Master and Man

These three stories of Tolstoy's maturity show him increasingly grappling with fundamental issues of religion and morality. In "Master and Man", he depicts an employer, bent on closing a business deal, travelling with his servant through the swirling snow - little realizing how soon he may have to settle his accounts with his maker. "Father Sergius" portrays a priest tormented beyond endurance by the longings of his body, while "Hadji Murat" dramatizes the divided loyalties of a leading figure in Russia's struggle to subdue the Caucasus. With a compelling combination of moral seriousness and extraordinary sympathy and understanding, these stories reveal Tolstoy as a writer at the height of his creative powers.