“War and Peace” is the legendary epic novel by L.N. Tolstoy, who laid the foundation for a new genre of prose in world literature. The lines of the great work were created under the influence of history, philosophy and social disciplines, which he thoroughly studied great writer, since historical works require the most accurate information. Having studied many documents, Tolstoy covered historical events with maximum accuracy, confirming the information with memoirs of eyewitnesses of the great era.
Prerequisites for writing the novel War and Peace
The idea of writing a novel arose as a result of impressions from a meeting with the Decembrist S. Volkonsky, who told Tolstoy about life in exile in the Siberian expanses. It was 1856. A separate chapter called “Decembrists” fully conveyed the spirit of the hero, his principles and political beliefs.
After some time, the author decides to go back into history and highlight the events not only of 1825, but also the beginning of the formation of the Decembrist movement and their ideology. Covering the events of 1812, Tolstoy studies a lot of historical materials of that era - the records of V.A. Perovsky, S. Zhikharev, A.P. Ermolov, letters from General F.P. Uvarova, maids of honor M.A. Volkova, as well as a number of materials from Russian and French historians. An equally important role in the creation of the novel was played by the authentic battle plans, orders and instructions of the high ranks of the imperial palace during the War of 1812.
But the writer does not stop there either, returning to historical events early XIX century. Featured in the novel historical figures Napoleon and Alexander I, thereby complicating the structure and genre of the great work.
The main theme of the epic War and Peace
An ingenious historical work, the writing of which took about 6 years, represents the incredibly truthful mood of the Russian people, their psychology and worldview during the times of imperial battles. The lines of the novel are imbued with the morality and individuality of each of the characters, of which there are more than 500 in the novel. The whole picture of the work lies in the brilliant reproduction artistic images representatives of all walks of life, from the emperor to the ordinary soldier. An incredible impression is made by the scenes where the author conveys both the high motives of the heroes and the base ones, thereby pointing to the life of a Russian person in its various manifestations.
Over the years, under the influence literary critics, Tolstoy makes some changes to some parts of the work - he reduces the number of volumes to 4, transfers some of the reflections to the epilogue, and makes some stylistic changes. In 1868, a work appeared in which the author sets out some of the details of writing the novel, sheds light on some details of the style and genre of writing, as well as the characteristics of the main characters.
Thanks to the restless and talented personality that Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was, the world saw great book about self-improvement, which was, is and will be relevant among huge amount readers of all times and peoples. Here anyone will find answers to the most difficult life questions, drawing wisdom, philosophy and genius historical experience Russian people.
Writers create their works in various genres. Some literary forms, such as epic, drama and lyric poetry, were used by ancient authors. Others appeared much later. Leo Tolstoy, having combined several directions in his great book, created a new “War and Peace” - an epic novel. This genre is a combination of elements of family life, philosophy. This genre mixture was first used by a Russian classic.
Family and household theme
In his great work, Tolstoy depicts the fate of several generations of representatives of the nobility. And although the lives of these people are inextricably linked with the book, there are clear features of such literary direction, as a family and everyday genre. “War and Peace” is a work in the plot of which significant role The theme of family plays. The writer devoted other works to this topic. But the image ideal family” emerges only at the end of the epic novel.
Historicism
Leo Tolstoy's book describes historical events and personalities, which indicates a specific genre. "War and Peace" is a historical work. The legendary characters in Tolstoy's novel are Kutuzov and Napoleon. Although it should be said that the Russian classic’s attitude to history was peculiar. He believed that nothing depends on even the most prominent personalities in history. They are only vivid images. Historical events are spontaneous in nature and cannot depend on the will of even the most active and talented people.
Depiction of battles and battles
The battle scenes in the work indicate that this is a military genre. “War and Peace” is a novel, a significant part of which was devoted to the war, which the author himself called “a bloody massacre, disgusting to human essence.” From these considerations, another aspect of the brilliant work was born, thanks to which the novel became a reflection of the author’s philosophical views.
Philosophical ideas
One of the most patriotic books in Russian literature is “War and Peace.” The literary genre of this work is, first of all, philosophical novel. The author criticizes the official church, conveying his ideas in the thoughts of the main characters.
He does not give instant answers to the questions that worried Pierre Bezukhov. The search takes years and many mistakes made Main character. But this character is not devoid of a moral principle, which helps him find himself and find spiritual harmony. The highest task of a person is to exist without unnecessary fuss, to be close to the people - Pierre comes to this conviction already at the end of the work.
Returning to the question of man’s inability to decide the destinies of peoples and influence the course of events, Tolstoy argues that those who seek to slow down or speed up historical process, looks funny and naive. The genre of Tolstoy's War and Peace is not easy to define. This is an epic novel, full of philosophical judgments of the author, which force many years later to re-read the work not only in his homeland, but also abroad.
Socio-psychological novel
This genre is different from others psychological image heroes in difficult life situations, multi-linear plot and large volume. What is the genre of War and Peace? This question does not deserve a definitive answer. Tolstoy's brilliant book is very multifaceted and extremely complex. But the features of a socio-psychological novel, along with the features of other genres, are present in it.
The problems of society and questions about its structure worried Leo Tolstoy. The author of the novel examines the relationship of the nobles to the peasants from a completely realistic point of view. His views in this regard are also mixed. But of considerable importance for the writer was also inner world an individual person. By depicting the character’s external appearance, the author conveyed his spiritual world. Bezukhov's friendly eyes are associated with his gentleness and kindness. Helen Kuragina is the owner of “victoriously effective beauty.” But this beauty is dead and unnatural, since there is no inner content in this heroine.
The genre of the great work “War and Peace” is an epic novel. However, due to the scale of the events and the global nature of the problems, this book is unique in terms of genre.
The problem of the genre form of War and Peace, and in connection with this the genre tradition that is connected with War and Peace, is one of the most difficult in academic literary criticism. Naturally, in school teaching the wordsmith also experiences significant difficulties here. Today, the most experienced literature teacher, our regular author Lev Iosifovich Sobolev, offers his approaches to working with the eternal book.
We are printing a chapter from his research - a guide to “War and Peace” intended for schoolchildren, teachers, and students, which is being prepared for release in new series“Slow Reading” Moscow State University Publishing House.
Let us remember: a genre is a historically established, stable, repeating type of work; according to M.M. Bakhtin, genre is the memory of literature. We easily understand the differences between the poems of Tibulla, Batyushkov and, for example, Kibirov; it is more difficult to understand what we read in all three poets elegies, that is, in their poems we find regrets about losses, sadness over irretrievable joys or longing for unrequited love. But it is precisely these motives that make the elegy an elegy, it is they that remind us of the continuity of the poetic movement, of the “wandering dreams of other people’s singers” - the “blessed legacy” left to poets and readers.
On September 30, 1865, Tolstoy writes in his Diary: “There is poetry of a novelist<...>in a picture of morals built on a historical event - Odyssey, Iliad, 1805.” Let us pay attention to the series in which Tolstoy’s work (“The Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Five”) falls: these are two Homeric poems, the most indisputable example of the epic genre.
Gorky’s recording of Tolstoy’s confession about “War and Peace” is known: “Without false modesty, it’s like the Iliad” [ Bitter. T. 16. P. 294]. In 1983, in the magazine “Comparative Literature” [T. 35. No. 2] the article “Tolstoy and Homer” was published (authors F.T. Griffiths, S.J. Rabinowitz). The article contains several interesting comparisons: Andrei is a warrior, like Achilles; According to the authors, Tolstoy’s book begins with the predominance of Prince Andrei, then interest shifts to Pierre (corresponds to Odysseus, whose main goal is to return home); then, on the last pages of the first part of the Epilogue, Nikolenka Bolkonsky’s dream takes us back to the beginning of the book - again the center of interest shifts to the warrior (future) - the son of Prince Andrei. Pierre's seven years with the seductress Helen correspond to the seven years that Odysseus spent in captivity (at first voluntary, then, like Pierre, not of his own free will) by Calypso. And even the fact that Odysseus puts on the rags of a beggar in order to return to Ithaca unrecognized finds correspondence in Pierre’s dressing in common clothes (when the hero remains in Moscow with the goal of killing Napoleon). Unfortunately, the authors do not take into account the important work of G.D. Gacheva “The Content of Artistic Forms” [M., 1968], where there are significant comparisons of “War and Peace” with the “Iliad”.
Tolstoy, as Gachev writes, “of course, did not set out to write an epic. On the contrary, he in every possible way distinguished his work from all the usual genres...” [ Gachev. P. 117]. In March 1868, in Bartenev’s “Russian Archive,” Tolstoy published an article “A few words about the book “War and Peace”,” in which he states: “What is “War and Peace”? This is not a novel, still less a poem, even less a historical chronicle. “War and Peace” is what the author wanted and could express in the form in which it was expressed.” In confirmation of the genre uniqueness of his book, the author refers to the peculiarity of Russian literature in general: “The history of Russian literature since the time of Pushkin not only presents many examples of such a deviation from the European form, but does not even provide a single example of the opposite. Starting from Gogol’s “Dead Souls” to Dostoevsky’s “House of the Dead,” in the new period of Russian literature there is not a single artistic prose work that is slightly beyond mediocrity, which would fit completely into the form of a novel, poem or story.”
It seems to me that the key to the genre uniqueness of War and Peace should be found in the draft preface to the book: “...between those semi-historical, semi-public, semi-exalted great characters of the great era, the personality of my hero receded into the background, and in the foreground came, with equal interest for me, both young and old people, both men and women of that time”[PSS-90. T. 13. P. 55] . Tolstoy stopped writing a book about one hero (or two, three) - and “tried to write the history of the people” [ PSS-90. T. 15. P. 241]. And in the Diary an entry appears: “ Epic kind It becomes natural for me.”
In the article “Epic and Romance” M.M. Bakhtin characterizes the genre epics three features: “1) the subject of the epic is the national epic past, the “absolute past”, in the terminology of Goethe and Schiller; 2) the source of the epic is national legend (and not personal experience and free fiction growing on its basis); 3) the epic world is separated from modernity, that is, from the time of the singer (the author and his listeners), by an absolute epic distance” [ Bakhtin–2000. P. 204]. The word “epic”, as we know, has many meanings: epic is a type of literature (along with lyrics and drama); epic - epic genre, epic (here this concept is contrasted not with lyrics or drama, but with a novel and story). Let's see how much “War and Peace” meets the characteristics of an epic, as Bakhtin defines them (in the book “Problems of Dostoevsky’s Poetics” Bakhtin notes that the application of the term “epic” to “War and Peace” has become customary [ Bakhtin–1979. pp. 158–159]).
Let's start with the “national epic past,” the “heroic past,” as Bakhtin writes. It is hardly necessary to prove that the year 1812, “when<...>we spanked Napoleon I” [“Decembrists”], and became such a “heroic past” for Tolstoy. Moreover, Tolstoy's theme is the people in the face of danger, when the question of whether to exist or not is being decided. Tolstoy chooses climax in the life of the “swarm” (or gradually comes to it); That’s why 1825 could not become the subject of an epic, but 1812 (like the post-reform time in “Who Lives Well in Rus'”), the revolution and Civil War in "The Quiet Don" and in "The Red Wheel") - became. The year 1812 affected the deepest foundations of existence - but, as already noted, the 1860s, the time of writing “War and Peace,” were like that special time- when, in the words of Konstantin Levin, “everything has turned upside down and is just falling into place.”
Gachev wrote about two forms (methods) of uniting people - the people and the state. It is their relationship that gives rise to an epic situation: he sees such a situation in the Iliad (Achilles against Agamemnon) and in War and Peace (Kutuzov against Alexander). In a crisis situation, the state must feel “its complete dependence on the natural course of life and natural society. The state must become dependent on the people, their free will:<...>Will he give his consent, trust, will he forget the feuds and will he take “God’s” weapon in his hands - the shield of Achilles or the first club he comes across? [ Gachev. P. 83]. This reasoning is confirmed, among other things, by reading Tolstoy’s sources - in particular, stories Patriotic War, written by A.I. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky and M.I. Bogdanovich. Main character of these descriptions - Alexander I, which, of course, is understandable and does not need explanation; what Tolstoy’s Alexander looks like is a separate topic, but in any case, it is not his will or character, or firmness, or generosity that determines the course of the war. Kutuzov, like Achilles, was called upon to save the state by which he was insulted, “was in retirement and disgrace”; called “not by order of the authorities, but by the will of the people” [ Gachev. P. 119]. It is Tolstoy’s Kutuzov, as a true man of the epic, who is “entirely complete and complete” [ Bakhtin–2000. P. 225]; It is hardly necessary to stipulate that the real Kutuzov could have been (and, apparently, was) completely different and that besides Kutuzov in War and Peace there are many heroes who are not at all complete and incomplete.
It is clear that Tolstoy could not and did not intend to write an epic like the Iliad - after all, twenty-seven centuries lay between them. Therefore, the attitude towards the “national tradition” (the second condition of the epic, according to Bakhtin) was not and could not be the same as in the times of Homer or Virgil (“the reverent attitude of the descendant,” Bakhtin calls it [P. 204]); a substitute for national tradition, historical descriptions, are treated by Tolstoy and disputed precisely as false, but pathetic products of positive science that claim to be true (cf.: “the legend of the past is sacred” [ Bakhtin–2000. P. 206]).
But the epic distance - the third feature of the epic, as Bakhtin describes it - is clearly revealed in Tolstoy’s already quoted preface: from 1856 (modern times) to 1825; then - to 1812 and further - to 1805, when the character of the people was to be revealed in the era of “our failures and our shame.” Why didn’t Tolstoy bring his story not only to 1856 (as he had intended), but even to 1825? Epic time is not so much a specific event as the time of being in general; It’s not so much “then” as it is “always”. The time boundaries of the epic are always blurred - “the epic is indifferent to the formal beginning,” writes Bakhtin, “so any part can be formalized and presented as a whole” [ Bakhtin–2000. P. 223].
A hallmark of an epic is its extraordinary breadth of coverage: it’s not just about the number of characters, although crowd scenes in War and Peace are unlike anything similar in previous literature; rather, we should talk about the universality of the epic, about its desire to cover the maximum space - the many “stage venues” of the book are connected with this: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Braunau, Otradnoe, Bald Mountains, Mozhaisk, Smolensk... At the same time, for the epic there is no main and secondary - no hierarchy; like a child, the epic is interested in everyone and everything: and the maid of honor Peronskaya (the author considers it necessary to inform us that her “old, ugly body” was just as “perfumed, washed, powdered” and just as “carefully washed behind the ears”, like the Rostovs [Vol. 2. Part 3. Ch. XIV]), and a military doctor, “in a bloody apron and with bloody small hands, in one of which he held a cigar between the little finger and thumb (so as not to stain it)” [T. . 3. Part 2. Ch. XXXVII], and the fact that the captain from Denisov’s detachment has “narrow, light eyes”, which he constantly “narrows” or “squints” [T. 4. Part 3. Ch. VI, VIII]. It is important not only that “War and Peace” is not focused on one hero - in this book, in general, the very division of heroes into main and secondary ones seems very conventional; Another thing is more important - the desire to convey the fullness of existence, when every detail (“and the more random, the more true”) appears as part of an inexhaustible whole - human existence. The same is true for a single episode; as Bocharov accurately noted, the episode “ delays the course of action and attracts our attention on my own, as one of the countless manifestations of life that Tolstoy teaches us to love” [ Bocharov–1963. P. 19]. That is why, probably, “this book stands out in our memory as separate vivid images” [ Ibid.] that in War and Peace there is no novelistic subordination of each episode to the revelation of the character of an individual hero or the revelation of an idea; That “coupling of thoughts”, about which Tolstoy N.N. wrote. Strakhov, or the “conjugation” (remember, in Pierre’s Mozhaisk dream - “it is necessary to conjugate”?) of everything with everything is characteristic of the epic.
The book begins with the appearance of Pierre - young man without family; his search - including the search for his true family - will form one of the plots of War and Peace; the book ends with the dream of Nikolenka Bolkonsky, an orphan; his dreams are the possibility of continuing the book; in fact, it does not end, just as life does not end. And, probably, the appearance of his father, Prince Andrei, in Nikolenka’s dream is also important: Tolstoy’s book is written about the fact that there is no death - remember, after the death of Prince Andrei, Tolstoy gives in quotation marks, that is, as the thoughts of Natasha Rostova, the questions: “Where is he gone? Where is he now?..” This is how the philosophy of this book is expressed in the composition of “War and Peace”: the affirmation of the eternal renewal of life, that “general law” that inspired Pushkin’s late lyrics.
Tolstoy could not help but take into account the experience of the previous European and Russian novel - and sophisticated psychological analysis for many readers constitutes the most important aspect of his book. In “War and Peace” “human fate” (novel beginning) and “people's fate” (epic beginning) are “combined into one organic whole (in Pushkin’s words)” [ Lesskis. P. 399]. The new genre name was justified by A.V. Chicherin in the book “The Emergence of the Epic Novel” [Kharkov. 1958; 2nd ed.: M., 1975]. It caused and continues to cause disagreement (for example, G.A. Lesskis suggested considering “War and Peace” an idyll [ Lesskis. P. 399], and B.M. Eikhenbaum saw in the book the features of “an ancient legend or chronicle” [ Eikhenbaum–1969. P. 378]), but if we understand it not as “purely evaluative, laudable, not expressing anything other than the “epic breadth” of coverage of the reflected socio-historical phenomena,” as characterized by E.N. Kupriyanov this term Chicherin [ Kupriyanova. P. 161], but as a name for an epic that includes several novel lines, it may well work. It is significant that in Tolstoy’s book the novel can come into conflict with the epic: thus, Prince Andrei, with his ambitious dreams before the Battle of Austerlitz, ready to sacrifice those closest to him for a moment of glory, hears the coachman teasing Kutuzov’s cook named Titus: ““ Titus, and Titus? “Well,” answered the old man. “Titus, go thresh.” “Low reality” here clearly opposes the hero’s high dreams - but it is she who turns out to be right; this is, perhaps, the voice of the epic itself, of life itself, which (in the form of the high sky) will soon reveal the lies of the Napoleonic dreams of the novel hero.
I will cite Bakhtin’s deep and, in my opinion, very important thought:
“The novelization of literature is not at all the imposition of an alien genre canon on other genres. After all, the novel doesn’t have such a canon at all.<...>Therefore, the novelization of other genres does not mean their subordination to alien genre canons; on the contrary, this is their liberation from everything conventional, deadened, stilted and lifeless that hinders their own development, from everything that turns them next to the novel into some kind of stylization of outdated forms” [ Bakhtin–2000. P. 231].
It is no coincidence that in “War and Peace” we find the following reasoning from Tolstoy:
“The ancients left us examples of heroic poems in which the heroes constitute the entire interest of history, and we still cannot get used to the fact that for our human time a story of this kind has no meaning” [T. 3. Part 2. Ch. XIX].
And although Gachev wittily brings “War and Peace” closer to the “Iliad” - he quite convincingly compares the behavior of Nikolai Rostov during the Bogucharov rebellion with the way Odysseus deals with Thersites, and then likens Kutuzov to the same Odysseus, who disdains the sophistry of Thersites, at the council in Fili : “with power, force, knowing its right, will - Kutuzov and Odysseus solve the situation” [ Gachev. pp. 129–136], even Tolstoy is beyond the power to resurrect the Iliad in all its completeness and simplicity. Genre - point of view on the world; It is hardly possible in the 19th century AD to look at the world as it was seen in the 8th century BC.
Contemporaries felt the genre unfamiliarity of “War and Peace” and, with a few exceptions, did not accept it. P.V. Annenkov in a generally sympathetic article “Historical and aesthetic issues in the novel by gr. L.N. Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” having listed many episodes that fascinated him, asks: “Isn’t all this, in fact, a magnificent spectacle, from beginning to end?” - but then he remarks: “Yes, but while it was happening “, the novel, in the literal sense of the word, did not move, or, if it did, it did so with incredible apathy and slowness.” “But where is he, this novel, where did he put his real business - the development of a private incident, his “plot” and “intrigue”, because without them, no matter what the novel does, it will still seem idle a novel to which its own and real interests are alien,” writes the critic [ Annenkov. pp. 44–45]. One can give many examples of the rejection by critics (and therefore by readers) of the genre features of Tolstoy’s book: “We call the work of Count L.N. Tolstoy's novel only to give him some name; but War and Peace, in the strict sense of the word, is not a novel. Don’t look for an integral poetic concept in it, don’t look for unity of action: “War and Peace” is just a series of characters, a series of pictures, sometimes military, sometimes on the battlefield, sometimes everyday, in the living rooms of St. Petersburg and Moscow” [gaz. "Voice". 1868. No. 11. P. 1 (“Bibliography and journalism.” Without signature)]. Responding to the first three volumes, the critic of “The Russian Invalid” (A. I-n) wrote about “War and Peace”: “This is a calm epic written by a poet-artist who brings out living faces in front of you, analyzes their feelings, describes them actions with the dispassion of Pushkin's Pimen. Hence the advantages and disadvantages of the novel” [Journal and bibliographic notes. "War and Peace". Essay by Count L.N. Tolstoy. 3 volumes. M., 1868 // Russian invalid. 1868. No. 11]. The shortcomings will be discussed in some detail. “War and Peace cannot be the Iliad,” writes the critic, “and Homer’s attitude towards heroes and life is impossible.” Modern life is complex - and “it is impossible to describe with the same calmness and self-pleasure the delights of hound hunting along with the virtues of the dog Karai, and the majestic beauty, and the ability of the scoundrel Anatole to control himself, and the toilet of the young ladies going to the ball, and the suffering of the Russian soldier dying of thirst and hunger in the same room with the decomposed dead, and such a terrible massacre as the Battle of Austerlitz” [ Ibid.]. As we see, the critic fully felt genre originality Tolstoy's books - and did not want to accept this originality.
All this was written before the end of the book - the last volumes caused even greater complaints: “His novel, in our opinion, still remained not completely finished, despite the fact that half of the characters in it died, and the rest were legally married to each other. It’s as if the author himself was tired of messing around with his surviving heroes of the novel, and he, hastily, somehow made ends meet in order to quickly launch into his endless metaphysics” [Petersburgskaya Gazeta. 1870. No. 2. P. 2]. However, N. Solovyov noted that Tolstoy’s book is “some kind of poem-novel, a new form and as consistent with the ordinary course of life as it is limitless, like life itself. “War and Peace” cannot simply be called a novel: a novel should be much more definite in its boundaries and more prosaic in content: a poem, as a freer fruit of inspiration, is not subject to any restraint” [ Solovyov. P. 172]. A reviewer for Birzhevye Vedomosti, ahead of future researchers of the War and Peace genre, wrote: “... Count Tolstoy’s novel could in some respects be considered a great epic people's war, which has its own historians, but far from having its own singer” (and this review reveals a comparison of “War and Peace” with the “Iliad”).
However, the sensitive Strakhov, the first and probably the only one of his contemporaries to speak about the unconditional genius of Tolstoy’s new work, defined its genre as a “family chronicle,” and in the last article about “War and Peace” he wrote that it is “an epic in modern forms art" [ Strakhov. P. 224, 268].
Literature
PSS–90 - Tolstoy L.N. Full collection cit.: In 90 volumes. M., 1928–1958.
Annenkov - Annenkov P.V. Historical and aesthetic issues in the novel by gr. L.N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” // Roman L.N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” in Russian criticism. L., 1989.
Bakhtin–1979 - Bakhtin M.M. Problems of Dostoevsky's poetics. M., 1979.
Bakhtin–2000 - Bakhtin M.M. Epic and novel. St. Petersburg, 2000.
Bocharov–1963 - Bocharov S.G. L. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”. M., 1963.
Gachev - Gachev G.D. Content of artistic forms. M., 1968.
Gorky - Gorky M. Full collection cit.: In 25 vols. M., 1968–1975.
Kupriyanova - Kupriyanova E.N. On the issues and genre nature of L. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” // Russian literature. 1985. No. 1.
Lesskis - Lesskis G.A. Leo Tolstoy (1852–1869). M., 2000.
Solovyov - Solovyov N.I. War or peace? // Roman L.N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” in Russian criticism. L., 1989.
Strakhov - Strakhov N.N. War and Peace. Essay by Count L.N. Tolstoy. Volumes I, II, III and IV // Roman L.N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” in Russian criticism. L., 1989.
Shklovsky–1928 - Shklovsky V.B. Material and style in Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”. M., 1928.
Eikhenbaum–1969 - Eikhenbaum B.M. Features of the chronicle style in XIX literature century // Eikhenbaum B.M. About prose. L., 1969.
L.N. Tolstoy's epic novel is practically the only work of Russian literature of this scale. It reveals a whole layer of history - the Patriotic War of 1812, the military campaigns of 1805-1807. Real historical figures are depicted, such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor Alexander I, commander-in-chief of the Russian army Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov. Using the example of the Bolkonskys, Rostovs, Bezukhovs, and Kuragins, Tolstoy shows the development of human relationships and the creation of families. The people's war is becoming centrally war of 1812. The composition of Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" is complex, the novel is enormous in its volume of information, and is striking in the number of characters (more than five hundred). Tolstoy showed everything in action, in life.
Family thought in Tolstoy's novel
There are four storylines running through the entire novel - four families, changing their composition depending on the circumstances. Kuragins are an image of vulgarity, self-interest and indifference to each other. The Rostovs are an image of love, harmony and friendship. The Bolkonskys are an image of prudence and activity. Bezukhov builds his family by the end of the novel, having found his ideal of life. Tolstoy describes families using the principle of comparison, and sometimes the principle of contrast. But this does not always indicate what is good and what is bad. What is present in one family may be a complement to another. So in the epilogue of the novel we see the union of three families: the Rostovs, the Bezukhovs and the Bolkonskys. This gives a new round of relationships. Tolstoy says that the main component of any family is love and respect for each other. And the family - main meaning life. There are no great stories of people, they are worth nothing without family, without loved ones and loving families. You can withstand any difficult situations, if you are strong, and you are strong with your family. The importance of family in the novel is undeniable.
Popular thought in Tolstoy's novel
The War of 1812 was won thanks to the strength, resilience and faith of the Russian people. The people in their entirety. Tolstoy does not differentiate between peasants and nobles - in war everyone is equal. And everyone has the same goal - to free Russia from the enemy. “The club of the people’s war,” says Tolstoy about the Russian army. It is the people who are the main force that defeated the enemy. What can military leaders do without the people? A simple example is the French army, which Tolstoy shows in contrast to the Russian one. The French fought not for faith, not for strength, but because they needed to fight. And the Russians, following the old man Kutuzov, for the faith, for the Russian land, for the Tsar-Father. Tolstoy confirms the idea that the people make history.
Features of the novel
Many characteristics in Tolstoy's novel are presented through contrast or antithesis. The image of Napoleon is contrasted with the image of Alexander I as an emperor and the image of Kutuzov as a commander. The description of the Kuragin family is also built on the principle of contrast.
Tolstoy is a master of the episode. Almost all portraits of heroes are given through action, their actions in certain situations. The stage episode is one of the features of Tolstoy's narrative.
Landscape in the novel “War and Peace” also occupies a certain place. Description of the old oak is an integral element of the description state of mind Andrey Bolkonsky. We see the calm Borodino field before the battle, not a single leaf moves on the trees. The fog in front of Austerlitz warns us of an invisible danger. Detailed Descriptions estates in Otradnoye, natural views that appear to Pierre when he is in captivity - all these are necessary elements of the composition of “War and Peace”. Nature helps to understand the state of the characters without forcing the author to resort to verbal descriptions.
Title of the novel
The title of the novel "War and Peace" contains artistic technique which is called an oxymoron. But the name can also be taken literally. The first and second volumes share scenes of either war or peace. The third volume is almost entirely devoted to war; in the fourth, peace prevails. This is also Tolstoy's trick. Still, peace is more important and necessary than any war. At the same time, war without life in “peace” is impossible. There are those who are there, at war, and those who are left to wait. And their wait, sometimes, is the only salvation for returning.
Novel genre
L.N. Tolstoy himself did not give the exact name of the genre to the novel “War and Peace”. In fact, the novel reflects historical events, psychological processes, social and moral problems, raises philosophical questions, and the characters experience family and everyday relationships. The novel contains all sides human life, reveals characters, shows destinies. An epic novel - this is precisely the genre given to Tolstoy’s work. This is the first epic novel in Russian literature. Truly L.N. Tolstoy created a great work that has stood the test of time. It will be read at all times.
Work test
Lesson 3.
The novel “War and Peace” is an epic novel:
issues, images, genre
Target: introduce the history of the creation of the novel, reveal its originality.
During the classes
Lesson-lecture by teacher, students take notes.
I. Recording the epigraph and plan:
1. The history of the creation of the novel “War and Peace.”
2. Historical background and the problems of the novel.
3. The meaning of the title of the novel, characters, composition.
“All passions, all moments of human life,
from the cry of a newborn baby to the last flash
the feelings of a dying old man - all the sorrows and joys,
accessible to man - everything is in this picture!
Critic N. Strakhov
II. Lecture material.
The novel “War and Peace” is one of the most patriotic works in Russian literature of the 19th century. K. Simonov recalled: “For my generation, who saw the Germans at the gates of Moscow and at the walls of Stalingrad, reading “War and Peace” at that period of our lives became an forever remembered shock, not only aesthetic, but also moral...” It was “War and Peace”. "peace" became during the war years the book that most directly strengthened the spirit of resistance that gripped the country in the face of an enemy invasion... "War and Peace" was the first book that came to our minds then, during the war."
The first reader of the novel, the wife of the writer S.A. Tolstaya, wrote to her husband: “I am rewriting War and Peace and your novel lifts me up morally, that is, spiritually.”
What can be said about L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” based on the statements heard?
1. The history of the creation of the novel.
Tolstoy worked on the novel War and Peace from 1863 to 1869. The novel demanded from the writer maximum creative output, full exertion of all spiritual forces. During this period, the writer said: “Every day of labor you leave a piece of yourself in the inkwell.”
The story was originally conceived for modern theme“The Decembrists” only three chapters remain from it. S. A. Tolstaya notes in her diaries that at first L. N. Tolstoy was going to write about the Decembrist who returned from Siberia, and the action of the novel was supposed to begin in 1856 (amnesty of the Decembrists, Alexander II) on the eve of the abolition of serfdom. In the process of work, the writer decided to talk about the uprising of 1825, then pushed back the beginning of the action to 1812 - the time of the childhood and youth of the Decembrists. But since the Patriotic War was closely connected with the campaign of 1805-1807. Tolstoy decided to start the novel from this time.
As the plan progressed, there was an intense search for the title of the novel. The original, “Three Times,” soon ceased to correspond to the content, because from 1856 to 1825 Tolstoy retreated further and further into the past; Only one time was in the spotlight - 1812. So a different date appeared, and the first chapters of the novel were published in the magazine “Russian Messenger” under the title “1805”. In 1866 it appears new option, no longer concretely historical, but philosophical: “All’s well that ends well.” And finally, in 1867 - another title where the historical and philosophical formed a certain balance - “War and Peace”.
The writing of the novel was preceded by a huge amount of work on historical materials. The writer used Russian and foreign sources about the War of 1812, carefully studied Rumyantsev Museum archives, Masonic books, acts and manuscripts of the 1810-1820s, read the memoirs of contemporaries, family memoirs of the Tolstoys and Volkonskys, private correspondence from the era of the Patriotic War, met with people who remembered 1812, talked with them and wrote down their stories. Having visited and carefully examined the Borodino field, he compiled a map of the location of Russian and French troops. The writer admitted, talking about his work on the novel: “Wherever historical figures speak and act in my story, I did not invent, but used material from which I accumulated and formed a whole library of books during my work” (see diagram in Appendix 1).
2. Historical background and problems of the novel.
The novel "War and Peace" tells about the events that took place during three stages of Russia's struggle with Bonapartist France. Volume 1 describes the events of 1805, when Russia fought in alliance with Austria on its territory; in the 2nd volume - 1806-1811, when Russian troops were in Prussia; Volume 3 - 1812, Volume 4 - 1812-1813. Both are dedicated to a broad depiction of the Patriotic War of 1812, which was fought by Russia in native land. In the epilogue, the action takes place in 1820. Thus, the action in the novel covers fifteen years.
The basis of the novel is historical military events, artistically translated by the writer. We learn about the war of 1805 against Napoleon, where the Russian army acted in alliance with Austria, about the battles of Schöngraben and Austerlitz, about the war in alliance with Prussia in 1806 and the Peace of Tilsit. Tolstoy depicts the events of the Patriotic War of 1812: the passage of the French army across the Neman, the retreat of the Russians into the interior of the country, the surrender of Smolensk, the appointment of Kutuzov as commander-in-chief, the Battle of Borodino, the council in Fili, the abandonment of Moscow. The writer depicts events that testify to the indestructible power of the national spirit of the Russian people, which suppressed the French invasion: Kutuzov’s flank march, the Battle of Tarutino, the growth of the partisan movement, the collapse of the invading army and the victorious end of the war.
The range of problems in the novel is very wide. It reveals the reasons for the military failures of 1805-1806; the example of Kutuzov and Napoleon shows the role of individuals in military events and in history; with extraordinary artistic expression pictures of guerrilla warfare are drawn; reflects the great role of the Russian people, who decided the outcome of the Patriotic War of 1812.
At the same time with historical problems era of the Patriotic War of 1812, the novel also reveals current issues of the 60s. 19th century about the role of the nobility in the state, about the personality of a true citizen of the Motherland, about the emancipation of women, etc. Therefore, the novel reflects the most significant phenomena of political and public life countries, various ideological trends(Freemasonry, legislative activity of Speransky, the emergence of the Decembrist movement in the country). Tolstoy depicts high-society receptions, entertainment of secular youth, ceremonial dinners, balls, hunting, Christmas fun of gentlemen and servants. Pictures of transformations in the village by Pierre Bezukhov, scenes of the rebellion of Bogucharovsky peasants, episodes of indignation of urban artisans reveal the character social relations, village life and city life.
The action takes place either in St. Petersburg, then in Moscow, then in the Bald Mountains and Otradnoye estates. Military events - in Austria and Russia.
Social problems are resolved in connection with one or another group of characters: images of representatives of the masses who saved their homeland from the French invasion, as well as images of Kutuzov and Napoleon. Tolstoy poses the problem of the masses and individuals in history; the images of Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky - the question of the leading figures of the era; with the images of Natasha Rostova, Marya Bolkonskaya, Helen - touches on the women's issue; images of representatives of the court bureaucratic horde - the problem of criticism of rulers.
3. The meaning of the novel's title, characters and composition.
Did the heroes of the novel have prototypes? Tolstoy himself, when asked about this, answered negatively. However, researchers later established that the image of Ilya Andreevich Rostov was written taking into account family legends about the writer's grandfather. The character of Natasha Rostova was created on the basis of studying the personality of the writer’s sister-in-law Tatyana Andreevna Bers (Kuzminskaya).
Later, many years after Tolstoy’s death, Tatyana Andreevna wrote interesting memoirs about her youth “My life at home and in Yasnaya Polyana" This book is rightly called “the memoirs of Natasha Rostova.”
In total there are over 550 people in the novel. Without such a number of heroes, it was not possible to solve the task that Tolstoy himself formulated as follows: “Capture everything,” that is, to give the broadest panorama of Russian life at the beginning of the 19th century (compare with the novels “Fathers and Sons” by Turgenev, “What is to be done? "Chernyshevsky, etc.). The very sphere of communication between the characters in the novel is extremely wide. If we remember Bazarov, then he is mainly given in communication with the Kirsanov brothers and Odintsova. Tolstoy's heroes, be it A. Bolkonsky or P. Bezukhov, are given in communication with dozens of people.
The title of the novel figuratively conveys its meaning.
"Peace" is not only peaceful life without war, but also that community, that unity to which people should strive.
“War” is not only bloody battles and battles that bring death, but also the separation of people, their enmity. The title of the novel implies its main idea, which was successfully defined by Lunacharsky: “The truth lies in the brotherhood of people, people should not fight each other. And that's it characters show how a person approaches or departs from this truth.”
The antithesis contained in the title determines the grouping of images in the novel. Some heroes (Bolkonsky, Rostov, Bezukhov, Kutuzov) are “people of peace” who hate not only war in its literal sense, but also the lies, hypocrisy, and selfishness that divide people. Other heroes (Kuragin, Napoleon, Alexander I) are “people of war” (regardless, of course, of their personal participation in military events, which brings disunity, enmity, selfishness, criminal immorality).
The novel has an abundance of chapters and parts, most of which have plot completeness. Brief chapters and the many parts allow Tolstoy to move the narrative in time and space and thereby fit hundreds of episodes into one novel.
If in the novels of other writers a large role in the composition of images was played by excursions into the past, unique backstories of the characters, then Tolstoy’s hero always appears in the present tense. The story of their life is given without any temporal completeness. The narrative in the epilogue of the novel ends at the start of a whole series of new conflicts. P. Bezukhov turns out to be a participant in secret Decembrist societies. And N. Rostov is his political antagonist. Essentially, we can start with the epilogue new novel about these heroes.
4. Genre.
For a long time they could not determine the genre of “War and Peace”. It is known that Tolstoy himself refused to define the genre of his creation and objected to calling it a novel. It's just a book - like the Bible.
“What is “War and Peace”?
This is not a novel, still less a poem, even less a historical chronicle.
“War and Peace” is what the author wanted and could express
in the form in which it was expressed
L. N. Tolstoy.
“... This is not a novel at all, not historical novel, not even stories-
A historical chronicle is a family chronicle... it’s a true story, and a family true story.”
N. Strakhov
“...an original and multifaceted work, “combining
an epic, a historical novel and a right essay.”
I. S. Turgenev
In our time, historians and literary scholars have called “War and Peace” as an “epic novel.”
“Novel” features: plot development, in which there is a beginning, development of action, climax, denouement - for the entire narrative and for each storyline separately; interaction of the environment with the character of the hero, the development of this character.
Signs of an epic - theme (the era of major historical events); ideological content- “the moral unity of the narrator with the people in their heroic activities, patriotism... glorification of life, optimism; complexity of the composition; the author’s desire for a national-historical generalization.”
Some literary scholars define War and Peace as a philosophical and historical novel. But we must remember that history and philosophy in the novel are only components. The novel was not created to recreate history, but as a book about the life of an entire people, a nation, artistic truth was created. Therefore, this is an epic novel.
III. Checking the notes (key points on the questions).
Homework.
1. Retelling of the lecture and textbook materials p. 240-245.
2. Choose a topic for an essay on the novel “War and Peace”:
a) Why can Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky be called the best people their time?
b) “The Club of the People’s War.”
c) The real heroes of 1812
d) Court and military “drones”.
e) Favorite heroine of L. Tolstoy.
f) What do Tolstoy’s favorite heroes see as the meaning of life?
g) Spiritual evolution of Natasha Rostova.
h) The role of a portrait in creating an image - a character.
i) The character’s speech as a means of characterizing him in the novel.
j) Landscape in the novel “War and Peace”.
k) Theme of true and false patriotism in the novel.
m) Craftsmanship psychological analysis in the novel “War and Peace” (using the example of one of the characters).
3. Prepare for the conversation on Volume I, Part 1.
a) Salon of A.P. Scherer. What are the hostess and the visitors of her salon like (their relationships, interests, views on politics, behavior, Tolstoy’s attitude towards them)?
b) P. Bezukhov (chap. 2-6, 12-13, 18-25) and A. Bolkonsky 9th chapter. 3-60 at the beginning of the path and ideological quest.
c) Entertainment for secular youth (evening at Dolokhov’s, chapter 6).
d) The Rostov family (characters, atmosphere, interests), chapters 7-11, 14-17.
e) Bald Mountains, the estate of General N.A. Bolkonsky (character, interests, activities, family relationships, war), ch. 22-25.
f) What is different and common in the behavior of people at the Rostovs’ name day and in the house in Bald Mountains compared to the Scherer salon?
5. Individual task. Message “Historical commentary” on the contents of the novel “War and Peace” (Appendix 2).
Annex 1
L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace.” History of creation.
Conclusion:“I tried to write the history of the people.”
1857 - after a meeting with the Decembrists, L.N. Tolstoy conceived a novel about one of them.
1825 - “Involuntarily, I moved from the present to 1825, the era of my hero’s errors and misfortunes.”
1812 - “To understand my hero, I need to travel back to his youth, which coincided with the glorious era of 1812 for Russia.”
1805 - “I was ashamed to write about our triumph without describing our failures and our shame.”
Conclusion: A huge amount of material has accumulated about historical events 1805-1856 and the concept of the novel changed. The events of 1812 were at the center, and the Russian people became the hero of the novel.
Appendix 2
Historical commentary to volume I of the novel “War and Peace.”
In the first volume of the epic novel “War and Peace,” the action takes place in 1805.
In 1789, by the time french revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte (in his homeland - the island of Corsica - his surname was pronounced Buanaparte) was 20 years old, and he served as a lieutenant in a French regiment.
In 1793, a counter-revolutionary uprising supported by the English fleet occurred in Toulon, a port city on the Mediterranean Sea. The revolutionary army besieged Toulon from land, but could not take it for a long time, until the unknown captain Bonaparte appeared. He laid out his plan for taking the city and carried it out.
This victory made 24-year-old Bonaparte a general, and hundreds of young men began to dream of their Toulon.
Then there were 2 years of disgrace, until 1795 there was a counter-revolutionary uprising against the Convention. They remembered the young, decisive general, called him, and he, with complete fearlessness, shot a huge crowd in the middle of the city from cannons. The following year, he led the French army operating in Italy, walked along the most dangerous road through the Alps, defeated the Italian army in 6 days, and then the selected Austrian troops.
Returning from Italy to Paris, General Bonaparte was greeted as a national hero.
After Italy there was a trip to Egypt and Syria to fight the British on the territory of their colonies, then a triumphant return to France, the destruction of the gains of the French Revolution and the post of first consul (from 1799).
In 1804 he proclaimed himself emperor. And shortly before the coronation he committed another cruelty: he executed the Duke of Enghien, who belonged to the French royal house of Bourbon.
Promoted by the revolution and having destroyed its conquests, he is preparing a war with the main enemy - England.
In England they were also preparing: they managed to conclude an alliance with Russia and Austria, whose combined troops moved west. Instead of landing in England, Napoleon had to meet them halfway.
Russia's military actions against France were caused primarily by the tsarist government's fear of the “revolutionary infection” spreading throughout Europe.
However, under the Austrian fortress of Braunau, an army of forty thousand under the command of Kutuzov was on the verge of disaster due to the defeat of the Austrian troops. Fighting off the advanced units of the enemy, the Russian army began to retreat in the direction of Vienna to join forces coming from Russia.
But French troops entered Vienna before the army Kutuzov, who faced the threat of destruction. It was then that, fulfilling Kutuzov’s plan, General Bagration’s four-thousand-strong detachment accomplished a feat near the village of Shengraben: he stood in the way of the French and made it possible for the main forces of the Russian army to escape from the trap.
The efforts of the Russian commanders and the heroic actions of the soldiers ultimately did not bring victory: on December 2, 1805, in the battle of Austerlitz, the Russian army was defeated.