So, I read The Death of Ivan Ilych and found it a lot more honest and engaging than I thought it was going to be. I was expecting a sentimental, lofty, austere sort of thing. On the wings of that success I was carried to... uuhhhhhh, somewhere I didn't ever expect..... mmmm hmmmm..... well, this happened:
(I got the Kindle version, just wanted you to feel dat girth)
This is about 1500 pages of historical fiction set in Russia during the Franco-Russian wars, starting in 1805 and moving through the war of 1812. More exactly, action is split up between the front(Austerlitz and later Napoleon's invasion), St. Petersburg and Moscow as the book follows four wealthy land/serf owning families, occasionally shifting to cover the two armies directly. The wealthy aristocracy that Tolstoy writes about is a desultory, stagnated society given to decadence and effete living at home; vain, self serving and therefore myopic and inept action at war. But don't worry! There's a lot more to it than condescending indictments and critiques.
Where the book really shines is in smaller scenes. Two young, wealthy siblings spend a night at their uncle's cottage after hunting, discovering him to be quite content and happy living among the peasants. Perhaps the wealthiest land owner in Moscow finds a compatriot in a French officer over dinner with Moscow just starting to burn around them discussing his failed love life and a poisonous marriage he was all but swindled into after inheriting his wealth. A small party of soldiers dry themselves from the rain in a tea house in the country amiably flirting with the young wife of a doctor that sleeps behind her on a bench. The retreat from Smolensk is on display through the eyes of an unsuspecting head servant sent to do some errands by a count... there's a lot of stuff like this and it's done well. What's more there's a gestalt of these scenes that paints an enchanting picture of the times, though seen from the perch of the highest strata of Russian society. As much as they are mocked and ridiculed, that's where this book stays. It's a good thing they're not caricatures. Marya Bolkonskaya stands out especially, hiding from life behind religion(surprisingly varied views on this) and a father growing tyrannical and cruel in old age. Nikolai Rostov is like a repellent you can't help but feel glad for by the end.
So those are the good parts, but fairly often I was really laboring to make any progress at all. Maybe a scorecard?
The setting: incredibly fascinating. Also, Russia's current relationship with European countries versus what once was is disheartening.
Tolstoy the writer: very, very good. Not spectacular in the moment, but what does it say that a 1500 page book that almost never seems smaller is still being read almost 150 years later? A novel where whole sections are seemingly interchangeable with a history text book. The guy will flat out drop everything and give you his thoughts on theory of history, political climate, chart Napoleon's career and whatever else as he feels. Speaking of which:
Tolstoy the historian: good, almost pedantically thorough, but not especially captivating. There's also an odd bias here. He's decidedly against the idea of Great Men and how integral they are to what's going on. We're talking Emperors here, but he will not yield even a small influence to any one individual. What seems to matter are nebulous ideas of fate or purpose and a guiding hand of the people. In one analogy Napoleon during the stay and subsequent retreat from Moscow is likened to a child with a pair of strings pretending to be driving the carriage in which he rides. Or, on the other side, when he is describing the governor of Moscow we get this:
Tolstoy the philosopher: bit of an anachronistic train wreck.
Do I recommend you devote some two weeks worth of reading to this like I did? Probably not, not with this kind of time investment, but I don't regret it.
EDIT: Also, I recently found out Tolstoy's great grandson(I think it's great) is hosting what amounts to a propaganda talk show on Russian television currently. What a blow to poor Leo.
(I got the Kindle version, just wanted you to feel dat girth)
This is about 1500 pages of historical fiction set in Russia during the Franco-Russian wars, starting in 1805 and moving through the war of 1812. More exactly, action is split up between the front(Austerlitz and later Napoleon's invasion), St. Petersburg and Moscow as the book follows four wealthy land/serf owning families, occasionally shifting to cover the two armies directly. The wealthy aristocracy that Tolstoy writes about is a desultory, stagnated society given to decadence and effete living at home; vain, self serving and therefore myopic and inept action at war. But don't worry! There's a lot more to it than condescending indictments and critiques.
Where the book really shines is in smaller scenes. Two young, wealthy siblings spend a night at their uncle's cottage after hunting, discovering him to be quite content and happy living among the peasants. Perhaps the wealthiest land owner in Moscow finds a compatriot in a French officer over dinner with Moscow just starting to burn around them discussing his failed love life and a poisonous marriage he was all but swindled into after inheriting his wealth. A small party of soldiers dry themselves from the rain in a tea house in the country amiably flirting with the young wife of a doctor that sleeps behind her on a bench. The retreat from Smolensk is on display through the eyes of an unsuspecting head servant sent to do some errands by a count... there's a lot of stuff like this and it's done well. What's more there's a gestalt of these scenes that paints an enchanting picture of the times, though seen from the perch of the highest strata of Russian society. As much as they are mocked and ridiculed, that's where this book stays. It's a good thing they're not caricatures. Marya Bolkonskaya stands out especially, hiding from life behind religion(surprisingly varied views on this) and a father growing tyrannical and cruel in old age. Nikolai Rostov is like a repellent you can't help but feel glad for by the end.
So those are the good parts, but fairly often I was really laboring to make any progress at all. Maybe a scorecard?
The setting: incredibly fascinating. Also, Russia's current relationship with European countries versus what once was is disheartening.
Tolstoy the writer: very, very good. Not spectacular in the moment, but what does it say that a 1500 page book that almost never seems smaller is still being read almost 150 years later? A novel where whole sections are seemingly interchangeable with a history text book. The guy will flat out drop everything and give you his thoughts on theory of history, political climate, chart Napoleon's career and whatever else as he feels. Speaking of which:
Tolstoy the historian: good, almost pedantically thorough, but not especially captivating. There's also an odd bias here. He's decidedly against the idea of Great Men and how integral they are to what's going on. We're talking Emperors here, but he will not yield even a small influence to any one individual. What seems to matter are nebulous ideas of fate or purpose and a guiding hand of the people. In one analogy Napoleon during the stay and subsequent retreat from Moscow is likened to a child with a pair of strings pretending to be driving the carriage in which he rides. Or, on the other side, when he is describing the governor of Moscow we get this:
Even in translation, it's not so bad, is it? Anyway, his views on the nature of history and historians are the second part of the epilogue(that's right, two parts. And yes, the epilogue is longer than some books), but I would rather draw from the novel proper rather than something that may as well be supplementary reading.
Tolstoy the philosopher: bit of an anachronistic train wreck.
Do I recommend you devote some two weeks worth of reading to this like I did? Probably not, not with this kind of time investment, but I don't regret it.
EDIT: Also, I recently found out Tolstoy's great grandson(I think it's great) is hosting what amounts to a propaganda talk show on Russian television currently. What a blow to poor Leo.
