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A review by shorshewitch
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
5.0
"This war is a terrible thing," he said,
"With its countless numbers of needless dead;
A futile warfare it seems to me,
Fought for no principle I can see.
Alas, that thousands of hearts should bleed
For naught but a tyrant's boundless greed!"
~ Franklin Pierce Adams
*****
I sit here for the longest time, trying to gather words and feelings after the end of this epic masterpiece. I try to look for a passage to start the write-up with and end up rethinking the entire course of the 4-Volume story and the impact it had on my thoughts. I try to remember what 'war' meant to me before I read this story and all I can think of is the plethora of new dimensions of discussion about 'war' and its causes and consequences that now have opened up in front of me. I don't quite remember what I thought earlier. It is like a part of me has expanded to never return to its original form again. A benchmark has been set.
With Tolstoy's own admission, this is not a novel. This isn't simply a story. The format of the book is a deviation from the normalcy. There are chapters and chapters dedicated to Tolstoy's commentary while he was thinking out loud. The artist Tolstoy sometimes appears in the characters of the story, musing upon the notions of nihilism, free will, death, despair, courage, divination, psychology and numerous such abstractions that human life and mind is made of.
The story revolves around five aristocratic Russian families during the Napoleanic era between 1805 - 1815 - the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, the Drubetskoys, the Kuragins and the Bezhukovs. It begins in Petersburg's aristocratic salon, at a soiree hosted by a royal confidante, where socio-political discussions are peppered with general society gossip including match-making. A few main characters are introduced here. In a simultaneous narrative, the reader is taken to Moscow where a few other characters are introduced. Everyone knows there is going to be a war. And everyone is trying to take sides. The outcome is not something they ever think of, or even if they do, they know that only naiveté can actually believe predictions.
Tolstoy's genius reflects from the multitude of facets each of his characters grow into. By the end of this phenomenal epic, every character you knew in the beginning has changed completely much as humans do in real life, which is why I believe this is a work of brilliant realism.
As a reader I couldn't help but wonder at the thought process that must have gone through on the author's part in several essays that form a part of this book. Tolstoy in his distinct style touches upon very significant questions like what causes a war, what causes the outcomes of these wars, why the interpretation of historical events and figures will always be a cause of disagreement between artists and historians, if we say that a war is caused because of one particular person, what about the 'free-will' of the various soldiers in the actual war, does a soldier really exercise his free will when he sees gunshots and cannon shots around him and all his comrades either dying or fleeing and so on and so forth.
Tolstoy explores these questions sometimes through his characters and sometimes through lengthy essays. There are no protagonists in this work. Or perhaps almost all are protagonists.
The genius also lies in the fact that while in the war narrative Tolstoy makes us realize that humans are just a little fragment in the mammoth universal events, yet we assign so much attention to 'self', and at the same time in the intimate social narratives, he describes the very emotions and upheavals of human mind, thereby emphasizing on the immense reality and importance of human actions and reactions.
There are elaborate descriptions of some events and sub-plots and for a long time you wonder why would Tolstoy spend so much time on something which might not even be noteworthy enough in the general theme of the book and after a few hundred pages you see a metaphorical connection between those events and sub-plots with a solid turn of events happening now.
The despondency of human nature appears in various forms - out of war, during the war - resounding emphatically the purpose of the saga the reader is being dragged into. After a few hundred pages, you are helpless because you want to know where your favorite character is heading. None of the characters will consistently remain likeable. A character you started loving, will become annoying by the middle of the book, and turn out outright hateworthy by the end. Or the opposite. The meakest of characters will come out as the strongest of all. The absurdest of characters will make the most sense by the time you realize that not everything is as straight as it might appear, just as in real life.
There are prolonged passages, and one might want to take breaks between two parts because everything has to be read with a special focus.
*****
"War isn't courtesy, it's the vilest thing in the world, and we must understand that and not play at war. We must take this terrible necessity sternly and seriously. That's the whole point: to cast off the lie, and if it's war it's war, and not a game. The aim of war is killing, the instruments of war are espionage, treason and the encouragement of it, the ruin of the inhabitants, robbing them or stealing to supply the army; deception and lying are called military strategems; the morals of the military estate are absence of freedom, that is, discipline, idleness, ignorance, cruelty, depravity, and drunkenness. And in spite of that, it is the highest estate, respected by all."
"What is the cause of historical events? Power. What is power? Power is the sum total of wills transferred to one person. On what condition are the wills of the masses transferred to one person? On condition that the person express the will of the whole people. That is, power is power. That is, power is a word the meaning of which we do not understand."
"His face, pale and mud-spattered, fair-haired, young, with a dimple on the chin and light blue eyes, was not at all for the battlefield, not an enemy's face, but a most simple, homelike face."
"So they're even more afraid than we are!” he thought. “So that's all there is to so-called heroism? And did I really do it for the fatherland? And what harm had he done, with his dimple and his light blue eyes? But how frightened he was! He thought I'd kill him. Why should I kill him? My hand faltered. "
"Fatalism in history is inevitable for the explanation of senseless phenomena (that is, those whose sense we do not understand). The more we try to explain sensibly these phenomena of history, the more senseless and incomprehensible they become for us."
"Every general and soldier sensed his own nullity, aware of being a grain of sand in this sea of people, and at the same time sensed his strength, aware of being part of this enormous whole."
*****
There are many extensive passages worth pondering and the story threatens to tire you out, but there are pages and pages that you will turn greedily as well, trying to drown yourself into the world of these Russian aristocracies whose lives are probably going to change inchmeal over a course of time, forever. But you won't be able to predict where to are the lives going, much as you cannot in actuality.
Every struggle I went through while reading this brilliance of a book, was worth it. Every moment of exhaustion was exhilarating at the same time. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, while I was desperately hoping it ends sooner at the beginning, by the climax I really did not want it to end. Rarely does a book come and settles in you like a paradox such as this.
I can probably just go on and on but I have to wrap up somewhere before everyone starts dozing off and gets turned off by the book as well (which is already turning off plenty many because of its sheer volume), so I'd just stop here. I have refrained from talking about individual characters here because it will just never end.
Anyone who wants to discuss can do so in the comments with appropriate spoiler alerts maybe.
(P. S - For anyone looking for translation advice, mine is to go for Richard Pevear And Larissa Volokhonsky. I picked it up thanks to a friend. Magnificently translated story as well as footnotes)
"With its countless numbers of needless dead;
A futile warfare it seems to me,
Fought for no principle I can see.
Alas, that thousands of hearts should bleed
For naught but a tyrant's boundless greed!"
~ Franklin Pierce Adams
*****
I sit here for the longest time, trying to gather words and feelings after the end of this epic masterpiece. I try to look for a passage to start the write-up with and end up rethinking the entire course of the 4-Volume story and the impact it had on my thoughts. I try to remember what 'war' meant to me before I read this story and all I can think of is the plethora of new dimensions of discussion about 'war' and its causes and consequences that now have opened up in front of me. I don't quite remember what I thought earlier. It is like a part of me has expanded to never return to its original form again. A benchmark has been set.
With Tolstoy's own admission, this is not a novel. This isn't simply a story. The format of the book is a deviation from the normalcy. There are chapters and chapters dedicated to Tolstoy's commentary while he was thinking out loud. The artist Tolstoy sometimes appears in the characters of the story, musing upon the notions of nihilism, free will, death, despair, courage, divination, psychology and numerous such abstractions that human life and mind is made of.
The story revolves around five aristocratic Russian families during the Napoleanic era between 1805 - 1815 - the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, the Drubetskoys, the Kuragins and the Bezhukovs. It begins in Petersburg's aristocratic salon, at a soiree hosted by a royal confidante, where socio-political discussions are peppered with general society gossip including match-making. A few main characters are introduced here. In a simultaneous narrative, the reader is taken to Moscow where a few other characters are introduced. Everyone knows there is going to be a war. And everyone is trying to take sides. The outcome is not something they ever think of, or even if they do, they know that only naiveté can actually believe predictions.
Tolstoy's genius reflects from the multitude of facets each of his characters grow into. By the end of this phenomenal epic, every character you knew in the beginning has changed completely much as humans do in real life, which is why I believe this is a work of brilliant realism.
As a reader I couldn't help but wonder at the thought process that must have gone through on the author's part in several essays that form a part of this book. Tolstoy in his distinct style touches upon very significant questions like what causes a war, what causes the outcomes of these wars, why the interpretation of historical events and figures will always be a cause of disagreement between artists and historians, if we say that a war is caused because of one particular person, what about the 'free-will' of the various soldiers in the actual war, does a soldier really exercise his free will when he sees gunshots and cannon shots around him and all his comrades either dying or fleeing and so on and so forth.
Tolstoy explores these questions sometimes through his characters and sometimes through lengthy essays. There are no protagonists in this work. Or perhaps almost all are protagonists.
The genius also lies in the fact that while in the war narrative Tolstoy makes us realize that humans are just a little fragment in the mammoth universal events, yet we assign so much attention to 'self', and at the same time in the intimate social narratives, he describes the very emotions and upheavals of human mind, thereby emphasizing on the immense reality and importance of human actions and reactions.
There are elaborate descriptions of some events and sub-plots and for a long time you wonder why would Tolstoy spend so much time on something which might not even be noteworthy enough in the general theme of the book and after a few hundred pages you see a metaphorical connection between those events and sub-plots with a solid turn of events happening now.
The despondency of human nature appears in various forms - out of war, during the war - resounding emphatically the purpose of the saga the reader is being dragged into. After a few hundred pages, you are helpless because you want to know where your favorite character is heading. None of the characters will consistently remain likeable. A character you started loving, will become annoying by the middle of the book, and turn out outright hateworthy by the end. Or the opposite. The meakest of characters will come out as the strongest of all. The absurdest of characters will make the most sense by the time you realize that not everything is as straight as it might appear, just as in real life.
There are prolonged passages, and one might want to take breaks between two parts because everything has to be read with a special focus.
*****
"War isn't courtesy, it's the vilest thing in the world, and we must understand that and not play at war. We must take this terrible necessity sternly and seriously. That's the whole point: to cast off the lie, and if it's war it's war, and not a game. The aim of war is killing, the instruments of war are espionage, treason and the encouragement of it, the ruin of the inhabitants, robbing them or stealing to supply the army; deception and lying are called military strategems; the morals of the military estate are absence of freedom, that is, discipline, idleness, ignorance, cruelty, depravity, and drunkenness. And in spite of that, it is the highest estate, respected by all."
"What is the cause of historical events? Power. What is power? Power is the sum total of wills transferred to one person. On what condition are the wills of the masses transferred to one person? On condition that the person express the will of the whole people. That is, power is power. That is, power is a word the meaning of which we do not understand."
"His face, pale and mud-spattered, fair-haired, young, with a dimple on the chin and light blue eyes, was not at all for the battlefield, not an enemy's face, but a most simple, homelike face."
"So they're even more afraid than we are!” he thought. “So that's all there is to so-called heroism? And did I really do it for the fatherland? And what harm had he done, with his dimple and his light blue eyes? But how frightened he was! He thought I'd kill him. Why should I kill him? My hand faltered. "
"Fatalism in history is inevitable for the explanation of senseless phenomena (that is, those whose sense we do not understand). The more we try to explain sensibly these phenomena of history, the more senseless and incomprehensible they become for us."
"Every general and soldier sensed his own nullity, aware of being a grain of sand in this sea of people, and at the same time sensed his strength, aware of being part of this enormous whole."
*****
There are many extensive passages worth pondering and the story threatens to tire you out, but there are pages and pages that you will turn greedily as well, trying to drown yourself into the world of these Russian aristocracies whose lives are probably going to change inchmeal over a course of time, forever. But you won't be able to predict where to are the lives going, much as you cannot in actuality.
Every struggle I went through while reading this brilliance of a book, was worth it. Every moment of exhaustion was exhilarating at the same time. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, while I was desperately hoping it ends sooner at the beginning, by the climax I really did not want it to end. Rarely does a book come and settles in you like a paradox such as this.
I can probably just go on and on but I have to wrap up somewhere before everyone starts dozing off and gets turned off by the book as well (which is already turning off plenty many because of its sheer volume), so I'd just stop here. I have refrained from talking about individual characters here because it will just never end.
Anyone who wants to discuss can do so in the comments with appropriate spoiler alerts maybe.
(P. S - For anyone looking for translation advice, mine is to go for Richard Pevear And Larissa Volokhonsky. I picked it up thanks to a friend. Magnificently translated story as well as footnotes)