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Questions to Consider:
1. What are the potential risks and rewards of setting a story in the past? Do we tend to look down on people from
the past? If so, is there anything a writer can do to counteract that tendency?
2. Wharton s narrator suggests that we no longer live in a hieroglyphic world. Do you agree? Is it now possible
for the real thing to be said or done or thought? Or must we continue to rely on arbitrary signs ?
46 ©2009 The Teaching Company.
Lecture Twenty-Three
A Baggy Monster War and Peace
Scope: Few novels are as forbidding as the final work in this series of examples, Leo Tolstoy s War and Peace.
Recent paperback editions of the novel are 1,400 pages long. The plot covers a period of 15 years, and the
characters, ranging from teenage boys and girls to emperors and czars, number in the hundreds. What is
more, the novel can seem shapeless and incoherent in the words of Henry James, a large, loose, baggy
monster. How, then, can our new insights into the art of reading help us to meet the challenges of such a
work? We will use this lecture as an opportunity to bring together almost everything we have learned about
reading. For the alert reader, this most intimidating of novels is also a uniquely rewarding and exciting
work of art.
Outline
I. This time, our example is War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy.
A. It differs from the other works in our course because it was not originally written in English and it is much
longer than any of the books we have studied so far.
B. After discussing those issues, we will explore Tolstoy s major themes by considering each word in his title.
II. Let s start with the issues of translation and length.
A. The first translation into English was done in the 1880s, but the first great rendering into English did not
come until 1904.
1. We have multiple translations because each new translator wants to improve on earlier versions.
2. Also, expressions that seemed fresh in 1904 may seem stale today.
B. Choosing a translation can be personal, but the main criterion is readability.
C. Although translations do not lend themselves to certain kinds of close reading, most of the techniques in
this course should apply.
III. Now we consider length.
A. We discuss the challenges of reading a 1,300-page novel.
1. Prereading can help you to develop some initial sense of the design or structure of the work.
2. If you find lists of characters, chapter summaries, historical materials, and explanatory notes, do not be
afraid to rely on these materials.
3. Do not be afraid to make notes.
4. Think about making your initial reading session fairly long.
B. Does the book really have to be so long?
1. The book covers many years that were crucial in Russian history, so it is no surprise that it takes
Tolstoy hundreds of pages to tell that story.
2. The work also traces the fortunes of several families, and we see a movement from one generation to
the next.
3. Tolstoy s aim is not to produce an elegant work of art, but to create something almost encyclopedic.
IV. Now we come to his title.
A. We consider the implications of each word in the title, starting with war.
1. We know that Tolstoy is dealing with the Napoleonic wars and that he is trying to advance a new way
of thinking about the movement of peoples and the collision of armies.
2. Tolstoy is also trying to give us a sense of what it might be like to be in the midst of a war zone.
B. His treatment of war has a psychological dimension as well as a political or philosophical one.
1. Although you might expect him to rely heavily on summary, you will find that he is always looking for
ways to work in dialogue.
2. The characters often speak in distinctive voices, and all of this helps to create a sense of realism.
©2009 The Teaching Company. 47
C. Tolstoy shows that there is a lot of boredom in wartime and that battles can be incredibly confusing;
however, his characters stop, in the midst of a battle, to notice the sunshine on a river or the beauty of the
sky.
1. The most famous example of this is in a chapter on the Battle of Austerlitz.
2. Instead of worrying about himself, Prince Andrey thinks about the other soldiers and reflects on the
beauty of the sky.
3. The interesting thing is that Prince Andrey might never have had this insight if he had not been drawn
into battle.
V. What, then, about peace ?
A. Tolstoy s characters peacetime concerns include love, sex, and money.
1. In love is respect, sympathy, and shared understanding.
2. In sex is excitement, passion, and maybe even a sense of danger.
3. In money is comfort, safety, and financial and social security.
4. The challenge, in peacetime, is to get all three of these things to line up.
B. Peace in Tolstoy is never entirely peaceful, and many of his characters are discontented or restless.
1. In the opening chapter, Anna Scherer and Prince Vasily Kuragin speak about the future of one of his
sons, for whom Anna has a plan to marry off.
2. If this deal goes through, the son will get money, but at this point, no one is too concerned about love
or sex.
3. This peace is not entirely peaceful, because the subtext here is that the characters feel themselves to
be in danger and are attempting to protect their positions by bargaining with each other.
C. In this exchange, you might also look for the things we have discussed in recent lectures.
1. There is a wonderful blend of scene and summary.
2. The dialogue has a fresh, natural quality.
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