The Live Corpse

Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.1

Word count: 102K words
Chapters: 11

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Live Corpse by graf Leo TolstoyAuthor: Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910,Language: English, Class: PG: Language and Literatures: Slavic (including Russian), Languages and Literature, Release Date: Sep 20, 2008

Editor's review

Tolstoy's The Live Corpse is a highly charged play that poses moral questions about marriage, duty, and individual freedom. Centered on a seemingly absurd arrangement of faked death, it has its characters torn repeatedly between lies and genuine feeling, showing Tolstoy's late-life deep doubt about family ethics and social institutions. Compared with the heavy unfolding of his novels, this play is compact, with concentrated conflict and sharp, stage-ready dialogue, so readers can get to the heart of the plot quickly. Its value lies not only in the drama of the story itself but in how it turns the condition of being alive yet as if dead into a question about life: whether a person has the right to rearrange life according to his own will, and how to face the harm this brings. It is suitable as an entry point to Tolstoy's dramatic work and also for discussion after reading. The Project Gutenberg edition is an English public-domain e-book, convenient for searching and comparative reading, and suitable for self-learners and book clubs.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary readers who want to know Tolstoy's dramatic work
People interested in marriage ethics and individual freedom
Organizers who need a short play for book-club discussion
Self-learners used to reading English public-domain e-books

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer only Tolstoy's novels
Casual readers expecting light plots and happy endings
People without English reading ability and without a parallel translation

Reading tips

Read the whole play first, then go back to key dialogue and note changes in the characters' positions.
Consider the ethical conflict in the play in light of Tolstoy's late moral thought.
For book clubs, set up a debate around whether the faked death is justified.
If English reading is difficult, proceed alongside a Chinese translation.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What themes does this play mainly explore?

It mainly revolves around marital duty, individual freedom, and social opinion. The characters escape the bonds of marriage through a faked death, but this triggers a series of moral and emotional consequences, reflecting Tolstoy's questioning of family ethics and social institutions.

Can I read it without having read other works by Tolstoy?

Yes. It is a standalone play with a concentrated plot and clear character relationships, and it does not depend on prior knowledge of other works. To understand its moral concerns more deeply, you can read up on Tolstoy's late thought afterward.

What reading approach suits this edition?

This is a Project Gutenberg English public-domain e-book, suitable for screen reading, searching, and excerpting. You can first read the whole play to grasp the conflict, then closely read key dialogue; for book clubs, it is advisable to mark controversial lines in advance.

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About the author

Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910 Author

Leo Tolstoy (Tolstoy, Leo, graf, 1828-1910) is a highly important writer in the history of Russian literature. Public information about his nationality and exact dates of birth and death is limited; the library records only his name, the number of his works, and representative titles. The library holds 81 of his works, with representative titles including Anna Karenina and War and Peace (Sota ja rauha). These titles show that he excelled at presenting characters' fates and inner conflicts against broad social panoramas, with calm narration and a reflective quality, while questions of family, morality, and the course of history run throughout. His works have been translated into many languages and have a lasting readership and wide influence.