WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy (1865-1869) translated by Almayer and Louise Maude (1923) edited and with an introduction by Henry Gifford (1983)
War and Peace is the best novel I have ever read. Each time I read it, it seems new to me, and I notice things it it that I missed before.
It is the story of two very different friends, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov, and the woman they both love, Natasha Rostov. It is also a war novel, a historical novel and a comedy of manners, full of subplots, great descriptive writing and interesting, believable characters.
Andrei is the ideal Russian nobleman and military officer. He is dashing, handsome, and rich, and occupies a high social rank. He is a respected commander and staff officer, well able to cope with enemies on the battlefield and intrigues at headquarters. Everything he does, he does competently. His manners are impeccable, although some find him arrogant.
His friend Pierre is the opposite. He is fat and clumsy, naive and foolish. He is the bastard son of a nobleman, a marginal person in society until he unexpectedly inherits great wealth from his father, and then is taken advantage of by all.
What binds these two unlikely friends together? Both question whether life has meaning. Both want something deeper than the conventional values of society. Andrei’s answer is to play the social game by its meaningless rules as best he can; Pierre’s is to search for meaning, in his blundering way, in freemasonry and other schools of thought.
The two friends differ in their opinions, and have interesting arguments. Pierre is a would-be humanitarian reformer. Andrei is a cynical conservative.
Both lack emotional intelligence. Pierre is easily exploited, especially by his new, gold-digging wife, Helene. Andrei is unable to form close relationships. He enlists in the military partly to avoid his wife, who loves him deeply but whom Andrei cannot love in return.
Neither had a loving father and mother to set an example. Pierre’s father apparently disowned him, until the very end; Andrei’s father was a harsh and distant widower, who didn’t like women.
Andrei does have a spiritual awakening of sorts when he is wounded in the Battle of Austerlitz and near death. He comes to realize the futility of the quest for military glory, but otherwise is not permanently changed.
He spends years in isolation after the death of his wife in childbirth. His capacity for affection is awakened by an encounter with the sweet, charming 16-year-old Natasha Rostov.
The Rostovs are everything that the Bolkonskys are not. Natasha’s father is an irresponsible spendthrift; her mother is a foolish society lady. But they are a loving couple, and their children, including brothers Nicholas and Petya, are affectionate and joyful, and have good values.
Andrei and Natasha are each fulfillments of the other’s ideal fantasy. Andrei is a handsome, dashing prince; Natasha is a lovely, pure young maiden. When they dance at a ball, they are smitten with each other, and soon decide to marry.
But the elder Bolkonsky intervenes. He tells Andrei that he will give his consent to the marriage only if he and Natasha separate for a year and still want to marry at the end.
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