War And Peace by Leo Tolstoy: Reflections
This work, as Tolstoy saw it, rather than a novel, is of great length. It requires studious attention as it unfolds. Prinicipally it follows the the fortunes of the aristocracy in 19th Century Russia at the time of The Napoleanonic Wars. More than that though, it describes the horrors of war and its consequences. The characters are shown on the battlefield while an overview of the military campaign is given alongside this. Therefore it demands from the reader various skills, firstly in tradition novel character form and then in analysis of military maneuvers.
A main theme within the book is the nature of war itself. What is it? Why does it happen and what drives it. Tolstoy puts forward that it is Deity which causes it. His argument is that war happens of its own accord within the governance of the known universe. He rejects the notion of great men who cause it and carry it out to great effect. For Tolstoy, war has a mind of its own unto which it spirals endlessly. It is hap-hazard and owes little to great tacticians rathet it is sheer chaos out of which spring rapid opportunities of advance for one side or the other.
Tolstoy also asks why the people consent to it? Do they unconditionally give allegiance to the state they live in regardless of its political culture. We can ask if nationalism overides all other considerations such as state dissent. We can ask if certain hypnotic figures emerge who cause the people to converge around him/her. Many have argued that war is in human nature. Tolstoy dismisses the historians and their various attributes to Mankind. For him there can be no doubt that the major factor lies in a force that governs life.
Overall, the work is a challenge to take on and requires great patience and time from the reader. The characters and their fortunes, plus their search for the meaning of life, enthral as they harbour within this. The vivid descriptions of life in 19th Century Russia is an education within itself. Then the reader is challenged to think deeply about the nature of war, life itself even and the causes of it. It requires reading routine and discipline to keep with it. It is well worth the effort to discover the depths of this Russian Literary Classic.
Alan Ewing, Cert HE, BA (Hons), MSc
Footnote: The follow-up work "Anna
Karenina"was considered by Tolstoy to be his first actual novel. In this book Tolstoy is simply writing a novel with characters. Aristocracy again in 19th Century
Russia, although without the long passges of war scenes and general
philosophy on a Deity which is difficult to identify. Essntially Tolstoy concentrates on charcter romance.
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