Skip to content
The ConsciousLibrary

Reading room

The Kreutzer Sonata

Leo Tolstoy

Novella in the form of a confession: in a railway carriage Pozdnyshev tells a stranger how he killed his wife out of jealousy of a violinist with whom she played Beethoven's sonata. His story is a diatribe against marriage, sensuality and the sexual education of his time. Banned by the censor, it circulated in copies and was published in 1891 after Sofia Tolstaya appealed to the tsar. Tolstoy added an afterword in 1890 defending chastity.

Start readingAbout the book

English

Translated by Benjamin R. Tucker · 55 chapters · 5 h reading

  1. 1TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.2′
  2. 2CHAPTER I.8′
  3. 3CHAPTER II.6′
  4. 4CHAPTER III.1′
  5. 5CHAPTER IV.3′
  6. 6CHAPTER V.4′
  7. 7CHAPTER VI.6′
  8. 8CHAPTER VII.1′
  9. 9CHAPTER VIII.2′
  10. 10CHAPTER IX.3′
  11. 11CHAPTER X.2′
  12. 12CHAPTER XI.3′
  13. 13CHAPTER XII.6′
  14. 14CHAPTER XIII.7′
  15. 15CHAPTER XIV.4′
  16. 16CHAPTER XV.8′
  17. 17CHAPTER XVI.9′
  18. 18CHAPTER XVII.7′
  19. 19CHAPTER XVIII.3′
  20. 20CHAPTER XIX.5′
  21. 21CHAPTER XX.6′
  22. 22CHAPTER XXI.9′
  23. 23CHAPTER XXII.5′
  24. 24CHAPTER XXIII.6′
  25. 25CHAPTER XXIV.4′
  26. 26CHAPTER XXV.7′
  27. 27CHAPTER XXVI.7′
  28. 28CHAPTER XXVII.9′
  29. 29CHAPTER XXVIII.4′
  30. 30LESSON OF “THE KREUTZER SONATA.”10′
  31. 31CHAPTER I.2′
  32. 32CHAPTER II.4′
  33. 33CHAPTER III.2′
  34. 34CHAPTER IV.5′
  35. 35CHAPTER V.2′
  36. 36CHAPTER VI.2′
  37. 37CHAPTER VII.5′
  38. 38CHAPTER VIII.2′
  39. 39CHAPTER IX.2′
  40. 40CHAPTER X.5′
  41. 41CHAPTER XI.4′
  42. 42CHAPTER XII.8′
  43. 43A LOST OPPORTUNITY. · 15′
  44. 44A LOST OPPORTUNITY. · 25′
  45. 45A LOST OPPORTUNITY. · 39′
  46. 46A LOST OPPORTUNITY. · 48′
  47. 47A LOST OPPORTUNITY. · 55′
  48. 48A LOST OPPORTUNITY. · 61′
  49. 49CHAPTER I.7′
  50. 50CHAPTER II.3′
  51. 51CHAPTER III.3′
  52. 52CHAPTER IV.7′
  53. 53CHAPTER V.4′
  54. 54CHAPTER VI.4′
  55. 55THE CANDLE.15′

Russian

· 29 chapters · 2 h reading

  1. 1Крейцерова соната1′
  2. 2I7′
  3. 3II6′
  4. 4III2′
  5. 5IV3′
  6. 6V4′
  7. 7VI2′
  8. 8VII1′
  9. 9VIII2′
  10. 10IX2′
  11. 11X2′
  12. 12XI5′
  13. 13XII4′
  14. 14XIII4′
  15. 15XIV4′
  16. 16XV3′
  17. 17XVI6′
  18. 18XVII3′
  19. 19XVIII2′
  20. 20XIX4′
  21. 21XX5′
  22. 22XXI8′
  23. 23XXII4′
  24. 24XXIII5′
  25. 25XXIV3′
  26. 26XXV6′
  27. 27XXVI5′
  28. 28XXVII8′
  29. 29XXVIII3′
The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy — full text · The Conscious Library