How Much land Does a Man Need ? - Wikipedia How Much land Does a Man Need ? `` How Much Land Does a Man Need ? '' Leo Tolstoy by Mikhail Nesterov, 1906 Author Leo Tolstoy Original title `` Много ли человеку земли нужно ? '' Country Russia Language Russian Genre ( s ) Short story Publication date 1886 `` How Much Land Does a Man Require ? '' ( Russian : Много ли человеку земли нужно ?, Mnoga li cheloveku zemli nuzhna ? ) is an 1886 short story by Leo Tolstoy about a man who, in his lust for land, forfeits everything. Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Cultural influence 3 References 4 External links Synopsis The protagonist of the story is a peasant named Pahom, who overhears his wife and sister - in - law argue over the merits of town and peasant farm life. He thinks to himself `` if I had plenty of land, I should n't fear the Devil himself ! ''. Unbeknownst to him, Satan is present sitting behind the stove and listening. Satan abruptly accepts his challenge and also tells that he would give Pahom more land and then snatch everything from him. A short time later, a landlady in the village decides to sell her estate, and the peasants of the village buy as much of that land as they can. Pahom himself purchases some land, and by working on the extra land is able to repay his debts and live a more comfortable life. However, Pahom then becomes very possessive of his land, and this causes arguments with his neighbors. `` Threats to burn his building began to be uttered. '' Later, he moves to a larger area of land at another Commune. Here, he can grow even more crops and amass a small fortune, but he has to grow the crops on rented land, which irritates him. Finally, after buying and selling a lot of fertile and good land, he is introduced to the Bashkirs, and is told that they are simple - minded people who own a huge amount of land. Pahom goes to them to buy as much of their land for as low a price as he can negotiate. Their offer is very unusual : for a sum of one thousand rubles, Pahom can walk around as large an area as he wants, starting at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way. If he returns to his starting point by sunset that day, all the land his route encloses will be his, but if he does not reach his starting point, he will lose his money and receive no land. He is delighted, as he believes that he can cover a great distance and has chanced upon the bargain of a lifetime. That night, Pakhom experiences a surreal dream in which he sees himself lying dead by the feet of the Devil, who is laughing. He stays out as late as possible, marking out land until just before the sun sets. Toward the end, he realizes he is far from the starting point and runs back as fast as he can to the waiting Bashkirs. He finally arrives at the starting point just as the sun sets. The Bashkirs cheer his good fortune, but exhausted from the run, Pahom drops dead. His servant buries him in an ordinary grave only six feet long, thus ironically answering the question posed in the title of the story. Cultural influence Late in life, James Joyce wrote to his daughter that it is `` the greatest story that the literature of the world knows '' ; Ludwig Wittgenstein was another well - known admirer. Motifs from the short story are used in the 1969 West German film Scarabea : How Much Land Does a Man Need ? directed by Hans - Jürgen Syberberg. References Jump up ^ Donna Tussing Orwin. The Cambridge Companion to Tolstoy. Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0 - 521 - 52000 - 2. Page 209. Jump up ^ Stuart G Shanker, David Kilfoyle. Ludwig Wittgenstein. Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0 - 415 - 14918 - 5. Page 339. Jump up ^ `` Scarabea - Wieviel Erde braucht der Mensch ? ''. Filmportal.de ( in German ). German Film Institute. Retrieved 2013 - 03 - 31. External links Wikisource has original text related to this article : How Much Land Does a Man Need ? What Men Live By and Other Tales at Project Gutenberg - a collection including How Much Land Does a Man Need ? Leo Tolstoy Bibliography Novels and novellas Childhood ( 1852 ) Boyhood ( 1854 ) Youth ( 1856 ) Family Happiness ( 1859 ) The Cossacks ( 1863 ) War and Peace ( 1869 ) Anna Karenina ( 1878 ) The Death of Ivan Ilyich ( 1886 ) The Kreutzer Sonata ( 1889 ) Resurrection ( 1899 ) The Forged Coupon ( 1911 ) Hadji Murat ( 1912 ) Short stories `` The Raid '' ( 1852 ) `` The Snowstorm '' ( 1856 ) `` Albert '' ( 1858 ) `` Three Deaths '' ( 1859 ) `` God Sees the Truth, But Waits '' ( 1872 ) `` The Prisoner of the Caucasus '' ( 1872 ) `` What Men Live By '' ( 1881 ) `` Quench the Spark '' ( 1885 ) `` Where Love Is, God Is '' ( 1885 ) `` Ivan the Fool '' ( 1885 ) `` Wisdom of Children '' ( 1885 ) `` The Three Hermits '' ( 1886 ) `` Promoting a Devil '' ( 1886 ) `` How Much Land Does a Man Need ? '' ( 1886 ) `` The Grain '' ( 1886 ) `` Repentance '' ( 1886 ) `` Croesus and Fate '' ( 1886 ) `` Kholstomer '' ( 1886 ) `` A Lost Opportunity '' ( 1889 ) `` Master and Man '' ( 1895 ) `` Too Dear ! '' ( 1897 ) `` Father Sergius '' ( 1898 ) `` Work, Death, and Sickness '' ( 1903 ) `` Three Questions '' ( 1903 ) `` Alyosha the Pot '' ( 1905 ) `` The Devil '' ( 1911 ) Plays The Power of Darkness ( 1886 ) The Light Shines in the Darkness ( 1890 ) The Fruits of Enlightenment ( 1891 ) The Living Corpse ( 1900 ) Non-fiction A Confession ( 1882 ) What Is to Be Done ? ( 1886 ) The Kingdom of God Is Within You ( 1894 ) What Is Art ? ( 1897 ) `` A Letter to a Hindu '' ( 1908 ) A Calendar of Wisdom ( 1910 ) Family Sophia ( wife ) Alexandra ( daughter ) Ilya ( son ) Lev Lvovich ( son ) Tatyana ( daughter ) Life and legacy Yasnaya Polyana Tolstoyan movement Christian anarchism Departure of a Grand Old Man ( 1912 film ) The Last Station ( 1990 novel 2009 film ) Related The Triumph of the Farmer or Industry and Parasitism ( 1888 ) Vladimir Chertkov Global human population Major topics Biocapacity Optimum population Overpopulation Malthusian catastrophe Population Population ethics Population momentum Sustainable development Women 's reproductive rights Zero population growth Biological and related topics Family planning Pledge two or fewer Human population planning One - child policy Two - child policy Population biology Population decline Population density Physiological density Population dynamics Population growth Population model Population pyramid Projections of population growth Human impact on the environment Deforestation Desalination Desertification Environmental impact of agriculture of aviation of biodiesel of concrete of electricity generation of the energy industry of fishing of irrigation of mining of off - roading of oil shale industry of palm oil of paper of the petroleum industry of reservoirs of shipping of war Industrialisation Land degradation Land reclamation Overconsumption Pollution Quarrying Urbanization Loss of green belts Urban sprawl Waste Water scarcity Overdrafting Population ecology Carrying capacity Deep ecology Earth 's energy budget Food security Habitat destruction I = P × A × T Malthusian growth model Overshoot ( population ) World energy consumption World energy resources World3 model Literature A Modest Proposal Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. An Essay on the Principle of Population `` How Much Land Does a Man Need ? '' Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth Population Control : Real Costs, Illusory Benefits The Limits to Growth The Population Bomb The Skeptical Environmentalist The Ultimate Resource Publications Population and Environment Population and Development Review Lists Population and housing censuses by country Metropolitan areas by population Population milestone babies Events and organizations 7 Billion Actions International Conference on Population and Development Population Action International Population Connection Population Matters Population Research Institute United Nations Population Fund Voluntary Human Extinction Movement World Population Day World Population Foundation Related topics Classic Maya collapse Fertility and intelligence Green Revolution Holocene extinction Migration Commons Human overpopulation Human activities with impact on the environment Human migration Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=How_Much_Land_Does_a_Man_Need%3F&oldid=804235361 '' Categories : 1886 short stories Bashkortostan Parables Short stories by Leo Tolstoy Hidden categories : CS1 German - language sources ( de ) Pages using deprecated image syntax Articles with Project Gutenberg links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikisource Deutsch Euskara Français हिन्दी Italiano ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Polski Română Русский Edit links This page was last edited on 7 October 2017, at 17 : 14. 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Question: when was how much land does a man need written
Answer: 1886