As I was reading chapter 3 in Book 13 of War and Peace, I was struck by Tolstoy's description of Pierre. Pierre is now solid and strong and has a calmness in his eyes. With all of the turmoil Pierre has had in his life, it is interesting that he now shows these changes.
It made me think about quality of life and what kind of life is best for one in order to be the most satisfied. Pierre seems to have been brought into the best version of himself in conditions that are far less luxurious than those he is used to. Tolstoy was critical of the elite class, yet it is hard to argue against the peace of mind that having money--now and in his time--brings. Yet Pierre is a great example of how sometimes less is more. The growth that can be had from having less is invaluable and reconfirms my belief that adversity makes you grow stronger.
Showing posts with label Tolstoy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tolstoy. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Monday, October 28, 2019
The Formation of the Aristocratic Family
Marriage is an institution held in great importance in young people’s lives in War and Peace. The act of choosing a spouse is, however, very delicate, and we often see marriages occur between not the most perfect of matches. The formation of the aristocratic family is a process based largely on potential acquired wealth.
Natasha, as an elite without wealth, must make sure her husband is moneyed because she does not have wealth to inherit from her family. Borís faces the same constriction with his prospective matches. Although Natasha and Borís love each other they cannot overcome the fact that if they married they would suffer financially; this is their deal breaker. Pierre, on the other hand, is largely undesirable until he inherits his wealth. Then, he has opportunity to construct his family to include the most beautiful and desirable woman in Russia—Hélène—due to her desire of wealth, similarly to Natasha or Borís. But because of this importance of the superficial, Pierre’s marriage is cold and unhappy.
Overall, families in the Russian aristocracy formed like business relationships; partners were more desirable when they came with wealth. The already wealthy sought partners who were, instead of having money, the most charming or beautiful. Aristocratic families were largely formed because of a desire for money, but the superficiality of this desire resulted in doomed relationships for many.
Natasha, as an elite without wealth, must make sure her husband is moneyed because she does not have wealth to inherit from her family. Borís faces the same constriction with his prospective matches. Although Natasha and Borís love each other they cannot overcome the fact that if they married they would suffer financially; this is their deal breaker. Pierre, on the other hand, is largely undesirable until he inherits his wealth. Then, he has opportunity to construct his family to include the most beautiful and desirable woman in Russia—Hélène—due to her desire of wealth, similarly to Natasha or Borís. But because of this importance of the superficial, Pierre’s marriage is cold and unhappy.
Overall, families in the Russian aristocracy formed like business relationships; partners were more desirable when they came with wealth. The already wealthy sought partners who were, instead of having money, the most charming or beautiful. Aristocratic families were largely formed because of a desire for money, but the superficiality of this desire resulted in doomed relationships for many.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Tolstoy - truth or bias?
Tolstoy was born in one of the best-known families of the Russian Nobility. However, his views in "War and Peace" are so different from what I would have expected from a rich nobleman that I had to ask myself : what makes Tolstoy so different? What triggered this shift in his opinion and made him disagree with the regular aristocrat Russian ?
Well, on the one hand, Tolstoy's life was not typical. His parents died when he was young and he was brought up by his relatives. Still, according to some sources, there are two possible events which can be considered reasons for his nearly contemptuous view about society. Tolstoy was always concerned with people's needs, so,when encountering a crowd of homeless people in a Moscow market, he decided he wanted to help them. He considered that simply giving each a small amount of money would not help, so he went up to his friends from the upper classes of society and told them about the situation. The vast majority refused to donate any sum for this truly noble cause, thus denying their "noblemen" statute[1]. The other event that might have influenced Tolstoy to view society and the state as artificial happened during one of his visits to France, when he witnessed a public execution in Paris.[2].
However, as an intellectual man, a "thinker", just like Pierre and Andrew, his reasons for despising society might also be connected to the trivial concerns and topics of discussion of the people surrounding him.
Leo Tolstoy believed that when writing realism is the essential ingredient for that piece of writing to be good. So, when he describes the balls, the war scenes and when he criticizes the society with such harshness, he is doing his best to replicate the atmosphere of the era he was living in. But what if he is a bit biased? What if the rank he had and was so uncomfortable with made him be harsher then he should have been with some of the characters and the events described?
Well, on the one hand, Tolstoy's life was not typical. His parents died when he was young and he was brought up by his relatives. Still, according to some sources, there are two possible events which can be considered reasons for his nearly contemptuous view about society. Tolstoy was always concerned with people's needs, so,when encountering a crowd of homeless people in a Moscow market, he decided he wanted to help them. He considered that simply giving each a small amount of money would not help, so he went up to his friends from the upper classes of society and told them about the situation. The vast majority refused to donate any sum for this truly noble cause, thus denying their "noblemen" statute[1]. The other event that might have influenced Tolstoy to view society and the state as artificial happened during one of his visits to France, when he witnessed a public execution in Paris.[2].
However, as an intellectual man, a "thinker", just like Pierre and Andrew, his reasons for despising society might also be connected to the trivial concerns and topics of discussion of the people surrounding him.
Leo Tolstoy believed that when writing realism is the essential ingredient for that piece of writing to be good. So, when he describes the balls, the war scenes and when he criticizes the society with such harshness, he is doing his best to replicate the atmosphere of the era he was living in. But what if he is a bit biased? What if the rank he had and was so uncomfortable with made him be harsher then he should have been with some of the characters and the events described?
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Tolstoy's Views In War and Peace
I have recently become more interested in how much of War and Peace reflects Tolstoy's own views and struggles relating to life and religion. It turns out, perhaps unsurprisingly, that many of Tolstoy's personal opinions are reflected through those of his characters, especially Andrew, Pierre, and Nicholas. For instance, it took years for Tolstoy to figure out his religious beliefs and this confusion is shown in his writing through the conflicting viewpoints of Andrew and Pierre.
As we have discussed in class, death is a prominent theme in War and Peace. This is not accidental. Even as a child Tolstoy was no stranger to death, losing first his mother, then his father and his grandmother. This caused him to think a lot about death and its consequences. This is evident in many places in War and Peace, especially on page 123 when Nicholas first rides into battle and in Book Four, Chapter 9 when Lise dies. Tolstoy saw death as a common and unavoidable theme of life, thus it comes up frequently in his writing.
Tolstoy himself shares many similarities with his characters as well. As a youth he struggled with a gambling problem, which is reflected in many places in the novel including Book Four, Chapter 13 when Nicholas gambles with Dolokhov and loses. However, the character Tolstoy is most similar to is Pierre. The description of Pierre as a bear, and as being large and awkward is very similar to how Tolstoy saw himself. Furthermore, Tolstoy and Pierre share a weakness: women. Similar to Pierre's situation in War and Peace, Tolstoy slept with many women in his youth, which conflicted with his morals. Finally, in 1856 Tolstoy tries to free his serfs, just as Pierre does in the novel. However, neither attempt was very successful.
One of the reasons War and Peace is so successful is that it deals with many universal human problems, such as the struggle with death, religion, and addictions like gambling and women. In many ways it is Tolstoy's own experiences that form the heart of the novel.
Monday, September 23, 2019
Universal Youth
Youth—that ever-disappearing time in our lives that seems to grant unlimited possibilities of vivacity. The younger generation of men in War and Peace are in this time in their lives; they are exploring, discovering, and making mistakes Pierre, Nicholas, Boris, and Andrew all find various activities to occupy themselves; be it women, society gatherings, the war, or various sins, these men have many occasion to explore their youth. In this, however, they discover various perils of growing up: an unhappy marriage, debt, social status, and death. These men, who grow up so much in the first two years of the novel, seem to be in a perpetual state of self-discovery.
It is comforting to read War and Peace as a first year college student; one of the lasting aspects of Tolstoy’s novel is its ability to relate to young people in any generation. College students everywhere also find themselves entwined in tales of women, debt, social gatherings, perhaps war, and many sins. We see Pierre’s mishaps with high society analogous to our own various foot-in-mouth moments as we navigate our society today. Nicholas’s ability to lose his money faster than he gets it is all too familiar to many youth of our generation. Discovering how to act, what to value, and who to trust are all aspects of growing up that young people today share with the young people in War and Peace. So, although we are now centuries past the time of Tolstoy’s novel, the issues faced today by young people in the journey of growing up are universal—and that’s a little reassuring.
It is comforting to read War and Peace as a first year college student; one of the lasting aspects of Tolstoy’s novel is its ability to relate to young people in any generation. College students everywhere also find themselves entwined in tales of women, debt, social gatherings, perhaps war, and many sins. We see Pierre’s mishaps with high society analogous to our own various foot-in-mouth moments as we navigate our society today. Nicholas’s ability to lose his money faster than he gets it is all too familiar to many youth of our generation. Discovering how to act, what to value, and who to trust are all aspects of growing up that young people today share with the young people in War and Peace. So, although we are now centuries past the time of Tolstoy’s novel, the issues faced today by young people in the journey of growing up are universal—and that’s a little reassuring.
Sunday, September 15, 2019
War and Peace? Peace, Society or World?
While doing some research about War and Peace I encountered a very intriguing forum talk about the possible translations of the title of Tolstoy's book. The original title of this novel is "Война и мир" ( read as Voina i Mir) and by doing a simple Google Translate exercise we can see why it is so controversial. Copy the Russian version of the novel's name into Google Translate, select from Russian to English and what you will get is "War and Peace", right? Now delete the first two words, that is "Война и" and just leave the "мир" in there. It's not peace, is it? Some people argue that the real title of War and Peace is "War and Society" or "War and the World" and that the translation into English is wrong and does not convey the actual meaning intended by Tolstoy. On the other hand though, Tolstoy himself translated the novel in French and he chose " La guerre et la paix" as the proper words to express his view on the title. When doing the same Google Translate exercise trying to translate from French to Russian, surprisingly enough, we see "Война и мир" on the screen. 
When looking up the word "миp" in a real dictionary ( see end of post for references) we see that "миp" means: 1.world and 2.peace. Also,the French "paix" phonetically resembles "pays" which means country, thus being relatively similar in meaning to the Russian word for "world". Was Tolstoy trying to make his readers wonder what's up with this ambiguous choice of words or is this just pure coincidence?What was Tolstoy's real intention? Was he going to talk about war and about peace, strictly referring to fights and battles and the short periods of peace? Or was he trying to talk only about war and how it affected society during the Napoleonic wars? Was this the best title for his book? Is " War and Peace" the best translation or should it have been " War and Society"?
I believe that the author's choice of words and translation into French is supposed to make us see beneath the surface of these words. After all, everything that happens in the book can be considered a war : the contradictory feelings of the characters and the disputes between the wealthy people, the sudden changes in their lives are also wars at a personal level. Sometimes they encounter peace on their way to growth, sometimes they are defeated and have to start over again and lead many other battles with themselves and the people surrounding them. "War and Peace" is, in my opinion, not the kind of book which reveals everything from the title, but rather allows the readers to form opinions on their own. Maybe for some people this is a historical novel about the battles between the Russian and the French, maybe others focus more on the romance and society-related chapters, maybe some try to understand the meaning of both of these intermingled sides of the book. Thus, it seems to me that the important thing is to try to find the proper meaning of the book and of the title for oneself. I might even dare to paraphrase the title as "Battles and love", because this is how I relate to the book right now. What is the meaning you find beneath the title? Now, does it really matter what "мир" means?
( for the dictionary definition of "мир" I used The Oxford New Russian Dictionary, 2007, Berkeley Books, New York)
Friday, September 6, 2019
Actions (and Appearance) Speak Louder than Words
"We don't love people so much for the good they have done us, as for the good we have done them," writes Sterne. Princess Mary quotes his remark in Book 1, Chapter 16 of Tolstoy's War and Peace. I found myself frequently coming back to this passage. Something about this Sterne guy intrigued me. His words provoked a lot of thought and questions in my mind. So, I decided, why not do my blog about him. That way, I could discover for myself (and all of us) who Sterne was and why Tolstoy decides he's important enough to be quoted in his great novel. 
Laurence Sterne
Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) was an English Sentimentalist writer, who, it turns out, had a great effect on Tolstoy. Tolstoy read at least two of Sterne's works, The Sentimental Journey and Tristram Shandy. The influence Sterne's assertions in these two works had on Tolstoy made it into the text of War and Peace and into many of his other works. Sterne was a firm believer, as many Sentimentalist writers were, in the belief that body language and appearance told more about characters than their stated thoughts did. Consequently, we see Tolstoy's emphasis on physical features and "significant looks." Take for example, his description of Natasha (33) or the way Princess Mary's eyes reflect her true feeling (91). In both of these instances, the physical being expressed more than their words alone could have. Emotion, body language, and physical appearance often tell us much of what we know about Tolstoy's characters. Thus, Sterne's sentimentalist approach to character development had a great influence on Tolstoy, as seen over and over again in War and Peace.
Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Sterne
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