The novel "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy devoted seven years of intense and hard work. September 5, 1863 A.E. Bers, father of Sofya Andreevna, wife of L.N. Tolstoy, sent a letter from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana with the following remark: “Yesterday we talked a lot about 1812 on the occasion of your intention to write a novel relating to this era.” It is this letter that the researchers consider to be the “first accurate evidence” dating the beginning of the work of L.N. Tolstoy over "War and Peace". In October of the same year, Tolstoy wrote to his relative: “I have never felt my mental and even all my moral forces so free and so capable of work. And I have this job. This work is a novel from the time of 1810 and the 20s, which has completely occupied me since the autumn ... I am now a writer with all the strength of my soul, and I write and think, as I have never written and thought before.
The manuscripts of "War and Peace" testify to how one of the world's largest creations was created: over 5,200 finely written sheets have been preserved in the writer's archive. From them you can trace the entire history of the creation of the novel.
Initially, Tolstoy conceived a novel about a Decembrist who returned after a 30-year exile in Siberia. The action of the novel began in 1856, shortly before the abolition of serfdom. But then the writer revised his plan and moved on to 1825, the era of the Decembrist uprising. But soon the writer abandoned this beginning and decided to show the youth of his hero, which coincided with the formidable and glorious times of the Patriotic War of 1812. But Tolstoy did not stop there, and since the war of 1812 was in inseparable connection since 1805, then he began the whole composition from that time. Having moved the beginning of the action of his novel half a century into the depths of history, Tolstoy decided to lead not one, but many heroes through the most important events for Russia.
Tolstoy called his idea - to capture in art form the half-century history of the country - "Three pores". The first time is the beginning of the century, its first decade and a half, the youth of the first Decembrists who went through the Patriotic War of 1812. The second time is the 20s with their main event - the uprising on December 14, 1825. The third time - the 50s, an unsuccessful end for the Russian army Crimean War, sudden death Nicholas I, the amnesty of the Decembrists, their return from exile and the waiting time for changes in the life of Russia. However, in the process of working on the work, the writer narrowed the scope of his original intention and focused on the first period, touching only in the epilogue of the novel on the beginning of the second period. But even in this form, the idea of the work remained global in scope and demanded the exertion of all forces from the writer. At the beginning of his work, Tolstoy realized that the usual framework of the novel and the historical story would not be able to accommodate all the richness of the content he had conceived, and began to persistently look for a new one. art form he wanted to create literary work quite an unusual type. And he succeeded. "War and Peace", according to L.N. Tolstoy is not a novel, not a poem, not historical chronicle, this is an epic novel, new genre prose, which, after Tolstoy, became widespread in Russian and world literature.
During the first year of work, Tolstoy worked hard on the beginning of the novel. According to the author himself, many times he started and stopped writing his book, losing and gaining hope to express in it everything that he wanted to express. Fifteen variants of the beginning of the novel have been preserved in the writer's archive. The idea of the work was based on Tolstoy's deep interest in history, in philosophical and socio-political issues. The work was created in an atmosphere of boiling passions around the main issue of that era - about the role of the people in the history of the country, about its destinies. While working on the novel, Tolstoy sought to find the answer to these questions.
In order to truthfully describe the events of the Patriotic War of 1812, the writer studied a huge amount of materials: books, historical documents, memoirs, letters. “When I write history,” Tolstoy pointed out in the article “A few words about the book“ War and Peace ”, “I like to be true to reality to the smallest detail.” While working on the work, he collected a whole library of books about the events of 1812. In the books of Russian and foreign historians, he did not find a true description of events, nor a fair assessment of historical figures. Some of them unrestrainedly praised Alexander I, considering him the winner of Napoleon, others exalted Napoleon, considering him invincible.
Rejecting all the works of historians who portrayed the war of 1812 as a war of two emperors, Tolstoy set himself the goal of truthfully covering the events great era and showed the war of liberation waged by the Russian people against foreign invaders. From the books of Russian and foreign historians, Tolstoy borrowed only genuine historical documents: orders, orders, dispositions, battle plans, letters, etc. He introduced letters from Alexander I and Napoleon into the text of the novel, with which Russian and french emperors exchanged before the start of the war of 1812; the disposition of the battle of Austerlitz, developed by General Weyrother, as well as the disposition of the battle of Borodino, compiled by Napoleon. The chapters of the work also include letters from Kutuzov, which confirm the characterization given to the field marshal by the author. When creating the novel, Tolstoy used the memoirs of contemporaries and participants in the Patriotic War of 1812. So, from "Notes on 1812 by Sergei Glinka, the first warrior of the Moscow militia", the writer borrowed materials for scenes depicting Moscow during the war; in the “Works of Denis Vasilyevich Davydov” Tolstoy found the materials underlying the partisan scenes of “War and Peace”; in the "Notes of Alexei Petrovich Yermolov" the writer found a lot important information about the actions of Russian troops during their foreign campaigns of 1805-1806. Tolstoy also discovered a lot of valuable information in the notes of V.A. Perovsky about his stay in captivity by the French, and in the diary of S. Zhikharev "Notes of a Contemporary from 1805 to 1819", on the basis of which the Moscow life of that time is described in the novel.
While working on the work, Tolstoy also used materials from newspapers and magazines from the era of the Patriotic War of 1812. He spent a lot of time in the manuscript department of the Rumyantsev Museum and in the archives of the palace department, where he carefully studied unpublished documents (orders and instructions, reports and reports, Masonic manuscripts and letters historical persons). Here he got acquainted with the letters of the maid of honor imperial palace M.A. Volkova to V.A. Lanskoy, letters from General F.P. Uvarov and others. In letters that were not intended for publication, the writer found precious details depicting the life and characters of his contemporaries in 1812.
Tolstoy spent two days in Borodino. Having traveled around the battlefield, he wrote to his wife: “I am very pleased, very, - with my trip ... If only God would give health and tranquility, and I will write this battle of Borodino which hasn't happened yet." Between the manuscripts of "War and Peace" there is a sheet with notes made by Tolstoy at the time when he was on the Borodino field. “The distance is visible for 25 miles,” he wrote, sketching the horizon line and noting where the villages of Borodino, Gorki, Psarevo, Semenovskoye, Tatarinovo are located. On this sheet, he noted the movement of the sun during the battle. While working on the work, these brief notes Tolstoy unfolded the Borodino battle into unique pictures, full of movement, colors and sounds.
Throughout the seven years of hard work that the writing of War and Peace required, Tolstoy did not leave his spiritual uplift and creative burning, and that is why the work has not lost its significance to this day. More than a century has passed since the first part of the novel appeared in print, and people of all ages, from young people to the elderly, invariably read War and Peace. During the years of work on the epic novel, Tolstoy stated that "the goal of the artist is not to undeniably resolve the issue, but to make you love life in countless, never exhausted all its manifestations." Then he admitted: “If I were told that what I am writing will be read by today's children in twenty years and will cry and laugh over it and love life, I would devote my whole life and all my strength to it.” Many such works were created by Tolstoy. "War and Peace", dedicated to one of the bloodiest wars of the 19th century, but affirming the idea of the triumph of life over death, occupies an honorable place among them.
“War and Peace” is the legendary epic novel by L.N. Tolstoy, who laid the foundation for a new genre of prose in world literature. The lines of a great work were created under the influence of history, philosophy and social disciplines, which he thoroughly studied great writer, because the historical works require the most accurate information. Having studied many documents, Tolstoy covered historical events with maximum accuracy, confirming the information with the memoirs of eyewitnesses of the great era.
Prerequisites for writing the novel War and Peace
The idea of writing the novel arose as a result of the impressions of a meeting with the Decembrist S. Volkonsky, who told Tolstoy about life in exile in the Siberian expanses. It was 1856. A separate chapter called "Decembrists" fully conveyed the spirit of the hero, his principles and political convictions.
After a while, the author decides to return deep into history and highlight the events not only of 1825, but also the beginning of the formation of the Decembrist movement and their ideology. Covering the events of 1812, Tolstoy studies a lot of historical materials of that era - the notes of V.A. Perovsky, S. Zhikharev, A.P. Yermolov, letters from General F.P. Uvarova, ladies-in-waiting M.A. Volkova, as well as a number of materials by Russian and French historians. Not less than important role original battle plans, orders and instructions played in the creation of the novel high officials Imperial Palace during the War of 1812.
But the writer does not stop there, returning to historical events early XIX century. The novel features historical figures Napoleon and Alexander I, thereby complicating the structure and genre of a great work.
The main theme of the epic War and Peace
The ingenious historical work, which took about 6 years to write, represents the incredibly truthful mood of the Russian people, their psychology and worldview during the imperial battles. The lines of the novel are permeated with the morality and individuality of each of the characters, of which there are more than 500 in the novel. Whole picture works lies in the ingenious reproduction artistic images representatives of all walks of life, from the emperor to the ordinary soldier. An incredible impression is made by the scenes where the author conveys both the lofty motives of the characters and the base ones, thereby pointing to the life of a Russian person in its various manifestations.
Over the years, under the influence literary critics, Tolstoy makes some changes to some parts of the work - reduces the number of volumes to 4, transfers part of the reflections to the epilogue, and makes some stylistic changes. In 1868, a work appears in which the author sets out some details of writing the novel, sheds light on some details of the style and genre of writing, as well as the features of the main characters.
Thanks to the restless and talented personality, which was Leo Tolstoy, the world saw great book about self-improvement, which was, is and will be relevant among a huge number of readers of all times and peoples. Here anyone will find answers to the most difficult life questions, drawing wisdom, philosophy and ingenious historical experience Russian people.
Novel "War and Peace" L.N. Tolstoy devoted seven years of intense and hard work. September 5, 1863 A.E. Bers, father of Sofya Andreevna, wife of L.N. Tolstoy, sent a letter from Moscow to Yasnaya Polyana with the following remark: “Yesterday we talked a lot about 1812 on the occasion of your intention to write a novel relating to this era.” It is this letter that the researchers consider to be the “first accurate evidence” dating the beginning of the work of L.N. Tolstoy over "War and Peace". In October of the same year, Tolstoy wrote to his relative: “I have never felt my mental and even all my moral forces so free and so capable of work. And I have this job. This work is a novel from the time of 1810 and the 20s, which has completely occupied me since the autumn ... I am now a writer with all the strength of my soul, and I write and think, as I have never written and thought before.
The manuscripts of "War and Peace" testify to how one of the world's largest creations was created: over 5,200 finely written sheets have been preserved in the writer's archive. From them you can trace the entire history of the creation of the novel.
Initially, Tolstoy conceived a novel about a Decembrist who returned after a 30-year exile in Siberia. The action of the novel began in 1856, shortly before the abolition of serfdom. But then the writer revised his plan and moved on to 1825 - the era of the Decembrist uprising. But soon the writer abandoned this beginning and decided to show the youth of his hero, which coincided with the formidable and glorious times of the Patriotic War of 1812. But Tolstoy did not stop there, and since the war of 1812 was inextricably linked with 1805, he began his entire work from that time. Having moved the beginning of the action of his novel half a century into the depths of history, Tolstoy decided to lead not one, but many heroes through the most important events for Russia.
Tolstoy called his idea - to capture in art form the half-century history of the country - "Three pores". The first time is the beginning of the century, its first decade and a half, the youth of the first Decembrists who went through the Patriotic War of 1812. The second time is the 20s with their main event - the uprising on December 14, 1825. The third time is the 50s, the end of the Crimean War, unsuccessful for the Russian army, the sudden death of Nicholas I, the amnesty of the Decembrists, their return from exile and the time of waiting for changes in the life of Russia.
However, in the process of working on the work, the writer narrowed the scope of his original idea and focused on the first period, touching only on the beginning of the second period in the epilogue of the novel. But even in this form, the idea of the work remained global in scope and demanded the exertion of all forces from the writer. At the beginning of his work, Tolstoy realized that the usual framework of the novel and historical story would not be able to accommodate all the richness of the content he had conceived, and he began to persistently look for a new artistic form, he wanted to create a literary work of a completely unusual type. And he succeeded. "War and Peace", according to L.N. Tolstoy is not a novel, not a poem, not a historical chronicle, this is an epic novel, a new genre of prose, which, after Tolstoy, became widespread in Russian and world literature.
During the first year of work, Tolstoy worked hard on the beginning of the novel. According to the author himself, many times he started and stopped writing his book, losing and gaining hope to express in it everything that he wanted to express. Fifteen variants of the beginning of the novel have been preserved in the writer's archive. The idea of the work was based on Tolstoy's deep interest in history, in philosophical and socio-political issues. The work was created in an atmosphere of passions boiling over the main issue of that era - the role of the people in the history of the country, about its fate. While working on the novel, Tolstoy sought to find the answer to these questions.
In order to truthfully describe the events of the Patriotic War of 1812, the writer studied a huge amount of materials: books, historical documents, memoirs, letters. “When I write history,” Tolstoy pointed out in the article “A few words about the book“ War and Peace ”, “I like to be true to reality to the smallest detail.” While working on the work, he collected a whole library of books about the events of 1812. In the books of Russian and foreign historians, he did not find any truthful description of events, nor a fair assessment of historical figures. Some of them unrestrainedly praised Alexander I, considering him the winner of Napoleon, others exalted Napoleon, considering him invincible.
Rejecting all the works of historians who portrayed the war of 1812 as a war of two emperors, Tolstoy set himself the goal of truthfully highlighting the events of the great era and showed the liberation war waged by the Russian people against foreign invaders. From the books of Russian and foreign historians, Tolstoy borrowed only authentic historical documents: orders, orders, dispositions, battle plans, letters, etc. He included letters from Alexander I and Napoleon, which the Russian and French emperors exchanged before the start of the 1812 war, into the text of the novel; the disposition of the battle of Austerlitz, developed by General Weyrother, as well as the disposition of the battle of Borodino, compiled by Napoleon. The chapters of the work also include letters from Kutuzov, which confirm the characterization given to the field marshal by the author.
When creating the novel, Tolstoy used the memoirs of contemporaries and participants in the Patriotic War of 1812. So, from "Notes on 1812 by Sergei Glinka, the first warrior of the Moscow militia", the writer borrowed materials for scenes depicting Moscow during the war; in the “Works of Denis Vasilyevich Davydov” Tolstoy found the materials underlying the partisan scenes of “War and Peace”; in the "Notes of Alexei Petrovich Yermolov" the writer found a lot of important information about the actions of Russian troops during their foreign campaigns of 1805-1806. Tolstoy also discovered a lot of valuable information in the notes of V.A. Perovsky about his stay in captivity by the French, and in the diary of S. Zhikharev "Notes of a Contemporary from 1805 to 1819", on the basis of which the Moscow life of that time is described in the novel.
While working on the work, Tolstoy also used materials from newspapers and magazines from the era of the Patriotic War of 1812. He spent a lot of time in the manuscript department of the Rumyantsev Museum and in the archives of the palace department, where he carefully studied unpublished documents (orders and instructions, reports and reports, Masonic manuscripts and letters from historical figures). Here he got acquainted with the letters of the maid of honor of the imperial palace M.A. Volkova to V.A. Lanskoy, letters from General F.P. Uvarov and others. In letters that were not intended for publication, the writer found precious details depicting the life and characters of his contemporaries in 1812.
Tolstoy spent two days in Borodino. Having traveled around the battlefield, he wrote to his wife: "I am very pleased, very, - with my trip ... If only God would give health and tranquility, and I will write such a battle of Borodino as has never been." Between the manuscripts of "War and Peace" there is a sheet with notes made by Tolstoy at the time when he was on the Borodino field. “The distance is visible for 25 miles,” he wrote, sketching the horizon line and noting where the villages of Borodino, Gorki, Psarevo, Semenovskoye, Tatarinovo are located. On this sheet, he noted the movement of the sun during the battle. While working on the work, Tolstoy unfolded these brief notes into unique pictures of the Battle of Borodino, full of movement, colors and sounds.
Throughout the seven years of hard work that the writing of War and Peace required, Tolstoy did not leave his spiritual uplift and creative burning, and that is why the work has not lost its significance to this day. More than a century has passed since the appearance in print of the first part of the novel, and invariably "War and Peace" is read by people of all ages - from young people to the elderly. During the years of work on the epic novel, Tolstoy stated that "the goal of the artist is not to undeniably resolve the issue, but to make you love life in countless, never exhausted all its manifestations." Then he admitted: “If I were told that what I am writing will be read by today's children in twenty years and will cry and laugh over it and love life, I would devote my whole life and all my strength to it.” Many such works were created by Tolstoy. "War and Peace", dedicated to one of the bloodiest wars of the 19th century, but affirming the idea of the triumph of life over death, occupies an honorable place among them.
The history of the creation of the novel "War and Peace"
It was difficult for Tolstoy to approach "War and Peace" - however, there were no easy paths in his life.
Tolstoy brilliantly entered literature with his very first thing - initial part autobiographical trilogy"Childhood" (1852). "Sevastopol stories" (1855) strengthened the success. The young writer, yesterday's army officer, was joyfully greeted by St. Petersburg writers - especially from among the authors and employees of Sovremennik (Nekrasov was the first to read the manuscript "Childhood", highly appreciated it and published it in the magazine). However, the commonality of views and interests of Tolstoy and the capital's writers cannot be overestimated. Tolstoy very soon began to move away from his fellow writers, moreover, he emphasized in every possible way that the very spirit of literary salons was alien to him.
To Petersburg, where the "advanced literary community" opened its arms to him, Tolstoy arrived from Sevastopol. In the war, in the midst of blood, fear and pain, there was no time for entertainment, just as there was no time for intellectual conversations. In the capital, he is in a hurry to catch up - he divides his time between carousing with gypsies and conversations with Turgenev, Druzhinin, Botkin, Aksakovs. However, if the gypsies did not deceive expectations, then "conversations with smart people“After two weeks, Tolstoy ceased to be interested. In letters to his sister and brother, he angrily joked that he liked “smart conversation” with writers, but he was “too behind them”, in their society “I want to fall apart, take off my pants and blow my nose in his hand, but in a smart conversation you want to lie nonsense. "And the point is not that one of the St. Petersburg writers was personally unpleasant to Tolstoy. He does not accept the very atmosphere of literary circles and parties, all this near-literary fuss. : one on one with a sheet of paper, with his soul and conscience. No incoming circle interests should influence what was written, determine the position of the author. And in May 1856, Tolstoy "runs" to Yasnaya Polyana. From that moment on, he only left it for a short while, never striving to return to the light.There was only one path from Yasnaya Polyana - to even greater simplicity: to the asceticism of a wanderer.
Literary affairs are combined with simple and clear occupations: the organization of the house, household, peasant labors. At this moment, one of the most important features of Tolstoy appears: writing seems to him a kind of departure from the real thing, a substitution. It does not give the right to eat bread grown by peasants with a clear conscience. This torments, oppresses the writer, makes him spend more and more time away from the desk. And in July 1857, he finds an occupation that allows him to constantly work and see the real fruits of this work: Tolstoy opens in Yasnaya Polyana school for peasant children. The efforts of Tolstoy the teacher are not directed towards elementary educational program. He seeks to awaken the creative forces in the children, to activate and develop their spiritual and intellectual potential.
Working at school, Tolstoy got used to the peasant world more and more deeply, comprehended its laws, psychological and moral foundations. He contrasted this world of simple and clear human relationships with the world of the nobility, the educated world, taken away by civilization from the age-old foundations. And this opposition was not in favor of the people of his circle.
The purity of thoughts, the freshness and accuracy of the perception of his barefoot students, their ability to assimilate knowledge and creativity made Tolstoy write sharply polemical article about nature artistic creativity with a shocking title: "Who should learn to write from whom, peasant children from us or us from peasant children?"
The question of the nationality of literature has always been one of the most important for Tolstoy. And turning to pedagogy, he penetrated even deeper into the essence and laws of artistic creation, searched for and acquired strong "support points" of his writer's "independence".
Parting with St. Petersburg and the society of capital writers, searching for their own direction in creativity and a sharp refusal to participate in public life as everyone understood revolutionary democrats, teaching pedagogy - all these are features of the first crisis in creative biography Tolstoy. The brilliant beginning is a thing of the past: everything written by Tolstoy in the second half of the 1950s (Lucerne, Albert) is not successful; in the novel "Family Happiness" the author himself is disappointed, he leaves the work unfinished. Experiencing this crisis, Tolstoy strives to completely rethink his worldview in order to live and write differently.
The beginning of a new period marks the revised and completed story "Cossacks" (1862). And so, in February 1863, Tolstoy began work on the novel, which would later become known as War and Peace.
“Thus began the book, on which seven years of unceasing and exceptional labor will be spent with best conditions life." A book that combined years of historical research ("a whole library of books") and family lore, the tragic experience of the Sevastopol bastions and the little things of Yasnaya Polyana life, the problems raised in "Childhood" and "Lucerne", " Sevastopol stories"and" Cossacks "(L.N. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" in Russian criticism: Collection of articles. - L., publishing house of Leningrad University, 1989).
The begun novel becomes an alloy of the highest achievements of early Tolstoy's work: psychological analysis"Childhood", truth-seeking and deromanticization of war" Sevastopol stories", philosophical understanding of the world of "Lucerne", the nationality "Cossacks". On this complex basis the idea of a moral-psychological and historical-philosophical novel was formed, an epic novel in which the author sought to recreate the true historical picture three epochs of Russian history and analyze their moral lessons, comprehend and proclaim the very laws of history.
The first ideas for a new novel came to Tolstoy at the end of the 50s: a novel about a Decembrist who returned with his family from Siberia in 1856: then the main characters were called Pierre and Natasha Lobazov. But this idea was abandoned - and in 1863 the writer returned to it. “As the idea moved, an intense search for the title of the novel went on. The original, “Three Pores,” soon ceased to correspond to the content, because from 1856 and 1825 Tolstoy went further and further into the past; the focus was only on one “time” - 1812. This is how a different date appeared, and the first chapters of the novel were published in the journal "Russian Messenger" under the title "1805". new version, no longer concretely historical, but philosophical: "All's well that ends well." And, finally, in 1867 - another title, where the historical and philosophical formed a certain balance - "War and Peace" ... (L.N. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" in Russian criticism: Collection of articles. - L.: Publishing House of Lehning University, 1989).
What is the essence of this consistently developing idea, why, starting from 1856, Tolstoy came to 1805? What is the essence of this time chain: 1856 - 1825 -1812 -1805?
1856 for 1863, when work on the novel began - modernity, the beginning new era in the history of Russia. Nicholas I died in 1855. His successor on the throne, Alexander II, granted amnesty to the Decembrists and allowed them to return to central Russia. The new sovereign was preparing reforms that were supposed to radically transform the life of the country (the main one was the abolition of serfdom). So, a novel about modernity, about 1856, is being thought about. But this is modernity in a historical aspect, because Decembristism brings us back to 1825, to the uprising on Senate Square on the day of taking the oath to Nicholas I. More than 30 years have passed since that day - and now the aspirations of the Decembrists, although partially, are beginning to come true, their cause, during which they spent three decades in prisons, "convict holes" and in settlements, is alive. With what eyes will the Decembrist see the renewing Fatherland, having parted with it for more than thirty years, withdrawn from active public life, knowing real life Russia Nikolaev only from a distance? What will the current reformers seem to him - sons? followers? strangers?
Any historical works - if this is not an elementary illustration and not the desire to fantasize with impunity on historical material - are written in order to better understand modernity, to find and realize the origins of today. That is why Tolstoy, pondering the essence of the changes taking place before his eyes, into the future, is looking for their sources, for he understands that these new times truly did not begin yesterday, but much earlier.
And so, from 1856 to 1825. But the uprising of December 14, 1825, did not begin either: it was only an outcome—and a tragic outcome! - Decembrist. As you know, the formation of the first organization of the Decembrists, the Union of Salvation, dates back to 1816. In order to create secret society, its future members had to endure and formulate common "protests and hopes", see the goal and realize that it can be achieved only by uniting. Consequently, 1816 is not the source. And then everything is concentrated on 1812 - the beginning of the Patriotic War.
The generally accepted point of view on the origins of Decembrism is known: having defeated the "invincible Napoleon", passing half of Europe in liberation campaign, knowing the military brotherhood, which is higher than ranks and estate partitions, Russian society returned to the same false, perverted state and social system that was before the war. And the best, most conscientious, could not come to terms with this. This view of the origins of Decembrism supports and famous saying one of the Decembrists: "We were children of the twelfth year ..."
However, even this view of the Decembrist uprising of 1812 does not seem exhaustive to Tolstoy. This logic is too elementary, suspiciously simple for him: they defeated Napoleon - they realized their strength - they saw a free Europe - they returned to Russia and felt the need for change. Tolstoy is not looking for an explicit historical sequence of events, but for a philosophical understanding of history, knowledge of its laws. And then the beginning of the action of the novel is transferred to 1805 - in the era of the "ascension" of Napoleon and the penetration of the "Napoleonic idea" into the Russian minds. This becomes the starting point for the author, in which all the contradictions of the Decembrist idea are concentrated, which determined the course of Russian history for many decades.
Meaning of the novel's title
The final version of the title of the novel "War and Peace" not only combines the philosophical and historical. The name is much deeper and more meaningful than all the original ones. At first glance, "War and Peace" seems to illustrate the alternation and combination of military and peaceful episodes in the novel. But in Russian the word mir means not only "a state without war," but also a human community, originally a peasant community; and the world - like everything that surrounds us: the environment, the physical and spiritual atmosphere of habitation. And all these meanings "work" in the title of Tolstoy's novel. The more seriously it is read, the deeper it is understood, the more voluminous, multidimensional the meaning of this formula becomes: war and peace.
Tolstoy's novel is about the place and role of war in people's lives, about the unnaturalness of bloody strife in human relationships. About what is lost and what is gained in the heat of battle. About the fact that, in addition to wooden houses, the very world of pre-war Russia goes into oblivion; that with every man who dies on the battlefield, all his unique spiritual world, thousands of threads are torn, dozens of destinies of his loved ones are crippled ... This is a novel that there is war in the life of the people and in the life of every person; what role does it play in world history; about the origins of the war and its outcome.
Bibliography
Dolinina N.G. Through the pages of War and Peace. Notes on the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace". - St. Petersburg: "Lyceum", 1999.
Maymin K.A. Lev Tolstoy. The writer's path. - M.: Nauka, 1980.
Monakhova O.P., Malkhazova M.V. Russian literature XIX century. Part 1. - M.-1994.
Roman L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace" in Russian criticism: Sat. articles. - L .: Lehning publishing house. university, 1989
"War and Peace" - famous novel L.N. Tolstoy, this is a classic, this is a work that absolutely every person must read.
By the way, Lev Nikolaevich dedicated about 10 years of his life to the creation of the novel. However, few people know that initially Tolstoy conceived a novel about a Decembrist who returned after exile, but then, having revised his plan, Tolstoy decided to write a novel about Patriotic war 1812 and include not a single main character in the plot, but several at once. So, the famous Russian writer began writing a novel in 1863.
When Tolstoy started writing, he wanted to create a work that would cover the life of the Russian people not only during the war, but throughout the 19th century, and "War and Peace" was intended to be the first part, but, unfortunately, this idea remained the same. Lev Nikolaevich wanted to finish the novel as quickly as possible, but the first chapters were published only in 1867.
The last volume appeared only at the very end of 1869. In 1873, another edition of the novel appeared. Tolstoy made a translation of many French expressions into Russian, as well as significant changes. For example, some of his philosophical arguments were taken out of the scope of the work, they were included in the additions to the novel. But no matter how strange it may sound, in 1886, already quite old, Tolstoy published the novel again, returning all his reasoning to the text. It is this edition that we are used to studying in schools and seeing in the modern world.
The novel is truly huge, its size is 4 volumes. It is worth noting that Tolstoy conveyed the events of 1812 with great accuracy; for this, he specially studied a huge number of historical documents and books. He even visited many battlefields and personally met with participants in the hostilities. Leo Tolstoy really put his whole soul into this novel.
The main theme of the novel, it seems to me, is the manifestation of a sense of patriotism and love for one's Motherland, the readiness to fight and die for it. "War and Peace" is a tribute and a real monument to those soldiers who fought for the Motherland. Tolstoy created a real masterpiece of Russian literature, which will live for many more centuries!
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