Part I: Arthur Schopenhauer; Part II: Fyodor Strakhov
Buddha
Budda
Retold by L. N. Tolstoy
–8. Self-Renunciation / A Free Man
Samootrechenie / Svobodny chelovek
Part I: Félicité de Lamennais; Part II: L. N. Tolstoy; Part III: L. N. Tolstoy (from *Resurrection*)
–10. Archangel Gabriel / Prayer
Arkhangel Gavriil / Molitva
Part I: Persian (Attar); Part II: L. N. Tolstoy
March
View allPoor People
Bednye lyudi
Victor Hugo, retold by L. N. Tolstoy
Unity
Edinenie
Part I: Arthur Schopenhauer; Part II: Ivan Turgenev
Non-Resistance to Evil by Force
Neprotivlenie zlu nasiliem
Adin Ballou (1803-1890)
The Coffee-House of Surat
Suratskaya kofeynaya
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (translated by L. N. Tolstoy)
+ 1 more reading
April
View allMay
View all–22. Education
Vospitanie
Part I: Giuseppe Mazzini; Part II: Leo Tolstoy
Death in the Hospital
Smert' v gospitale
Fyodor Dostoevsky (from *Notes from the House of the Dead*)
The Law of Violence and the Law of Love
Zakon nasiliya i zakon lyubvi
Buka (pseudonym)
The Trial of Socrates and His Defense
Sud nad Sokratom i ego zashchita
Based on Plato's *Apology*
June
View all–27. The Darling
Dushechka
Part I: Anton Chekhov; Part II (Afterword): Leo Tolstoy
Must It Be So?
Neuzheli tak nado?
Leo Tolstoy
First Grief
Pervoe gore
L. Avilova (Lydia Alekseevna Avilova)
Voluntary Slavery
Dobrovol'noe rabstvo
La Boétie (Étienne de La Boétie)
+ 2 more readings
July
View allPascal
Paskal'
Leo Tolstoy
The Order of the World
Ustroystvo mira
Lamennais (Part I); Compiled by N.N. Gusev under Tolstoy's editorship (Parts II and III)
The Unbeliever
Neveruyushchiy
Victor Hugo (translated by Leo Tolstoy)
Repentance
Pokayanie
Buka (Part I); Traditional parable (Part II)
August
View allThe Big Dipper
Bol'shaya Medveditsa / Kovsh
From the English (retold by Tolstoy)
Solitude
Odinochestvo
Guy de Maupassant
Catholicism and Christianity
Katolitsizm i khristianstvo
Friedrich Nietzsche
On the Liberation of Land, According to the Teaching of Henry George
Ob osvobozhdenii zemli, po ucheniyu Genri Dzhordzha
S. D. Nikolaev (edited by Leo Tolstoy)
September
View allWhy Do People Stupefy Themselves?
Dlya chego lyudi odurmanivayutsya?
Leo Tolstoy
The Fugitive
Beglets
Anton Chekhov (Part I); Victor Hugo, adapted by Tolstoy (Part II)
Peter Chelčický
Petr Khel'chitskiy
Leo Tolstoy
From the Testament of a Mexican King
Iz zaveshchaniya meksikanskogo tsarya
Nezahualcoyotl, King of Texcoco (Part I); Plato (Part II)
+ 1 more reading
October
View allLiving Relics
Zhivye moshchi
Ivan Turgenev (from *A Sportsman's Sketches*)
The Law of God and the Law of This World
Zakon boga i zakon mira sego
Peter Chelčický (from *The Net of Faith*)
Lamennais
Lamene
Leo Tolstoy
Revelation and Reason
Otkrovenie i razum
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (from *The Profession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar*)
November
View allThe Divine and the Human
Bozheskoe i chelovecheskoe
Leo Tolstoy
Christianity and the Division of Men
Khristianstvo i razdelenie lyudey
Peter Chelčický (from *The Net of Faith*, 15th century)
The Demands of Love
Trebovaniya lyubvi
Leo Tolstoy
Bishop Myriel
Episkop Miriel'
Victor Hugo (from *Les Misérables*, 1862)
December
View all–58. Women / Sisters
Zhenshchiny / Sestry
Part I: Leo Tolstoy; Part II: Leo Tolstoy (adapted from Maupassant)
–60. Teaching of the Twelve Apostles
Uchenie dvenadtsati apostolov
Part I: Leo Tolstoy (preface); Part II: The Didache (translated by Leo Tolstoy)
Love One Another
Lyubite drug druga
Leo Tolstoy
Garrison and His "Declaration"
Garrison i ego "Provozglashenie"
Leo Tolstoy (introduction) and William Lloyd Garrison (Declaration of Sentiments, 1838)
+ 2 more readings