The Kreutzer Sonata

Although the framing narrative uses the first-person voice of an unnamed “primary narrator,” the actual plot of The Kreutzer Sonata is written in the voice of the novella’s protagonist, Pozdnychev. Pozdnychev is speaking to the “primary narrator” and telling his life story from his own recollection. He is therefore acting as an unreliable secondary narrator, one whose account of events is filtered through his own biased perspective.

This literary device allows Tolstoy to exhibit the protagonist’s personality more expediently and explore his characterization in more depth because the reader must pay attention to his voice as well as his actions. Additionally, the character voice allows Tolstoy to use Pozdnychev as a mouthpiece for his own beliefs and to include in-depth discussions on the themes of the novella without disrupting the flow of the story.