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Was anyone else left wondering, like me, what really happened to Anatol? We were never given a definitive answer. We were told that Prince Andrei and Anatol died, but then found out that Andrei was, in fact, still alive. That, to me, made the news of Anatol's death come in question and it was never clarified. Or maybe I'm just reading to much into this?
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Originally Posted by metal134
Which version are you looking at ? If you`re looking at the original version that just came out, then in it Andrey remains alive. However, in the final and traditional version ( "War and Peace" as we know it ), Andrey dies. Anatol in that version has his leg amputated, but nothing else is mentioned about him. We may assume that he survived, but will be a cripple which for a lady`s man like him, with no other interests in life, or any intellect is certainly a death sentence of another kind. Anatol`s predicament is supposed to be a sort of poetic justice ( or Gods´ punishment, in the Greek tragedy`s sense, for his attempted abduction of Natasha ).
Frankly, not too many people care about happens to Anatol. Perhaps being deprived of the ability to chase women, he might develop deeper inner qualities ? I`m sure he can still get married, coming from an affluent important family...
The version I have is the Ann Dunigan translation. In it, Andei does, in fact, die, but at the time that we were told he and Anatol were dead (we were told that Pierre learned it as he departed for Moscow), he hadn't yet died. I get your point about the fact that not many people care, and it's not really relevant, I was just curious; especially in light of the fact that his sister commited suicide.
In fact Anatole finished his life in Moscow as an adding-machine salesman with a prosthetic leg. He had a fat wife, 8 kids who lived, and they all laughed when he'd use his wooden stump to play the clavichord.