Leo Tolstoy is one of the world's greatest novelists, thinker and philosopher. His main works are known to everyone and everyone. "Anna Karenina" and "War and Peace" are the pearls of Russian literature. Today we will discuss the three-volume work "War and Peace". How was the novel created, what interesting facts about it are known to history?
When was the novel "War and Peace" written? In the period from 1863 to 1869 For many years the writer worked on the novel, giving him all his creative powers. Tolstoy himself later admitted: if he knew that many generations would admire his work, he would have given it not only seven years, but his whole life to its creation. Officially, the date of creation of "War and Peace" is 1863-1869
The main idea of the novel
When the novel "War andworld", Lev Nikolaevich became the founder of a new genre, which after him gained wide popularity in Russian literature. This is an epic novel that combined several stylistic genres and told the world a half-century history of Russia. Problems of a political, spiritual and moral nature are intertwined here.
As the writer himself wrote, he wanted to show the Russian people with their courage, selflessness, desire for peace even during the war. Tolstoy elevates the Russian people, who draw the will to win in kindness, love and faith. The French were defeated because they did not believe in the rightness of their cause.
The main idea of the novel is philosophical and religious. Above the whole kaleidoscope of events that Lev Nikolaevich describes, an invisible force, Providence, is felt. And everything happens exactly as it should happen. And understanding and accepting this is the highest good for humanity.
This thought is reflected in Pierre's reflections:
“The terrible question that had previously destroyed all his mental structures: why? no longer existed for him. Now to this question - why? a simple answer was always ready in his soul: then, that there is a God, that God, without whose will a hair will not fall from a person’s head.”
Getting Started
The idea to write a book about the Decembrists came from Tolstoy after a meeting with the Decembrist, who returned to Moscow after thirty years of exile. On September 5, 1863, Tolstoy's father-in-law, A. E. Bers, sent a letter from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana. It read:
Yesterday wethere was a lot of talk about 1812 on the occasion of your intention to write a novel relating to this era.”
It is this letter that is considered the first evidence dating the beginning of the writer's work on the novel. In October of the same year, Tolstoy wrote to his relative that he had never felt his mental and moral powers so free and ready for work. He wrote with incredible creativity. And that's what made it a worldwide bestseller. Never before, Lev Nikolaevich himself confessed in the same letter, had he felt like "a writer with all the strength of his soul." The date of writing the novel "War and Peace" became a landmark in the writer's career.
The duration of the novel
Initially, the novel was supposed to tell about one hero living in 1856, shortly before the abolition of serfdom. However, later the writer revised his plan, as he could not understand his hero. He decided to change the time of the story to 1825 - the period of the Decembrist uprising. But he could not fully understand his hero, so he moved on to his young years, the period of the formation of his personality, - 1812. This time coincided with the war between Russia and France. And it was inextricably linked with 1805, a period of pain and hardship. The writer decided to show the tragic pages of Russian history. He explained this by saying that he was ashamed to write about the triumph of the Russians, without telling about their failures. Therefore, the time of writing the novel "War and Peace" dragged on for years.
Heroes of the book "War and Peace"
Originally TolstoyI thought of writing about one main character, Pierre Bezukhov, a Decembrist who returned to Moscow after thirty years of exile in Siberia. However, later his novel expanded so much that it contained hundreds of characters. Tolstoy, as a true perfectionist, sought to show the story of not one, but many heroes who live in a troubled time for Russia. In addition to the well-known main characters, there are many minor characters in the plot, which give the story a special charm.
When the novel "War and Peace" was written, researchers of the writer's work counted the number of characters in the work. It has 599 characters, 200 of which are historical figures. Many of the rest have real prototypes. For example, Vasily Denisov, a friend of Nikolai Rostov, was partly copied from the famous partisan Denis Davydov. Researchers of Tolstoy's work consider the writer's mother, Maria Nikolaevna Volkonskaya, to be the prototype of Princess Maria Bolkonskaya. Lev Nikolaevich did not remember her, since she died when he was not even two years old. However, all his life he bowed to her image.
Surnames of heroes
The writer had to work hard to give a last name to each character. Lev Nikolaevich acted in several ways - he used or modified real surnames or invented new ones.
Most of the main characters have modified, but quite recognizable surnames. The writer did this so that the reader would not associate them with real people, from whom he borrowed only some features.character and appearance.
Peace and War
The novel "War and Peace" is based on opposition, which can be seen already in the title. All characters are divided into two categories - "heroes of war" and "heroes of the world". The first key personality of the "war" is Napoleon, who is ready to do anything to achieve his own goal.
He is opposed by Kutuzov, striving for peace. The rest of the smaller characters also fall into one of two categories. This may not be noticeable to the casual reader. But internally they are oriented towards the behavior model of either Kutuzov or Napoleon. There are also undecided characters who, in the process of self-development, choose one of two camps. These, in particular, include Andrei and Pierre, who as a result choose "peace".
…"get confused, make mistakes, start and quit again…"
This is an excerpt from one of the famous quotes of the novel, which perfectly characterizes the writer's creative search. The period of writing "War and Peace" was long and exhausting. More than 5,000 double-sided pages written in small print can be found in the writer's archive. It was truly a colossal job. Tolstoy rewrote the novel by hand 8 times. He improved some chapters up to 26 times. The beginning of the novel was especially difficult for the writer, which he rewrote 15 times.
When was the novel "War and Peace" written in its original version? In 1866. In the archive of Lev Nikolaevich you can find the first, earliest version of the novel. ExactlyTolstoy brought it to the publisher Mikhail Katkov in 1866. However, he failed to publish the novel. It was economically advantageous for Katkov to publish the novel in parts in Russkiy Vestnik (prior to this, Tolstoy had already published several parts of the novel under the title Three Pores). Other publishers felt the novel was too long and out of date. Therefore, Tolstoy returned to Yasnaya Polyana and extended work on the novel for another two years.
Meanwhile, the first version of the novel has been preserved in the writer's archive. Many consider it much better than the final result. It contains fewer philosophical digressions, is shorter and eventful.
Verbose rubbish…
Tolstoy gave his offspring a lot of mental and physical strength, the period of writing "War and Peace" was long and exhausting. However, after a while his ardor faded and the opinion about the written novel changed. Being a stern and implacable man, Lev Nikolaevich treated most of his works with a degree of skepticism. He considered his other books to be more significant.
In January 1871, Tolstoy confessed in his letter to Fet:
"I'm so happy…that I'll never write verbose rubbish like 'War' again."
A similar attitude to "War and Peace" slipped in his diaries, which he kept from childhood. Tolstoy considered his main works to be trifles, which for some reason seem important to people. However, the years of writing the novel "War and Peace" indicate that the writer himself at firsttreated his offspring with awe and love.
