Some have read War and Peace. “War and Peace”: masterpiece or “wordy rubbish”? This is a fascinating read.

War, peace... and some details. On the eve of the start of online readings of the great novel by Leo Tolstoy, we decided to recall some details

Text: Mikhail Vizel/GodLiteratury.RF
Collage: watercolor by N. N. Karazin; portrait of L.N. Tolstoy. 1873, I. N. Kramskoy (State Tretyakov Gallery)

1. The volume of the novel “War and Peace” is 1300 pages of regular book format. This is not the greatest novel in world literature, but one of the largest in the canon of European literature. literature of the 19th century century. Initially, in the first two publications, it was divided not into four parts, as we are used to, but into six. Only in 1873, when the novel was being prepared for publication for the third time as part of “The Works of L. N. Tolstoy,” the author changed the distribution of the text among the volumes and allocated exactly half of the 8-volume collection to it.

2. We confidently call “War and Peace” a “novel,” but the author himself categorically objected to such a genre definition. In an article dedicated to the release of the first separate edition, he wrote: “ This is not a novel, even less a poem, even less a historical chronicle. “War and Peace” is what the author wanted and could express in the form in which it was expressed. ... History from time not only presents many examples of such a deviation from the European form, but does not even provide a single example of the opposite. Starting from " Dead Souls"Gogol and before Dostoevsky's "House of the Dead", in the new period of Russian literature there is not a single artistic prose work that is slightly beyond mediocrity, which would fully fit into the form of a novel, poem or story" Nevertheless, now “War and Peace” is certainly considered one of the pinnacles of world novelism.

3.
Initially, in 1856, Tolstoy intended to write a novel not about the Napoleonic wars, but about an old man who was finally, thirty years later, allowed to return from Siberia. But he quickly realized that he would not be able to reveal the motives for the hero’s participation in the December uprising if he did not describe his youthful participation in the Napoleonic wars. In addition, he could not help but take into account that when describing the events of December 14, 1825, he would have problems with censorship. In the 1890s, Tolstoy would not have paid any attention to this, but in the 1860s, for the author who had not yet reached his fortieth birthday, it mattered. Thus, the idea of ​​a “story about the Decembrist” was transformed into an “epic novel about the Napoleonic wars in Russia.”

4.
For censorship reasons, as well as at the persistent request of his wife, Tolstoy cut out fairly frank descriptions wedding night Pierre and Helen. Sofya Andreevna managed to convince her husband that the church censorship department would not let them through. The most scandalous twist in the plot is also associated with Helen Bezukhova, who obviously acted as the bearer of the “dark sexual principle” for Tolstoy. Hélène, a blossoming young woman, suddenly dies just in 1812, freeing Pierre to marry Natasha Rostova. Russian schoolchildren, studying the novel at the age of 15, perceive this unexpected death as a convention necessary for the development of the plot. And only those of them who re-read the novel as adults understand, to their embarrassment, from Tolstoy’s deep hints, that Helen is dying... from the consequences of an unsuccessful pharmacological abortion, which she underwent, entangled between two prospective husbands, a Russian nobleman and a foreign prince - She intended to marry one of them, having received a divorce from Pierre.

5. The Russian word "mir" means "absence of war" and "society". Until the reform of Russian spelling in 1918, this difference was also fixed graphically: “absence of war” was written “mir”, and “society” - “mir”. Tolstoy, of course, meant this ambiguity when he gave the title to the novel, but, contrary to the established misconception, he called the novel “War and Peace” - which is clearly visible on the covers of all lifetime editions. But Mayakovsky called his 1916 poem “War and Peace”, in defiance of Lev Nikolaevich, and this difference has now become invisible.

6. The novel was written in 1863–69. Tolstoy himself admitted that this

« a work for which I devoted five years of incessant and exceptional labor, under the best living conditions».

A year before the start of this work, 34-year-old Tolstoy got married, and his wife, 18-year-old Sonya Bers, took on the duties of secretary. While working on the novel, Sofya Andreevna rewrote the text completely from beginning to end at least eight times. Individual episodes were rewritten up to 26 times. During this time, she gave birth to her first four children (out of thirteen).

7. In the same article, Tolstoy asserted that the names characters- , Drubetskoy, Kuragin - resemble real Russian aristocratic families - Volkonsky, Trubetskoy, Kurakin - only because it was more convenient for him to fit his characters into the historical context and “allow” them to talk with the real Rostopchin and Kutuzov. In reality, this is not entirely true: when describing the Rostov and Bolkonsky families, Tolstoy described his own ancestors quite closely. In particular, Nikolai Rostov is to a large extent his own father, Nikolai Tolstoy (1794–1837), hero of the War of 1812 and lieutenant colonel of the Pavlograd (!) Regiment, and Marya Bolkonskaya is his mother, Marya Nikolaevna, née Princess Volkonskaya (1790– 1830). The circumstances of their wedding are described quite closely, and Bald Mountains are similar to Yasnaya Polyana. Immediately after the release of the novel, in the absence of the Internet and “gossip chronicles” in the modern sense, only people close to Tolstoy could have guessed about this, naturally. But everyone recognized three characters immediately: Vaska Denisov, Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova and Ivan Dolokhov. Under these transparent pseudonyms, famous people were identified: the poet and hussar Denis Vasilyevich Davydov, the eccentric Moscow lady Nastasya Dmitrievna Ofrosimova. As for Dolokhov, it turned out more complicated with him: it seems to mean General Ivan Dorokhov (1762–1815), a hero of the Napoleonic wars, but in fact Tolstoy quite accurately described his son with the strange name Rufin (1801–1852), a hussar and brigade, repeatedly demoted to the ranks of soldiers for rioting and again with bravery achieving officer epaulets. Tolstoy met Rufin Dorokhov in his youth in the Caucasus.

8.
Main character“War and Peace” does not have an exact prototype. At the same time, it is not difficult to point to the prototype of his father, Catherine’s nobleman, who recognized his illegitimate son only before his death - this is one of the richest and most influential people in Russia in the 18th century, Chancellor Alexander Bezborodko. But Pierre’s character combines the youthful traits of Tolstoy himself and the collective “thinking youth” of the nobles early XIX century - in particular Prince Peter Vyazemsky, the future poet and closest friend

9.
The largest modern French Slavist Georges Nivat, who speaks fluent Russian, confirms: French“War and Peace” is not conventional “international French”, like modern “international English”, but real aristocratic French of the 19th century. True, it’s still closer to the middle of the century, when the novel was written, and not the beginning, when the action takes place. Tolstoy himself compares French inclusions to “shadows in a painting,” giving sharpness and prominence to faces. It’s easier to say this: the refined French language allows you to convey the flavor of the era when all of Europe spoke French. It is better to read these phrases out loud, even if you do not fully understand their meaning, and not read the translation. The narrative is structured in such a way that at key moments all the characters, even the French, switch to Russian.

10. To date, War and Peace has served as the basis for ten film and television films, including Sergei Bondarchuk's grandiose four-part epic (1965), for the filming of which a special cavalry regiment was created in the Soviet army. However, by the end of the year, an 11th project will be added to this list - an 8-episode BBC one television series. And, probably, it will not spoil the reputation of the “historical British series”, which has now become a global brand.

Recognized as the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is a perennial bestseller, with reprints appearing regularly, even nearly a century and a half after its original publication. Here are just a few reasons why Tolstoy's epic continues to attract, enlighten, and inspire readers of all ages and backgrounds, and why you might want to put it at the top of your reading list, too.

1. This novel is a mirror of our time.

At its core, War and Peace is a book about people trying to find their footing in a world turned upside down by war, social and political changes, and mental turmoil. The existential angst of Tolstoy and his heroes is familiar to us living at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and his novel can tell us something important for us right now. This book shows how moments of crisis can either overwhelm us or help us discover deep sources of strength and creativity within ourselves.

2. This novel is a fascinating history lesson.

If you like history, you'll love War and Peace for its striking and insightful portrayal of a time of great change. Tolstoy brings the past to life, immersing you in the long-forgotten details of everyday life, things that historians usually overlook. And he succeeds so well that even soviet soldiers, who were given chapters from War and Peace to read during World War II, claimed that Tolstoy's description of the war captured them more than the actual battles that took place before their eyes. Thanks to War and Peace, most Russians consider the War of 1812 and the famous bloody Battle of Borodino to be their unique victory. Tens of thousands of their compatriots were killed on the Borodino field, but this battle was a foreshadowing of Napoleon's fateful retreat from Moscow - a turning point that forever changed the course of European history, and was described by Tolstoy as powerfully as any historian could.

Photo: Dennis Jarvis/CC 2.0

3. This novel helps to understand today's Russia.

If you want to understand why today's Russians have such a difficult relationship with the West, read War and Peace. Tolstoy's interpretation of Napoleon's failed attempt to conquer Russia in 1812 is so deeply ingrained in the Russian cultural code that subsequent Russian leaders have repeatedly used it to illustrate both the greatness of their country and its vulnerability in the face of external threats... But in War and Peace there is and another thing: preaching a comprehensive love of humanity that goes far beyond the scope of any politics. Tolstoy offers a model of patriotism free of nationalism that is worth listening to.

4. This is one of the wisest self-improvement books you will ever read.

"War and Peace" is not only great novel. It is also a guide to life. What Tolstoy offers is not so much a set of answers to different life tasks as much as a worldview. He encourages us not to be content with other people's advice and recipes, but to join him and his heroes in search of deeper meanings, continue to ask ourselves important questions and find our own, reliable experience in everything. “History,” Tolstoy seems to be telling us, “is what happens to us. And our destiny is what we ourselves do with all this.”

Photo: Dennis’ Photography / CC 2.0

5. This is a fun read

"War and Peace" is a novel filled with such a volume of human experience that no other work of modern fiction has even dreamed of. Over the course of three hundred and sixty-one chapters, written with cinematic imagery, Tolstoy smoothly moves from the ballroom to the battlefield, from a wedding to the scene of a mortal massacre, from private life to crowd scenes. In Tolstoy’s world you see, hear and feel everything: here the sunrise lights up, here a cannonball whistles, here is a horse-drawn team dashing along, here is someone’s miraculous birth, here is someone’s cruel death, and here is everything that happened between them. Everything that a human being is capable of experiencing is described by Tolstoy in War and Peace.

6. You will get to know a lot of interesting people.

More precisely, almost 600. How often do we manage to meet so many people from various walks of life in a short period of time? And each of these people, even the most insignificant of them, is absolutely alive and recognizable. There is not a single one in War and Peace that is unequivocally bad or faultless. good character, which makes them so real and human. Even Napoleon - an almost villainous character - is described in an interesting way, to say the least. In some moments, Tolstoy invites us to look into his soul and feel his pain, as at Borodino, where Napoleon, examining a field strewn with corpses, is fully aware of both his own cruelty and his own powerlessness. As a writer, Tolstoy strictly follows the vow given to himself: “to tell, show, but not judge,” which is why the characters he created are so “breathing,” so alive.

Photo: wackystuff/CC 2.0

7. This novel will make you enjoy life.

This book contains, on the one hand, descriptions of human cruelty and blood-drenched battlefields, and on the other hand, examples of the most powerful moments of extraordinary bliss that can be found in world literature. Here Prince Andrei, prostrate on the battlefield, for the first time in his life looks into the sky and sees in it the stunning immensity of the Universe; here is Natasha - she dances and sings as if no one sees her; or Nikolai Rostov, in the heat of a wolf hunt, feels like a beast of prey. “People are like rivers,” Tolstoy once wrote. - The water is the same in everyone and the same everywhere, but every river is sometimes narrow, sometimes fast, sometimes wide, sometimes quiet. So are people. Each person carries within himself the rudiments of all human properties and sometimes displays some, sometimes others, and is often completely unlike himself, remaining one and himself.” The world that Tolstoy portrays in his greatest novel is a place full of secrets, where things are not always what they seem, and today's tragedy only opens the way to tomorrow's triumph. This thought inspired Nelson Mandela in prison, who called War and Peace his favorite novel. She consoles and inspires us - even in our own troubled times.

Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" is included in most world ratings best books: Newsweek ranked it number one, the BBC ranked it number 20, and the Norwegian Book Club listed it as one of the most significant works of all times.In Russia, a third of the population considers “War and Peace” a work that forms “the worldview that holds the nation together.” At the same time, the president of the Russian Academy of Education, Lyudmila Verbitskaya, said that 70% of school teachers have not read War and Peace. There are no statistics for other Russians, but most likely they are even more deplorable.Bykov claims that even teachers do not understand everything that is written in the book, not to mention schoolchildren. “I think that Leo Tolstoy himself did not understand everything, did not realize what a gigantic force was guiding his hand,” he added.

Why read War and Peace

According to Bykov, every nation should have its own “Iliad” and “Odyssey”. "The Odyssey" is a novel about wanderings. He tells how the country works. In Russia it is " Dead souls"Nikolai Gogol.

"War and Peace" is a Russian "Iliad". It tells you how to behave in the country in order to survive.

Tolstoy's work must be read to understand how to win the Russian way.

What is "War and Peace" about?

Tolstoy takes as his main theme the most irrational period in Russian history — Patriotic War 1812. Bykov notes that Napoleon Bonaparte achieved all his goals: he entered Moscow, did not lose the general battle, but the Russians won.

Russia is a country where success is not the same as victory, where people win irrationally. This is exactly what the novel is about.

The key episode of the book, according to Bykov, is not Battle of Borodino, and the duel between Pierre Bezukhov and Fedor Dolokhov. Dolokhov has all the advantages: society supports him, he is a good shooter. Pierre holds a pistol for the second time in his life, but it is his bullet that hits his opponent. This is an irrational victory. And Kutuzov wins in the same way.

Dolokhov - definitely negative character, but not everyone understands why. Despite his merits, he is an evil who is aware of himself, admiring himself, a “narcissistic reptile.” Just like Napoleon.

Tolstoy shows the mechanism of Russian victory: the one who gives more, who is more ready to sacrifice, who trusts in fate, wins. To survive you need:

• fear nothing;
• do not calculate anything;
• don't admire yourself.

How to read War and Peace

According to Bykov, this irrational novel was written by a rationalist, so it has a rigid structure. Getting to know her is what makes reading fun.

The action of War and Peace takes place in four planes simultaneously. Each plane has a character who fulfills a specific role, is endowed with special qualities and has a corresponding destiny.

*The life of the Russian nobility is an everyday plan with dramas, relationships, suffering.

** Macrohistorical plan - events of “big history”, state level.

*** The people are the key scenes for understanding the novel (according to Bykov).

**** The metaphysical plane is an expression of what is happening through nature: the sky of Austerlitz, the oak tree.

By moving along the rows of the table, you can see which characters correspond to the same plan. The columns will show the understudies at different levels. For example, the Rostovs are a line of a kind, fertile Russian family. Their strength is irrationality. They are the soul of the novel.

On the folk plane they correspond to the same ingenuous captain Tushin, on the metaphysical plane they correspond to the element of the earth, solid and fertile. At the state level there is neither soul nor kindness, therefore there are no correspondences.

The Bolkonskys and everyone who finds themselves in the same column with them is intelligence. Pierre Bezukhov personifies that same irrational winner who is ready to sacrifice, and Fyodor Dolokhov is a “narcissistic reptile”: he is the character who cannot be forgiven, since he puts himself above the rest, fancies himself a superman.

Armed with Bykov's table, you can not only understand the idea of ​​the novel more deeply, but also make reading easier, turning it into exciting game to find matches.

Candidate of Philological Sciences N. Eskova

I think many people don’t even suspect that there is such a “problem”: they believe in their simplicity that Tolstoy’s novel is about war and the absence of war. Some even dare to admit that they are more willing to read “the world.”

However, in lately a version arose that such an understanding simplifies the meaning of the great epic, that everything is much deeper, that by the word “world” the author meant the people, society and even the universe. This version did not arise entirely out of nowhere (one of its “sources” will be discussed further).

Nowadays, with his desire to revise everything and everyone, this version has even become “fashionable”. No, no, and you will find statements in periodicals in favor of a “deeper” understanding of Tolstoy’s novel. I will give two examples.

In an article devoted to the new production of Prokofiev’s opera “War and Peace” at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the author incidentally notes: “... let us remember that the world in the title of the novel is not at all the antonym of war, but society and more broadly, the Universe” ( "Literary newspaper"). That’s what it says: “let’s remember”!

Here's an interesting confession. “When I learned (probably as a student) about the meaning that Tolstoy put into the title “War and Peace” and was lost due to the new spelling, I was kind of wounded, it was so common to perceive it precisely as the alternation of war and non-war.” (S. Borovikov. In the Russian genre. Above the pages of “War and Peace” // “New World”, 1999, No. 9.) The author of this statement would get rid of the feeling of vulnerability if at least once in his life he “held in his hands” a pre-revolutionary publication of the novel!

We have come to what we will talk about next. It is well known that two homonym words, now spelled the same, differed in pre-revolutionary orthography: spelling peace- With And(the so-called “octal”) conveyed a word that had the meaning “absence of quarrel, enmity, disagreement, war; harmony, agreement, unanimity, affection, friendship, goodwill; silence, peace, tranquility” (see. Dictionary V.I. Dalya). Writing world- With i(“decimal”) corresponded to the meanings “universe, globe, human race.”

It would seem that the question of which “world” appears in the title of Tolstoy’s novel should not arise: it is enough to find out how this name was printed in pre-revolutionary editions of the novel!

But an incident happened that I want to tell you about, without skimping on the details, in order to put an end to the “problem” forever.

Back in 1982 (when the TV show “What? Where? When?” was not yet an “intellectual casino” with millions in bets), “experts” were asked a question related to the great novel. The first page of the first volume appeared on the screen, at the top of which was the title: “WAR AND PEACE.” It was asked to answer how the meaning of the second word in the title of the novel should be understood. The answer was that, judging by the writing world, Tolstoy did not mean “the absence of war,” as naive readers assume. The stern voice-over of the presenter V. Ya. Voroshilov summarized that until now many did not understand deeply enough philosophical meaning great work.

In a word, everything was explained “exactly the opposite.” According to the old spelling, the title of the novel was written through and (mir). The “incident” with the title of Mayakovsky’s poem “War and Peace” is well known, which he had the opportunity to contrast spellingly with the title of Tolstoy’s novel. After the spelling reform of 1917-1918, this had to be reported in a note.

Let us return, however, to what was said above: on the TV screen, millions of viewers saw the writing “WAR and PEACE”. What edition of the novel was demonstrated? There was no answer to this question from television, but in the commentary to the novel in the 90-volume full meeting works contains an indication of this edition of 1913, edited by P.I. Biryukov - the only one in which the title was printed with i (see vol. 16, 1955, pp. 101-102).

Having turned to this publication, I discovered that the writing world is presented in it only once, despite the fact that in four volumes the title is reproduced eight times: on the title page and on the first page of each volume. The world was printed seven times and only once - on the first page of the first volume - the world (see illustration). It was this page, shown on television, that was intended to revolutionize the understanding of the meaning of the great novel!

My attempt at that time to expose the mistake of the “experts” on the pages of the Literary Gazette failed. And on December 23, 2000, in a program dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the “intellectual club” “What? Where? When?”, a question was asked, designated as “retro”. The same page appeared on the screen with the inscription “WAR and PEACE”, the same question was repeated and the same answer was given.

The TV viewer who sent this page to the “experts” might not have known that the world was printed on the title of the same volume! But experts did not bother to check the question. And with an interval of twenty years the same mistake was repeated.

In conclusion, I will make one assumption. In the popular book by S. G. Bocharov “L. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” (M., 1987) there is a statement: “The title of Tolstoy’s future book was as if predicted in the words of Pushkin’s chronicler:

Describe without further ado,
All that you will witness in life:
War and peace, the rule of sovereigns,
Holy miracles for the saints..."
(P. 146, footnote.)

Perhaps these words of the great poet suggested to Tolstoy the name of his great epic?

War and Peace

"War and Peace"- epic novel by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, describing the events of the wars against Napoleon: 1805 and the Patriotic War of 1812.

History of the development of the novel

The novel "War and Peace" was a great success. An excerpt from the novel entitled “1805” appeared in the Russian Bulletin; three of its parts were published in the city, which were soon followed by the remaining two (four volumes in total).

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 of human life. The whole philosophy of the novel boils down to the fact that success and failure in historical life depend not on the will and talents of individual people, but on the extent to which they reflect the spontaneous lining in their activities historical events. Hence his loving relationship to Kutuzov, strong not in strategic knowledge or heroism, but in the fact that he understood that purely Russian, not spectacular and not bright, but the only true way by 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 mostly permeates his great novel - and this is what makes it 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 not here what runs like a red thread through all of Tolstoy’s works, both those written before “War and Peace” and those later - there is no deeply pessimistic mood. And in “War and Peace” there are horrors and death, but here they are somehow, so to speak, normal. The death, for example, of Prince Bolkonsky belongs to the most stunning pages of world literature, but there is nothing disappointing or belittling in it; this is not like the death of the hussar in “Kholstomer” or the death of Ivan Ilyich. After War and Peace, the reader wants to live, because even an ordinary, average, drab existence is illuminated by that bright, joyful light that illuminated the author’s personal existence in the era of the creation of the great novel.

In Tolstoy's later works, the transformation of the graceful, gracefully flirtatious, charming Natasha into a blurry, sloppily dressed landowner, completely absorbed in caring for her home 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.”

On December 6, 1908, Tolstoy wrote in his diary: “People love me for those trifles - “War and Peace”, etc., which seem very important to them.”

In the summer of 1909, one of the visitors to Yasnaya Polyana expressed his delight and gratitude for the creation of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Tolstoy replied: “It’s the same as if someone came to Edison and said: “I really respect you because you dance the mazurka well.” I attribute meaning to completely different books.”

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 is the eldest son of Ilya and Natalya Rostov.
• Vera Ilyinichna Rostova is the eldest daughter of Ilya and Natalya Rostov.
• Count Pyotr Ilyich Rostov is the youngest son of Ilya and Natalya Rostov.
• Natasha Rostova (Natalie) - youngest daughter Ilya and Natalya Rostov, married Countess Bezukhova, Pierre's second wife.
• Sonya is the niece of Count Rostov.
• Andryusha Rostov is the son of Nikolai Rostov.

Bolkonsky

• Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky - old prince, according to the plot - a prominent figure of Catherine's era. The prototype is L. N. Tolstoy’s maternal grandfather, a representative of the ancient Volkonsky family
• Prince Andrei Nikolaevich Bolkonsky is the son of the old prince.
• Princess Maria Nikolaevna (Marie) is the daughter of the old prince, the sister of Prince Andrei, in marriage the princess of Rostov. The prototype can be called Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya (married Tolstoy), mother of L. N. Tolstoy
• Lisa is the wife of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky.
• Young Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky is the son of Prince Andrei.

Ryzhova Maria Andreevna

Bezukhovs

• Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov is Pierre's father.
• Count Pierre (Peter Kirillovich) Bezukhov is an illegitimate son.

Other characters

• Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, and her son Boris Drubetskoy.
• Platon Karataev is a soldier of the Absheron regiment who met Pierre Bezukhov in captivity.
• Captain Tushin is a captain of the artillery corps who distinguished himself during the Battle of Shengraben. Its prototype was artillery staff captain Ya. I. Sudakov.
• Dolokhov - at the beginning of the novel - a hussar - the ringleader, later one of the leaders partisan movement. The prototype was Ivan Dorokhov.
• Vasily Dmitrievich Denisov is a friend of Nikolai Rostov. Denisov's prototype was Denis Davydov.
• Maria Dmitrievna Akhrosimova is a friend of the Rostov family. The prototype of Akhrosimova was the widow of Major General Ofrosimova Nastasya Dmitrievna. A. S. Griboyedov almost portraiturely depicted her in his comedy Woe from Wit.

Name controversy

Cover of the 1873 edition

In modern Russian the word “world” has two different meanings, “peace” is an antonym to the words “war” and “peace” - in the sense of planet, community, society, surrounding world, habitat. (cf. “In the world and death is red”). Before the spelling reform of 1918, these two concepts had different spellings: in the first sense 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, all editions of Tolstoy’s novel during his lifetime were 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. Support for the legend was provided in the city when in the popular television program “What? Where? When? " a question was asked on this topic and the "wrong" answer was given. On December 23, 2000, in the anniversary game dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the program, the same retro question was repeated again. And again, the experts gave the wrong answer - none of the organizers bothered to check the question on its merits. See also: , .

Notes

Links

• Text of the novel in the Komarov Library