War and Peace
Page 180
2 Vive Henri Quatre . . . a quatre: 'Long live Henry IV, that valiant king, that devil with four . . .'
3 Qui eut . . . vert gallant: 'Who had a threefold talent, for drinking, fighting and being a ladies' man'.
EPILOGUE
PART I
1 Seven years had passed: the story ended in 1813; it is now 1820.
2 Photius, Schelling, Fichte, Chateaubriand: Photius (1792--1838), the conservative-minded head of the Novgorod monastery, castigator of freemasonry and all forms of liberalism. Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling (1775--1854), a German philosopher who saw nature as a single organism working towards self-consciousness and art as a vital part of this process. Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762--1814), a German Idealist philosopher and political thinker whose early enthusiasm for the French Revolution developed into strong condemnation of Napoleon. Francois Rene Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768 - 1848), a French writer and statesman who spent much of his life abroad, supported the restoration of the French monarchy and refused to serve under Napoleon.
3 gave Poland a constitution: Following the Congress of Vienna (1815) Poland was re-established as a country with its own constitution.
4 the Holy Alliance: An alliance founded in 1815 between Austria, Prussia and Russia as a means of guaranteeing peace; it soon became an instrument of political repression.
5 Golitsyn: Prince A. N. Golitsyn (1773--1844), Minister of Education and Spiritual Affairs under Alexander I, head of the Bible Society, was charged with implementing the increasingly reactionary principles of the Holy Alliance.
6 Shishkov: Admiral A. S. Shishkov (1754 - 1841), President of the Russian Academy (1813 - 41), a keen Slavophile opposed to any reform of the Russian language.
7 Semyonovsky regiment: This famous regiment, founded by Peter the Great in 1687, was disbanded by Alexander I in 1820 following a mutinous protest against a German commander, with cruel punishments meted out to its members.
8 fifty years ago: War and Peace was completed in 1869.
9 posted to Turkey: In 1795 Napoleon applied unsuccessfully for a posting in Turkey for the purpose of reorganizing the Sultan's artillery.
10 During the wars in Italy . . . while he is still there: By the time General Suvorov entered northern Italy and defeated the French in 1799 Napoleon had left for Egypt.
11 Not unto us . . . but unto Thy Name: At the instigation of Alexander I these, the opening words of Psalm 115, were inscribed on a victory medal of 1812.
12 Laocoon: In Greek mythology, a Trojan prince who offended the gods and was strangled by a sea-serpent.
13 the Bible Society: The Russian Bible Society had been formed in 1813 by A. N. Golitsyn, a lifelong friend of Alexander I, who was influenced by the society's reactionary views concerning the superiority of the Gospel over scientific methods of study and education. The society would be suppressed in 1826 by Tsar Nicholas I.
14 Gossner and Madame Tatawinova: The Munich-born pastor and mystic Johann Gossner was expelled from Bavaria in 1817 and invited to Petersburg by the Russian Bible Society, of which he became a popular director. Also in 1817, E. F. Tatarinova founded a 'spiritual union' in Petersburg which enabled its followers to achieve ecstasy and make prophecies through dervish-like dancing.
15 Madame Kwudner: Baroness Barbara Juliana Krudener (1764 - 1825), a popular sentimental novelist from Riga, living in Petersburg in 1821, whose mystical writings held a strong appeal for Alexander I.
16 Magnitsky: M. L. Magnitsky (1778 - 1855), Minister of Education and Spiritual Affairs in 1819, was despised by the liberals for his reactionary attitudes and oppressive measures.
17 Pugachov: Yemelyan Pugachov (1726--75), the Cossack leader of a revolutionary movement, ultimately ill fated, in the Volga region during the years 1773 - 5.
18 Tugendbund: A German patriotic league (founded in 1808) devoted to the overthrow of Napoleon.
19 Wussian bunt: A pun on the German word bund (union) and the Russian word bunt (riot).
20 Mucius Scaevola: The Roman Gaius Mucius Scaevola famously showed resistance to torture by thrusting his right hand into a fire and holding it there until it was consumed. 'Scaevola' means 'left-handed'.
PART II
1 Gibbon to Buckle: Edward Gibbon (1737--94), an English historian, best known for his six-volume Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776 - 88). Thomas Henry Buckle (1821 - 62), a self-educated English intellectual, chess-player and cultural historian, best known for his two-volume History of Civilization (1857 - 61).
2 Thiers: Adolphe Thiers (1797--1877), statesman and historian, twice Prime Minister of France.
3 Lanfrey: Pierre Lanfrey (1828 - 77) began publishing a historical study highly critical of Napoleon as Tolstoy completed War and Peace.
4 Gervinus and Schlosser: G. G. Gervinus and F. C. Schlosser were contemporary German historians.
5 seized at Boulogne: Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon, was arrested at Boulogne in 1840 after his second attempt to seize the throne.
6 Rousseau, Diderot, Beaumarchais: Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712--78), French philosopher and writer, author of the Social Contract (see volume I, Part I, note 10); Denis Diderot (1713--84), French Enlightenment philosopher and one of the authors of the Encyclopedie, a major work of eighteenth-century rationalist thought; Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732--99), French playwright, author of The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro, which satirized the ruling classes of pre-revolutionary France.
7 Kurbsky: Prince Andrey Kurbsky (1528--83), one of Ivan the Great's principal boyars, left the country in order to criticize Ivan for his cruelty; Ivan responded by arguing the need for a strong autocracy.
8 any number of Godfreys and Louis: Godfrey of Bouillon (1061? - 1100), French nobleman, soldier and leader of the First Crusade (1095--9); Louis VII (1121--80), King of France 1137-80, a participant in the Second Crusade (1145--8).
9 Peter the Hermit: (c. 1050--1115), a French preacher who led a band of Crusaders during the First Crusade, which was defeated by the Ottomon Turks in 1096. He later fought with Godfrey of Bouillon in the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099.
10 Minnesingers: German lyric poets and singers in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. Godfrey was the hero of many medieval songs and epic poems.
11 off go the French to Mexico: The French supported F. J. Maximilian (1832-67) in his bid to become Emperor of Mexico in 1864, but when the French army withdrew at the end of the American Civil War he was betrayed and executed.
12 The King of Prussia . . . Bohemia: The reference is to the Austro-Prussian war of 1866, which ended in defeat for the Austrians.
13 the miracle of Joshua: Joshua was the successor to Moses who gave his name to the sixth book of the Old Testament. His most famous exploit was commanding the sun and moon to stand still. (Joshua 10, 12 - 3).
The Characters
The Bezukhovs1
Count Kirill Bezukhov
Pierre Bezukhov, his natural son, also known as Pyotr Kirillovich (or Kirillych), which means Peter, son of Kirill
Pierre's cousins, the Mamontov sisters, Katerina (or Katishe), Olga and Sofya
The Bolkonskys
Prince Nikolay Bolkonsky
Prince Andrey Bolkonsky, his son
Princess Marya, his daughter
Princess Liza, or Lise, Andrey's wife
Prince Nikolay Bolkonsky, son of Andrey and Lise
The Rostovs
Count Ilya Rostov
Countess Natalya, his wife
Count Nikolay Rostov, their elder son
Count Pyotr Rostov, or Petya, their younger son
Countess Vera, their elder daughter
Countess Natalya, or Natasha, their younger daughter
Sofya, or Sonya, a cousin brought up in the family
The Kuragins
Prince Vasily Kuragin
Prince Anatole, his elder son
Prince Hippolyte, his younger son
Princess Yelena, known throughout as Helene
, his daughter
The Drubetskoys
Princess Anna, known throughout as Anna Mikhaylovna
Boris, her son
Other Prominent Characters
Akhrosimov, Marya Dmitriyevna, a formidable personality, friend of the Rostov family
Alpatych, old Prince Bolkonsky's steward
Bazdeyev, Osip, a leading freemason, a strong influence on Pierre
Berg, Alphonse, a Russian officer
Bilibin, a Russian diplomat
Bourienne, Mademoiselle, Princess Marya's French Companion
Denisov, Vasily or Vaska, a Russian officer, a close friend of Nikolay Rostov
Dolokhov, Fedya, a Russian officer and high-living man-about-town
Dron, a village elder at Bogucharovo
Ilagin, one of the Rostovs' neighbours at Otradnoye
Iogel, a dancing master
Karagin, Julie, an heiress
Karatayev, Platon, a simple peasant whose natural goodness makes a great impact on Pierre
Karp, an insubordinate serf at Bogucharovo
Mavra, a maid with the Rostovs
Pelageya, a pilgrim
Scherer, Anna Anna Pavlovna), a leading Petersburg society hostess
Tushin, Captain, a battery captain at the battle of Schongrabern
Historical Figures in War and Peace
Alexander I, Tsar of Russia, often referred to as the Emperor
Arakcheyev, Count A., minister under Alexander, a reactionary and ruthless figure
Armfeldt, Count G. M., a Swedish soldier and statesman
Bagration, Prince P., a Russian general
Barclay de Tolly, M., a senior Russian general
Balashev, General A., one of Alexander's most trusted aides
Bennigsen, Count I., a Hanoverian general in the Russian army
Berthier, P.-A., Marshal of France, Chief of Staff to Napoleon
Bessieres, Jean-Baptiste, a distinguished soldier, Marshal of France
Caulaincourt, General A. de, French Ambassador to Russia
Chichagov, Admiral P., commander of the Army of Moldavia
Clausewitz, Karl Marie von, a Prussian soldier serving as a Russian staff-officer, later to become famous for his treatise On War (1833)
Davout, L., Prince of Eckmuhl, Marshal of France
Dokhturov, D., a Russian general
Kutuzov, Field-Marshal M., Russian commander-in-chief at Borodino
Miloradovich, M., a Russian general
Murat, Joachim, King of Naples, commander of Napoleon's cavalry in 1812
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French
Pfuel, Ernst von, Colonel, then General, a Prussian soldier in Russian service
Rostopchin, Count F., governor-general of Moscow
Speransky, M., the minister who inspired Alexander's first reforms
Stein, Baron H. K. von, a Prussian statesman noted for his liberal views
Toll, Karl von, Quartermaster-general of the Russian army
Wintzengerode, Count F., General, a Wurtemberger in Russian service
Wittgenstein, General Ludwig, a Westphalian in Russian service
Wolzogen, General Ludwig von, a Prussian soldier in Russian service
NOTE
1 Word stress is important in Russian and the correct stresses are marked in the names listed here. Two names that are pronounced differently from what you may expect are Vasily (Vass-ee-ly) and Boris (Ba-rees), both stressed on the second syllable.
1. The 1805 Campaign
2. Austerlitz
3. The 1812 Campaign
4. Borodino
On War and Peace
Although War and Peace has been described more than once as the greatest novel ever written, Tolstoy once claimed it wasn't a novel at all. Henry James, giving the title as Peace and War, called it a fluid pudding and included it in a list of 'large, loose baggy monsters'.1 While the novel clearly has some faults, it has also been compared to The Iliad in scope and technique, and Prince Dmitri Mirsky, the distinguished emigre historian of Russian literature, called it 'the most important work in the whole of Russian realistic fiction'.2
Tolstoy's protestation that it wasn't a novel had a particular purpose. He wanted his readers to expect something broader and deeper than the romances they were used to finding in fiction. There would be no single hero and heroine, no straightforward system of exposition, crisis and resolution, no orthodox ending. It was a book in which Tolstoy made up new rules as it expanded: a society novel that turned into a family story, only to grow into a historical chronicle and a mighty epic that was underwritten by a deep interest in individual destinies and intimate human detail. It was a fifteen-year tranche of human experience (1805 - 20), fictional and real, that was located in Russian society in an age of critical importance for Europe as a whole, and Tolstoy made an unprecedented attempt to bring together the widest possible range of interests - personal, social, psychological and historical. But most important is his instinctive skill as a teller of stories and creator of characters. The true lasting quality of War and Peace lies in its compelling narrative and fascinating people, imagined and historical. Perhaps Peace and War might have been a more appropriate title, because not much more than a third of the action takes place on or near the battlefield.
Tolstoy begins his novel by throwing an evening party to welcome his characters and his readers. The year is 1805 and Napoleon's aggressive actions, especially the recent seizure of Genoa and Luca, seem likely to threaten Russia's western borders. The huge and bumbling Pierre Bezukhov and the neat, self-assured Prince Andrey Bolkonsky are guests, and their maturation and misadventures will form the main interest of the novel. At first the two young men have everything going for them. Pierre inherits a huge fortune and marries well. The efficient Andrey will find success in all that he does as a landowner and soldier. But both of these gifted and fortunate men will make many mistakes, feel constantly unhappy with the course of their lives, take appallingly bad decisions and have to live with the consequences. The strength of War and Peace is in the weakness of its characters. The novel is a detailed casebook of human inadequacy and imperfection; so many avoidable errors are made that it will be a long time before contentment and equilibrium start to emerge, and for some of the characters new insight comes too late.
Oscar Wilde said that what made Russian writers' books 'so great is the pity they put in them'.3 They have seen life, tackled it and tried their best, and they know a truth that rarely declares itself, especially in stories that are meant for entertainment. It is this: virtually everyone - even people in advantageous or privileged circumstances - finds the living of life a worrying and difficult business most of the time. The novel takes us in rich detail through all the seven ages of man from childhood to old age and explores their difficulties, all of which are played out under the gathering shadow of death, the one certainty. As another Russian writer Boris Pasternak concluded in the novel Dr Zhivago: 'Living life is not just a walk across a field.'4
But there is more. Only a few of the 500 characters in the novel pause to think about the complex and difficult process by which human lives evolve, but Pierre and Andrey are never happier than when unhappily gnawing at the meanings, difficult choices and hidden possibilities that may or may not underlie human existence and searching for clues to make life better and easier. A series of vital questions are waiting for them and for the reader: What and where is happiness? How do you distinguish it from fun? How is it possible to live on in the sure and certain knowledge of death? Is the concept of God any help? What are the roles of fate and luck in human experience? How can a person find complete freedom? Are there any ultimate philosophical truths that we can rely on? What should you do with a human life?
But Tolstoy knows that you cannot spend all your time philosophizing. The sheer thrill of being alive, the excitement of surrendering to the moment and revelling in pleasure, are infectiously represented in a series of set pieces. Sometimes the occasion is exquisite en
ough to be the high point in an individual's life. It is hard to imagine Count Ilya Rostov ever being any happier than when he dances the 'Daniel Cooper' at home (Volume I, Part I, Chapter 17), unless it is when he proposes a toast to General Bagration at a lavish dinner that he has put on at the English Club with money he cannot afford to spend (II, I, 3). For senior soldiers there is the glorious opportunity to be noticed by an emperor; hence the obsequious behaviour of an elderly general before Tsar Alexander I (I, II, 3), and the suicidal rush into the River Viliya by a Polish general anxious to please Napoleon, which costs forty men but wins him a medal (III, I, 2). Even young Petya Rostov is borne away with mindless rapture at the mere sight of the Tsar (III, I, 21). In contrast, almost all of the younger characters find sublime happiness in falling in love, and at one point the entire Rostov household seems to be dizzy from it: Love was in the air at the Rostovs' at this time, as it always is when there are very young and very charming girls around. Any young man arriving at their house and seeing those young girls' faces, so sensitive and always smiling (probably at their own good fortune) amid all the chasing and scurrying, and hearing all their frivolous girlish chatter, so good-natured, open to everything, brimming with hope, and their equally frivolous singing and music-making, enjoyed the same sensations of love-sickness and impending bliss that the young Rostovs were themselves enjoying. (II, I, 10)
There are many occasions for tears of joy. Dancing is one such: for example, Natasha's instinctive Russian dancing after the hunt (II, IV, 7) is a reminder of her father's happy evening with the Daniel Cooper, her own unspeakable delight at her first ball, whirling around with Prince Andrey (II, III, 16) and Denisov's amazing mazurka at Iogel's (II, I, 12). It is useful to emphasize such bliss not least because Russian literature has a reputation for gloomy introspection which is only partly deserved. It gives the novel its most unusual quality, Tolstoy's ability to lead us through disappointment, frustration and tragedy without bitterness or cynicism. He declares, against all odds, the goodness of living.