Book Number 38 of 2024

I know it’s been a while since I posted a book review, but I have a good excuse – my latest book is Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace! Why did I choose to tackle this famously large tome? Well, I read War and Peace many years ago when I was a senior in college. One of my roommates was a Russian Studies major, and he got me hooked on Russian literature: Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Bulgakov, primarily. I decided to reread War and Peace to see if the benefit of age and experience would increase my appreciation of it. I can definitely say “Yes” to that question!

My immediate takeaway is what a wonderful job Tolstoy does of describing his main characters’ development and maturation. The story revolves primarily around two families, the Rostovs, and the Bolkonskys. The Kuragins and Pierre Bezukhov are also major players. My Kindle edition had a helpful listing of the main characters, which I printed out and referred to often:

BEZUKHOVS
COUNT Cyril BEZUKHOV.
PIERRE, his son, legitimized after his father’s death, becomes Count Peter BEZUKHOV.
Princess CATICHE, Pierre’s cousin.

ROSTOVS
COUNT Ilya ROSTOV.
COUNTESS Nataly ROSTOVA, his wife.
Count NICHOLAS Rostov (Nikolenka), their elder son.
Count Peter ROSTOV (PETYA), their second son.
Countess VERA Rostova, their elder daughter.
Countess Nataly Rostova (Natasha), their younger daughter.
SONYA, a poor member of the Rostov family circle.
BERG, Alphonse Karlich, an officer of German extraction who marries Vera.

BOLKONSKYS
PRINCE Nicholas BOLKONSKY, a retired General-in-Chief.
PRINCE ANDREW Bolkonsky, his son.
PRINCESS MARY (Masha) Bolkonskaya, his daughter.
Princess Elizabeth Bolkonskaya (LISE), Andrew’s wife.
TIKHON, Prince N. Bolkonsky’s attendant.
ALPATYCH, his steward.

KURAGINS
PRINCE VASILI Kuragin.
Prince HIPPOLYTE Kuragin, his elder son.
Prince ANATOLE Kuragin, his younger son.
Princess HELENE Kuragina (Lelya), his daughter, who marries Pierre.

OTHERS
Princess Anna Mikhaylovna Drubetskaya.
Prince BORIS Drubetskoy (Bory), her son.
JULIE Karagina, an heiress who marries Boris.
MARYA DMITRIEVNA Akhrosimova (le terrible dragon).
BILIBIN, a diplomat.
DENISOV, Vasili Dmitrich (Vaska), an hussar officer.
Lavrushka, his batman.
DOLOKHOV (Fedya), an officer and desperado.
Count Rostopchin, Governor of Moscow.
ANNA PAVLOVNA Scherer (Annette), Maid of Honour to the ex-Empress Marya Fedorovna.
Shinshin, a relation of Countess Rostova’s.
Timokhin, an infantry officer.
Tushin, an artillery officer.
Platon KARATAEV, a peasant.

So what can I possibly add to all that’s been written about one of the most famous works of literature ever? Well, first of all, I’m not sure exactly what War and Peace is – it’s not strictly a novel, even though one could say that Pierre Bezukhov is the “hero” of it; it’s sort of an historical account of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, covering the period from 1809 – 1813; it’s a philosophical treatise where Tolstoy uses various characters to espouse his religious and sociopolitical beliefs. Which is why, I think, War and Peace is such an enduring classic: the reader can enjoy it on multiple levels.

Superficially, it’s an adventure story. As it becomes clear that war with Napoleon is inevitable, all the young men in Russia are thrilled for the opportunity to display their bravery. Battles are grand fun:

“Now then, let’s see how far it will carry, Captain. Just try!” said the general, turning to an artillery officer. “Have a little fun to pass the time.” “Crew, to your guns!” commanded the officer. In a moment the men came running gaily from their campfires and began loading. “One!” came the command. Number one jumped briskly aside. The gun rang out with a deafening metallic roar, and a whistling grenade flew above the heads of our troops below the hill and fell far short of the enemy, a little smoke showing the spot where it burst. The faces of officers and men brightened up at the sound. Everyone got up and began watching the movements of our troops below, as plainly visible as if but a stone’s throw away, and the movements of the approaching enemy farther off. At the same instant the sun came fully out from behind the clouds, and the clear sound of the solitary shot and the brilliance of the bright sunshine merged in a single joyous and spirited impression.

LEO TOLSTOY. War and Peace (Kindle Locations 3473-3482). Delphi Classics. Kindle Edition.

However, it isn’t long before we are plunged into the horrific chaos and carnage that occurs during the battle of Borodino. No one knows what they are supposed to be doing, and men are getting slaughtered by bullets and cannonballs. Over and over again, Tolstoy explains that Napoleon and the Russian Supreme Commander, Kutuzov, are not in control of events, but merely fulfilling roles that the moment requires. As a matter of fact, in the second and final epilogue, Tolstoy spends fifty pages exploring the paradox of humanity exercising free will in a universe that seems to be moving with inevitability towards some end. Tolstoy believes that a benevolent God is in control, and he doesn’t give much credit to “great men” like Napoleon for affecting history.

As I mentioned earlier, Tolstoy uses characters to illustrate various beliefs. Pierre is the main person who develops and matures throughout the book. In the opening scene, he is at a fashionable salon party, and it is clear he is out of his depth. Everyone around him is having witty conversation and impressing each other. Pierre is physically large and clumsy, and verbally uncultured. To top things off, he is the illegitimate son of the fabulously wealthy Count Bezukhov. Also at this party is Prince Andrew Bulkonsky, who is another main character. He is married to Lise, who fits right in with fashionable Petersburg high society. Andrew, however, despises that social scene, and he no longer loves his wife.

The other main family are the Rostovs. The father, Count Ilya Rostov, is very popular in Moscow high society, because he and his wife throw extravagant parties. Unfortunately, they cannot afford them, and are increasingly mired in debt. The elder son, Nicholas, goes off to war as a superficially principled but callow youth. In one scene, he takes offense at something Prince Andrew says, but the older and wiser prince puts him in his place:

“And I will tell you this,” Prince Andrew interrupted in a tone of quiet authority, “you wish to insult me, and I am ready to agree with you that it would be very easy to do so if you haven’t sufficient self-respect, but admit that the time and place are very badly chosen. In a day or two we shall all have to take part in a greater and more serious duel, and besides, Drubetskoy, who says he is an old friend of yours, is not at all to blame that my face has the misfortune to displease you. However,” he added rising, “you know my name and where to find me, but don’t forget that I do not regard either myself or you as having been at all insulted, and as a man older than you, my advice is to let the matter drop.

LEO TOLSTOY. War and Peace (Kindle Locations 5253-5256). Delphi Classics. Kindle Edition.

Fortunately, as Nicholas gains experience in battle, he matures into a fine young man, even rescuing Prince Andrew’s sister, Mary, who is caught between the advancing French forces and rebellious serfs.

Nicholas’ sister, Natasha, is another major character. Early in the story, she is a charming 13-year-old who already turns heads. She is beautiful, talented, and sincere. As the book progresses, she undergoes trials that forge her into a strong and outstanding person.

All of these characters will come into contact with each other and separate multiple times, each time having undergone some degree of transformation and maturation.

Pierre is the one person who undergoes the most varied trials. Before his father, Count Cyril, dies, he makes Pierre legitimate so that he can inherit his estate. Suddenly, all of Petersburg high society that previously looked down on him, decides he is now the most fascinating man in Russia! He is taken under Prince Vasili Kuragin’s wing and married to Vasili’s daughter, Helene. Vasili takes advantage of Pierre, using his wealth to pay off his family’s debts, while Pierre’s marriage to the beautiful Helene is a disaster. There is no love on either side, and Pierre’s friend, Dolokhov, has an open affair with Helene.

Pierre dabbles in Masonic philosophy, then devotes himself to reforming his estates so that his serfs are treated better, then lives a life of dissipation with a group of high-living men. None of these satisfy him. He then gets caught in the middle of the horrifically bloody battle at Borodino. It isn’t until he spends time as a prisoner of the French and becomes friends with the wise and stoic peasant, Platon Karataev, that Pierre finally finds peace.

Meanwhile, there is a war going on! The French consider themselves to be invincible, and after they take the city of Smolensk, they turn to Moscow. They incur enormous losses at Borodino, but the Russians lose even more men. However, the French have been dealt a mortal blow. Even though the Russian general retreats beyond Moscow and leaves it undefended, he knows that the French are on their last legs.

There is a humorous scene where Napoleon marches triumphantly into Moscow, only to find it deserted. He can’t find any official delegation to surrender to him. He is disappointed and angered that the Russians didn’t fall at his feet the way the Austrians and Prussians did. The French soldiers disperse and begin sacking the city, while fires spring up everywhere. All military discipline is gone, and Napoleon realizes he is like a dog who has caught the car: he doesn’t have the resources to govern an ungovernable people. So, he turns and flees back to France. The rest of the book details the privations the Russian people and the ragged French armies undergo while the French retreat in chaotic fashion.

War and Peace is a fascinating, sprawling work that tries to capture an entire people’s character in a time of extreme distress. Most of the book’s characters are drawn from the Russian upper class, so they, for the most part, have no worries about money. They all own serfs, who are portrayed as happy and content with their lot. Throughout the book, each character wrestles with timeless questions: “What is the purpose of life?”, “How should a virtuous person live?” At one point, Tolstoy writes of Pierre,

He had the unfortunate capacity many men, especially Russians, have of seeing and believing in the possibility of goodness and truth, but of seeing the evil and falsehood of life too clearly to be able to take a serious part in it.

LEO TOLSTOY. War and Peace (Kindle Locations 11631-11633). Delphi Classics. Kindle Edition.

By the end of the tale, though, Pierre has peace and the answers to his anguish:

He could not see an aim, for he now had faith — not faith in any kind of rule, or words, or ideas, but faith in an ever-living, ever-manifest God. Formerly he had sought Him in aims he set himself. That search for an aim had been simply a search for God, and suddenly in his captivity he had learned not by words or reasoning but by direct feeling what his nurse had told him long ago: that God is here and everywhere. In his captivity he had learned that in Karataev God was greater, more infinite and unfathomable than in the Architect of the Universe recognized by the Freemasons. He felt like a man who after straining his eyes to see into the far distance finds what he sought at his very feet. All his life he had looked over the heads of the men around him, when he should have merely looked in front of him without straining his eyes.

In the past he had never been able to find that great inscrutable infinite something. He had only felt that it must exist somewhere and had looked for it. In everything near and comprehensible he had only what was limited, petty, commonplace, and senseless. He had equipped himself with a mental telescope and looked into remote space, where petty worldliness hiding itself in misty distance had seemed to him great and infinite merely because it was not clearly seen. And such had European life, politics, Freemasonry, philosophy, and philanthropy seemed to him. But even then, at moments of weakness as he had accounted them, his mind had penetrated to those distances and he had there seen the same pettiness, worldliness, and senselessness. Now, however, he had learned to see the great, eternal, and infinite in everything, and therefore — to see it and enjoy its contemplation — he naturally threw away the telescope through which he had till now gazed over men’s heads, and gladly regarded the ever-changing, eternally great, unfathomable, and infinite life around him. And the closer he looked the more tranquil and happy he became. That dreadful question, “What for?” which had formerly destroyed all his mental edifices, no longer existed for him. To that question, “What for?” a simple answer was now always ready in his soul: “Because there is a God, that God without whose will not one hair falls from a man’s head.”

LEO TOLSTOY. War and Peace (Kindle Locations 23766-23782). Delphi Classics. Kindle Edition.

War and Peace is deservedly a literary classic. It engages the reader, and forces him or her to wrestle with difficult questions. At the same time, it’s a lot of fun to read – I found myself truly caring about Andrew, Natasha, and Pierre, as well as a host of lesser characters. There’s a reason some works survive for centuries; they address, in an entertaining way, the eternal questions that humanity has been asking since time began.

I mentioned at the beginning of this post that I originally read War and Peace when I was 21 and in college. At the time, I enjoyed it because it was full of adventure and intrigue with some humor and romance thrown in. Now that I am on the downhill side of my life, I have a much greater appreciation for what Tolstoy is trying to convey. Life is so much more than worrying about what others think of you, or how much wealth you have accumulated. The Epilogue of War and Peace is one big joyous celebration of family: the delight of raising small children, the pleasure of good conversation with friends and relatives, the mutual love and respect of husband and wife. Tolstoy’s vision of the good life is one that we should still aspire to.