 Title page of the 1901 Geneve edition in Russian | |
| Author | Leo Tolstoy |
|---|---|
| Original title | Крейцерова соната |
| Translator | Frederic Lyster (1890) David McDuff & Paul Foote (2008) |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | Philosophical fiction |
| Publisher | Bibliographic Office, Berlin |
Publication date | 1889 |
| Publication place | Russian Empire |
| Pages | 118 (Pollard's 1890 English edition) |
| ISBN | 978-0-14-044960-0 |
| 891.733 | |
| LC Class | PG3366 .K7 |
Original text | Крейцерова соната at Russian Wikisource |
| Translation | The Kreutzer Sonata at Wikisource |
The Kreutzer Sonata (Russian: Крейцерова соната, Kreitzerova Sonata) is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, named after Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata. The novella was published in 1889, and was promptly censored by the Russian authorities. The work is an argument for the ideal of sexual abstinence and an in-depth first-person description of jealous rage. The main character, Pozdnyshev, relates the events leading up to his killing of his wife: in his analysis, the root causes for the deed were the "animal excesses" and "swinish connection" governing the relation between the sexes.[1][2]