Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy

The Cossacks Illustrated Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy

The Cossacks (Russian: ★★★★★★ [Kazaki]) is a short novel by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1863 in the popular literary magazine The Russian Messenger. It was originally called Young Manhood.[1] Both Ivan Turgenev and the Nobel prize-winning Russian writer Ivan Bunin gave the work great praise, with Turgenev calling it his favourite work by Tolstoy.[2] Tolstoy began work on the story in August 1853.[3] In August 1857, after having reread the Iliad, he vowed to completely rewrite The Cossacks.[4] In February 1862, after having lost badly at cards he finished the novel to help pay his debts.[5] The novel was published in 1863, the same year his first child was born.