The Poor Man is a short story by Russian writer Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, published in 1905. The work carefully analyzes the development process of the psychological contradiction of Sang Na, the fisherman's wife, and shows the noble quality that the fisherman and his wife would rather endure hardships and overcome difficulties themselves, but also help their neighbors.

Creation background

In Russian society under the tsar's rule, class contradictions have intensified day by day, aristocratic life has been eroded, and morality has declined. Although the broad masses of bottom workers are struggling on the edge of poverty, they still maintain the aristocratic temperament of Russia. By chance, lev tolstoy read the narrative poem The Poor Man by French writer victor hugo, which inspired his creation.

After making a lot of revisions to this translation, lev tolstoy included his own story collection, which was published in 1905. When this collection was reprinted in 1908, he made some changes in the translation to be faithful to the original.