Which Leo Tolstoy short story is known in English as After the Ball?

The Leo Tolstoy short story known in English as After the Ball is After the Ball.

The story is framed as a recollection by Ivan Vasilyevich, who describes falling in love with Varenka after seeing her at an elegant ball. His admiration for her father, a respected colonel, changes abruptly when he encounters the same man supervising the brutal punishment of a soldier the following morning.

That contrast between refined social celebration and institutional violence drives the story’s moral argument. A single experience causes Ivan to reject the career and marriage path he had been considering.

The story is also translated as “After the Dance,” reflecting the Russian title Posle bala. It is not the same work as The Kreutzer Sonata, another Tolstoy narrative concerned with marriage, jealousy, and moral judgment.