Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Khadzhi-murat [Hadji Murat]

Kathy Rees (Independent Scholar - Europe)

Ed. by Andrei Rogatchevski, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.1.00: Slavic and Russian Writing and Culture: Old, Medieval and Tsarist, 700-1917.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1912

Places

Russia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

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In his prologue to

Hadji Murat

, Tolstoy described the novella as “an old Caucasian story, which I had partly seen myself, partly heard about from witnesses and partly imagined” (Ch. 1). This fictionalised history, set in 1851-2, depicts the role of its eponymous protagonist in the conflict between the Muslim

Imamate

(state) comprising Chechnya and Dagestan, and Christian Imperial Russia. Hadji Murat is a

dzhigit

(warrior), the most charismatic of the

naibs

(lieutenants) under Imam Shamil, who is the political, spiritual, and military leader of the Caucasians. A quarrel between Murat and Shamil results in the former’s defection to the

giaour

, the invader Russia; Murat hopes that the Russians will assist him in bringing down Shamil, their common enemy. Shamil responds by taking…

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1742 words

Citation: Rees, Kathy. "Khadzhi-murat". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 February 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11279, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Khadzhi-murat [Hadji Murat]

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