War and Peace title of volumes. As Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy called the novel: "War and Peace" or "War and Peace". "war and peace" from a military point of view

History of writing a novel

Recognized by the critics of the whole world as the greatest epic work of new European literature, "War and Peace" amazes already 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 by Paolo Veronese in the Doge's Palace in Venice, where hundreds of faces are also written out with amazing distinctness 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 elevates his dignity as an epic even more is the psychology of the Russian people given to him. With striking penetration, Tolstoy portrayed the mood of the crowd, both high and the most vile and bestial (for example, in the famous scene of the murder of Vereshchagin).

Everywhere Tolstoy tries to grasp the elemental, unconscious beginning of human life. The whole philosophy of the novel boils down to the fact that success and failure in historical life does not depend on the will and talents of individual people, but on how much they reflect in their activities the spontaneous lining of historical events. Hence his loving attitude towards Kutuzov, strong, first of all, not by strategic knowledge and not by heroism, but by the fact that he understood that purely Russian, not spectacular and not bright, but the only sure way that could cope with Napoleon. Hence also Tolstoy's dislike for Napoleon, who so highly valued his personal talents; hence, finally, the raising of the humblest soldier Platon Karataev to the degree of the greatest sage 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 for the most part penetrates his great novel - and this is what makes it great - not in the form of reasoning, but in brilliantly grasped 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 considerations were singled out and constituted a special part. However, in "War and Peace" Tolstoy the thinker is far from being reflected in all and not in his most characteristic sides. There is not here what runs like a red thread through all the works of Tolstoy, both written before War and Peace and later - there is no deeply pessimistic mood.

In the later works of Tolstoy, the transformation of the graceful, gracefully coquettish, charming Natasha into a blurry, slovenly dressed landowner, wholly taken care of the house and children, would make a sad impression; but in the era of his enjoyment of family happiness, Tolstoy raised all this to the pearl of creation.

Later, Tolstoy was skeptical about his novels. In January 1871, Tolstoy sent Fet a letter: "How happy I am ... that I will never write verbose rubbish like War."

1 part

The action begins with a reception at the approximate Empress Anna Pavlovna Scherer, where we see all the high society of St. Petersburg. This technique is a kind of exposition: here we get to know many of the most important characters in the novel. On the other hand, the technique is a means of characterizing the "high society", comparable to the "famus society" (A. S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit"), immoral and deceitful. All those who come are looking for benefits for themselves in useful contacts that they can make with Scherer. So, Prince Vasily is worried about the fate of his children, whom he is trying to arrange a profitable marriage, and Drubetskaya comes in order to persuade Prince Vasily to intercede for her son. An indicative feature is the ritual of greeting an unknown and unnecessary aunt to no one (fr. ma tante). None of the guests knows who she is and does not want to talk to her, but they cannot violate the unwritten laws of secular society. Against the colorful background of Anna Scherer's guests, two characters stand out: Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov. They are opposed to the high society, as Chatsky is opposed to the "famus society". Most of the conversation at this ball is devoted to politics and the coming war with Napoleon, who is called the "Corsican monster". Despite this, most of the dialogues between the guests are in French.

Despite his promises to Bolkonsky not to go to Kuragin, Pierre immediately after Andrei's departure goes there. Anatole Kuragin is the son of Prince Vasily Kuragin, who gives him a lot of inconvenience by constantly leading a wild life and spending his father's money. After his return from abroad, Pierre constantly spends his time in the company of Kuragin, along with Dolokhov and other officers. This life is completely unsuitable for Bezukhov, who has an exalted soul, a kind heart and the ability to become a truly influential person, to benefit society. The next "adventures" of Anatole, Pierre and Dolokhov end with the fact that they got a live bear somewhere, scared the young actresses with it, and when the police arrived to appease them, they tied the backs of the quarter and the bear and let the bear swim in the Moika. As a result, Pierre was sent to Moscow, Dolokhov was demoted to the soldiers, and his father somehow hushed up the matter with Anatole.

After the death of his father, Pierre Bezukhov becomes a "noble groom" and one of the richest young people. Now he is invited to all balls and receptions, they want to communicate with him, he is respected. Prince Vasily does not miss this opportunity and introduces his daughter, the beautiful Helen, to Pierre, whom Helen makes a great impression on. Realizing the need to please a rich groom, Helen behaves courteously, flirts, and her parents are pushing Bezukhov to marry with all their might. Pierre proposes to Helen.

At the same time, Prince Vasily, who decided to marry his son Anatole, who had bothered him with his antics and parties, to one of the richest and noblest heirs of that time, Marya Bolkonskaya. Vasily and his son arrive at the Bolkonsky Bald Mountains estate and meet with the father of the future bride. The old prince is haughty and wary of a young man with a dubious reputation in secular society. Anatole is careless, used to lead a wild life and rely only on his father. And now the conversation is developing mainly between the "older" generation: Vasily, representing his son, and the prince. Despite all his contempt for Anatole, Prince Bolkonsky leaves the choice to Marya herself, realizing, moreover, that for the “ugly” Princess Marya, who does not leave the estate anywhere, the chance to marry the handsome Anatole is a success. But Marya herself is in thought: she understands all the charms of marriage and, although she does not love Anatole, she hopes that love will come later, but she does not want to leave her father alone on his estate. The choice becomes clear when Marya sees Anatole flirting with Mademoiselle Bourienne, her companion. Attachment and love for her father outweighs, and the princess resolutely refuses Anatole Kuragin.

II volume

The second volume can truly be called the only "peaceful" in the entire novel. It depicts the life of the heroes between 1806 and 1812. Most of it is devoted to the personal relationships of the characters, the theme of love and the search for the meaning of life.

1 part

The second volume begins with the arrival of Nikolai Rostov home, where he is joyfully greeted by the entire Rostov family. Together with him comes his new military friend Denisov. Soon, a celebration was organized in the English club in honor of the hero of the military campaign, Prince Bagration, which was attended by all the "high society". Throughout the evening, toasts were heard glorifying Bagration, as well as the emperor. No one wanted to remember about the recent defeat.

Pierre Bezukhov, who has changed a lot after his marriage, is also present at the celebration. In fact, he feels deeply unhappy, he began to understand the real face of Helen, who is in many ways similar to her brother, and he is also beginning to be tormented by suspicions about his wife's betrayal with the young officer Dolokhov. By a coincidence, Pierre and Dolokhov find themselves sitting opposite each other at the table. Dolokhov's defiantly impudent behavior annoys Pierre, but Dolokhov's toast "to the health of beautiful women and their lovers" becomes the last straw. All this was the reason that Pierre Bezukhov challenged Dolokhov to a duel. Nikolai Rostov becomes Dolokhov's second, and Nesvitsky becomes Bezukhov's. The next day at 8 o'clock in the morning, Pierre and his second arrive in Sokolniki and meet Dolokhov, Rostov and Denisov there. Bezukhov's second is trying to persuade the parties to reconcile, but the opponents are determined. Before the duel, Bezukhov's inability to even hold the gun as expected is revealed, while Dolokhov is an excellent duelist. Opponents disperse, and on command they begin to move closer. Bezukhov shoots towards Dolokhov and the bullet hits him in the stomach. Bezukhov and the spectators want to stop the duel due to a wound, but Dolokhov prefers to continue, and carefully aims, bleeding. Shot Dolokhov past.

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 (Nicolas) is the eldest son of Ilya and Natalya Rostov.
Vera Ilinichna Rostova is the eldest daughter of Ilya and Natalya Rostov.
Count Pyotr Ilyich Rostov (Petya) is the youngest son of Ilya and Natalya Rostov.
Natasha Rostova (Natalie) - the youngest daughter of Ilya and Natalya Rostov, married Countess Bezukhova, Pierre's second wife.
Sonya (Sofya Alexandrovna, Sophie) - the niece of Count Rostov, is brought up in the family of the Count.
Andrei Rostov is the son of Nikolai Rostov.

Bolkonsky

Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky - the old prince, according to the plot - a prominent figure in the Catherine's era. The prototype is the maternal grandfather of L. N. Tolstoy, a representative of the ancient Volkonsky family
Prince Andrei Nikolaevich Bolkonsky Andre) is the son of an old prince.
Princess Maria Nikolaevna (fr. Marie) - the daughter of the old prince, sister of Prince Andrei, married Countess of Rostov (wife of Nikolai Ilyich Rostov). The prototype can be called Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya (married Tolstaya), mother of Leo Tolstoy
Lisa (fr. Lise) - the first wife of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, died during the birth of her son Nikolai.
The young Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky (Nikolenka) is the son of Prince Andrei.

Bezukhov

Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov is the father of Pierre Bezukhov. The likely prototype is Chancellor Alexander Andreyevich Bezborodko.

Other characters

Kuragins

Prince Vasily Sergeevich Kuragin, a friend of Anna Pavlovna Sherer, spoke of children: "My children are a burden to my existence." Kurakin, Alexei Borisovich - a probable prototype.
Elena Vasilievna Kuragina (Helen) is the daughter of Vasily Kuragin. The first, unfaithful wife of Pierre Bezukhov.
Anatole Kuragin - the youngest son of Prince Vasily, a reveler and a libertine, tried to seduce Natasha Rostov and take her away, "a restless fool" in the words of Prince Vasily.
Ippolit Kuragin - the son of Prince Vasily, "the late fool" in the expression of the prince

Title controversy

In modern Russian, the word "peace" has two different meanings, "peace" - an antonym to the word "war" and "peace" - in the sense of a planet, community, society, the surrounding world, habitat. (cf. "In the world and death is red"). Before the orthographic reform of -1918, these two concepts had different spellings: in the first meaning it was written "world", in the second - "world". There is a legend that Tolstoy allegedly used the word "mir" (Universe, society) in the title. However, all lifetime editions of Tolstoy's novel 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 various versions of the origin of this legend.

It should be noted that the title of Mayakovsky's "almost eponymous" poem "War and Peace" () deliberately uses a play on words that was possible before the orthographic reform, but is not caught by today's reader.

Film adaptations and the use of the novel as a literary basis

Screen adaptations

"War and Peace"(1913, Russia). Silent movie. Dir. - Pyotr Chardynin, Andrey Bolkonsky- Ivan Mozzhukhin
"War and Peace" Ya. Protazanov, V. Gardin. Natasha Rostova- Olga Preobrazhenskaya, Andrey Bolkonsky - Ivan Mozzhukhin, Napoleon- Vladimir Gardin
"Natasha Rostova"(1915, Russia). Silent movie. Dir. - P. Chardynin. Natasha Rostova- Vera Karalli, Andrey Bolkonsky- Vitold Polonsky
"War and Peace "(War & Peace, 1956, USA, Italy). Dir. - King Vidor. Composer - Nino Rota costumes - Maria de Mattei. Starring: Natasha Rostova- Audrey Hepburn , Pierre Bezukhov— Henry Fonda, Andrey Bolkonsky— Mel Ferrer, Napoleon Bonaparte— Herbert Lom, Helen Kuragina- Anita Ekberg.
"Too people" (1959, USSR) a short film based on an excerpt from the novel (USSR). Dir. George Danelia
"War and Peace" / War and Peace(1963, UK). (TV) Directed by Silvio Narizzano. Natasha Rostova— Mary Hinton, Andrey Bolkonsky— Daniel Massey
"War and Peace "(1968, USSR). Dir. - S. Bondarchuk, starring: Natasha Rostova - Lyudmila Savelyeva, Andrei Bolkonsky - Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Pierre Bezukhov - Sergei Bondarchuk.
"War and Peace"(War & Peace, 1972, UK). (TV series) Dir. John Davies. Natasha Rostova- Morag Hood, Andrey Bolkonsky— Alan Dobie, Pierre Bezukhov- Anthony Hopkins .
"War and Peace "(2007, Germany, Russia, Poland, France, Italy). TV series. Directed by Robert Dornhelm, Brendan Donnison. Andrey Bolkonsky- Alessio Boni, Natasha Rostova - Clemence Poesy
"War and Peace"(2012, Russia) trilogy, short films based on excerpts from the novel. Directed by Maria Pankratova, Andrey Grachev // Air September 2012 TV channel "Star"

Use of the novel as a literary basis

"War and Peace" in verse": a poem based on the epic novel by L.N. Tolstoy. Moscow: Klyuch-S, 2012. - 96 p. (Author - Natalya Tugarinova)

Opera

Prokofiev S. S. "War and Peace "(1943; final edition 1952; 1946, Leningrad; 1955, ibid.).
War and Peace(film-opera). (UK, 1991) (TV). Music by Sergei Prokofiev. Dir. Humphrey Burton
War and Peace(film-opera). (France, 2000) (TV) Music by Sergei Prokofiev. Dir. François Rassillon

dramatizations

"Prince Andrew"(2006, Radio Russia). Radio play. Dir. - G. Sadchenkov. In ch. roles - Vasily Lanovoy.
"War and Peace. Beginning of the novel. Scenes»(2001) - production of the Moscow Theater "Workshop of P. Fomenko"

Notes

Links

P. Annenkov

No school program is complete without studying the epic novel L.N. Tolstoy"War and Peace". How many volumes in this work will be described in today's article.

The novel "War and Peace" consists of 4 volumes.

Volume 1 consists of 3 parts.
Volume 2 consists of 5 parts.
Volume 3 consists of 3 parts.
Volume 4 consists of 4 parts.
The epilogue is in 2 parts.

War and Peace tells about the life of Russian society in the period from 1805 to 1812, i.e. during the era of the Napoleonic Wars.

The work was based on the author's personal interest in the history of that time, political events and the life of the country. Tolstoy decided to start work after repeated conversations with relatives about his intention.

In the 1st volume the author tells about the military events of 1805-1807, during the period of the conclusion of an alliance between Russia and Austria to fight the Napoleonic invasion.
In the 2nd volume describes the peacetime of 1806-1812. It is dominated by descriptions of the experiences of the characters, their personal relationships, the search for the meaning of life and the theme of love.
In the 3rd volume the military events of 1812 are given: the offensive of Napoleon and his troops on Russia, the Battle of Borodino, the capture of Moscow.
In the 4th volume the author tells about the second half of 1812: the liberation of Moscow, the Battle of Tarutino and a large number of scenes related to the partisan war.
In the 1st part of the epilogue Leo Tolstoy describes the fate of his heroes.
In the 2nd part of the epilogue It is told about cause-and-effect relationships between the events that took place between Europe and Russia in 1805-1812.

In each of the volumes, L.N. Tolstoy conveyed a realistic picture of the era, and also expressed his opinion about its great significance in the life of society. Instead of abstract reasoning (which nevertheless has its place in the novel), the transfer of information was used through visual and detailed descriptions of the military events of those years.

The number of characters in the novel 569 (major and minor). Of these, about 200 - real historical figures: Kutuzov, Napoleon, Alexander I, Bagration, Arakcheev, Speransky. Fictional characters - Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostova - nevertheless, are vital and realistic, they are the main attention in the novel.
In Soviet times (1918-1986) "War and Peace" was the most published work of fiction. 36,085,000 copies- such was the circulation of 312 editions. The novel was created in 6 years, while Tolstoy rewrote the epic by hand 8 times, individual fragments - more than 26 times. The writer's works include approximately 5,200 sheets written by his own hand, where the history of the appearance of each volume is shown in full.
Before writing the novel, Leo Tolstoy read a lot of historical and memoir literature. Tolstoy's "list of used literature" included such publications as: the multi-volume "Description of the Patriotic War in 1812", the history of M. I. Bogdanovich, "The Life of Count Speransky" by M. Korf, "Biography of Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov" by M. P. Shcherbinin. The writer also used the materials of the French historians Thiers, A. Dumas Sr., Georges Chambray, Maximilien Foy, Pierre Lanfre.
Based on the novel, a large number of films (at least 10) were made, both in Russia and abroad.

"War and Peace" is a great work. What is the history of the creation of the epic novel? L. N. Tolstoy himself more than once wondered why in life it happens this way and not otherwise ... Indeed, why, for what and how did the creative process of creating the greatest work of all times and peoples proceed? After all, it took seven long years to write it ...

The history of the creation of the novel "War and Peace": the first evidence of the beginning of work

In September 1863, a letter arrives in Yasnaya Polyana from the father of Sofya Andreevna Tolstoy - A.E. Bersa. He writes that the day before, he and Lev Nikolayevich had a long conversation about the people's war against Napoleon and about that era in general - the count intends to start writing a novel dedicated to those great and memorable events in the history of Russia. The mention of this letter is not accidental, since it is considered "the first accurate evidence" of the beginning of the work of the great Russian writer on the novel "War and Peace". This is also confirmed by another document dated the same year a month later: Lev Nikolaevich writes to a relative about his new idea. He was already involved in work on an epic novel about the events of the beginning of the century and up to the 50s. How much moral strength and energy he needs to implement what he has planned, he says, and how much he already possesses, he already writes and thinks about everything in a way that he “has never written or thought about before.”

First idea

The history of the creation of Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" indicates that the writer's original intention was to create a book about the difficult fate of a Decembrist who returned to his native land in 1865 (the time of the abolition of serfdom) after many years of exile in Siberia. However, Lev Nikolayevich soon revised his idea and turned to the historical events of 1825 - the time. As a result, this idea was also abandoned: the protagonist's youth took place against the backdrop of the Patriotic War of 1912, a formidable and glorious time for the entire Russian people, which, in turn, was another link in the unbreakable chain of events of 1805. To tell Tolstoy decided to start from the very beginning - the beginning of the 19th century - and revived the half-century history of the Russian state with the help of not one main character, but many vivid images.

The history of the creation of the novel "War and Peace" or "Three Pores"

We continue ... Undoubtedly, a vivid idea of the writer's work on the novel is given by his story of creation ("War and Peace"). So, the time and place of the novel are determined. The author leads the main characters - the Decembrists, through three historically significant periods of time, hence the original title of the work "Three Pores".

The first part covers the period from the beginning of the 19th century until 1812, when the youth of the heroes coincided with the war between Russia and Napoleonic France. The second is the 20s, not without including the most important thing - the Decembrist uprising in 1825. And, finally, the third, final part - the 50s - the time of the return of the rebels from exile under the amnesty granted by the emperor against the background of such tragic pages of Russian history as the inglorious defeat and death of Nicholas I.

Well, the novel, in its conception and scope, promised to be global and demanded a different art form, and it was found. According to Lev Nikolayevich himself, “War and Peace” is not historical chronicles, and not a poem, and not even just a novel, but a new genre in fiction - an epic novel, where the fates of many people and an entire nation are associated with grandiose historical events .

torment

Work on the work was very difficult. The history of creation ("War and Peace") suggests that many times Lev Nikolayevich took the first steps and immediately stopped writing. There are fifteen versions of the first chapters of the work in the writer's archive. What hindered? What haunted the Russian genius? The desire to fully express their thoughts, their religious and philosophical ideas, research, their vision of history, to give their assessments of those socio-political processes, the huge role not of emperors, not leaders, but of the whole people in the history of the country. This required a colossal effort of all spiritual forces. More than once he lost and regained hope to fulfill his plan to the end. Hence the idea of the novel, and the names of the early editions: "Three Pores", "All's well that ends well", "1805". They seem to have changed more than once.

Patriotic War of 1812

Thus, the author’s long creative throwing ended in a narrowing of the time frame - Tolstoy focused all his attention on 1812, the war of Russia against the “Great Army” of the French Emperor Napoleon, and only in the epilogue touched upon the birth of the Decembrist movement.

The smells and sounds of war... To convey them, it was necessary to study a huge amount of material. This is fiction of that time, and historical documents, memoirs and letters of contemporaries of those events, battle plans, orders and orders of military commanders ... He spared neither time nor effort. From the very beginning, he rejected all those historical chronicles that sought to portray the war as a battlefield between two emperors, extolling first one, then the other. The writer did not belittle their merits and their significance, but put the people and their spirit at the forefront.

As you can see, the work has an incredibly interesting history of creation. "War and Peace" boasts another interesting fact. Between the manuscripts, another small, but nevertheless important document has been preserved - a sheet with the notes of the writer himself, made during his stay on it. On it, he captured the horizon line, indicating exactly where which villages were. Here you can also see the line of movement of the sun during the battle itself. All this, one might say, is bare sketches, sketches of what was later destined under the pen of a genius to turn into a real picture depicting a great full of movement, life, extraordinary colors and sounds. Incredible and amazing, isn't it?

chance and genius

L. Tolstoy on the pages of his novel talked a lot about the patterns of history. His conclusions are also applicable to life, they contain much that concerns a great work, in particular the history of creation. "War and Peace" went through many stages to become a real masterpiece.

Science says that chance and genius are to blame for everything: chance offered to capture the half-century history of Russia with the help of artistic means, and the genius - Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy - took advantage of it. But from this follow new questions about what this case is, what genius is. On the one hand, these are just words designed to explain what is actually inexplicable, and on the other hand, it is impossible to deny some of their suitability and usefulness, at least they denote "a certain degree of understanding of things."

Where and how the idea itself and the history of the creation of the novel "War and Peace" appeared - it is impossible to find out until the end, there are only bare facts, therefore we say "case". Further - more: we read the novel and cannot imagine that power, that human spirit, or rather superhuman one, which managed to clothe the deepest philosophical thoughts and ideas in an amazing form - therefore we say "genius".

The longer the series of “cases” that passes before us, the more the facets of the author’s genius shine, the closer we seem to be to revealing the secret of L. Tolstoy’s genius and some incomprehensible truth contained in the work. But this is an illusion. What to do? Lev Nikolaevich believed in the only possible understanding of the world order - the renunciation of knowledge of the ultimate goal. If we admit that the ultimate goal of creating a novel is inaccessible to us, if we renounce all the reasons, visible and invisible, that prompted the writer to take up writing a work, we will comprehend or at least admire and enjoy to the full its infinite depth, designed to serve common goals, not always accessible to human understanding. As the writer himself said while working on the novel, the ultimate goal of the artist is not the undeniable resolution of issues, but leading and pushing the reader to love life in all its countless manifestations, so that he would cry and laugh along with the main characters.

17.12.2013

145 years ago, a major literary event took place in Russia - the first edition of Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" was published. Separate chapters of the novel were published earlier - Tolstoy began publishing the first two parts in Katkov's Russkiy Vestnik a few years earlier, but the "canonical", complete and revised version of the novel came out only a few years later. Over a century and a half of its existence, this world masterpiece and bestseller has acquired both a mass of scientific research and reader legends. Here are some interesting facts about the novel that you may not have known.

How did Tolstoy himself evaluate War and Peace?

Leo Tolstoy was very skeptical about his "main works" - the novels "War and Peace" and Anna Karenina. So, in January 1871, he sent Fet a letter in which he wrote: “How happy I am ... that I will never write verbose rubbish like War.” Nearly 40 years later, he has not changed his mind. On December 6, 1908, an entry appeared in the writer's diary: "People love me for those trifles - War and Peace, etc., which seem very important to them." There is even more recent evidence. In the summer of 1909, one of the visitors to Yasnaya Polyana expressed his admiration and gratitude to the by then universally recognized classic for the creation of War and Peace and Anna Karenina. Tolstoy's answer was: "It's like someone came to Edison and said:" I respect you very much because you dance the mazurka well. I attribute meaning to very different books of mine."

Was Tolstoy sincere? Perhaps there was a share of the author's coquetry, although the whole image of Tolstoy the thinker strongly contradicts this conjecture - he was too serious and unfeigned person.

"War and Peace" or "War and Peace"?

The name "War of the World" is so familiar that it has already eaten into the subcortex. If you ask any more or less educated person what is the main work of Russian literature of all time, a good half will say without hesitation: "War and Peace." Meanwhile, the novel had different versions of the title: “1805” (even an excerpt from the novel was published under this title), “All's well that ends well” and “Three pores”.

A well-known legend is associated with the name of Tolstoy's masterpiece. Often they try to beat the title of the novel. Claiming that the author himself laid some ambiguity in it: either Tolstoy had in mind the opposition of war and peace as an antonym of war, that is, tranquility, or he used the word “peace” in the meaning of community, community, land ...

But the fact is that at the time when the novel saw the light of day, such ambiguity could not exist: two words, although they were pronounced the same, were written differently. Before the spelling reform of 1918, in the first case it was written "mir" (peace), and in the second - "mir" (Universe, society).

There is a legend that Tolstoy allegedly used the word “mir” in the title, but all this is the result of a simple misunderstanding. All lifetime editions of Tolstoy's novel 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". How could the word “world” sneak into the name? This is where the story splits. According to one version, this is the name that was written in his own hand on the document submitted by Leo Tolstoy to M.N. Lavrov, an employee of the Katkov printing house, at the first full publication of the novel. It is quite possible that there really was a mistake by the author. And so the legend was born.

According to another version, the legend could have appeared later as a result of a misprint made during the publication of the novel edited by P. I. Biryukov. In the 1913 edition, the title of the novel is reproduced eight times: on the title page and on the first page of each volume. Seven times "peace" is printed and only once - "peace", but on the first page of the first volume.
About the sources of "War and Peace"

When working on the novel, Leo Tolstoy approached his sources very seriously. He read a lot of historical and memoir literature. Tolstoy’s “list of used literature” included, for example, such academic publications as: the multi-volume Description of the Patriotic War in 1812, the history of M. I. Bogdanovich, The Life of Count Speransky by M. Korf, Biography of Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov M P. Shcherbinina. The writer and materials of the French historians Thiers, A. Dumas Sr., Georges Chambray, Maximilien Foix, Pierre Lanfre used. There are also studies on Freemasonry and, of course, the memoirs of the direct participants in the events - Sergei Glinka, Denis Davydov, Alexei Yermolov and many others, the list of French memoirists, starting with Napoleon himself, was also solid.

559 characters

The researchers calculated the exact number of heroes of "War and Peace" - there are exactly 559 of them in the book, and 200 of them are quite historical figures. Many of the rest have real prototypes.

In general, when working on the surnames of fictional characters (coming up with names and surnames for half a thousand people is already a lot of work), Tolstoy used the following three main ways: he used real surnames; modified real surnames; created completely new surnames, but based on real models.

Many episodic heroes of the novel have completely historical surnames - the book mentions the Razumovskys, Meshcherskys, Gruzinskys, Lopukhins, Arkharovs, etc. But the main characters, as a rule, have quite recognizable, but still fake, encrypted surnames. The reason for this is usually cited as the writer's unwillingness to show the connection of the character with any specific prototype, from which Tolstoy took only some features. Such, for example, are Bolkonsky (Volkonsky), Drubetskoy (Trubetskoy), Kuragin (Kurakin), Dolokhov (Dorokhov) and others. But, of course, Tolstoy could not completely abandon fiction - for example, on the pages of the novel there are names that sound quite noble, but still not related to a particular family - Peronskaya, Chatrov, Telyanin, Desal, etc.

Real prototypes of many heroes of the novel are also known. So, Vasily Dmitrievich Denisov is a friend of Nikolai Rostov, the famous hussar and partisan Denis Davydov became his prototype.
An acquaintance of the Rostov family, Maria Dmitrievna Akhrosimova, was written off from the widow of Major General Nastasya Dmitrievna Ofrosimova. By the way, she was so colorful that she appeared in another famous work - Alexander Griboyedov almost portrayed her in his comedy Woe from Wit.

Her son, breter and reveler Fyodor Ivanovich Dolokhov, and later one of the leaders of the partisan movement, embodied the features of several prototypes at once - the war heroes of the partisans Alexander Figner and Ivan Dorokhov, as well as the famous duelist Fyodor Tolstoy-American.

The old prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, an elderly nobleman of Catherine, was inspired by the image of the writer's maternal grandfather, a representative of the Volkonsky family.
But Princess Maria Nikolaevna, the daughter of the old man Bolkonsky and the sister of Prince Andrei, Tolstoy saw in Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya (in the marriage of Tolstoy), his mother.

Screen adaptations

We all know and appreciate the famous Soviet adaptation of "War and Peace" by Sergei Bondarchuk, which was released in 1965. The production of War and Peace by King Vidor in 1956 is also known, the music for which was written by Nino Rota, and the main roles were played by Hollywood stars of the first magnitude Audrey Hepburn (Natasha Rostova) and Henry Fonda (Pierre Bezukhov).

And the first adaptation of the novel appeared just a few years after the death of Leo Tolstoy. The silent picture of Pyotr Chardynin was published in 1913, one of the main roles (Andrey Bolkonsky) in the film was played by the famous actor Ivan Mozzhukhin.

Some numbers

Tolstoy wrote and rewrote the novel for 6 years, from 1863 to 1869. According to the researchers of his work, the author manually rewrote the text of the novel 8 times, and rewrote individual episodes more than 26 times.

The first edition of the novel: twice as short and five times as interesting?

Not everyone knows that in addition to the generally accepted one, there is another version of the novel. This is the very first edition that Leo Tolstoy brought to Moscow in 1866 to the publisher Mikhail Katkov for publication. But this time Tolstoy could not publish the novel.

Katkov was interested in continuing to print it in pieces in his Russian Bulletin. Other publishers did not see any commercial potential in the book at all - the novel seemed too long and "irrelevant" to them, so they offered the author to publish it at his own expense. There were other reasons: Sofya Andreevna demanded that her husband return to Yasnaya Polyana, who could not cope alone with running a large household and looking after children. In addition, in the Chertkovo library that had just opened for public use, Tolstoy found a lot of materials that he certainly wanted to use in his book. And therefore, postponing the publication of the novel, he worked on it for another two years. However, the first version of the book did not disappear - it was preserved in the writer's archive, was reconstructed and published in 1983 in the 94th volume of the Literary Heritage by the Nauka publishing house.

Here is what the head of a well-known publishing house, Igor Zakharov, who published it in 2007, wrote about this version of the novel:

"one. Twice as short and five times more interesting.
2. Almost no philosophical digressions.
3. A hundred times easier to read: the entire French text is replaced by Russian in the translation of Tolstoy himself.
4. Much more peace and less war.
5. Happy ending...».

Well, it's our right to choose...

Elena Veshkina

“I don’t know anyone who would write about the war better than Tolstoy”

Ernest Hemingway

Many writers use real historical events for the plots of their works. One of the most frequently described events is war - civil, domestic, world. The Patriotic War of 1812 deserves special attention: the Battle of Borodino, the burning of Moscow, the exile of the French Emperor Napoleon. In Russian literature, a detailed depiction of the war is presented in the novel "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy. The writer describes specific military battles, allows the reader to see real historical figures, gives his own assessment of the events that took place.

Causes of war in the novel "War and Peace"

L.N. Tolstoy in the epilogue tells us about “this man”, “without convictions, without habits, without traditions, without a name, not even a Frenchman ...”, who is Napoleon Bonaparte, who wanted to conquer the whole world. The main enemy on his way was Russia - huge, strong. By various deceitful ways, cruel battles, seizures of territories, Napoleon moved slowly from his goal. Neither the Peace of Tilsit, nor Russia's allies, nor Kutuzov could stop him. Although Tolstoy says that “the more we try to reasonably explain these phenomena in nature, the more unreasonable, incomprehensible they become for us,” nevertheless, in the novel War and Peace, the cause of the war is Napoleon. Standing in power in France, subjugating part of Europe, he lacked the great Russia. But Napoleon was mistaken, he did not calculate the strength and lost this war.

War in the novel "War and Peace"

Tolstoy himself presents this concept as follows: “Millions of people committed against each other such an innumerable number of atrocities ... that for whole centuries the annals of all the courts of the world will not collect and which, during this period of time, the people who committed them did not look like crimes” . Through the description of the war in the novel War and Peace, Tolstoy makes us understand that he himself hates war for its cruelty, murder, betrayal, and senselessness. He puts judgments about war into the mouths of his heroes. So Andrei Bolkonsky says to Bezukhov: "War is not a courtesy, but the most disgusting thing in life, and you need to understand this and not play war." We see that there is no pleasure, pleasure, satisfaction of one's desires from bloody actions against another people. In the novel, it is definitely clear that the war in Tolstoy's image is "an event that is contrary to the human mind and all human nature."

Major battle of the War of 1812

Even in the I and II volumes of the novel, Tolstoy tells about the military campaigns of 1805-1807. Shengraben, Austerlitz battles pass through the prism of the writer's reflections and conclusions. But in the war of 1812, the writer puts the Battle of Borodino at the forefront. Although he immediately asks himself and his readers the question: “Why was the Battle of Borodino given?

Neither for the French nor for the Russians it made the slightest sense. But it was the battle of Borodino that became the starting point until the victory of the Russian army. LN Tolstoy gives a detailed idea of the course of the war in War and Peace. He describes every action of the Russian army, the physical and mental state of the soldiers. According to the writer's own assessment, neither Napoleon, nor Kutuzov, and even more so Alexander I did not expect such an outcome of this war. For everyone, the Battle of Borodino was unplanned and unforeseen. What is the concept of the war of 1812, the heroes of the novel do not understand, just as Tolstoy does not understand, just as the reader does not understand.

Heroes of the novel "War and Peace"

Tolstoy gives the reader the opportunity to look at his characters from the outside, to see them in action in certain circumstances. Shows us Napoleon before leaving for Moscow, who was aware of all the disastrous situation of the army, but went forward to his goal. He comments on his ideas, thoughts, actions.

We can observe Kutuzov, the main executor of the people's will, who preferred "patience and time" to the offensive.

Before us is Bolkonsky, reborn, morally grown and loving his people. Pierre Bezukhov in a new understanding of all the "causes of human troubles", who arrived in Moscow with the aim of killing Napoleon.

Militia men "with crosses on their hats and in white shirts, who, with a loud voice and laughter, are lively and sweaty," ready at any moment to die for their homeland.

Before us is Emperor Alexander I, who finally gave the "reins of control of the war" into the hands of the "all-knowing" Kutuzov, but still does not fully understand the true position of Russia in this war.

Natasha Rostova, who abandoned all family property and gave wagons to the wounded soldiers so that they could leave the destroyed city. She takes care of the wounded Bolkonsky, giving him all her time and affection.

Petya Rostov, who died so absurdly without a real participation in the war, without a feat, without a battle, who secretly "signed up for the hussars" from everyone. And many more heroes who we meet in several episodes, but deserve respect and recognition in true patriotism.

Reasons for winning the War of 1812

In the novel, L.N. Tolstoy expresses thoughts about the reasons for Russia’s victory in the Patriotic War: “No one will argue that the reason for the death of Napoleon’s French troops was, on the one hand, their entry at a later time without preparing for a winter campaign deep into Russia, and on the other hand, on the other hand, the character that the war assumed from the burning of Russian cities and the incitement of hatred for the enemy in the Russian people. For the Russian people, the victory in the Patriotic War was the victory of the Russian spirit, Russian strength, Russian faith in any circumstances. The consequences of the war of 1812 for the French side, namely for Napoleon, were heavy. It was the collapse of his empire, the collapse of his hopes, the collapse of his greatness. Napoleon not only did not take possession of the whole world, he could not stay in Moscow, but fled ahead of his army, retreating in disgrace and the failure of the entire military campaign.

My essay on the topic “The depiction of war in the novel War and Peace” tells very briefly about the war in Tolstoy’s novel. Only after a careful reading of the entire novel, you can appreciate all the skill of the writer and discover interesting pages of the military history of Russia.

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