M.Y.
05-24-2005, 06:07 PM
Having just finished War and Peace (the unabridged version-YIKES!) I think it is interesting how this work compares to dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Tolstoy attempts to say that freedom of human will is minimal whereas Dostoevsky book seems to say that free will is unlimited in potential. The murder of the old pawnbroker by Razumov is in itself an entirely free act that refutes Tolstoy's thesis. Razumov, simply a man with an idea is a powerful force in the world, whereas War and Peace suggests that no single man is of historical significance when taken alone.