''Family Happiness'' (
pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Семейное счастие, Seméynoye schástiye) is an 1859
novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...
written by
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
, first published in ''
The Russian Messenger
The ''Russian Messenger'' or ''Russian Herald'' (russian: Ру́сский ве́стник ''Russkiy Vestnik'', Pre-reform Russian: Русскій Вѣстникъ ''Russkiy Vestnik'') has been the title of three notable magazines published in ...
''.
Plot
The story concerns the love and marriage of a young girl, Mashechka (17 years old), and the much older Sergey Mikhaylych (36), an old family friend. The story is narrated by Masha. After a courtship that has the trappings of a mere family friendship, Masha's love grows and expands until she can no longer contain it. She reveals it to Sergey Mikhaylych and discovers that he also is deeply in love. If he has resisted her it was because of his fear that the age difference between them would lead the very young Masha to tire of him. He likes to be still and quiet, he tells her, while she will want to explore and discover more and more about life. Ecstatically and passionately happy, the pair immediately engages to be married. Once married they move to Mikhaylych's home. They are both members of the landed Russian upper class. Masha soon feels impatient with the quiet order of life on the estate, notwithstanding the powerful understanding and love that remains between the two. To assuage her anxiety, they decide to spend a few weeks in St. Petersburg. Sergey Mikhaylych agrees to take Masha to an aristocratic ball. He hates "society" but she is enchanted with it. They go again, and then again. She becomes a regular, the darling of the countesses and princes, with her rural charm and her beauty. Sergey Mikhaylych, at first very pleased with Petersburg society's enthusiasm for his wife, frowns on her passion for "society"; but he does not try to influence Masha. Out of respect for her, Sergey Mikhaylych will scrupulously allow his young wife to discover the truth about the emptiness and ugliness of "society" on her own. But his trust in her is damaged as he watches how dazzled she is by this world. Finally they confront each other about their differences. They argue but do not treat their conflict as something that can be resolved through negotiation. Both are shocked and mortified that their intense love has suddenly been called into question. Something has changed. Because of pride, they both refuse to talk about it. The trust and the closeness are gone. Only courteous friendship remains. Masha yearns to return to the passionate closeness they had known before Petersburg. They go back to the country. Though she gives birth to children and the couple has a good life, she despairs. They can barely be together by themselves. Finally she asks him to explain why he did not try to guide and direct her away from the balls and the parties in Petersburg. Why did they lose their intense love? Why don't they try to bring it back? His answer is not the answer she wants to hear, but it settles her down and prepares her for a long life of comfortable "Family Happiness".
Critical reception
In Russia the initial response to ''Family Happiness'' was lukewarm. The newspaper ''
Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti
The ''Vedomosti'' (Russian: Ведомости) is Russia's oldest newspaper. It was established by Peter the Great's ukase dated 16 December 1702. The first issue appeared on 2 January 1703.
Petrine Vedomosti
Following along the lines of t ...
'' (the July 1859, No. 155 issue) and the magazine ''Severny Tsvetok'' (Northern Flower, No. 22 1859) published positive, but very brief reviews. The major pro-democracy publications failed to mention its release, much chagrined, apparently, by the fact that Tolstoy chose for the publication the right-wing
Katkov-edited journal which at the time was engaged in bitter feuds with ''
Sovremennik
''Sovremennik'' ( rus, «Современник», p=səvrʲɪˈmʲenʲːɪk, a=Ru-современник.ogg, "The Contemporary") was a Russian literary, social and political magazine, published in Saint Petersburg in 1836–1866. It came out f ...
''.
Three years later in an essay called "The Outstanding Works Overlooked by Our Critics" (''
Vremya
''Vremya'' (russian: Вре́мя, lit. "Time") is the main evening newscast in Russia, airing on Channel One Russia (Russian: , Pervy kanal) and previously on Programme One of the Central Television of the USSR (CT USSR, Russian: ). The program ...
'', Nos. 1 and 9)
Apollon Grigoriev
Apollon Aleksandrovich Grigoryev (russian: Аполло́н Алекса́ндрович Григо́рьев, p=ɐpɐˈlon ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲjɪf, a=Apollon Alyeksandrovich Grigor'yev.ru.vorb.oga; 20 July 1822 – 7 Octob ...
made an attempt to 'rehabilitate' the ''Family Happiness'' and called it Tolstoy's "best piece of work to date". ''Sovremennik'' (1865, No.4) retaliated by warning the "critics of the aesthetic school" against praising the backward-looking novel which was idealizing the ruling class's way of life. According to the Soviet scholar
Vladimir Lakshin, "Grigoriev was right in crediting Tolstoy as a shrewd psychologist, who'd succeeded in portraying so vividly in this novella 'the way romantic passion gradually deteriorates into something completely different'".
[Vladimir Lakshin. Commentaries to ''Family Happiness''. The Works of L.N. Tolstoy in 12 Vols. Vol.3. Stories and novellas, 1857-1863. Pp. 408-409]
In popular culture
A passage of the book is quoted in the book and film
''Into the Wild'':
"I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor—such is my idea of happiness. And then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children perhaps—what more can the heart of man desire?"
Another passage is also quoted in the book
''Into the Wild'':
The last page of the story is also quoted in full in the
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer.
Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...
novel ''
The Counterlife
''The Counterlife'' (1986) is a novel by the American author Philip Roth. It is the fourth full-length novel to feature the fictional novelist Nathan Zuckerman. When ''The Counterlife'' was published, Zuckerman had most recently appeared in a no ...
''.
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle, despite the ...
song "Family Happiness" takes its name from the novella and includes the line "Started quoting Tolstoy into the
machine
A machine is a physical system using Power (physics), power to apply Force, forces and control Motion, movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to na ...
/I had no idea what you meant".
The 2012 film of Julia Strachey's 1932 novel ''Cheerful Weather For the Wedding'' shows Dolly, the uncertain bride-to-be reading a copy of ''Family Happiness''.
Pyotr Fomenko
Pyotr Naumovich Fomenko (russian: Пётр Нау́мович Фоме́нко; 13 July 1932 in Moscow – 9 August 2012 in Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian film and theater director, teacher, artistic director of the Moscow theater Pyotr Fomenko ...
's Theater Atelier in Moscow adapted the novella to the stage. The play premiered in September 2000 and remains part of the theater's repertoire.
Theater Atelier Piotr Fomenko. Family Happiness
/ref>
See also
Leo Tolstoy bibliography
This is a list of works by Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), including his novels, novellas, short stories, fables and parables, plays, and nonfiction.
Prose Fiction
Novels
*''War and Peace'' (Война и мир 'Voyna i mir'' 1 ...
References
External links
*''Family Happiness'' Text in English
*
Family Happiness
full text from RevoltLib.com
*
full text from Marxists.org
*
Family Happiness
full text from TheAnarchistLibrary.org
*
Family Happiness
full text from WikiSource.org
*''Family Happiness'' Audio in English
*
*''Family Happiness'' Text in Russian
''Family Happiness''
full Russian text, as edited by J.D. Duff
Full text of ''Семейное счастье'' in the original Russian
{{Authority control
1859 Russian novels
Novels by Leo Tolstoy
Russian novellas