Sevastopolic Stories

The Sevastopolic Stories of Leo Tolstoj is a legendary cycle of three drawings, which has become a turning point in the history of the battle genre and has set the foundation of the great realism of the writer. As a direct participant in the defense of Sevastopol, the young supporter of the artillery Tolstoy created not just military reports, but an impatiently honest, psychological portrait of the war, strictly deprived of the careless patriotism and romantic glow. The cycle consists of three parts that captured different stages of the Crimean War: **“Sevastopol in December”**, **“Sevastopol in May”** and **“Sevastopol in August 1855”**. In front of the reader, a huge and terrible panorama of the occupied city is developing – from the first months of hope and resilience to the tragic end and the abandonment of the fortress. Tolstoy leads us through the dirty streets, looks at improvised hospitals where the wounded stands, and leads to the advanced, deadly fire of the fourth bastion. There are no idealized wealthy here: the heroes of Tolstoy are ordinary soldiers, officers and ordinary citizens. The author with surgical accuracy preparates their hidden motives: fear of death, deafness, thirst of officials and at the same time - quiet, awake, without excessive theatrality courage, which the writer himself called the main quality of the Russian man. Tolstoy first showed war “not in the right, beautiful and brilliant order, with music and bubble battle”, but “in its true expression – in blood, in suffering, in death.”This is a stunning humanist manifest, claiming that the main and only hero of his story, whom he loves with all the forces of the soul, is Truth. ** About what the book in three words:** War, Truth, Courage. Everyone who appreciates the strong historical and battle prose wants to see the origins of Tolstoy’s genius before writing “War and Peace” and is looking for a deep, honest look at human psychology in extreme conditions.