Lev Sobolev. What is a literary genre? "War and Peace": the genre originality of the film adaptation and the use of the novel as a literary basis

20.10.2019

Unprecedented in the history of world literature is the classic novel by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy “War and Peace”, which tells about the life of Russian society in the era Napoleonic wars. This grandiose work has enjoyed constant success among readers and literary researchers around the world for many years. We offer you an analysis of the novel according to a plan that will be useful for 10th grade students when writing an essay on a given topic, preparing for a literature lesson and the upcoming Unified State Exam.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing– 1863-1869.

History of creation– Initially, Tolstoy planned to write a story about a Decembrist who returned home with his family from many years of exile. However, in the course of the work, the writer’s plan expanded significantly: new characters appeared, the time frame moved back. As a result, an epic novel was written, work on which took Tolstoy almost 7 years.

Subject – Central theme works - the historical fate of the Russian people in the Patriotic War of 1812. The author also raised themes of love, family, life and death, debt, war.

Composition- The novel consists of 4 volumes and an epilogue, each volume corresponds to a certain time period. The composition of the novel is extremely complex and multi-layered.

Genre- An epic novel.

Direction– Realism.

History of creation

In the 50s of the 19th century, Lev Nikolaevich had the idea to write a story about the Decembrist who returned with his family from Siberia. This idea captivated the writer so much that he began to penetrate deeper and deeper into the inner world of his hero, look for the motives of certain of his actions, and get to the bottom of the truth. As a result, it became necessary to describe the hero’s entire life, starting with early youth. So the time frame of the work was shifted almost half a century ago, and the storyline took its report from 1805.

It is not surprising that such a deep dive into the life of the main character required expansion and a significant increase in the main and secondary characters.

“Three Pores” was the working title of the work. According to Tolstoy's plan, the first part or time described the life of the young Decembrists, the second - the Decembrist uprising, and the third - their amnesty and return home from many years of exile. Ultimately, Lev Nikolaevich decided to direct all his efforts to describe the first time, since even this time period required enormous effort and time from him. So, instead of an ordinary story, the writer created a monumental work, a real epic, which had no analogues in all world literature.

The history of the creation of “War and Peace,” which took Tolstoy almost 7 years, was an example of not only painstaking work on the characters’ characters and their relationships, but also complete immersion in the history of Russia. Tolstoy most carefully studied the memoirs of participants and witnesses of the Napoleonic wars, and to describe the scene of the Battle of Borodino, he spent some time in Borodino, where he personally collected reliable information.

Throughout the work on the novel, Lev Nikolaevich treated the work done with a great deal of criticism. So, in an effort to create a work worthy of attention, he wrote 15 different variations of the beginning of the novel.

Before publication, the author renamed his work. Meaning of the name"War and Peace" lies in the fact that the author, using the example of not only different characters, but also different social strata society wanted to show the contrast between peaceful life and how it changed during the war.

Subject

Among the many topics covered by the author in the novel, one of the most important is the historical fate of the entire Russian people during the hard times of war. Lev Nikolaevich always criticized any wars, since in the future they became the cause of serious problems in society.

People, cut off from their usual activities and forced to kill their own kind, forever changed their worldview. As a result, the entire nation suffered enormous, irreparable moral damage.

Military operations became an excellent backdrop for the development of such a vital topics as true and false patriotism. The War of 1812 was of great importance in uniting the entire nation in a common patriotic impulse - to expel the enemy from their land. Many representatives of the nobility and ordinary people agreed in this. All the heroes of the novel, one way or another, passed the test of 1812 and received a moral assessment of their actions.

Lev Nikolaevich put all his aspirations and hopes into the main idea of the work - every person should live in the interests of his people, strive for true harmony, forgetting about the thirst for profit or career ambitions. Love for the homeland, good thoughts, unity with the people - this is what the work teaches.

The meaning of the novel lies in “nationality”, since it is the people who are driving force and the greatness of the nation.

Composition

When analyzing the work in the novel “War and Peace,” it is necessary to note the complexity and multi-stage nature of its compositional structure. Not only the novel, but even each volume and each chapter has its own climax and denouement. The book closely intertwines the main storylines, many characters and episodes are contrasted with each other.

The work consists of 4 volumes and an epilogue, and each part of the book corresponds to a certain time period.

Volume 1(1805) - a description of the war and the main characters, filled with ambitious dreams.
Volume 2(1806-1811) - displaying problems and complex life situations, in which each of the heroes of the novel finds himself.
Volume 3(1812) - entirely dedicated to the War of 1812.
Volume 4(1812-1813) - the onset of the long-awaited peace, with the arrival of which the main characters have an epiphany.
Epilogue(18120) - a story about future fate central characters.

Main characters

Genre

Defining the genre of “War and Peace” is quite simple - it is epic novel. Its main differences from other literary genres are the large volume of the work, the scale of the events depicted and the issues considered.

In terms of genre, “War and Peace” is a very complex work, since it contains characteristic features historical, social, philosophical, battle novels, as well as memoirs and chronicles.

Since the novel involves many historical figures and describes real historical events, the novel is usually classified as literary direction realism.

Work test

Rating Analysis

Average rating: 4.7. Total ratings received: 2259.

The history of writing the novel

Recognized by critics around the world as the greatest epic work new European literature, “War and Peace” amazes from a purely technical point of view with the size of its fictional canvas. Only in painting can one find some parallel in the huge paintings of Paolo Veronese in the Venetian Doge's Palace, where hundreds of faces are also painted with amazing clarity and individual expression. In Tolstoy's novel all classes of society are represented, from emperors and kings to the last soldier, all ages, all temperaments and throughout the entire reign of Alexander I. What further enhances its dignity as an epic is the psychology of the Russian people it gives. With amazing penetration, Tolstoy depicted the mood of the crowd, both the highest and the most base and brutal (for example, in the famous scene of the murder of Vereshchagin).

Everywhere Tolstoy tries to capture the spontaneous, unconscious beginning human life. The whole philosophy of the novel boils down to the fact that success and failure in historical life depends not on the will and talents of individual people, but on the extent to which they reflect in their activities the spontaneous background of historical events. Hence his loving relationship to Kutuzov, who was strong, first of all, not in strategic knowledge and not in heroism, but in the fact that he understood that purely Russian, not spectacular and not bright, but the only true way in which it was possible to cope with Napoleon. Hence Tolstoy’s dislike for Napoleon, who so highly valued his personal talents; hence, finally, the elevation to the degree of the greatest sage of the humblest soldier Platon Karataev for the fact that he recognizes himself exclusively as a part of the whole, without the slightest claim to individual significance. Tolstoy's philosophical, or rather historiosophical, thought for the most part permeates his great novel- and this is what makes him great - not in the form of reasoning, but in brilliantly captured details and whole pictures, the true meaning of which is not difficult for any thoughtful reader to understand.

In the first edition of War and Peace there was a long series of purely theoretical pages that interfered with the integrity of the artistic impression; in later editions these discussions were highlighted and formed a special part. However, in “War and Peace” Tolstoy the thinker was far from being reflected in all of his aspects and not in his most characteristic aspects. There is nothing here that passes red thread through all of Tolstoy’s works, both those written before “War and Peace” and those later, there is no deeply pessimistic mood.

IN later works For Tolstoy, the transformation of the elegant, gracefully flirtatious, charming Natasha into a blurry, sloppily dressed landowner, completely absorbed in caring for the house and children, would have made a sad impression; but in the era of his enjoyment of family happiness, Tolstoy elevated all this to the pearl of creation.

Tolstoy later became skeptical of his novels. In January 1871, Tolstoy sent a letter to Fet: “How happy I am... that I will never write verbose rubbish like “War” again.”

Part 1

The action begins with a reception at the close Empress Anna Pavlovna Scherer, where we see the whole high society St. Petersburg. This technique is a kind of exposition: here we are introduced to many of the most important characters in the novel. On the other hand, reception is a means of characterizing “ high society”, comparable to the “Famus society” (A. S. Griboedov “Woe from Wit”), immoral and deceitful. All those who come are looking for benefit for themselves in the useful contacts that they can make with Scherer. So, Prince Vasily is concerned about the fate of his children, for whom he is trying to arrange a profitable marriage, and Drubetskaya comes in order to persuade Prince Vasily to intercede for her son. An indicative feature is the ritual of greeting an unknown and unnecessary aunt (fr. ma tante). None of the guests know who she is and don’t want to talk to her, but they cannot break the unwritten laws of secular society. Against the colorful background of Anna Scherer’s guests, two characters stand out: Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov. They are opposed to high society, just as Chatsky is opposed to “ Famusov society" Most of the talk at this ball is devoted to politics and the coming war with Napoleon, who is called the “Corsican monster.” Despite this, most of the dialogue between the guests is in French.

Despite his promises to Bolkonsky not to go to Kuragin, Pierre goes there immediately after Andrei’s departure. Anatol Kuragin is the son of Prince Vasily Kuragin, who causes him a lot of inconvenience by constantly leading a riotous life and spending his father’s money. After his return from abroad, Pierre constantly spends his time in the company of Kuragin, along with Dolokhov and other officers. This life is completely unsuitable for Bezukhov, who has an exalted soul, kind hearted and the ability to become truly influential person, benefit society. The next “adventures” of Anatole, Pierre and Dolokhov end with the fact that they got a live bear somewhere, scared the young actresses with it, and when the police came to appease them, they tied the policeman and the bear with their backs and let the bear swim into the Moika. As a result, Pierre was sent to Moscow, Dolokhov was demoted to soldiery, and the matter with Anatole was somehow hushed up by his father.

After the death of his father, Pierre Bezukhov becomes a “noble groom” and one of the richest young people. Now he is invited to all balls and receptions, they want to communicate with him, they respect him. Prince Vasily does not miss this opportunity and introduces his beautiful daughter Helen to Pierre, whom Helen makes a great impression on. Understanding the need to please the rich groom, Helen behaves courteously, flirts, and her parents do their best to push Bezukhov to get married. Pierre proposes to Helene.

At the same time, Prince Vasily, who decided to marry his son Anatole, who had bored him with his antics and partying, to one of the richest and most noble heiress of that time - Marya Bolkonskaya. Vasily and his son come to the Bolkonsky estate Bald Mountains and meet with the father of the future bride. The old prince is arrogant and wary of young man with a dubious reputation in secular society. Anatole is careless, accustomed to leading a wild life and relying only on his father. And now the conversation is taking place mainly between the “older” generation: Vasily, representing his son, and the prince. Despite all his contempt for Anatole, Prince Bolkonsky leaves the choice up to Marya herself, realizing, moreover, that for the “ugly” Princess Marya, who never leaves the estate, the chance to marry the handsome Anatole is luck. But Marya herself is in thought: she understands all the delights of marriage and, although she does not love Anatole, she hopes that love will come later, but she does not want to leave her father alone on his estate. The choice becomes obvious when Marya sees Anatole flirting with Mademoiselle Bourrienne, her companion. Affection and love for her father outweighs, and the princess resolutely refuses Anatoly Kuragin.

Volume II

The second volume can truly be called the only “peaceful” one in the entire novel. It depicts the lives of the characters between 1806 and 1812. Most of it is devoted to the personal relationships of the characters, the theme of love and the search for the meaning of life.

Part 1

The second volume begins with Nikolai Rostov’s arrival home, where he is joyfully greeted by the entire Rostov family. His new military friend Denisov comes with him. Soon, a celebration was organized at the English Club in honor of the hero of the military campaign, Prince Bagration, which was attended by the entire “high society”. Throughout the evening, toasts were heard glorifying Bagration, as well as the emperor. No one wanted to remember the recent defeat.

Pierre Bezukhov, who has changed a lot after his marriage, is also present at the celebration. In fact, he feels deeply unhappy, he began to understand the real face of Helen, who is in many ways similar to her brother, and he is also beginning to be tormented by suspicions about his wife’s betrayal with the young officer Dolokhov. By coincidence, Pierre and Dolokhov find themselves sitting opposite each other at the table. Dolokhov’s defiantly impudent behavior irritates Pierre, but the last straw is Dolokhov’s toast “to your health.” beautiful women and their lovers." All this was the reason that Pierre Bezukhov challenges Dolokhov to a duel. Nikolai Rostov becomes Dolokhov's second, and Nesvitsky becomes Bezukhov's second. The next day at 8 o'clock in the morning, Pierre and his second arrive in Sokolniki and meet Dolokhov, Rostov and Denisov there. Bezukhov's second is trying to persuade the parties to reconcile, but the opponents are determined. Before the duel, it becomes clear that Bezukhov is unable to even hold a pistol properly, while Dolokhov is an excellent duelist. The opponents disperse and, on command, begin to move closer. Bezukhov shoots towards Dolokhov and the bullet hits him in the stomach. Bezukhov and the audience want to interrupt the duel because of the wound, but Dolokhov prefers to continue, and carefully takes aim while bleeding. Dolokhov shot past.

The central characters of the book and their prototypes

Rostov

Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov.
Countess Natalya Rostova (nee Shinshina) is the wife of Ilya Rostov.
Count Nikolai Ilyich Rostov (Nicolas) is the eldest son of Ilya and Natalya Rostov.
Vera Ilyinichna Rostova - eldest daughter Ilya and Natalia Rostov.
Count Pyotr Ilyich Rostov (Petya) - youngest son Ilya and Natalia Rostov.
Natasha Rostova (Natalie) is the youngest daughter of Ilya and Natalya Rostov, married Countess Bezukhova, Pierre's second wife.
Sonya (Sofya Alexandrovna, Sophie) is the niece of Count Rostov, brought up in the count’s family.
Andrey Rostov is the son of Nikolai Rostov.

Bolkonsky

Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky is an old prince, according to the plot - a prominent figure in Catherine's era. The prototype is L. N. Tolstoy’s maternal grandfather, a representative of the ancient Volkonsky family
Prince Andrei Nikolaevich Bolkonsky (French) André) - son of the old prince.
Princess Maria Nikolaevna (French) Marie) - daughter of the old prince, sister of Prince Andrei, married Countess Rostova (wife of Nikolai Ilyich Rostov). The prototype can be called Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya (married Tolstoy), mother of L. N. Tolstoy
Lisa (French) Lise) - the first wife of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, died during the birth of her son Nikolai.
Young Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky (Nikolenka) is the son of Prince Andrei.

Bezukhovs

Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov is the father of Pierre Bezukhov. A probable prototype is Chancellor Alexander Andreevich Bezborodko.

Other characters

Kuragins

Prince Vasily Sergeevich Kuragin, a friend of Anna Pavlovna Sherer, said about children: “My children are a burden to my existence.” Kurakin, Alexey Borisovich - a probable prototype.
Elena Vasilievna Kuragina (Ellen) is the daughter of Vasily Kuragin. The first, unfaithful wife of Pierre Bezukhov.
Anatol Kuragin, the youngest son of Prince Vasily, a reveler and a libertine, tried to seduce Natasha Rostova and take her away, a “restless fool” in the words of Prince Vasily.
Ippolit Kuragin is the son of Prince Vasily, a “dead fool” in the prince’s words

Name controversy

In modern Russian, the word “peace” has two different meanings, “peace” is an antonym to the word “war” and “peace” - in the sense of planet, community, society, the world around us, habitat. (cf. “In the world and death is red”). Before the spelling reform of 1918, these two concepts had different spellings: in the first meaning it was written “mir”, in the second - “mir”. There is a legend that Tolstoy allegedly used the word “mir” (Universe, society) in the title. However, everything lifetime editions Tolstoy's novel was published under the title "War and Peace", and he himself wrote the title of the novel in French as "La guerre et la paix". There are different versions of the origin of this legend.

It should be noted that the title of Mayakovsky’s “almost the same name” poem “War and Peace” () deliberately uses a play on words, which was possible before the spelling reform, but is not caught by today’s reader.

Film adaptations and the use of the novel as a literary basis

Film adaptations

"War and Peace"(1913, Russia). Silent film. Dir. - Peter Chardynin, Andrey Bolkonsky- Ivan Mozzhukhin
"War and Peace" Y. Protazanov, V. Gardin. Natasha Rostova- Olga Preobrazhenskaya, Andrey Bolkonsky - Ivan Mozzhukhin, Napoleon- Vladimir Gardin
"Natasha Rostova"(1915, Russia). Silent film. Dir. - P. Chardynin. Natasha Rostova- Vera Caralli, Andrey Bolkonsky- Witold Polonsky
"War and Peace"(War & Peace, 1956, USA, Italy). Dir. - King Vidor. Composer - Nino Rota costumes - Maria de Mattei. Starring: Natasha Rostova- Audrey Hepburn, Pierre Bezukhov- Henry Fonda, Andrey Bolkonsky- Mel Ferrer, Napoleon Bonaparte- Herbert Lom Helen Kuragina- Anita Ekberg.
“People Too” (1959, USSR) short film based on an excerpt from the novel (USSR). Dir. Georgy Danelia
"War and Peace" / War and Peace(1963, UK). (TV) Directed by Silvio Narizzano. Natasha Rostova- Mary Hinton Andrey Bolkonsky- Daniel Massey
"War and Peace"(1968, USSR). Dir. - S. Bondarchuk, starring: Natasha Rostova - Lyudmila Savelyeva, Andrei Bolkonsky - Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Pierre Bezukhov - Sergei Bondarchuk.
"War and Peace"(War & Peace, 1972, UK). (TV series) Dir. John Davis. Natasha Rostova- Morag Hood Andrey Bolkonsky- Alan Dobie Pierre Bezukhov- Anthony Hopkins.
"War and Peace"(2007, Germany, Russia, Poland, France, Italy). Series. Directed by Robert Dornhelm, Brendan Donnison. Andrey Bolkonsky- Alessio Boni, Natasha Rostova - Clémence Poesy
"War and Peace"(2012, Russia) trilogy, short films based on excerpts from the novel. Directors Maria Pankratova, Andrey Grachev // Broadcast September 2012 TV channel "Zvezda"

Using a novel as a literary basis

"War and Peace" in verse": poem based on the epic novel by L.N. Tolstoy. Moscow: Klyuch-S, 2012. - 96 p. (Author - Natalya Tugarinova)

Opera

Prokofiev S. S. "War and Peace"(1943; final edition 1952; 1946, Leningrad; 1955, ibid.).
War and Peace(film-opera). (UK, 1991) (TV). Music by Sergei Prokofiev. Dir. Humphrey Burton
War and Peace(film-opera). (France, 2000) (TV) Music by Sergei Prokofiev. Dir. Francois Rassillon

Dramatizations

"Prince Andrey"(2006, Radio Russia). Radio play. Dir. - G. Sadchenkov. In ch. role - Vasily Lanovoy.
"War and Peace. The beginning of the novel. Scenes"(2001) - production of the Moscow Theater "P. Fomenko's Workshop"

Notes

Links

P. Annenkov

"War and Peace" is a grandiose epic canvas, often compared to Homer's "Iliad", covering the widest panorama of Russia first quarter of the XIX century, but addressing the problems contemporary writer life of the 1860s and raising the most important moral and philosophical questions. It amazes with its size. It contains more than five hundred heroes, a lot of events, large and small, affecting the destinies of individuals and entire nations. What is usually depicted in works of various genres. Tolstoy managed to merge into one whole.

The traditional novel, with its storyline based on the fate of the hero, could not accommodate the life of the entire country, which Tolstoy strived for. It was necessary to overcome the distinction between private and historical life. Tolstoy shows that people's lives are united and flow according to general laws in any sphere, be it family or public, private or historical. All this determined genre originality works of Tolstoy. It contains features of two main epic genres - the epic and the novel.

Epic - the largest narrative genre literature, a monumental form of epic depicting events in which the fate of a nation, people, and country is decided. The epic reflects the life and everyday life of all layers of society, their thoughts and aspirations. It covers a large period of historical time. The epic appears in folklore as heroic epic, based on legends and ideas about the life of the nation (“Iliad”, “Odyssey” by Homer, “Kalevala”).

A novel is the most common genre of epic, narrative literature, a large work that reflects a complex life process, usually big circle life phenomena shown in their development. Characteristic properties novel: branched plot, system of equal characters, time duration. There are family, social, psychological, historical, love, adventure and other types of novels. But there is also a special genre variety, very rarely found in literature. She got the name epic novel. This is a special genre epic literature, combining the features of a novel and an epic: depiction of objective historical events (more often heroic character), connected with the fate of an entire people at a turning point, and everyday life a private person with a huge breadth of problems, scale, multi-character and branching plot. Exactly to this genre variety can be attributed to the work of Tolstoy.

War and Peace as an epic novel is characterized by the following features of an epic: 1) depiction of an epic event of national historical significance (the War of 1812, ending with the defeat of Napoleon); 2) a sense of epic distance (the historical remoteness of the events of 1805 and 1812); 3) the absence of a single hero (here this is the whole nation) 4) the epic monumentality, static nature of the images of Napoleon and Kutuzov.

In the epic novel “War and Peace” the following features of the novel stand out: 1) depiction of the personal fate of individual heroes who continue life's quest in the post-war era; 2) posing problems characteristic of the 60s of the 19th century, when the novel was created (the problem of unifying the nation, the role of the nobility in this, etc.); 3) attention to several central characters(Andrey Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostova), whose stories form separate plot lines; 4) variability, “fluidity,” surprise of “heroes of the journey.”

The author himself helps to understand the uniqueness of his artistic concept and construction of the work. “The cement that binds every work of art into one whole and therefore produces the illusion of a reflection of life,” writes Tolstoy, “is not the unity of persons and positions, but the unity of the original moral attitude author to the subject." Tolstoy gave the name to this “original moral attitude” to the subject of “War and Peace” - “folk thought.” These words determine the ideological and compositional center of the work and the criterion for evaluating its main characters. In addition, “people's thought” is a concept that defines the main features of the nation as a single whole, the features of the Russian national character. The presence of such national traits tests the human value of all the characters in the novel. That is why, despite the seeming chaos of the events depicted, the large number of characters representing the most different layers and spheres of life, the presence of several autonomous storylines“War and Peace” has an amazing unity. This is how an ideological and semantic center is formed, which cements the grandiose structure of the epic novel.

The chronological sequence of events and the structure of the entire work as a whole is as follows. The first volume covers the events of 1805: first it talks about peaceful life, and then the focus is on pictures of the war with Napoleon in Europe, in which the Russian army is drawn into battles on the side of its allies - Austria and Prussia. The first volume introduces all the main characters who go through the entire action of the novel: Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Ros-tova, Maria Bolkonskaya, Nikolai Rostov, Sonya, Boris Drubetskoy, Helen Kuragina, Dolokhov, Denisov and many other characters. The narrative is based on contrasts and comparisons: here is the passing of Catherine’s age (the dying Prince Bezukhov, Pierre’s father; the old Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky, the father of Prince Andrei), and the younger generation just entering life (youth in the Rostov house, Pierre Bezukhov). We find ourselves in similar situations different groups characters who exhibit their inherent traits (for example, the situation of receiving guests in the Scherer salon, at the Rostovs’ name day, in the Bolkonskys’ house). Such plot-shaped parallels help the author to show all the diversity of Russian life of the pre-war era. Military scenes are also depicted according to the principle of contrast: Kutuzov - Alexander 1 on the Field of Austerlitz; Captain Tushin - staff officers in the Battle of Shengraben; Prince Andrey - Zherkov - Berg. Here begins the contrasting juxtaposition of images that run through the entire action of the epic: Kutuzov - Napoleon. Pictures of peaceful and military life constantly alternate, but the fates of the main novel characters (Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre, Natasha, Princess Marya, Nikolai Rostov) are just beginning to be determined.

The second volume presents the events of 1806-1811, related mainly to secular and political life Russian society on the eve of the Patriotic War. The premonition of tragic catastrophes is supported by the image of a comet hanging over Moscow. The historical events of this part are connected with the Peace of Tilsit and the preparation of reforms in the Speransky Commission. Events in the lives of the main characters are also more connected with peaceful life: the return from captivity of Andrei Bolkonsky, his life on the estate and then in St. Petersburg, disappointment in family life and joining Masonic lodge Pierre, Natasha Rostova's first ball and the history of her relationship with Prince Andrei, hunting and Christmastide in Otradnoye.

The third volume is entirely devoted to the events of 1812, and therefore the author’s focus is on Russian soldiers and militias, pictures of battles, and partisan warfare. The Battle of Borodino represents the ideological and compositional center of this volume; all the plot threads are tied to it, and here the fates of the main characters - Prince Andrei and Pierre - are decided. In this way, the writer really demonstrates how inextricably linked the historical destinies of the entire country and each individual person are.

The fourth volume is related to the events of the end of 1812-1813. It depicts the escape from Moscow and the defeat of Napoleonic troops in Russia, many pages are devoted to partisan warfare. But this volume, like the first, opens with episodes of salon life, where the “struggle of parties” takes place, which shows the immutability of the life of the aristocracy and its distance from the interests of the people. The fates of the main characters in this volume are also full of dramatic events: the death of Prince Andrei, the meeting of Nikolai Rostov and Princess Marya, Pierre's acquaintance in captivity with Platon Karataev, the death of Petya Rostov.

The epilogue is dedicated to the post-war events of 1820: it tells about the family life of Natasha and Pierre, Maria Bolkonskaya and Nikolai Rostov, the life line of Andrei Bolkonsky continues in his son Nikolenka. The epilogue, and with it the entire work, is filled with Tolstoy’s historical and philosophical reflections, which define the universal human law of endless relationships and mutual influences, which determines the historical destinies of peoples and individuals. Material from the site

In the artistic fabric of the epic novel, it is projected as a kind of “labyrinth of connections” (the name belongs to L.N. Tolstoy) - the main compositional principle that ensures the unity and integrity of the work. It goes through all its levels: from figurative parallels between individual characters (for example, Pierre Bezukhov - Platon Karataev) to related scenes and episodes. At the same time, the significance of ordinary narrative units changes. So, for example, the role of the episode changes. In a traditional novel, an episode is one of the links in a chain of events, united by cause-and-effect relationships. Being the result of previous events, it simultaneously becomes a prerequisite for subsequent ones. By retaining this role of an episode in the autonomous plot lines of his novel, Tolstoy endows it with a new property. The episodes in “War and Peace” are held together not only by a plot, cause-and-effect relationship, but also enter into a special connection of “links.” It is from endless connections that the artistic fabric of the epic novel consists. They tie together episodes not only from different parts, but even from different volumes, episodes in which completely different characters take part. For example, an episode from the first volume, which tells about the meeting of General Mak at the headquarters of Kutuzov’s army, and an episode from the third volume - about the meeting of the envoy of Alexander 1, General Balashov, with Marshal Murat. And there are a huge number of such episodes, united not by plot, but by another connection, a connection of “links,” in War and Peace. Thanks to them, such different values as the fate of the people, decided in the formidable years of military trials, and the fate of individual heroes, as well as the fate of all humanity, determined by Tolstoy’s special historical and philosophical concept, are combined into a single whole.

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The question of the “War and Peace” genre 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 character of the work. 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, the historical basis of the plot should also be taken into account. 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 large 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 characters added 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 took place 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 the Napoleonic wars, a large number of participants were involved in it, and it was of great importance for strengthening 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 enthusiasm 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 by depicting the 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”.

Roman like literary genre- this is the creation of literature of new times.

Distinctive features of the novel:

depiction of a person in complex life processes,
multi-linearity of the plot, covering the fate of a number of characters,
greater volume compared to other epic forms.

In the foreground are images of ordinary people, their personal fate, events of private life and reflection in them of the events of the era, the holistic social world that gave birth to them. Typically, works in the novel genre take place in the writer’s contemporary reality (with the exception of historical and fantasy texts) or events of the recent past.

Genre originality in Tolstoy's novel

The novel "War and Peace" is a work that is extremely complex in terms of genre.

Like a historical novel

On the one hand, the writer talks about historical events of the past (the wars of 1805-1807 and 1812).

From this point of view, War and Peace could be called .

Specific historical figures act in it (Alexander 1, Napoleon, Kutuzov, Speransky), but history for Tolstoy is not an end in itself. Starting to write a work about the Decembrists, the writer, as he himself said, could not help but turn to Patriotic War 1812, and then - the war of 1805-1807 (“the era of our shame”). History in “War and Peace” is the basis that allows us to reveal the characters of people in an era of great national upheaval, to convey the philosophical reflections of the author himself about global issues of humanity - issues of war and peace, the role of the individual in history, patterns historical process etc.

Therefore, in terms of genre, “War and Peace” goes beyond just a historical novel.

Like a family novel

On the other hand, War and Peace can be considered to a family novel: Tolstoy traces the fates of several generations of noble families (Rostov, Bolkonsky, Bezukhov, Kuragin). But the fates of these people are inextricably linked with large-scale historical events in Russia. In addition to these heroes, in "War and Peace" huge amount characters not directly related to the fate of the heroes.

Appearance of images on the pages of the novel:

merchant Ferapontov, a Moscow lady who left Moscow “with a vague consciousness that she was not Bonaparte’s servant,”
militias who put on clean shirts in front of Borodin,
soldier of the Raevsky battery,
partisans Denisov and many others

takes the novel beyond the family genre.

Like a social novel

"War and Peace" can be called social novel. Tolstoy is concerned with issues related to the structure of society.

The writer shows his ambiguous attitude towards the nobility in the description of the St. Petersburg and Moscow nobility, their attitude, for example, to the War of 1812. No less important for the author are the relations between nobles and serfs. These relationships are ambiguous, and Tolstoy cannot help but talk about this (peasant partisan detachments and the behavior of Bogucharov’s peasants). In this regard, we can say that the writer’s novel does not fit into this genre framework.

Like a philosophical novel

Leo Tolstoy is known not only as a writer, but also as a philosopher. Many pages of the work are devoted to universal human philosophical problems. Tolstoy consciously introduces his philosophical reflections into the novel; they are important to him in connection with the historical events that he describes. First of all, these are the writer’s arguments about the role of the individual in history and the patterns of historical events. The writer's views can be called fatalistic: he argues that it is not behavior and will historical figures determine the course of historical events. Historical events are made up of the actions and wills of many people. For a writer, Napoleon seems funny,

“like a child riding in a carriage, pulling the fringe and thinking that he is driving the carriage.”

And great is Kutuzov, who understands the spirit of the events taking place and does what needs to be done in a specific situation.

Tolstoy's thoughts on war are noteworthy. As a humanist, he rejects war as a way to resolve conflicts, war is disgusting, it is similar to hunting (no wonder Nikolai Rostov, running away from the French, feels like a hare being hunted by hunters), Andrei Bolkonsky speaks to Pierre about the anti-human essence of war before the Battle of Borodino. The writer sees the reasons for the Russian victory over the French in the spirit of patriotism, which gripped the entire nation and helped stop the invasion.

Like a psychological novel

Tolstoy is a master and psychological prose. In-depth psychologism and mastery of the subtlest movements of the human soul are an undoubted quality of a writer.

From this point of view, "War and Peace" can be classified as a genre psychological novel. It’s not enough for Tolstoy to show people’s characters in action; he needs to explain the psychology of their behavior, to reveal internal reasons their actions. This is the psychologism of Tolstoy's prose.

All these features allow scientists to define the genre of “War and Peace” like an epic novel.

The large-scale nature of the events described, the global nature of the problems, the huge number of characters, the social, philosophical, and moral aspects make this novel a unique work in terms of genre.

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