The First Distiller

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

3.2

Word count: 32K words
Chapters: 4

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 First Distiller 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

The First Distiller is a short play by Tolstoy built around the act of distilling liquor, with a clear moral-allegorical bent. Through a contest between peasants and the devil, it links distilling to greed, deceit, and the ruin of community, continuing Tolstoy's late-life concern with alcohol, consumption, and moral responsibility. The work is brief, tightly plotted, and peopled with strongly typed characters, making it a quick way to see how Tolstoy uses a folk-tale frame to express social criticism. Compared with Fruits of Culture, it points more directly at a specific vice, and its dramatic conflict has an allegorical exaggeration. The Project Gutenberg English electronic edition makes it easy for readers to consult the original text and quote lines. While reading, note how the devil lures the peasant step by step toward distilling, and how Tolstoy turns an economic act into a moral choice.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want a quick introduction to Tolstoy's moral allegories
Readers concerned with alcohol and social issues
People who need a short English play for classroom or book-club use
Literature lovers interested in folk-tale-style drama

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer complex psychology and multi-strand narrative
Beginners who need a Chinese translation or detailed notes
Readers impatient with allegorical preaching

Reading tips

Read the plot once, then recall the devil's seduction of the peasant and trace the logic of his step-by-step trap.
Read the distilling episode alongside Tolstoy's other short pieces on consumer desire.
While reading, note the folk colloquial flavor in the peasants' dialogue and appreciate the allegorical expression.
If using it for discussion, design questions around whether economic acts are moral choices.

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 is the core theme of this play?

Its core theme is how distilling is portrayed as a vice that lures people toward greed and degradation. Through the contest between the devil and the peasants, Tolstoy turns distilling, an economic act, into a moral choice, with a clear allegorical and didactic tone.

How does it differ from Fruits of Culture?

Fruits of Culture satirizes the cultural hypocrisy of the upper classes, with characters and dialogue closer to social comedy; The First Distiller is shorter and more allegorical, focusing on distilling and alcohol and with a more direct didactic intent.

How difficult is the English electronic edition?

The play is mostly dialogue, and the vocabulary is not especially hard, but it involves 19th-century Russian rural background and folk expression. Readers with intermediate English can read it through with a dictionary, and those who want deeper understanding may supplement it with background on Tolstoy's social thought.

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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.