The four stories selected here represent Tolstoy at his creative best, exploring in a specific and detailed way his characteristic themes: life understood as a journey of the discovery of identity and vocation, the meaning of one`s life in the face of death, and the redemptive role of suffering and compassion. "Family Happiness" (1889) traces the psychology of failed married love, yet is written against the tradition of the novel of romance, marriage, and adultery. "The Kreutzer Sonata" (1889) recounts a husband`s addictions, jealousy, sinister guilt, and subsequent isolation, while "The Cossacks" (1863) focuses on the experiences of a young Russian whose quest for romantic love becomes one for the love of "the whole of God`s world". Finally, the superbly crafted "Hadji Murad" (1912) juxtaposes the military and civilian worlds in a tale of the human violation of the natural. Written over almost fifty years, these works display Tolstoy`s changing views on art and sexuality,