The Kreutzer Sonata

Less a story than a philosophical tract, this tale is told to a chance listener on a railway journey by a man who has murdered his wife and been exonerated on the grounds that she was unfaithful and deserved it. Tolstoy writes the murderer Pozdnyshev as distraught, given to uttering a strange emotional cry, which Jonathan Oliver renders brilliantly. Oliver's Pozdnyshev, high-strung and tormented, is convinced that his crime was caused by the nature of modern marriage and that any true Christian, married or not, must live celibate or risk his mortal soul. Since Pozdnyshev strikes the listener as delusional, but Tolstoy's afterword makes clear that he is the author's mouthpiece, this makes for a strangely dissonant experience, if a marvelous piece of acting. B.G. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

October 15, 2010

Not as well known as Tolstoy's monumental novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, this 1889 novella brilliantly describes the disintegration of a marriage. Drawn together by physical attraction alone, Pozdnyshev and his new wife begin arguing from the outset and grow increasingly angry, cold, and disdainful, until their marriage finally ends in an act of murder. Actor Jonathan Oliver's (The Cossacks) subtle renderings of incidental dialects are exceptional. Highly recommended for anyone interested in classic fiction and for those seeking a comparatively short and approachable introduction to classic Russian fiction. [This year marks the 100th anniversary of Tolstoy's death.--Ed.]--I. Pour-El, Des Moines Area Community Coll., Boone, IA

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Simon Prebble must summon all of his formidable talents as a narrator to convey the tangled logic and morbid self-loathing of Pozdnyshev, the main character in Leo Tolstoy's 1890 novella. A chance encounter with a stranger aboard a train prompts Pozdnyshev to recount the convoluted history of his marriage while revealing much about the nature of marriage among the landed gentry of his time. Prebble succeeds admirably at presenting Pozdnyshev as both an astute social critic and an overprivileged and slightly unhinged egomaniac who misinterprets everything he sees. Is his wife a long suffering victim or a calculating adulteress? Is he the manipulator or the manipulated? Are his actions justified? Prebble's finely tuned interpretation leaves the answers up to us. L.X. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine