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oliverkb 's review for:
War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
I did not read War and Peace. I lived it.
There is little more to say about War and Peace than that it is a masterpiece of literature and a triumph of human achievement. In this monumental tome, Tolstoy tells the stories of five aristocratic families in Imperial Russia. The book opens in 1805 at the dawn of war between Russia and France and progresses through Napoleon's disastrous invasion of 1812, creating a snapshot of Russian society at times of both war and (you guessed it) peace.
War and Peace is a long book. With roughly 1200 pages, this epic serves as the Everest for many avid readers. But while the slog may be time consuming, the view from the summit is worth every chapter. A common justification for the desire to steer clear of War and Peace is the idea that it is a difficult and confusing maze of characters written in archaic and incomprehensible language. While the concern about characters is certainly valid (there are over 500 of them, so get your family tree printouts ready), this edition with the translation by Anthony Briggs is surprisingly accessible. At the cost of some faithfulness to the original Russian, Briggs has made War and Peace a breeze to read through while still maintaining the meaning and depth of the original.
What strikes me most about War and Peace is how applicable it still feels to our modern world. Although Tolstoy concerns himself with the aristocratic circles of Imperial Russia, his exhaustive detail into the characters hints at something within them (and within us) which is timeless and immutable. Although the conditions faced by those who populate the book are likely foreign to a modern reader, we still grow to know and love them as if they are old friends which we have known for a lifetime. In this manner, Tolstoy has created a powerful and beautiful impression of the human condition.
Those with an interest in history and philosophy will find a particular affinity with this book. The narrative is frequently interspaced with Tolstoy's essays as the omniscient narrator giving his thoughts on the nature of history. He devotes much of his attention to dismantling the "great man" theory of history popularized in the nineteenth century by Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle through his portrayal of Napoleon; perhaps the most iconic and emblematic "great man" in western historiography. Napoleon is not depicted in his usual manner as a god-like manifestation of historical power, but instead as a man with desires, fears and deficiencies. In place of this "great man" theory, Tolstoy argues for a perspective of history which is guided by forces outside of human control; a collective "historical will" which is shaped by the actions of all members of society and to which even Napoleon is a subject. This theory is illustrated and evidenced in the narrative of the book itself, as the story is progressed through the characters' individual pursuit of self-interest while remaining mostly oblivious to the fact that they are contributing to something larger than themselves.
War and Peace has a bit of a reputation for being boring and snobbish, or something to be read solely for the sake of conquering the most iconically difficult book in existence, and I'll admit I started my journey with a similar motivation. However, I quickly realized that there was a reason that Tolstoy's masterpiece has stuck around in literary circles despite its famed inaccessibility. It is long, yes, but this is the result of an overabundance of detail which allows the reader to intimately experience the book as if they themselves inhabit it. This is why it feels reductive to say I simply "read" War and Peace, as consuming it made me feel as though I was living a second life which was separate from yet inexorably connected to my own. I lived War and Peace, and I loved every moment of it.
There is little more to say about War and Peace than that it is a masterpiece of literature and a triumph of human achievement. In this monumental tome, Tolstoy tells the stories of five aristocratic families in Imperial Russia. The book opens in 1805 at the dawn of war between Russia and France and progresses through Napoleon's disastrous invasion of 1812, creating a snapshot of Russian society at times of both war and (you guessed it) peace.
War and Peace is a long book. With roughly 1200 pages, this epic serves as the Everest for many avid readers. But while the slog may be time consuming, the view from the summit is worth every chapter. A common justification for the desire to steer clear of War and Peace is the idea that it is a difficult and confusing maze of characters written in archaic and incomprehensible language. While the concern about characters is certainly valid (there are over 500 of them, so get your family tree printouts ready), this edition with the translation by Anthony Briggs is surprisingly accessible. At the cost of some faithfulness to the original Russian, Briggs has made War and Peace a breeze to read through while still maintaining the meaning and depth of the original.
What strikes me most about War and Peace is how applicable it still feels to our modern world. Although Tolstoy concerns himself with the aristocratic circles of Imperial Russia, his exhaustive detail into the characters hints at something within them (and within us) which is timeless and immutable. Although the conditions faced by those who populate the book are likely foreign to a modern reader, we still grow to know and love them as if they are old friends which we have known for a lifetime. In this manner, Tolstoy has created a powerful and beautiful impression of the human condition.
Those with an interest in history and philosophy will find a particular affinity with this book. The narrative is frequently interspaced with Tolstoy's essays as the omniscient narrator giving his thoughts on the nature of history. He devotes much of his attention to dismantling the "great man" theory of history popularized in the nineteenth century by Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle through his portrayal of Napoleon; perhaps the most iconic and emblematic "great man" in western historiography. Napoleon is not depicted in his usual manner as a god-like manifestation of historical power, but instead as a man with desires, fears and deficiencies. In place of this "great man" theory, Tolstoy argues for a perspective of history which is guided by forces outside of human control; a collective "historical will" which is shaped by the actions of all members of society and to which even Napoleon is a subject. This theory is illustrated and evidenced in the narrative of the book itself, as the story is progressed through the characters' individual pursuit of self-interest while remaining mostly oblivious to the fact that they are contributing to something larger than themselves.
War and Peace has a bit of a reputation for being boring and snobbish, or something to be read solely for the sake of conquering the most iconically difficult book in existence, and I'll admit I started my journey with a similar motivation. However, I quickly realized that there was a reason that Tolstoy's masterpiece has stuck around in literary circles despite its famed inaccessibility. It is long, yes, but this is the result of an overabundance of detail which allows the reader to intimately experience the book as if they themselves inhabit it. This is why it feels reductive to say I simply "read" War and Peace, as consuming it made me feel as though I was living a second life which was separate from yet inexorably connected to my own. I lived War and Peace, and I loved every moment of it.