Leo Tolstoy is one of the greatest novelists in the world, a thinker and philosopher. His main works are known to 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 give his creation not only seven years, but his whole life. Officially, the date of creation of "War and Peace" is considered to be 1863-1869.
The main idea of the novel
When the novel "War and Peace" was written, Lev Nikolayevich became the founder of the new genre, which after it gained wide popularity in Russian literature. This is an epic novel that contains several stylistic genres and tells the world the half-century history of Russia. There are intertwined problems of a political, spiritual and moral nature.
As the writer himself wrote, he wanted to show the Russian people with his courage, dedication, desire for peace, even during the war. Tolstoy exalts Russian people who draw the will to victory in good, love and faith. The French were defeated, because they did not believe in the correctness of their cause.
The main idea of the novel is philosophical and religious. Over the whole kaleidoscope of events that Lev Nikolaevich describes, an invisible force is felt, Providence. And everything happens exactly as it should happen. Both understanding and accepting this is the highest good for humanity.
This thought is reflected in Pierre's musings:
“Formerly destroying all his mental constructions, a terrible question: why? now for him did not exist. Now to this question - why? "a simple answer was always ready in his soul: then, what is God, that God, without whose will hair will not fall from the head of a person."
Beginning of work
The idea to write a book about the Decembrists arose at Tolstoy after 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, 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 is considered the first evidence dating the writer’s work on the novel. In October of that year, Tolstoy wrote to his relative that he had never felt his mental and moral strength so free and ready to work. He wrote with incredible creative anguish. And that is what made him the world best seller. Never before, Lev Nikolayevich himself admitted in the same letter, he felt like "a writer with all the forces of his soul." The date of writing the novel "War and Peace" became a landmark in the career of the writer.
The duration of the novel
Initially, the novel was supposed to narrate 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 narrative to 1825 - the period of the Decembrist uprising. But he could not fully understand his hero, so he went on to his young years, the period of formation of his personality, in 1812. This time coincided with the war between Russia and France. And it was inextricably linked with 1805, a period of pain and deprivation. 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" lasted for years.
Heroes of the book "War and Peace"
Initially, Tolstoy planned to write about one main character, Pierre Bezukhov, the Decembrist, who returned to Moscow after thirty years of Siberian exile. 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 times that are alarming for Russia. In addition to the well-known main characters, the plot contains many secondary characters, which give the narrative a special charm.
When the novel "War and Peace" was written, researchers of the writer's work calculated the number of heroes of the work. There are 599 characters in it, 200 of which are historical persons. Many of the remaining have real prototypes. For example, Vasily Denisov, a friend of Nikolai Rostov, was partially deducted from the famous partisan Denis Davydov. Researchers of Tolstoy’s creativity 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 yet two years old. However, all his life he worshiped her image.
Surnames of heroes
It was worth the writer a special name for each character. Lev Nikolaevich acted in several ways - he used or modified real names or came up with new ones.
Most of the main characters have altered, but quite recognizable surnames. The writer did this so that the reader does not associate them with real people, from whom he borrowed only certain traits of character and appearance.
"Peace and War"
The novel "War and Peace" is based on the opposition, which is already evident in the title. All characters are divided into two categories - "war heroes" and "world heroes". The first key person of the “war” is Napoleon, who is ready for anything to achieve his own goal.
He is opposed by Kutuzov, striving for peace. The remaining characters, less ambitious, also belong to one of two categories. This may be invisible to an idle reader. But internally they are focused on 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 the "world".
... "get confused, make mistakes, start and throw again ..."
This is an excerpt from one of the famous quotes of the novel, which perfectly characterizes the creative search for the writer. The period of writing War and Peace was long and grueling. In the writer's archive you can find more than 5,000 double-sided pages written in small print. It was a truly colossal job. Tolstoy 8 times manually rewrote the novel. He improved some chapters up to 26 times. Especially hard for the writer was the beginning of the novel, which he rewrote 15 times.
When was the novel War and Peace written in the original version? In the year 1866. In the archive of Lev Nikolaevich you can find the first, earliest version of the novel. It was her Tolstoy brought to the publisher Mikhail Katkov in 1866. However, he failed to publish a novel. It was economically profitable for Katkov to publish the novel in parts in Russky Vestnik (before that, Tolstoy had already published several parts of the novel called Three Pores). Other publishers found the novel too long and irrelevant. Therefore, Tolstoy returned to Yasnaya Polyana and extended the 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 brainchild a lot of mental and physical strength, the period of writing "War and Peace" was a long and exhausting one. However, over time, his ardor faded and the opinion of the written novel changed. Being a stern and implacable person, Lev Nikolayevich treated most of his works with a degree of skepticism. He considered completely different his books as more significant.
In January 1871, Tolstoy admitted in a letter to Fetu:
"How happy I am ... that I will never again write trivial rubbish like“ War ”."
A similar attitude to "War and Peace" slipped in his diaries, which he kept since childhood. Tolstoy considered his main works 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 first treated his brainchild with trepidation and love.