52 pages • 1 hour read
Leo TolstoyThe Kreutzer Sonata
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1889A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Sociohistorical Context: Turbulence and Conflict in 19th-Century Russia
The late 19th century was a transitionary period in Russian history that saw sweeping changes affecting all levels of society. Following Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War in 1855, Russian policymakers became determined to develop the country’s economy and industry to better compete with the modern industrialized nations of Western Europe. These changes, alongside judicial, economic, and administrative reforms, created turbulence and conflict on both the individual and national level, bringing many fundamental philosophical and moral debates to the forefront of public consciousness.
The biggest upheaval to Russian society during this period was the abolition of serfdom in 1861, which freed the downtrodden Russian peasant class from indentured servitude. Additionally, investment into developing industries created a new urban working class in the industrial cities of Russia. Such changes led to significant departures from the traditional ways of life, encouraged by the growing influence of “Europhile” thought and an increasing number of university-educated young people taking an interest in domestic policy.
Such changes incited reactionary opposition from conservative quarters, particularly among the nobility and the church, both of which had long since benefited from the privileges afforded to them under the prior status quo. Conversely, revolutionary factions pushed for further reforms, motivated by the large wealth disparity that still existed between the social classes and the lack of any political reform. Poverty and hardship remained widespread, and the absolute monarchy of the Tsarist regime was still intact, but even the most entrenched establishments became open to question.
This upheaval would eventually culminate in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and a civil war that saw millions dead and the old order entirely overturned. It was in the buildup to this crisis, in an atmosphere of upheaval and ever-mounting tension, that Tolstoy wrote The Kreutzer Sonata. The influence of this omnipresent turbulence and conflict is reflected in the themes and messages of the novella.
Authorial Context: Leo Tolstoy’s Life and Works
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828-1910), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, is one of the most celebrated and influential authors of all time. He is best known for his novels War and Peace (1867) and Anna Karenina (1877), but his body of work also includes philosophical essays, memoirs, plays, and religious tracts. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times, and the Nobel Peace Prize three times, and his writings on nonviolent resistance had a profound impact on Mahatma Gandhi’s policies of peaceful protest in the opposition of British rule in India.
Tolstoy was an expert of the realist fiction genre and used his own experience as a member of the Russian nobility to furnish his lifelike portrayals of Russian high society. Elements of Tolstoy’s personal life are also mirrored in the lives and relationships of his characters. He had 13 children, of whom eight survived childhood, and a turbulent marriage to his wife, Sonya. Theirs was initially a love match, but in later years their differences grew and the relationship became increasingly fraught and hostile. Sonya contributed much to the editing and administrative work of War and Peace.
As a socially and politically engaged author, the themes of Tolstoy’s work often reflect on the most pressing philosophical and moral questions of the day. Many of the messages and morals of his work are also informed by Tolstoy’s own religious beliefs and moral convictions, particularly following his profound crisis of faith and spiritual awakening in the 1870s. In his later years, Tolstoy became a staunch Christian anarchist, proponent of ascetism and abstinence, and firm pacifist.
Genre Context: Realist Fiction
Literary realism is a genre that aims to represent the real world as it truly is through describing familiar settings, everyday experiences, and lifelike characters. The movement emerged as a reaction against the exaggerated sentimentality and dramatic excess of Romanticism in the early 19th century. Tolstoy is an expert of realist fiction; War and Peace and Anna Karenina are widely regarded as some of the most well-executed and accomplished examples of literary realism of all time.
Tolstoy uses his own experience as a member of the Russian nobility as well as elements of his personal life to create a faithful rendition of contemporary high society, as well as to furnish lifelike characters with believable personalities and relatable experiences. Writing within the realist fiction genre, Tolstoy tackles complex themes and weighs in on important moral and philosophical questions of the time in a way that is easily digestible to his readers. Similar to the way that parables and fables are used to communicate moral lessons, Tolstoy uses realist prose as a vehicle to communicate messages informed by his own religious beliefs and moral convictions. Tolstoy uses the characters’ credible experiences to make his more extreme beliefs—such as his argument in favor of total sexual abstinence—more palatable and persuasive to an audience that might otherwise consider them unrealistic.
Critical Context: Censorship and Impact
Following its initial release in 1889, The Kreutzer Sonata was banned from further publication by the Central Russian Authorities. This censorship was due to the alleged obscenity of its subject matter. Tolstoy’s frank and controversial discussion of typically taboo topics such as premarital and extramarital affairs, as well his expression of unorthodox views on sex and sensuality, meant the novella was deemed unsuitable for public consumption. The ban only lasted a handful of years. As with other so-called obscene books in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Lady Chatterley’s Lover (1929) and Madame Bovary (1856), the attempted censorship only sparked wider public interest in the work.
Tolstoy was a hugely popular author during his lifetime. As part of his body of work, The Kreutzer Sonata has contributed to literary, philosophical, and moral debates throughout the decades since its release. Despite facing both censorship and censure upon its initial publication, the novella has since been adapted to stage and screen countless times, and has been the inspiration for art, music, and literature.
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