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I'm still plodding through this one. I'm not even halfway through (I was busy with AP exams for the past few weeks).
I find it quite readable since before starting it I was afraid that halfway through I would stop caring about the characters and just quit.
But what is supposed to be so great about this book and Tolstoy in general?
A very good question. About 3/4 the way through the book I got sick of the soap opera and just quit reading it. Everyone raves about Tolstoy, so I know I must be missing something. I would be very thankful if any of you could enlighten me as to what that is. ;)
Thanks!
Oooh! It's first on my list of books to read in the summer- i won't start it now cos knowing myself i'd read instead of studying for my exams, which is not recommended ;)
I'm really looking forward to reading it becuase i'm very curious about why it is thought to be so great and i hope i'll appreciate it.
Anyway, since i'm going to have an exam of Russian literature soon, i have read short biographies and summaries about Tolstoy, so i'll tell you what i read about it today. Of course it's not great to just tell about other people's ideas and not my own (there are soem facts among these news anyway), but that's all i can do for the moment and it might help.
So well... apparently War And Peace (Voina i Mir) is great because it shows in an amazing way the life and history of Russia during the first part of the 19th century. The original idea Tolstoy had was to write about one of the Decabrists (participants of a little revolution on december 1825, incase you don't know) coming back from Siberia, but then he got carried away in the documents he studied and enlarged the subject, or at least that's what i read about it.
The novel shows Tolstoy's attitude about history (particularly in the epilogue, said my teacher): he analyses both 'big' facts /'important' people and ordinary life, and what he thinks is that those who 'make' history are NOT the important people (e.g. Napoleon), but the people as a whole, the ordinary people, or better the relations that exists between people. Or soemthing like that.
In addition, the character of Pierre (i dont remember the surname) is the most autobiographic one, like Levin in Anna Karenina.
Seems like i don't remember anything else, but that's pretty much for soemthing my exam won't be about ;)
About Tolstoy in general, what is usually considered great is his way of exploring human personalities. Apparently most of his characters are taken from reality, he doens't add much of his own imagination, just describes what they think and how their feelings evolve in a particular situation (Anna Karenina...), even in situation that can be considered 'normal', not like Dosotevosky who explores minds possessed by ideas.
What stroke me in Anna Karenina was how good he was in describing her feelings... particularly in the last part, in the pages immediately before Anna's ...(well if you know the story you know it, i won't say it not to ruin the surprise to those who dont know). I felt very very involved and admired the ability of analisis of her feelings (moreover, i thought, female feelings about love, perfeclty described by a male mind!). But there's already been a discussion about it in this very forum, you can look for it.
Hope at least it gave you some ideas...you might agree or not,but this is what some people saw on it.
Oooh sorry about writing so much! :oops:
But, you see, something that bothers me about War and Peace is how it is only concerned with the Russian aristocracy. This aspect of the novel severely dates it and prevents me from recognizing it as a holistic portrait of Russia during the Napoleonic Wars. I find it myopic.Quote:
Originally Posted by Koa
Side note: is Levin supposed to be a Jew?
I don't know about the focus on aristocracy... Maybe Tolstoy describes that world cos he knows it better, being an aristocratic himself (even if he hated this condition...). But I guess this is not much of an answer... I really don't know, maybe when i'll read the book...
As for Levin, that reminds me of the first think the teacher told us about this character: he is not a Jew, even if it can seem so from the way it's spelt... BUT it is not pronounced as it's written, but like it was 'Liovin' (which surprised me since there's a sign of transliteration that means 'io). Moreover, apparently this name comes from the fact that he is the most autobigraphical character, and Tolstoy's first name was Lev...hence Levin :)