War and Peace

[tonywalt]

Has anyone out there ever tried to read War and Peace and stopped? Unable to get through it?

I have read it, and in retrospect liked it. I had to treat it more like poetry as literary style weighed as heavy as content. Anyway, with that sort of approach I enjoyed it alot more.

[Paulclem]

I read and liked it. I read it from the historical perspective - though I found I enjoyed the more social parts with Pierre and the Ladies more than I thought I would. I read up on Napoleon's invasion of Russia, which really helped and put the events in the novel in perspective.

[tonywalt]

Yes. It's interesting that Tolstoy wrote about the upper class (of which he knew well) but his energy towards the latter part of his life was to lift the lower class (of which he did not know as well).

There is only one subtantial peasant character (for lack of a better description) in the book.

[Alexander III]

Am almost finished reading it and think it is amazing. Though I do not understand why you read it more like poetry, to me it is the epitome of the novel as a genre - the prose is minimalistic and precise, following in the footsteps of Pushkin (who was an amazing prose stylist, the best romantic prose stylists - but of topic) -

Nonetheless I am amazed by the diversity of characters and how he is able to create them all so well and make them seem all so very real. Tolstoy had an uncanny ability to understand people.

And I think it best that he wrote about the aristocrats rather than peasants, after all though hew as a great understander of men, how much could he have known about them - had he written about peasants it would have been al affected and cliche.

Was it just me, but does anyone else think that Bolkonski is the most beautiful fictional character ever created?

[WymanChanning]

I am almost obliged to learn Russian in order to enjoy those great Russian writers like Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.

[Paulclem]

Yes. It's interesting that Tolstoy wrote about the upper class (of which he knew well) but his energy towards the latter part of his life was to lift the lower class (of which he did not know as well).

There is only one subtantial peasant character (for lack of a better description) in the book.

Yes I felt that was a lack, but understandable given the social situation at the time. it was probably not possible for an aristocrat to gain any insight into peasants due to the embedded divisions.

It would have made a more rounded novel. It reads - in parts - as if the war was fought and won by the upper classes only. He makes scenic concessions - the guner at the battle of Leipzig (I think), and the gun crew at Borodino are examples, but you feel disengaged from them. I don't think it was an intentional omission. Just what he knew. Perhaps it accounts for the mythologising of the soldiers in the book and the peasants of his later years.

[Intuition]

Was it just me, but does anyone else think that Bolkonski is the most beautiful fictional character ever created?

I agree with you completely. Andrei Bolkonsky is one of the most memorable characters of literature. In my opinion he is on the level of Hamlet and Quixano (otherwise known as Quixote). Even though it has been ages since I read War and Peace I will never come to forget it, and its vividly represented characters. That moment when Andrei takes the standard in his hands, and leads his fellow countrymen for a brief moment until he is wounded can put a reader (whether he be an avid reader, scholar, or common reader) into ecstasies. The way he contemplates the sky and existence after is reminiscent of Levin's contemplation of existence at the conclusion of Anna Karenina. Completely brilliant.

It is part of Tolstoy's artistry to weave such perfect characters. Each of his great works easily has a great character, if not many. I vividly remember Ivan Ilyich, in The Death of Ivan Ilyich which happens to be a superb piece of Tolstoy's shorter fiction (which I highly recommend if you have not read it).

[Buh4Bee]

I read War and Peace over a nine month period as part of a tutorial I taught. It was an extremely moving book, but I was motivated to read it as I had to lead the book discussions. At times, it could get worrisome, but then it would pick up. I found the philosophical segments or contemplations to be better than dry, but rather engaging. Tolstoy structures so much layers that one is engaged with the book on several levels simultaneously. I found that I was swept up in the glamor and drama, but I wanted to make sense of it at a more profound level. He gives that to you as well. The general beauty of the scenes lets you walk through Russia as if a well travel tourist. I did do some research about the war scenes to understand the discrepancies of the book, but I was not overly interested in that part.

It is well worth struggling through if you hit a hard interval.

[prendrelemick]

I've read it twice for pleasure. There are so many memorable scenes and characters.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

I read it about two years ago. There were times when I was tempted to take a break, but I pressed forward and was glad for it.

.