None school program cannot do without studying the epic novel L.N. Tolstoy"War and Peace". How many volumes there are in this work will be discussed in today’s article.
The novel "War and Peace" consists of 4 volumes.
- Volume 1 consists of 3 parts.
- Volume 2 consists of 5 parts.
- Volume 3 consists of 3 parts.
- Volume 4 consists of 4 parts.
- The epilogue consists of 2 parts.
War and Peace tells the story of life Russian society in the period from 1805 to 1812, i.e. during the era of the Napoleonic wars.
The work was based on the author’s personal interest in the history of that time, political events and the life of the country. Tolstoy decided to start work after repeated conversations with relatives about his intention.
- In the 1st volume the author talks about the military events of 1805-1807, during the period of the alliance between Russia and Austria to fight the Napoleonic invasion.
- In the 2nd volume describes the peacetime of 1806-1812. Descriptions of the characters’ experiences, their personal relationships, searches for the meaning of life and the theme of love prevail here.
- In volume 3 military events of 1812 are given: the attack of Napoleon and his troops on Russia, battle of Borodino, capture of Moscow.
- In the 4th volume the author talks about the 2nd half of 1812: the liberation of Moscow, the Battle of Tarutino and a large number of scenes related to the partisan war.
- In the 1st part of the epilogue Leo Tolstoy describes the fate of his heroes.
- In the 2nd part of the epilogue tells about the cause-and-effect relationships between the events that took place between Europe and Russia in 1805-1812.
In each of the volumes, L.N. Tolstoy conveyed a realistic picture of the era, and also expressed his opinion about its enormous significance in the life of society. Instead of abstract reasoning (which still has its place in the novel), the transmission of information was used through visual and detailed descriptions of the military events of those years.
- Quantity characters in the novel - 569 (main and secondary). Of these, about 200 – real historical figures: Kutuzov, Napoleon, Alexander I, Bagration, Arakcheev, Speransky. The fictional characters - Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostova - are nevertheless vital and realistic, and they are the main focus of the novel.
- IN Soviet time(1918-1986) “War and Peace” was the most published creation fiction. 36,085,000 copies– this was the circulation of 312 publications. The novel was created in 6 years, while Tolstoy rewrote the epic by hand 8 times, individual fragments more than 26 times. The writer's works number approximately 5,200 sheets written in his own hand, where the history of the appearance of each volume is fully shown.
- Before writing the novel, Leo Tolstoy read a lot of historical and memoir literature. In Tolstoy’s “list of used literature” there were such publications as: the multi-volume “Description of the Patriotic War in 1812”, the history of M. I. Bogdanovich, “The Life of Count Speransky” by M. Korf, “Biography of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov” by M. P. Shcherbinin. The writer also used materials from French historians Thiers, A. Dumas Sr., Georges Chambray, Maximelin Foix, Pierre Lanfré.
- Based on the novel, a large number of films (at least 10) were made, both Russian and foreign.
Video
17.12.2013145 years ago, a major literary event took place in Russia - the first edition of Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” was published. Separate chapters of the novel had been published earlier - Tolstoy began publishing the first two parts in Katkov’s Russky Vestnik several years earlier, but the “canonical”, complete and revised version of the novel was published only a few years later. Over the course of a century and a half of its existence, this world masterpiece and bestseller has grown in popularity scientific research, and reader legends. Here are some interesting facts about the novel that you may not know.
How did Tolstoy himself evaluate War and Peace?
Leo Tolstoy was very skeptical about his “main works” - the novels “War and Peace” and Anna Karenina.” So, in January 1871, he sent Fet a letter in which he wrote: “How happy I am... that I will never write verbose rubbish like “War” again.” Almost 40 years later, he has not changed his mind. On December 6, 1908, an entry appeared in the writer’s diary: “People love me for those trifles - “War and Peace”, etc., which seem very important to them.” There is even more recent evidence. In the summer of 1909, one of the visitors to Yasnaya Polyana expressed his delight and gratitude to the then generally recognized classic for the creation of “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina”. Tolstoy’s answer was: “It’s the same as if someone came to Edison and said: “I respect you very much because you dance the mazurka well.” I attribute meaning to completely different books.”
Was Tolstoy sincere? Perhaps there was some authorial coquetry here, although the whole image of Tolstoy the Thinker strongly contradicts this guess - he was too serious and unfeigned a person.
"War and Peace" or "War and Peace"?
The name “War Peace” is so familiar that it has already become ingrained into the subcortex. If you ask any more or less educated person what the main work of Russian literature of all times is, a good half will say without hesitation: “War and Peace.” Meanwhile, the novel had different versions of the title: “1805” (an excerpt from the novel was even published under this title), “All’s well that ends well” and “Three Times”.
Associated with the name of Tolstoy's masterpiece famous legend. Often they try to play off the title of the novel. Claiming that the author himself put some ambiguity into it: either Tolstoy meant the opposition of war and peace as the antonym of war, that is, peace, or he used the word “peace” in the meaning of community, society, land...
But the fact is that at the time when the novel was published, such ambiguity could not exist: two words, although pronounced the same, were written differently. Before the spelling reform of 1918, in the first case it was written “mir” (peace), and in the second case “mir” (Universe, society).
There is a legend that Tolstoy allegedly used the word “world” in the title, but all this is the result of a simple misunderstanding. All editions of Tolstoy’s novel during his lifetime were published under the title “War and Peace,” and he himself wrote the title of the novel in French as “La guerre et la paix.” How could the word “peace” sneak into the name? Here the story bifurcates. According to one version, this very name was handwritten on a document submitted by Leo Tolstoy to M.N. Lavrov, an employee of Katkov’s printing house during the first full publication of the novel. It is very possible that there really was a typo by the author. This is how the legend arose.
According to another version, the legend could have appeared later due to a typo made during the publication of the novel under the editorship of P. I. Biryukov. In the edition published in 1913, the title of the novel is reproduced eight times: on title page and on the first page of each volume. “World” was printed seven times and “mir” only once, but on the first page of the first volume.
About the sources of "War and Peace"
When working on the novel, Leo Tolstoy took his sources very seriously. He read a lot of historical and memoir literature. In Tolstoy’s “list of used literature” there were, for example, such academic publications as: the multi-volume “Description of the Patriotic War in 1812”, the history of M. I. Bogdanovich, “The Life of Count Speransky” by M. Korf, “Biography of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov” by M. . P. Shcherbinina. The writer used materials from French historians Thiers, A. Dumas Sr., Georges Chambray, Maximelien Foix, Pierre Lanfré. There are also studies about Freemasonry and, of course, memoirs of direct participants in the events - Sergei Glinka, Denis Davydov, Alexei Ermolov and many others; there was also a solid list of French memoirists, starting with Napoleon himself.
559 characters
Researchers have calculated the exact number of heroes of War and Peace - there are exactly 559 of them in the book, and 200 of them are completely historical figures. Many of the remaining ones have real prototypes.
In general, working on surnames fictional characters(to come up with first and last names for half a thousand people is already a lot of work), Tolstoy used these three main ways: he used real last names; modified real names; created completely new surnames, but based on real models.
Many of the novel's episodic characters wear completely historical surnames- the book mentions the Razumovskys, Meshcherskys, Gruzinskys, Lopukhins, Arkharovs, etc. But the main characters, as a rule, have quite recognizable, but still fake, encrypted surnames. The reason for this is usually cited as the writer’s reluctance to show the character’s connection with any specific prototype, from which Tolstoy took only some features. These are, for example, Bolkonsky (Volkonsky), Drubetskoy (Trubetskoy), Kuragin (Kurakin), Dolokhov (Dorokhov) and others. But, of course, Tolstoy could not completely abandon fiction - so, on the pages of the novel appear quite noble-sounding, but still not associated with a specific family surnames - Peronskaya, Chatrov, Telyanin, Desalles, etc.
The real prototypes of many of the novel's heroes are also known. So, Vasily Dmitrievich Denisov is a friend of Nikolai Rostov, his prototype was the famous hussar and partisan Denis Davydov.
A friend of the Rostov family, Maria Dmitrievna Akhrosimova, was copied from the widow of Major General Nastasya Dmitrievna Ofrosimova. By the way, she was so colorful that she appeared in another famous work— Alexander Griboyedov portrayed her almost portraitally in his comedy “Woe from Wit.”
Her son, raider and reveler Fyodor Ivanovich Dolokhov, and later one of the leaders of the partisan movement, embodied the features of several prototypes at once - the war heroes of the partisans Alexander Figner and Ivan Dorokhov, as well as the famous duelist Fyodor Tolstoy the American.
Old Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, an elderly nobleman of Catherine, was inspired by the image of the writer’s maternal grandfather, a representative of the Volkonsky family.
But Tolstoy saw Princess Maria Nikolaevna, the daughter of the old man Bolkonsky and the sister of Prince Andrei, in Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya (in Tolstoy’s marriage), his mother.
Film adaptations
We all know and appreciate the famous Soviet film adaptation of “War and Peace” by Sergei Bondarchuk, released in 1965. The 1956 production of “War and Peace” by King Vidor is also known, the music for which was written by Nino Rota, and the main roles were played by Hollywood stars of the first magnitude Audrey Hepburn (Natasha Rostova) and Henry Fonda (Pierre Bezukhov).
And the first film adaptation of the novel appeared just a few years after the death of Leo Tolstoy. The silent film by Pyotr Chardynin was published in 1913; one of the main roles (Andrei Bolkonsky) in the film was played by the famous actor Ivan Mozzhukhin.
Some numbers
Tolstoy wrote and rewrote the novel over the course of 6 years, from 1863 to 1869. As researchers of his work have calculated, the author manually rewrote the text of the novel 8 times, and rewrote individual episodes more than 26 times.
First edition of the novel: twice as long and five times more interesting?
Not everyone knows that in addition to the generally accepted one, there is another version of the novel. This is the very first edition that Leo Tolstoy brought to Moscow to the publisher Mikhail Katkov in 1866 for publication. But Tolstoy was unable to publish the novel this time.
Katkov was interested in continuing to publish it in pieces in his “Russian Bulletin”. Other publishers did not see any commercial potential in the book at all - the novel seemed too long and “irrelevant” to them, so they offered the author to publish it at his own expense. There were other reasons: returning to Yasnaya Polyana Sofya Andreevna demanded from her husband, who could not cope alone with running a large household and looking after children. In addition, in the Chertkovo Library, which had just opened for public use, Tolstoy found a lot of materials that he certainly wanted to use in his book. Therefore, having postponed the publication of the novel, he worked on it for another two years. However, the first version of the book did not disappear - it was preserved in the writer’s archive, was reconstructed and published in 1983 in the 94th volume of “Literary Heritage” by the Nauka publishing house.
Here is what the head of the famous publishing house Igor Zakharov, who published it in 2007, wrote about this version of the novel:
"1. Twice shorter and five times more interesting.
2. Almost no philosophical digressions.
3. It’s a hundred times easier to read: the entire French text has been replaced by Russian in Tolstoy’s own translation.
4. Much more peace and less war.
5. Happy ending...”
Well, it's our right to choose...
Elena Veshkina
Portrait of Leo Tolstoy. 1868
Novel "War and Peace" - largest work Tolstoy, his pinnacle artistic creativity. According to the writer, he devoted “five years of incessant and exceptional work, under the best living conditions,” to working on the novel. In fact, this work lasted even longer - from 1863 to 1869.
Having started the historical novel “The Decembrists” in 1860, Leo Tolstoy wanted to tell in it about the time of the Decembrists’ return from Siberian exile (mid-1850s), and then he decided to depict the period of the Decembrist uprising itself - 1825. This, in turn, led the writer to the idea of showing the era preceding the December uprising, that is, the Patriotic War of 1812. And the events of an even earlier period - 1805-1807. So Gradually, the concept of the work expanded and deepened until it took the form of a grandiose national-heroic epic, covering almost a quarter of a century of Russian life.
Pierre on the Borodino field
The novel “War and Peace” is a work that has no equal in all world literature. With convincing force, Leo Tolstoy depicts the courage and heroism of the Russian army, which repelled the blows of Napoleonic hordes. Imbued with the consciousness of the rightness of their cause, Russian soldiers show unprecedented courage on the battlefield. Captain Tushin's battery, left alone on the battlefield near Shengraben, conducted hurricane fire at the enemy all day, delaying his advance. The Russian army accomplished legendary feats on the Borodino field, where the fate of Moscow and all of Russia was decided.
Leo Tolstoy shows that the strength of the Russian army consisted not only in the courage of the soldiers and the military skill of the commanders, but also in the support of the entire people. “The goal of the people,” says Leo Tolstoy, “was one: to cleanse their land from invasion.” For the people there was no question whether things would be good or bad under the rule of the interventionists. The life of the fatherland is incompatible with the rule of the interventionists - this is the conviction that lived in the soul of every Russian person. And this is the origin of the extraordinary scope of the popular partisan movement and that “hidden warmth of patriotism” that determined the “spirit of the army” and the entire
countries. Hence the indestructible power of the “club of the people’s war”, which destroyed the enemy invasion.
"War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy. Ball at the Rostovs.
The war was a severe test not only military power, but also the moral strength of the people. And the Russian people passed this test with honor. With a sense of national pride, Leo Tolstoy shows the courage, resilience and spiritual nobility of the people that manifested themselves during the difficult years of the war. People are drawn to the heroic people, to their wisdom in life the best people noble society - Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostova, Vasily Denisov and other heroes of the novel.
Closeness to the people lies the secret of Kutuzov’s enormous authority. Hated by the tsar, persecuted by court circles, Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov was strong due to his inextricable connection with the mass of soldiers and the love of the people. A faithful son of his homeland, he understood with all his being the purpose of the Patriotic War, and therefore his activities were the best and complete expression of the will of the people.
Justice, however, requires that it be noted that Leo Tolstoy, with all his amazing skill, did not recreate the image of Kutuzov in all its versatility. As a result of his false historical views, the writer in some of his author's reflections impoverished the image of the commander, underestimated his energy, foresight and strategic genius.
The fruit of Tolstoy's erroneous views is the image of the soldier Platon Karataev in the novel. He is depicted as a submissive, indifferent, passive person. In Karataev’s soul there is no protest against oppression, just as there is no burning hatred for the interventionists. Russian soldiers were not like that. Leo Tolstoy himself showed in his epic the mighty rise of national activity and patriotism.
The epic "War and Peace" is a work in which the victorious spirit of the people's liberation war is most fully embodied. WITH enormous power The writer captured the Russian national genius, the height of self-awareness and military valor of the warrior people, the heroic people.
The exhibits in the hall are arranged in the following sections:
1) “Image of the war of 1805-1807,” 2) “From 1807 to 1812,” “The Beginning of the Patriotic War,” 3) “1812 Borodino,” 4) “The Club of the People’s War.” The end of the Napoleonic invasion. Epilogue of the novel." In the display cases there are materials characterizing the history of the creation of the novel, creative laboratory writer, reviews of the novel.
Image of the war of 1805-1807.
Anatol Kuragin. "War and Peace" 1866-1867
Exhibits illustrating the 1st volume of the novel, mainly dedicated to the War of 1805, are located on the wall to the left and on the walls adjacent to the windows. The inspection should begin from the central wall, where a portrait of Tolstoy from the 60s is exhibited. and A. M. Gorky’s review of “War and Peace.”
On the walls to the left and right are artistic illustrations of the main events of this era (Battle of Shengraben, Battle of Austerlitz, etc.).
Of outstanding interest in this section are the illustrations by the artist M. S. Bashilov for “War and Peace,” approved by Tolstoy.
From 1807 to 1812. The beginning of the Patriotic War.
Pierre Bezukhov
On the second wall of the hall, to the right of the entrance, are exhibits illustrating the 2nd and the beginning of the 3rd volume of the novel “War and Peace” - the period between the war of 1805-1807. and the first stage of the War of 1812
1812 Borodino.
"War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy. Militia build fortifications
On the central wall of the hall and the adjacent walls there are exhibits illustrating the formidable era of 1812, the events of which are depicted in the third volume of the novel “War and Peace.” The main theme of the novel - the theme of the people's war - is revealed in paintings and illustrations dedicated to the Battle of Borodino and the partisan movement.
The leading text for the section is Tolstoy’s words about Borodino: “The Battle of Borodino is the best glory of Russian weapons. It is victory” (“War and Peace,” manuscript).
"The Club of the People's War." The end of the Napoleonic Invasion. Epilogue of the novel.
Natasha lets the wounded into the courtyard of her house
On the fourth wall of the hall are exhibits illustrating the final stage of the war of 1812 - the defeat of the French army, the flight of the interventionists from Moscow, their extermination by partisans. These events are described in the 4th volume of the novel “War and Peace”.
The language of War and Peace is bright, simple, expressive, colorful and strictly logical. In this great historical epic, according to V. Vinogradov, the “echo” of the voices of the depicted era should have sounded dully and through the living hum of modernity in the 1860s. And Tolstoy managed to bring this “echo” to his readers.
The reader's attention is also drawn to the abundance of French speech. The French language was considered at that time an obligatory affiliation of the noble society, especially the higher one, although the leading people of their time fought against this foreign language dominance.
In War and Peace, French is spoken mainly by those characters who are alien to the Russian people. At the same time, Pierre, who came from abroad, speaks Russian. He resorts to French only in those cases when he expresses something that is not what he feels (Helen’s declaration of love), or expresses himself artificially (a conversation with Anatoly Kuragin regarding the attempted abduction of Rostova). “The French phrase is disgusting to him,” Turgenev wrote about Tolstoy. In cases where representatives of the highest nobility turn to the Russian language, it differs in some ways.
Characteristic here is the inclusion of popular expressions in refined French speech.
Introducing his son to the owner of the house, he says: “I ask you to love and favor him.” When, during the French invasion of Russia, the capital's nobles found it necessary to abandon the French language and switch to Russian, which they had forgotten (some even hired Russian language teachers), the general style of their speech was not entirely Russian in nature.
Tolstoy masterfully creates a special flavor of the era and classes by introducing some archaisms (ball gown, powder man), as well as terminology and phraseology characteristic of the military environment of the early 19th century: battle,
retreat and carry out the retreat in perfect order, etc.
The peculiarities of the Masons’ speech are also important in this regard. Their Masonic vocabulary includes many words characteristic of the era depicted in the novel: wisdom, virtue, sacrament, bliss, preparation, explanation, good morals, temple, etc. Here we also encounter Slavicisms: tokmo, this, etc.
Since Tolstoy also shows peasant Rus', living folk speech, as well as elements of oral folk art.
And the vocabulary, phraseology, and syntax - everything here, as in a number of other places, reproduces the speech of the peasants with exceptional truthfulness.
Peasant vernacular also occupies a large place in the language landed nobility(old man Bolkonsky, Rostov) and partly from Moscow (Akhrosimova).
Bolkonsky convinces his daughter to study mathematics: “If you endure it, you will fall in love... The nonsense will jump out of your head.”
There is a lot of peasant speech in the language of officers close to the peasant masses - Tushin, Timokhin and others.
When Tushin was caught by senior officers without boots, in order to get out of the awkward situation, he tries to switch to a humorous tone: “The soldiers say: be smarter when you understand.” During the fight, he says: “Crush, guys!” And, observing the results of the firing of his battery, he notes: “Look, he puffed again.” His favorite addresses: darling, dear soul.
But the language of each of the characters has its own individual characteristics.
The speech of every soldier and peasant has its own characteristics, starting with Karataev, Lavrushka and ending with fleeting, episodic images. So, Karataev’s speech is always quite verbose and instructive. Even in the episode with his attempt to appropriate the remainder of a canvas that belonged to a French soldier, after the Frenchman gives him this remainder, Karataev finds an instructive maxim: “Infidelness, but also a soul. That's what the old people used to say: a sweaty hand is tarnished, a dry hand is stubborn. He himself is hollow, but he gave it away.”
The speech of Tikhon Shcherbaty, an intelligent, firm, decisive, fearless man, has a completely different character. Clear, precise and at the same time imaginative and not without humor, it consists of short, sometimes incomplete sentences in which the predominant place belongs to the verb, which gives it a touch of energy.
The speech of the peasants contains a lot folklore elements. Karataev constantly uses wise proverbs created by the people. Other characters sometimes express their thoughts with the help of proverbs: “And wormwood grows on its own roots.”
The soldiers sing folk songs: “Oh, it’s gone... yes, the hedgehog’s head... Yes, we are tenacious on the wrong side,” etc.
Speech diversity is also visible among the nobility. The precise, clear, often laconic speech of Andrei Bolkonsky, with his sometimes bitter irony, differs sharply in character from the statements of the dreamy, absent-minded, good-natured, and sometimes enthusiastic Pierre. The deceit of Prince Vasily is emphasized by the hyperbolic epithets he uses.
Natasha Rostova’s speech is also unique. It is characterized by complete artlessness and simplicity, but is complemented more than any of the others goodies Tolstoy, rich intonation, expression of the eyes of the whole face, body movements.
V. Vinogradov in his work “On Tolstoy’s Language” points out that this mimic conversation is also conveyed by the writer in the form of oral dialogue. So, for example, to Bolkonsky’s question whether Natasha could be his wife, she did not answer anything in words, but “her face said: “Why ask? Why doubt what you can’t help but know?”
In Tolstoy's work, Russian literature takes a new step forward in the democratization of the Russian literary language. Folk everyday speech, in which Tolstoy is an unsurpassed master, not only abundantly flows into the narrative when depicting soldiers and peasants of the local nobility, the democratic part of the officers. Its powerful influence is also noticeable in the author’s language. When describing the battle of Tushin’s battery, Tolstoy uses the following expressions: “without letting go of his nose warmer”; “those who hesitated to raise the wounded”; “beautiful fellows.”
Describing a noble ball, the writer uses the following expressions: clicking his right foot with his left foot; I did a new and unexpected knee again.
The vernacular nature of the author's comparisons is also characteristic in this regard. The Moscow nobility organized a dinner in honor of Bagration at the English Club. When the famous general arrived, “the guests scattered in different rooms, like shaken rye on a shovel, gathered in one heap and stopped in the large living room at the door of the hall.”
Many metaphors also have the same connotation of peasant speech: “Having driven out onto a rough, large road, oiled with runners, the horses of their own accord ... began to speed up”; “Nikolai began to take the lead”; “Nicholas jumped up and let all the horses go”, etc.
Freeing his language from all conventions, from “mask words,” Tolstoy thereby also brings it closer to colloquial and everyday folk speech.
The richness of the depicted external features and inner world of the hero in Tolstoy corresponds to the richness of the vocabulary. So wanting to show how much the presence of their beloved commander in dangerous moments meant to soldiers and officers, Tolstoy, with exceptional precision in the most subtle shades, uses a number of synonymous expressions.
The epithetics also testify to the vocabulary richness of the language of War and Peace, its remarkable accuracy and expressiveness.
Boris Drubetskoy is characterized by few epithets, but revealing the most basic features of the high-society Molchalin: quiet, decent, not fast (steps). But the complex nature of Andrei Bolkonsky required a lot of color from the writer.
The word lives only in the context, and the richness of the writer’s language is most manifested in the skill of combining words. Portraying a simple Russian person, true hero Staff Captain Tushin, Tolstoy mentions the following features of his appearance: large, intelligent and kind eyes; sincere, pleasant voice; a small, stooped man; “...a thin voice to which he wanted to give a dashing air”; timid, awkward movements in the presence of superiors. But this “little man with weak, awkward movements,” when the battle flared up, commanded: “Crush, guys!” He knows no fear. According to Bolkonsky, the Russians owed their victory at Shengraben most of all to the heroism of Captain Tushin. As a result, the reader forever retains in his memory the image of a hero, beautiful in his simplicity, modesty and humanity, and develops the conviction that there is nothing ostentatious in true heroism.
Leo Tolstoy enriched the Russian literary language not only through the widespread and masterful use of the riches of the national language, but also through the creation of new, bright and deep in thought figurative expressions.
In 1867, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy completed work on the work "War and Peace". Speaking about his novel, Tolstoy admitted that in “War and Peace” he “loved popular thought.” The author poetizes the simplicity, kindness, and morality of the people. Tolstoy sees in the people the source of morality necessary for the whole society. S.P. Bychkov wrote: “According to Tolstoy, the closer the nobles are to the people, the sharper and brighter their patriotic feelings, the richer and more meaningful their spiritual life. And, on the contrary, the further they are from the people, the drier and callous their souls , the more unattractive they are moral principles " . ***
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy denied the possibility of an individual’s active influence on history, since it is impossible to foresee or change the direction historical events it is impossible, because they depend on everyone and no one in particular. In his philosophical and historical digressions, Tolstoy considered historical process as a sum consisting of “countless human arbitrariness,” that is, the efforts of each person. The totality of these efforts results in a historical necessity that no one can cancel.
According to Tolstoy, history is made by the masses, and its laws cannot depend on the desire of an individual historical person. Lydia Dmitrievna Opulskaya wrote: “Tolstoy refuses to recognize as the force guiding the historical development of mankind any kind of “idea,” as well as the desires or power of individual, even “great” historical figures.” There are laws that govern events, partly unknown , partly groped by us, writes Tolstoy. “The discovery of these laws is possible only when we completely renounce the search for causes in the will of one person, just as the discovery of the laws of planetary motion became possible only when people renounced the idea of the affirmation of the Earth.”
Tolstoy sets the task for historians “instead of finding causes... finding laws.” Tolstoy stopped in bewilderment before realizing the laws that determine the “spontaneous swarm” life of the people. According to his view, a participant in a historical event cannot know the meaning and significance, much less the result of the actions performed. Because of this, no one can intelligently direct historical events, but must submit to their spontaneous, unreasonable course, just as the ancients obeyed fate.
However, the internal, objective meaning of what was depicted in “War and Peace” led closely to the awareness of these patterns. In addition, in explaining specific historical phenomena, Tolstoy himself came very close to determining the actual forces that guided events. Thus, the outcome of the war of 1812 was determined, from his point of view, not by a mysterious fate inaccessible to human understanding, but by the “club of the people’s war,” which acted with “simplicity” and “expediency.” *** For Tolstoy, the people act as the creator of history: the millions of ordinary people, and not heroes and generals, create history, move society forward, create everything valuable in material and spiritual life, accomplish everything great and heroic. And Tolstoy proves this thought - “people's thought” using the example of the War of 1812.
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy denied the war, heatedly argued with those who found the “beauty of horror” in war. When describing the war of 1805, Tolstoy acts as a pacifist writer, but when describing the war of 1812, the author switches to the position of patriotism. The War of 1812 appears in Tolstoy's depiction as a people's war. The author creates many images of men and soldiers, whose judgments together make up the people's perception of the world. The merchant Ferapontov is convinced that the French will not be allowed into Moscow, “they shouldn’t,” but, having learned about the surrender of Moscow, he understands that “Race has decided!” And if Russia is dying, then there is no point in saving your property. He shouts to the soldiers to take his goods, so that the “devils” don’t get anything. The men Karp and Vlas refused to sell hay to the French, took up arms and became partisans. During a period of difficult trials for the Fatherland, the defense of the Motherland becomes a “people's matter” and becomes universal. All the heroes of the novel are tested from this side: are they animated by a national feeling, are they ready for heroism, for high sacrifice and self-sacrifice.
In love for the Motherland and patriotic feeling, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and the soldier of his regiment are equal. But Prince Andrei is not only animated by the universal feeling, but also knows how to talk about it, analyze it, and understands the general course of affairs. He is the one who is able to assess and determine the mood of the entire army before the Battle of Borodino. The numerous participants in the majestic event themselves act on the same feeling, and not even unconsciously - they are just very laconic.
“The soldiers in my battalion, believe me, didn’t drink vodka: it’s not such a day, they say,” that’s all that Prince Andrei hears about the soldiers from the battalion commander Timokhin. Pierre Bezukhov fully understands the meaning of “unclear” and is also too short words soldier: “They want to attack all the people, one word - Moscow. They want to make one end.” The soldiers express confidence in victory and readiness to die for the Motherland. In the novel "War and Peace" Tolstoy describes the war of 1812 only on the territory of Russia, a just war. D. S. Likhachev wrote: “The historical side of the novel in its morally victorious part all ends in Russia, and not a single event at the end of the novel passes beyond the borders of the Russian land. There is no Leipzig Battle of Nations, no capture in “War and Peace” Paris. This is emphasized by the death of Kutuzov at the very borders. Further, this folk hero is “not needed.” In the factual side of events, Tolstoy sees the same popular concept of a defensive war... An invading enemy, an invader, cannot be kind and modest. have accurate information about Batu, Birger, Torcal Knutson, Magnus, Mamai, Tokhtamysh, Tamerlane, Edigei, Stefan Batory, or about any other enemy who broke into the Russian land: he, naturally, by virtue of this act alone, will be proud, self-confident, arrogant, will utter loud and empty phrases. The image of the invading enemy is determined only by his act - his invasion. On the contrary, the defender of the fatherland will always be modest, will pray before going on a campaign, because he is waiting for help from above and is confident in his rightness. True, ethical truth is on his side, and this defines his image." ***
According to Tolstoy, it is useless to resist the natural course of events, it is useless to try to play the role of the arbiter of the destinies of mankind. During the Battle of Borodino, on the outcome of which much depended for the Russians, Kutuzov “did not make any orders, but only agreed or disagreed with what was offered to him.” This apparent passivity reveals the commander’s deep intelligence and wisdom. This is confirmed by the insightful judgments of Andrei Bolkonsky:
“He will listen to everything, remember everything, put everything in its place, will not interfere with anything useful and will not allow anything harmful. He understands that there is something stronger and more significant than his will - this is the inevitable course of events, and he knows how to see them, knows how to understand their meaning and, in view of this meaning, knows how to renounce participation in these events, from his personal will aimed at something else." Kutuzov knew that “the fate of a battle is decided not by the orders of the commander-in-chief, not by the place where the troops stand, not by the number of guns and killed people, but by that elusive force called the spirit of the army, and he followed this force and led it, as far as it was in his power." Unity with the people, unity with ordinary people makes Kutuzov for the writer the ideal of a historical figure and the ideal of a person.
He is always modest and simple. A winning pose and acting are alien to him. On the eve of the Battle of Borodino, Kutuzov read a sentimental French novel Madame Genlis "Knights of the Swan". He didn't want to seem like a great man - he was one. Kutuzov’s behavior is natural; the author constantly emphasizes his senile weakness. Kutuzov in the novel is an exponent folk wisdom. His strength lies in the fact that he understands and knows well what worries the people, and acts in accordance with it. The rightness of Kutuzov in his dispute with Bennigsen at the council in Fili is, as it were, reinforced by the fact that the sympathies of the peasant girl Malasha are on the side of “grandfather” Kutuzov. S.P. Bychkov wrote:
"Tolstoy, with his inherent great insight as an artist, correctly guessed and perfectly captured some of the character traits of the great Russian commander Kutuzov: his deep patriotic feelings, his love for the Russian people and hatred of the enemy, his closeness to the soldier. Contrary to the false legend created by official historiography about Alexander I - the savior of the fatherland and who gave Kutuzov minor role in the war, Tolstoy restores historical truth and shows Kutuzov as the leader of a just people's war. Kutuzov was connected with the people by close spiritual ties, and this was his strength as a commander. “The source of the extraordinary power of insight into the meaning of occurring phenomena,” says Tolstoy about Kutuzov, “lay in that popular feeling that he carried within himself in all its purity and strength. Only the recognition of this feeling in him forced the people in such strange ways, into disfavor the old man who is located, to choose, against the will of the king, as a representative of the people's war." ***
In "War and Peace" two ideological centers are created: Kutuzov and Napoleon. The idea of debunking Napoleon arose in Tolstoy in connection with the final understanding of the nature of the war of 1812 as a just war on the part of the Russians. The image of Napoleon is revealed by Tolstoy from the position of “people's thought”. S.P. Bychkov wrote: “In the war with Russia, Napoleon acted as an invader who sought to enslave the Russian people, he was an indirect killer of many people, this gloomy activity did not give him, according to the writer, the right to greatness.
Tolstoy debunked the legend of Napoleon from the standpoint of true humanism. Already from the first appearance of Napoleon in the novel, the negative traits his character. Tolstoy carefully, detail by detail, paints a portrait of Napoleon, a forty-year-old, well-fed and lordly pampered man, arrogant and narcissistic. “Round belly”, “fat thighs of short legs”, “white plump neck”, “fat short figure” with wide, “thick shoulders” - these are the characteristic features of Napoleon’s appearance. When describing Napoleon's morning toilet on the eve of the Battle of Borodino, Tolstoy strengthens the revealing nature of the original portrait characteristics Emperor of France: “Thick back”, “overgrown fat chest”, “groomed body”, “swollen and yellow” face, “thick shoulders” - all these details depict a person far from working life, overweight, deeply alien to the basics folk life. Napoleon was a selfishly narcissistic man who arrogantly believed that the entire universe obeyed his will. People were of no interest to him. The writer, with subtle irony, sometimes turning into sarcasm, exposes Napoleon's claims to world domination, his constant posing for history, his acting.
Napoleon played all the time; there was nothing simple and natural in his behavior and in his words. This is expressively shown by Tolstoy in the scene of Napoleon admiring the portrait of his son on the Borodino field. Napoleon approached the portrait, feeling “that what he will say and do now is history”; “His son was playing with a globe in a billbok” - this expressed the greatness of Napoleon, but he wanted to show “the simplest fatherly tenderness.” Of course, it was pure acting. He did not express sincere feelings of “fatherly tenderness” here, but rather he posed for history and acted. This scene clearly reveals the arrogance of Napoleon, who believed that with the occupation of Moscow Russia would be conquered and his plans for conquest of world domination would be realized.
The writer portrays Napoleon as a player and actor in a number of subsequent episodes. On the eve of Borodin, Napoleon says: “The chess is set, the game will begin tomorrow.” On the day of the battle, after the first cannon shots, the writer remarks: “The game has begun.” Tolstoy goes on to show that this “game” cost the lives of tens of thousands of people. This revealed the bloody nature of Napoleon’s wars, which sought to enslave the whole world. War is not a “game”, but a cruel necessity, thinks Prince Andrei. And this was a fundamentally different approach to war, expressing the point of view of a peaceful people forced to take up arms under exceptional circumstances, when the threat of enslavement loomed over their homeland." ***
The entire Russian people rose up to fight the invaders. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy believed that the role of an individual in history is insignificant, that millions of ordinary people create history. Tushin and Tikhon Shcherbaty are typical representatives of the Russian people who rose up to fight the enemy. Lidia Dmitrievna Opulskaya wrote about Tushin: “Tolstoy deliberately and many times emphasizes the homeliness of his hero: “A small, stooped man, officer Tushin, tripped over his trunk, ran forward, not noticing the general and looking out from under his small hand”; “... shouted in a thin voice, to which he tried to give a dashing air that did not suit his figure. “Second,” he squeaked. - Smash it, Medvedev! " ; " Small man, with weak, awkward movements... ran forward and looked at the French from under his small hand." Tolstoy was not embarrassed even by the fact that the word "small" was used twice in one phrase. Following it - his formidable order: "Crush, Guys! ", although the shots make him "shudder every time." Then more will be said about the "weak, thin, hesitant voice." However, the soldiers, "as always in a battery company, are two heads taller than their officer and twice as wide as him" (" as always " - Tolstoy saw this in the Caucasus and Sevastopol) - " everything is like children in predicament, looked at their commander, and the expression that was on his face was invariably reflected on their faces." As a result of the author's description, a transformation occurs: "He himself seemed to be of enormous stature, a powerful man who throws cannonballs at the French with both hands." Chapter ends unexpectedly, but quite in the spirit of Tolstoy’s idea of people of heroism:
“-Goodbye, my dear,” said Tushin, “dear soul! Goodbye, my dear,” said Tushin with tears, which for some unknown reason suddenly appeared in his eyes.” Andrei Bolkonsky will have to defend Tushin in front of his superiors, and his words will sound solemn: “I was there and found two-thirds of the people and horses killed, two guns mangled and no cover... We owe the success of the day most of all to the action of this battery and the heroic fortitude of the captain Tushina with his company." Thus, from the contradictions, from the combination of “small” and “great,” modest and truly heroic, the image of an ordinary defender of the Motherland is created. It is not difficult to see that the appearance of the leader of the people's war - Kutuzov - is built according to the same artistic laws." ***
Tolstoy creates a vivid image of the tireless partisan, the peasant Tikhon Shcherbaty, who attached himself to Denisov’s detachment. Tikhon was distinguished by his excellent health, enormous physical strength and endurance. In the fight against the French, he shows dexterity, courage and fearlessness. Typical is Tikhon's story about how four Frenchmen attacked him “with skewers,” and he went at them with an ax. This echoes the image of a Frenchman - a Fencer and a Russian wielding a baton. Tikhon is the artistic concretization of the “club of the people's war.” Lidia Dmitrievna Opulskaya wrote: “Tikhon is a completely clear image. He seems to personify that “club of the people’s war” that rose and nailed the French with terrible force until the entire invasion was destroyed. He himself, voluntarily, asked to join the detachment Vasily Denisov. In the detachment, which constantly attacked enemy convoys, there were a lot of weapons. But Tikhon did not need them - he acts differently, and his duel with the French, when it was necessary to get the “tongue,” is quite in the spirit of Tolstoy’s general arguments about the people’s liberation. war: “Let’s go, I say, to the colonel. How loud he will be. And there are four of them. They rushed at me with skewers. “I hit them with an ax in this manner: why are you, Christ is with you,” Tikhon cried out, waving and frowning menacingly, sticking out his chest.” ***
Tolstoy contrasts popular patriotism with the false patriotism of the secular nobility, whose main goal is to catch “crosses, rubles, ranks.” The patriotism of Moscow aristocrats consisted in the fact that instead of French dishes they ate Russian cabbage soup, and French words a fine was imposed. The appearance of Alexander I in Tolstoy’s depiction is unsightly. The traits of duplicity and hypocrisy that were inherent in the “high society” are also manifested in the character of the king.
They are especially clearly visible in the scene of the sovereign’s arrival in the army after the victory over the enemy. Alexander embraces Kutuzov, muttering: “Old comedian.” S.P. Bychkov wrote: “No, Alexander I was not the “savior of the fatherland,” as government patriots tried to portray, and it was not among the tsar’s entourage that one should look for the true organizers of the fight against the enemy. On the contrary, at court, in the tsar’s inner circle, There was a group of outright defeatists, led by the Grand Duke and Chancellor Rumyantsev, who feared Napoleon and stood for concluding peace with him." ***
Platon Karataev is the embodiment of “everything Russian, good and round,” patriarchy, humility, non-resistance, religiosity - all those qualities that Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy so valued among the Russian peasantry. Lidia Dmitrievna Opulskaya wrote: “The image of Plato is more complex and contradictory, it means extremely much for the entire historical and philosophical concept of the book. No more, however, than Tikhon Shcherbaty. It’s just that this is the other side of “folk thought.” ***
Patriotism and closeness to the people are most characteristic of Pierre Bezukhov, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, and Natasha Rostova. The people's war of 1812 contained that enormous moral force that purified and reborn Tolstoy's favorite heroes, burned out many class prejudices and selfish feelings in their souls. In the Patriotic War, the fate of Prince Andrei follows the same path as the fate of the people. Andrei Bolkonsky becomes close to ordinary soldiers. “In the regiment they called him “our prince,” they were proud of him and loved him,” wrote Tolstoy. He begins to see the main purpose of man in serving people, the people. Even before the war of 1812, Prince Andrei realized that the future of the people depended not on the will of the rulers, but on the people themselves. Lidia Dmitrievna Opulskaya wrote: “Having already understood the internal springs of war, Andrei Bolkonsky was still mistaken about the world.
He was drawn to the highest spheres of state life, “to where the future was being prepared, on which the fate of millions depended.” But the fate of millions is decided not by Adam Chartoryzhsky, not by Speransky, not by Emperor Alexander, but by these millions themselves - this is one of the main ideas of Tolstoy’s philosophy of history. The meeting with Natasha Rostova and love for her clearly tells Bolkonsky that the transformative plans of the cold and self-confident Speransky cannot make him, Prince Andrei, “happier and better” (and this is the most important thing in life!) and have nothing to do with the life of his Bogucharovsky men. This is the first time people's point vision enters as a criterion into Bolkonsky's consciousness." ***
Ordinary Russian soldiers also played a decisive role in the moral renewal of Pierre Bezukhov. He went through a passion for Freemasonry and charity, and nothing gave him moral satisfaction. Only in close communication with ordinary people did he understand that the purpose of life is in life itself: “As long as there is life, there is happiness.” Already on the Borodino field, even before meeting Karataev, Pierre Bezukhov conceived the idea of simplification: “To be a soldier, just a soldier!” Meetings with ordinary soldiers had a strong effect on his soul, shocked his consciousness, aroused the desire to change, rebuild his whole life. Lydia Dmitrievna Opulskaya wrote: " Peace of mind, Pierre gains confidence in the future of life, having survived the heroic time of the 12th year and the suffering of captivity next to ordinary people, with Platon Karataev. He experiences “a feeling of his insignificance and deceit in comparison with the truth, simplicity and strength of that category of people who are imprinted on his soul called they.” “To be a soldier, just a soldier,” Pierre thinks with delight. It is characteristic that the soldiers, although not immediately, willingly accepted Pierre into their midst and nicknamed him “our master”, like Andrei “our prince”. Pierre cannot become “just a soldier,” a droplet merging with the entire surface of the ball. The awareness of his personal responsibility for the life of the entire globe is ineradicable in him. He fervently thinks that people must come to their senses, understand all the crime, all the impossibility of war." ***
Positive features Natasha Rostova is revealed with particular brightness at the moment when she, before the French entered Moscow, inspired by a patriotic feeling, forces her to throw family goods from the cart and take the wounded, and when she - in another, happy and joyful moment - with Russian dance and admiration folk music shows all the power of the national spirit contained in it. From Natasha comes the energy of renewal, liberation from the false, false, habitual, leading “to the free light of God.”
And here her role is equivalent to what gives Tolstoy’s searching heroes communication with the people. Lidia Dmitrievna Opulskaya wrote: “The image of Natasha embodies one of the main ideas of the novel: there is no beauty and happiness where there is no goodness, simplicity and truth.” ***
In the novel "War and Peace" the appearance of each hero is inseparable from his linguistic characteristics. The language of the noble nobility is Frenchized; its expressions and phrases, despite their sophistication, have become familiar clichés used in social conversation for any occasion. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is an expert and connoisseur of the great Russian language. By the speech of the heroes of the work, we can judge the author’s attitude towards them. Tolstoy does not put Frenchized Russian into the mouths of his favorite heroes.
"People's Thought" - main idea novel "War and Peace". Tolstoy knew that life, the simple life of people, with its “private” destinies, interests and joys, goes on as usual, regardless of Napoleon’s meetings with Alexander, the diplomatic game or Speransky’s state plans. Only those historical events that set the masses in motion, concern the destinies of national people, are capable of changing - albeit dramatically, but always beneficially - an individual person. This is how his favorite heroes are purified and elevated in the disasters of the Patriotic War: Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostova. Each participant in historical events is no less important for Tolstoy than Napoleon. The direction of the will of millions of people, who, from the point of view of Napoleon and the historical science of that time, were infinitesimal units, determines historical development.
