Paulclem

I usually ride my bike to work, but sometimes I fancy a leisurely bus ride. I work late on Wednesday nights teaching, and so it’s nice to go in a bit later and read a book on the bus. Today it’s Tolstoy on the bus.

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My rather battered book on the bus this morning.

The bus services are too unreliable to use every day, and I would miss biking. Today though I will spend about an hour and a half waiting for, and riding on buses, and so I can devote a bit of time to War and Peace. I’ll arrive at work relaxed. I’ll be later than if I used a car, but there will be no stress.

I began War and Peace last year, and I read past the battle of Austerlitz before I left it for a while and read a few different books. I like a wide range and generally read as the fancy takes me unless I’m having to study a book for something specific. After such an interlude, I find I can pick up a book and I’m back in the story again. I have a number that I am currently reading that are of the longer type. I’m reading Wolf Hall, Ulysses and Midnight’s Children, though not right at this moment. I’m quite happy to leave a book if I don’t like it. There are too many great books to bother with the ones you don’t get on with. Yes, some may reward ploughing on, but there are plenty of old and new books that will reward me more with enjoyment as well.

I’m at a critical part in War and Peace. Anatole Kuragin has determined to seduce Natasha, who is betrothed to Prince Andrew. Anatole is about to whisk Natasha away, have a sham marriage ceremony performed and leave Russia. He’s been driven by his irresponsible, but exciting driver, Balaga. Anatole has taken his leave of Dholokov, who has fixed up the arrangements for him, and the rest of his friends which include some Gypsy ladies. I’m primarily interested in the war aspect of War and Peace, but Tolstoy is a brilliant writer who has ramped up the tension in this episode masterfully.

The sensible Sonya has so far been unable to dissuade Natasha from her rash course, and Prince Andrew is nowhere to be seen. Prince Andrew’s Father and his sister have made such an unfavourable impression on her that she feels no loyalty to her betrothed’s family. Anatole has been portrayed as a captivating young man, both a joy and a scourge.

Tolstoy’s views are evident in the book. His portrayal of the opera through the experience of Natasha demonstrates his view of sophistication, especially French. Natasha is an archetype of the Russian woman. She can dance to Uncle’s guitar with the fire of a Russian peasant whilst charming the Russian aristocracy in society. Yet she finds the experience of the opera as bewildering. Tolstoy portrays it as a phenomena artificial to the Russian spirit, and it comes to represent the decadence of France. Here at the opera she meets the charming Anatole Kuragin. She is charmed by this rake, as the Russian aristocracy were charmed by French culture.

Tolstoy’s observation of people and their moods is often insightful. Anna Karenina’s depressed mood before her suicide is extended through her eyes to the wider environment. The opposite is true of Levin, after his engagement, as he sees everyone as loving one another. The observation is also evident in War and Peace and is a characteristic of the song lyric – “When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.” Both Prince Andrew and Natasha experience both aspect of this, and Tolstoy seems to regard this honesty of the emotions as being a part of a character’s integrity.

There’s much to ponder. I’ll catch my next bus soon after I have finished writing this piece and my coffee in a town cafe. Will Anatole be successful and leave us with another victim of insincere society, or will Prince Andrew return in time? I’ll leave with the reflection that Tolstoy would also have appreciated the bus. His final moments before he died were spent in a train station having left his wife of many years again. Perhaps it was a case of Russian passion on public transport.