Genre of the novel "War and Peace"
Tolstoy himself did not give a specific definition of the genre of the work. And he was completely right about this, because traditional genres, which existed before the writing of “War and Peace” could not fully reflect artistic structure novel. The work combines elements of family life, socio-psychological, philosophical, historical, battle novels, as well as documentary chronicles, memoirs, etc. This allows us to characterize it as an epic novel. It was Tolstoy who first discovered this genre form in Russia.
"War and Peace" as an epic novel has the following characteristics:
Combining a story about national events with a story about the destinies of individual people.
Description of the life of Russian and European society of the nineteenth century.
There are images of various types of characters of all social strata of society in all manifestations.
The novel is based on grandiose events, thanks to which the author depicted the main trends historical process of that time.
A combination of realistic pictures of life in the 19th century, with the author’s philosophical reasoning about freedom and necessity, the role of the individual in history, chance and regularity, etc.
Tolstoy clearly depicted the features of folk psychology in the novel, which he combined with the depiction of the personal characteristics of individual characters; this gave a special polyphony to the work, which is a reflection of a complex and contradictory era.
In addition to the analysis of the War and Peace genre, the following is also available:
- The image of Marya Bolkonskaya in the novel “War and Peace”, essay
- The image of Napoleon in the novel "War and Peace"
- The image of Kutuzov in the novel “War and Peace”
- Comparative characteristics of the Rostovs and Bolkonskys - essay
- Life quests of Natasha Rostova - essay
- Life quests of Pierre Bezukhov - essay
- The life quest of Andrei Bolkonsky - essay
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: 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 fully fit 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 to 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, the stories of the 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 time 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 tradition 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 an epic are always blurred - “an 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, Otradnoye, 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 left? 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], and 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.
“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, because historical works require the most accurate information. Having studied many documents, Tolstoy illuminated historical events with maximum accuracy, confirming the information with the 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 entitled “Decembrists” fully conveyed the spirit of the hero, his principles and political beliefs.
After some time, the author decides to return to the depths of 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.
The question of the genre of “War and Peace” is one of the most difficult topics in school lessons. Students usually find it difficult to answer due to the large volume of this work, which does not allow you to understand all the features of the book the first time. Therefore, while reading, it is necessary to draw students’ attention to the main points in the construction of the composition, which will help determine the genre features of the novel.
Plot Features
The problem of the “War and Peace” genre directly rests on the plot of the work. The novel covers several decades in the lives of the main characters. The author pays main attention to the period of the struggle of the Russian people with the French army of Napoleon. The epic scope of events determined the structure of the work, which consists of several storylines dedicated to different families, whose destinies are intertwined in the course of the story.
However, the Russian people are considered the main actor works. Therefore, the genre of War and Peace should be defined as an epic. The wide scope of events also determined the features of the plot. The heroes of the work act against the backdrop of historical events of the early 19th century. They find themselves drawn into the military events of the period under review, and their destinies and lives turn out to be dependent on the vicissitudes of the war.
Historical background
When determining the genre of "War and Peace" one should take into account historical background plot. The author not only limited himself to describing the struggle of the Russian people for liberation from the French invasion, but also depicted a panorama of Russian public life early 19th century. It focuses on the life of several noble families (Rostov, Bolkonsky and others). However, he did not ignore the lives of ordinary people.
His book contains sketches of peasant and village life, a description of life ordinary people. All this allows us to say that the novel “War and Peace” is a broad epic folk life. The book can be called a kind of encyclopedia of Russian history at the beginning of the reign of Alexander I. L. N. Tolstoy attracted large number archival material to depict real events and historical figures. Therefore, his work is distinguished by truthfulness and authenticity.
Characters
It is traditional to highlight the three main characters of the work - Natasha Rostova, Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov. It was in their images that the writer embodied best qualities, inherent in the noble class of the time in question. In addition, supporting characters also played a big role in the development of the plot: Natasha’s brother Nikolai Rostov, the family of Prince Andrei and other representatives of the noble class who appear from time to time during the narrative.
Such a large number of characters gave scale work of art, which once again proves that the novel “War and Peace” is a work of epic nature.
Storylines
To determine the genre of a book, it is also necessary to pay attention to the large number of plot narratives in the work. In addition to the main stories - the lines of Pierre, Natasha and Prince Andrei - the novel contains a large number of additional auxiliary sketches from the life of society of the time in question. Tolstoy describes a number of noble families who in one way or another influence the main plot.
The heroes of the novel “War and Peace” belong to very different strata of society, and this complicates the composition of the narrative. In addition to secular paintings, the writer very truthfully shows the rise folk spirit during the French invasion. Therefore, military themes occupy a prominent, perhaps even the main place in the narrative.
Image of war
Tolstoy in his work focused on national character war. It is the ordinary Russian people who are rightfully considered the main character of the entire book. That is why the work is usually called an epic. This idea of the author determined the features of the plot. In the text, the life of the nobles during a common disaster is closely intertwined with the life of ordinary people.
The heroes of the novel “War and Peace” are for some time torn out of the usual circle of their lives and find themselves in the most terrible epicenter of events. Prince Andrei is mortally wounded, Pierre is captured by the French and, together with his new friend, an ordinary peasant peasant Platon Karataev, endures all the hardships of captivity, Natasha and her family leave Moscow and care for the wounded. Thus, the writer showed how, in a moment of danger, the entire population of Russia united to fight. This once again proves that the work “War and Peace” is an epic novel.
Main events
The fact that the book is written in the spirit of an epic is evidenced by the fact that the most important key events of the narrative are large-scale in nature. For example, the wounding of Prince Andrei on the Field of Austerlitz, when a revolution occurred in his worldview, is a scene that amazes the reader with the grandeur and breadth of the panorama. After all, this battle was one of the most important during Napoleonic wars, it involved a large number of participants and was of great importance in consolidating the success of France. The same can be said about the Battle of Borodino. “War and Peace” is a novel in which the author sought, first of all, to show the common impulse of the entire Russian people in the fight against the enemy. And the scene of this battle best shows the patriotic uplift of all participants. Pierre helps ordinary soldiers as best he can during an artillery attack, and although he does not know how to handle weapons at all, he nevertheless acts to the best of his ability in order to help the soldiers.
Thus, the author places his heroes at the very epicenter of events in order to show their unity with the people. This once again proves the epic nature of the work. Coverage of all aspects of society is important feature works. The writer showed the history of Russia at the beginning of the 19th century using images of social and cultural life of all its classes. Therefore, his book is rightfully considered the most famous and significant epic in the literature of this century. And only in the 20th century M. Sholokhov managed to create an equally grandiose canvas of folk life in the novel “Quiet Don”.
L.N. Tolstoy's epic novel is practically the only work of Russian literature of this scale. It reveals a whole layer of history - Patriotic War 1812, 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
Throughout the novel there are four storylines- 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 based 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.
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