The Cossacks by Tolstoy
The Cossacks is a semi-autobiographical story by Tolstoy. It tells the story of a well to do young Russian man (Olenin) who has the perfect life: young, wealthy, no parental obligations, upper class, etc. Instead of being happy, he is becoming depressed and disillusioned largely due to the listless direction of his life. He dabbles in many different things and ends up wasting his time and money. To the horror of his friends he decides to throw everything away, join the army, and go out to the frontier so he can live with the Cossacks.
It is ironic that I read this book while on the plane to Niger to see my brother who is in the peace corps. I have had many thoughts similar to Olenin about the pointlessness of modern life. A more traditional life can seem happier and more pleasant. This story is about what life is like for that urban Russian in a rustic Cossack village.
One of the first things we see is the traditional disdain and disrespect with which the urban elite treat the country folk. The army just comes into the village and puts themselves up in different houses in town without asking permission. Officers take local girls for mistresses and no consideration is given for the locals wishes. The villagers are not happy about the soldiers being there, but there is nothing they can do.
The two people who are Olenin’s main links with the village are Marianka a beautiful young girl in the family where he is staying and Eroshnya an old Cossack bachelor and hardened warrior.
- Marianka is on a path to marry Luke the best young warrior in the town (although her mother would prefer a higher class suitor). Olenin falls in love with her but believes that she is too perfect to even talk to or get to know. (This seems to be a common theme in Russian novels such as Crime and Punishment. Also during this novel Luke is sleeping with a number of different women because Marianka will not sleep with him until they are married.) Consequently, Olenin does nothing until the day before Marianka is to be married when he can’t take it any longer and begs her abandon Luke and marry him. She says she will consider it, but due to other events in the book this falls through and she refuses to see him any more.
- Eroshnya is an old school Cossack. He tells stories of back when the world was wilder and the Cossacks tougher. He would steal horses, fight, hunt and so forth all the time as a young man. He takes Olenin under his wing and shows him how to hunt, drinks with him, and tells him the way of the Cossacks. He becomes good friends with Olenin and they never have any personal conflicts.
The townspeople look somewhat askance at Olenin and don’t accept him. They can understand a Cossack being a Cossack. They can understand (but not befriend) a Russian being a Russian. They cannot understand why a Russian would want to live as a Cossack, so they see Olenin as crazy. This is exacerbated when Olenin gives some expensive gifts to Luke for no reason. Olenin is a triangular peg is a world with both square and round holes, so people don’t trust him.
In the end Olenin decides to leave the village. He is very happy there and a day or two before he makes the decision he was planning on living there forever. The falling out with Marianka makes him lose his innocence and naivete; he doesn’t think he has the courage to fit in with the Cossacks any more. He realizes that by trying to take the bride of someone in the village he has burned many bridges. The gateway to this idyllic world comes falling down in front of him and he sees that it is just not to be. He decides to return to his home. Sadly Eroshnya seems to forget him the moment he leaves.
