I just finished reading another Tolstoy. It’s The Raids. This short story is, again, inspired by Tolstoy’s life when he joined his brother in the front with soldiers in the province of Don Cossack, in a war with enemy Tartars.
In my opinion, this story is the most beautiful of Tolstoy’s first works, in terms of language. It is true that the story tells about wartime. Yes. But, telling about war doesn’t necessarily mean that a work is unbeautiful (:D). The Raids is beautiful in terms of its description of the landscape, the chain of snowy mountains, the crimson color of dusk, the violet mist surrounding the snowy mountains also in the dusk, and all. I believe it’s because Tolstoy had just seen such panorama there in the region.
Besides description of nature, I also find that it has a very good description of people. Here Tolstoy describes Captain Khlopov’s facial expression and how the I analyzes the characteristic of the Captain.
However, there’s one thing that, in my opinion, needs improvement, that is, its size. I don’t feel comfortable reading Tolstoy when it is very short. Yeah, Tolstoy is served best when it is long, comprehensive, and effectual!!!!!
