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Within a single life span, Russian
literature had made a series of
incredible leaps from a folkloric
tradition to far more complex and
extensive literary styles.History writing
A typically Russian ambivalence
about Western literary tropes led
Tolstoy to write that “There is not
a single work of Russian artistic
prose... that quite fits the form of
a novel, a poem, or a story.” He
was reluctant to categorize his
masterful War and Peace: “[it is] not
a novel, even less is it a poem, and
still less a historical chronicle,” he
stated in 1868. Tolstoy’s concern
was that all historical records had
their pitfalls and that the “truth” of
history was hard to grasp without
an omniscient view. He attempted
to achieve such a wide perspective
in War and Peace by exploring the
experiences of a vast cast of
characters—more than 500 in all—
from across society. Some of the
characters were inspired by people
Tolstoy knew in real life: Natasha
Rostova, for example, was based on
Tolstoy’s wife’s sister. Many of the
aristocratic characters were given
authentic, but slightly bastardized
names: the name of reckless and
willful Bezukhov, for example,
translates as “earless.”War and Peace spans a period
of eight years from July 1805,
narrating the events of Napoleon’s
invasion of Russia up to the eventual
burning of Moscow in September- The main narrative follows
the rise and fall in the fortunes of
five fictional, aristocratic Russian
families set against the backdrop
of the Napoleonic Wars of the 19th
century, linking their personal lives
to the history of Russia. Alongside
these fictional characters, Tolstoy
casts a series of actual historical
figures, such as Tsar Alexander and
Napoleon, as key players in his epic.
Introductions
The book begins in the most
Westernized of Russian cities—
St Petersburg—at a high-societyWAR AND PEACE
High-society balls of the early 19th
century, where attendees dressed in
military finery and expensive gowns,
characterize Tolstoy’s depiction of the
shallow liberalism of St. Petersburg.soirée. While Napoleon’s army
marches through Italy and heads
east, the city’s aristocrats meet to
gossip (in French), gamble, drink,
and flirt. Significantly, the opening
lines of the book, spoken by the
hostess of the soirée, Anna Pavlovna
Scherer, establish the book’s focus
on history, war, and the state of
European affairs: “Well, Prince,
so Genoa and Lucca are now just
family estates of the Buonapartes.”
Tolstoy uses this gathering
to introduce readers to some of his
leading characters, including Prince
Andrei Nikolaevich Bolkonsky, a
handsome, intelligent and wealthy
figure who will emerge as one
of the heroes of the book, and
Andrei’s friend Pierre Bezukhov,
the ungainly and bulky son of a
Russian count, through whom
Tolstoy relays his own thoughts and
concerns on the best way to live a
moral life in an immoral world.
Tolstoy’s narrative then moves
to Moscow, where both the city and
its people have more traditionally
Russian qualities. Here, the reader
is introduced to more characters,
including Countess Rostova and
her four children, one of whom is
Natalia Ilyinichna (Natasha)—
“black-eyed, wide-mouthed” and
“full of life”—whose vibrant energy
flits through the pages of the book.Russia at war
Soon, Russia is at war. Napoleon’s
forces march toward Moscow
and are met by the Russians
some 70 miles (100 km) west of
the city at the Battle of Borodino on
September 7, 1812. Tolstoy paints
a vivid image of the bloodbath inThere’s nothing stronger than
those two old soldiers—
Time and Patience.
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