"Kholstomer" ( rus, Холстомер, p=xəlstɐˈmʲer), also translated as "Strider", is a work 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 ...

that has been referred to as “one of the most striking stories in

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were c ...

”. It was started in 1863 and left

unfinished Unfinished may refer to: *Unfinished creative work, a work which a creator either chose not to finish or was prevented from finishing. Music * Symphony No. 8 (Schubert) "Unfinished" * ''Unfinished'' (album), 2011 album by American singer Jor ...

until 1886, when it was reworked and published as "Kholstomer: The Story of a Horse".

Georgi Tovstonogov Georgy Aleksandrovich Tovstonogov (russian: Георгий Александрович Товстоногов, – 23 May 1989) was a Russian-Georgian theatre director. He was the leader of the Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theater which was renamed after ...

staged it in his theatre in 1975. The horse was played by Evgeny Lebedev. This story prominently features the technique of

defamiliarization Defamiliarization or ''ostranenie'' ( rus, остранение, p=ɐstrɐˈnʲenʲɪjə) is the artistic technique of presenting to audiences common things in an unfamiliar or strange way so they could gain new perspectives and see the world diffe ...

by adopting the perspective of a horse to expose some of the irrationalities of human conventions. Strider's altruistic life is recounted parallel to that of his selfish and useless owner. At the end of the story Strider dies but his corpse gives birth to a new life - that of wolf cubs:

References

External links

* English Text *
''Kholstomer''
from RevoltLib.com *

from Marxists.org *
''Kholstomer''
from TheAnarchistLibrary.org * Commentaries *

1886 books Short stories by Leo Tolstoy Fictional horses {{1880s-story-stub

See also

References

External links