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- Why it's SO long. The length of War and Peace is partly explained by the length of time Tolstoy spent planning, writing and polishing it. The earliest draft storylines found in Tolstoy’s manuscripts date back to 1856.
- Stalin used War and Peace as a propaganda tool during WWII. Russia’s victory over Napoleon in 1812 speaks so strongly to the Russian national psyche that when Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, Stalin swiftly reached for Tolstoy’s works as a means of promoting a patriotic defence of the motherland.
- Why it was thought to be War and World not War and Peace. In modern Russian, the words for ‘peace’ and ‘world’ are identical, a fact which has led to an urban myth that Tolstoy intended his novel to be called War and World.
- It wasn’t all written in Russian. In Imperial Russia, French had become the preferred language of the aristocracy, who had adopted European customs and manners following reforms introduced by Peter the Great and Catherine the Great.
- Choose a good translation. There are several different translations of War and Peace available, and each one has its pros and cons. There’s no right translation of War and Peace to read – or one best choice for everyone.
- Choose a format that works for you. You’re not stuck with lugging a heavy 1300-page copy of War and Peace around with you for a month if you want to read it.
- Think about why you want to read War and Peace. I was first motivated to read War and Peace simply because someone told me they thought I’d like it. On my re-reads, I’ve been motivated to understand more about the book, view it from new perspectives, and enjoy again how it makes me feel calmer and more in-tune with the world.
- Look for the character (or characters) you can relate to. The most important thing I realised when I first read War and Peace was that I could actually relate to it.
From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the SparkNotes War and Peace Study Guide has everything you need to ace quizzes, tests, and essays.
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- Summary
- Historical context
- Writing War and Peace
War and Peace, historical novel by Leo Tolstoy, originally published as Voyna i mir in 1865–69. This panoramic study of early 19th-century Russian society, noted for its mastery of realistic detail and variety of psychological analysis, is generally regarded as a masterwork of Russian literature and one of the world’s greatest novels.
War and Peace begins in the Russian city of St. Petersburg in 1805, as fear of Napoleon’s ongoing war making begins to set in. Most of the characters are introduced at a party, including Pierre Bezukhov, Andrey Bolkonsky, and the Kuragin and Rostov families. Much of the novel focuses on the interactions between the Bezukhovs, Bolkonskys, and the Rostovs. After their introduction, Andrey Bolkonsky and Nikolay Rostov go to the Austrian front under General Kutuzov, a fictional representation of Mikhail Kutuzov, to engage with Napoleon’s troops. Andrey is then injured at the Battle of Austerlitz and presumed dead, until he arrives home to his wife, Lise, who dies during childbirth soon after. Pierre, meanwhile, has married Helene Kuragina. She is unfaithful to him, and Pierre duels with the other man, almost killing him. He soon becomes overwhelmed by his marriage and leaves Helene. He joins the Freemasons, which influences his personal and business fortunes greatly. In the meantime Nikolay has racked up a large amount of gambling debt, which causes the Rostov family to lose most of their fortune. He is encouraged to marry a wealthy heiress, despite promising to marry Sonya, his cousin. Nikolay eventually witnesses the peace between Tsar Alexander I and Napoleon (Treaties of Tilsit, signed in 1807). Andrey soon becomes involved with Natasha Rostov only to be told by his father that he must wait a year before marrying her. After some time away, Andrey discovers that Natasha has been unfaithful. He rejects her, and Pierre consoles her, eventually falling in love with her.
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In 1812 Napoleon invades Russia, forcing Alexander to declare war. Andrey returns to service, and Pierre is driven to believe he must personally assassinate Napoleon. As the French advance, Mary, Andrey’s sister, is forced to leave her house. Nikolay finds her in the streets, and the two reconnect. Pierre, still crazed by his imaginary duty, is apprehended by French forces and witnesses a number of executions, which deeply affect him. During his imprisonment, he befriends Platon Karatev, a wise peasant. He is later freed from the French and promptly falls ill. After recovering, he marries Natasha, and they have four children together. Nikolay weds Mary, and the two enjoy a happy married life.
War and Peace is known for its realism, something Tolstoy achieved through intensive research. He visited battlefields, read history books on the Napoleonic Wars, and drew on real historical events to create a novel of living history. Tolstoy had originally planned to write a novel centring on the Decembrists, whose revolution in 1825 against the tsar attempted to end autocratic rule in Russia. The Decembrists failed, however, and those who were spared execution were sent to Siberia. Tolstoy wanted to depict a Decembrist, now old, returning from exile. As Tolstoy wrote and revised, however, the novel evolved into the War and Peace known today—a novel that takes place more than a decade before the Decembrist movement. The novel’s primary historical setting is the French invasion of Russia in 1812, which was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars and a period of patriotic significance to Russia. Some historians argue that this invasion was the event that metamorphosed into the Decembrist movement years later.
Many of the family names used in War and Peace are slight alterations of real names Tolstoy had encountered in his life—a deliberate strategy intended to make the novel feel familiar to the Russians who read it. Bolkonsky, for example, is a manipulated version of Tolstoy’s mother’s family name, Volkonsky. Tolstoy also created the majority of his characters with his own family members in mind; for example, his sister-in-law, Tanya, was the inspiration behind Natasha. Tolstoy’s firsthand knowledge of war likewise influenced War and Peace. When he was 26 years old, he fought in the Crimean War, which he also wrote about in three sketches describing, graphically, his experiences during the Siege of Sevastopol (published 1855–56).
Tolstoy wrote War and Peace over the course of six years. The novel was originally serialized by the Russian periodical Russkiy Vestnik under the title 1805 starting in 1865, but its somewhat indifferent reception and Tolstoy’s compulsion to revise spurred him and his wife, Sofya, to decide to stop the serialization and instead focus on publishing the novel in volumes. Tolstoy continued to write, and he also hired the prominent artist Mikhail Bashilov to illustrate the novel. By 1868 three volumes had been released and were selling rapidly. Tolstoy finished three more volumes between 1868 and 1869. Sofya had copied several drafts, all by hand. All told, War and Peace filled more than 1,200 pages when first published.
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For a discussion of War and Peace in the context of Tolstoy’s life and work, see Leo Tolstoy: The period of the great novels (1863–77).
The character of Pierre in War and Peace illustrates Tolstoy’s moral commitment to humanity in a way that transcends class and nationality. Developing a reputation as a prophet of social thought, Tolstoy attracted disciples who came to his estate at Yasnaya Polyana seeking out his wisdom.
The best study guide to War and Peace on the planet, from the creators of SparkNotes. Get the summaries, analysis, and quotes you need.
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