The Cossacks - Leo Tolstoy

When Tolstoy arrived at the Caucasus in 1851, he initially felt disappointed... but he quickly liked the life of the Cossacks on the Terek River. This primitive life, in which passions take a large place, and in which love awaits death, is at Tolstoy a fundamental tone. Tolstoy decided to write something about the Cossacks. But strangely, the writer would continue experimenting and feeling his way for a long time. He even needed ten years to finish writing a story that he shaped in twelve different versions. Even the first version — dating back to September 1852 — Tolstoy composed it as poetry. Tolstoy wrote: "I took to love the Caucasus late, but it was very strong. Truly, how beautiful are those savage lands where a strange alliance is formed, overflowing with poetry, two opposing things in the strongest contrast: war and freedom."