On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”
newcriterion.com
On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”
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Re: On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”
#2I liked this paragraph from the article:
"The novel’s wisest general, Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov, understands this fact about battle, and about life, from the start. At the council of war before Austerlitz, Kutuzov dozes off. At last he cuts the meeting short: “ ‘Gentlemen, the disposition for tomorrow—or rather for today, for it is past midnight—cannot be altered now. And before a battle, there is nothing more important . . . ’—he paused—‘than a good night’s sleep.’ ” If the world of human beings were amenable to science, then planning would be most important. But in a world governed by contingency, where immediate reactions to unexpected events matter most, one above all needs alertness."
Re: On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”
#3I do think though Russians do get a bit too much press for their novels, in a way that isn't, I think accorded to the French. For example dealing with events from the same period of time is Hugo's "Les Miserables" (it has a description of the battle of Waterloo lasting around 12 chapters), perhaps captures more of the variety of human experience.
Re: On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”
#4Most people dont think War and Peace was even Tolstoys greatest novel. Anna Karenina is regarded as the greatest novel of all time by lots of authors and critics though of course there is no consensus and its sort of a silly notion.
Re: On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”
#5it's "War and Society", not "War and Peace"
ah, whatever.
Re: On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”
#6it's "War and Society", not "War and Peace" ah, whatever.
Re: On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”
#7Lesser known fact: the original title of “War and Peace” was “War: what is it good for?”, but Tolstoy’s mistress forced him to change it to the one we know today. The original title was then used in the famous Edwin Starr song. Source: Seinfeld.
Re: On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”
#8The claim “often regarded as the greatest of all novels” right in the opening is so hyperbolically naive and unmatched by the general level of the piece that one wonders if some marketing person added it to boost up the clicks.
Even if one adopts the mundane definition of topping all time greatest lists put together by various organizations, I still think this would apply to War and Peace, as commented here Anna Karenina probably would be a better candidate.
People who make such claims should be forced to watch the first classroom episode in Dead Poets Society till they get the idea.
Re: On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”
#9Most people dont think War and Peace was even Tolstoys greatest novel. Anna Karenina is regarded as the greatest novel of all time by lots of authors and critics though of course there is no consensus and its sort of a silly notion.
No argument with what you're saying, but on a personal level I can't stand Anna, the character. Reminds me too much of a rather unfortunate ex, and ruins the story for me.
Re: On Tolstoy's “War and Peace”
#10Most people dont think War and Peace was even Tolstoys greatest novel. Anna Karenina is regarded as the greatest novel of all time by lots of authors and critics though of course there is no consensus and its sort of a silly notion.
Anna Karenina is the novel I probably read the most of without finishing. After a while, it became hard to care about rich people and their affairs and varied "nervous conditions".