Written over a period of more than half a century, Leo Tolstoy’s stories reflect every aspect of his art and personality. They cover his experiences as a soldier in the Caucasus, his married life, his passionate interest in the peasantry, his cult of truth and simplicity, and his growing preoccupation with religion. The stories in Volume 1 of the *Collected Shorter Fiction* date from the period in which the young Tolstoy wrote *Anna Karenina* and *War and Peace.* Ranging from brief, masterfully sketches of military life such as “The Wood-Felling” to novellas like *Family Happiness* , an uneasy imagining of the idyllic possibilities of marriage by the not-yet-married writer, all feature Tolstoy’s characteristically lavish deployment of detail, shrewd observation, and imaginative power.