War and peace are the most important moments. The role of the epilogue in the composition of the work

The novel "War and Peace" is deservedly considered one of the most impressive and grandiose works of world literature. The novel was created by L.N. Tolstoy over the course of seven long years. The work was a great success in the literary world.

The title of the novel itself is very ambiguous. The combination of the words “war” and “peace” can be perceived as meaning war and peacetime. The author shows the life of the Russian people before the beginning Patriotic War, its regularity and calmness. Next comes a comparison with wartime: the absence of peace threw the usual course of life off track and forced people to change their priorities.

Also, the word “peace” can be considered as a synonym for the word “people”. This interpretation of the title of the novel speaks of the life, exploits, dreams and hopes of the Russian nation in the conditions of hostilities. The novel has many plot lines, which gives us the opportunity to delve into not only the psychology of one particular hero, but also to see him in various life situations, to evaluate his actions in the most diverse conditions, from sincere friendship to his life psychology.

With unsurpassed skill, the author not only describes the tragic days of the Patriotic War, but also the courage, patriotism and insurmountable sense of duty of the Russian people. The novel is filled with many plot lines, a variety of heroes, each of which, thanks to the author’s subtle psychological sense, is perceived as absolutely real personality together with your spiritual searches, experiences, perception of peace and love, which is so common to all of us. The heroes go through a complex process of searching for goodness and truth, and, having gone through it, they comprehend all the secrets of universal human problems of existence. The heroes have a rich, but rather contradictory inner world.

The novel depicts the life of the Russian people during the Patriotic War. The writer admires the indestructible majestic power of the Russian spirit, which was able to withstand the invasion of Napoleonic army. The epic novel masterfully combines pictures of grandiose historical events and the life of the Russian nobility, who also selflessly fought against opponents who were trying to capture Moscow.

The epic also inimitably describes elements of military theory and strategy. Thanks to this, the reader not only expands his horizons in the field of history, but also in the art of military affairs. In his description of the war, Leo Tolstoy does not allow a single historical inaccuracy, which is very important in creating historical novel.

The novel "War and Peace" first of all teaches you to find the difference between the present and false patriotism. The heroes of Natasha Rostova, Prince Andrey, Tushin are true patriots who, without hesitation, sacrifice a lot for the sake of their Motherland, without demanding recognition for it.

Each hero of the novel, through long searches, finds his own meaning in life. So, for example, Pierre Bezukhov finds his true calling only during participation in the war. The fighting revealed to him a system of real values and life ideals- what he had been looking for so long and uselessly in the Masonic lodges.

Roman, thanks to his deep meaning and wide subject coverage, won its fans in many countries around the world. For a Russian person, this work is a kind of biblical historical narrative, which does not allow us to forget about the past exploits of the people.

(1863-1869)
The genre nature of a work largely determines its content, composition, and the nature of plot development and manifests itself in them. L. Tolstoy himself found it difficult to determine the genre of his work, he said that it was “not a novel, not a story... even less a poem, even less a historical chronicle,” he preferred to claim that he wrote simply a “book.” Over time, the idea of “War and Peace” as an epic novel became established. Epic presupposes inclusiveness, depiction the most important phenomena folk life in the historical era that defines it further development. Life of the highest noble society, the fate of men, officers and soldiers of the Russian army, public sentiments and mass movements characteristic of the depicted time form a broad panorama of national life. The author's thought and his openly sounding word connect the pictures of a bygone era with the modern state of Russian life, substantiate the universal, philosophical meaning of the events depicted. And the novel’s beginning is manifested in “War and Peace” through the depiction of various characters and destinies in complex interweaving and interaction.
The very title of the novel "War and Peace" reflects its synthetic genre nature. All possible meanings polysemantic words, which made up the title, are important for the writer. War is a clash of armies, and a confrontation between people and groups, interests as the basis of many social processes and personal choices of people. Peace can be understood as the absence of military action, but also as the totality of social strata, individuals that make up a society, a people; in another context, the world is the closest, most dear to man people, phenomena or all of humanity, even everything living and non-living in nature, interacting according to the laws that the mind seeks to comprehend. All these aspects, questions, problems arise in one way or another in “War and Peace” and are important for the author.
The system of characters in the epic novel is extremely complex, researchers count over five hundred characters in the work, and at the same time the author manages to make their connections and relationships quite transparent, the most important characters convex, clearly defined, not obscuring others. The hard work on the work, which was revised and simply rewritten by the author himself several times, had an effect.
The heroes of "War and Peace" are difficult to divide according to the traditional principle: positive - negative. There are no unambiguous characters in the novel, and especially among the heroes who most actively participate in the action and pass through the entire work. The author's greatest attention is attracted to people who are capable of change, who are not frozen, who are developing. Pierre Bezukhov, Andrei Bolkonsky, Natasha Rostova, of all the characters in the novel, go through the most complex evolution, and they stand at the center of the work. It is in the search for such personalities, wanderings, mistakes, intellectual and moral gains and losses that history and era reveal themselves. For Tolstoy, in general, it is very important to show that history is not impersonal, that it is the combined activity of all people: “The movement of humanity, resulting from countless human tyranny, occurs continuously,” says the author. Let us also recall one of Pierre Bezukhov’s dreams in captivity, where he sees the world in the form of a sphere with chaotically moving drops to an outsider’s eye. And these drops are people, their movements make up life, history.
Tolstoy radically rethinks the role of the individual in history. He abandons the concept of an outstanding, exceptional person. The development of the image of Napoleon is consistently subordinated to the debunking of this concept in the novel. Napoleon, as portrayed by the writer, is a selfish poser, a man who believes that his will determines the movement of millions of people and the fate of history. The writer offers a classic comparison of Napoleon with a boy pulling the strings inside the carriage, believing that he controls its movement. However, the individual is brought to the forefront of history or overthrown into the darkness of historical oblivion at the behest of larger forces. Tolstoy generalizes the idea of them in the concept of “people”. War of 1812 - the clash of the Russian people with the peoples Western Europe. Moreover, aggressively minded peoples acquire signs of a crowd. It is she who puts forward the kind of leader she needs, like Napoleon was - cruel, unprincipled, selfish, vain. He is his internal qualities corresponds to the goals of the crowd, and this is “deception, robbery and murder,” war.
Another type of historical personality is a truly people's leader, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Kutuzov. He is nominated to lead the army, the goal of which is the salvation of the homeland, not by the will of the emperor, intrigue or personal military leadership talent, but by peace, the collective popular will of Russia. Here, too, the choice unmistakably corresponds to the goals of the people. The main one among them is peace, only in the sense of the absence of war, the absence of an enemy on one’s native land. It is precisely this goal that Kutuzov serves, emphatically democratic, simple and open in all cases when he is not dealing with big and small Napoleons, of whom there are many in the Russian army and at court.
The writer paradoxically draws the reader's attention to the apparent passivity and inactivity of Kutuzov even in the most difficult moments that require decisions: the Battle of Borodino, the council in Fili. Kutuzov is like this because he understands that arbitrary actions of individuals can change little in the direction of history, the course of a historical event. They are determined by the combined will of the masses, “all, without a single exception, all the people taking part in the event.” Kutuzov’s genius lies in his exceptional sensitivity to this will and in the fact that the impulses of his great and passionate soul coincided with what was experienced by the thousands of soldiers he led and the millions of Russian people they represented. This includes hatred of enemies during battle, and a generous attitude towards the vanquished: “We did not feel sorry for ourselves, but now we can feel sorry for them. They are people too. Right, guys?" It does not seem accidental for the writer that Kutuzov’s departure from the department after the liberation of the Russian land: a foreign campaign is already politics, there is no national necessity in it. Grandfather, father - this is how ordinary people call Kutuzov, emphasizing the family, tribal nature of the spiritual connection with their leader. “There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth,” L. Tolstoy summarizes his observations of two types of historical figures.
The gradual and painful overcoming of Napoleonism determines the direction of development of the personality of Andrei Bolkonsky. Kutuzov is shown exclusively in the sphere social activities. It is extremely important for the active, thinking Bolkonsky. But the image of one of the main characters is revealed no less fully in his inner life, family and everyday relationships, and in his love for Natasha Rostova.
At the beginning of the novel, Andrei is inclined to think that his personal participation can and should turn the story in the right direction. He is obsessed with the idea of a noble feat, he is not satisfied with vegetating in the capital's salons with their petty intrigues and dirty passions. Honest, noble Bolkonsky is eager to fight, looking for something to do. But his idol is Napoleon, and he considers himself an outstanding person, capable of doing on the battlefield, at headquarters, what others cannot. During the foreign campaign, during the battle of Austerlitz, all previous illusions and values collapsed. Even Napoleon against the background of the eternal sky seemed small and uninteresting.
Family concerns, raising his son, managing the estate - Andrei thinks that this is now the meaning of his life. But the active nature takes its toll. Meeting and conversations with true friend, Pierre, meeting Natasha convinces the hero that “life is not over.” He is reborn as an old oak, met on the way to Otradnoye. Only now he does not separate himself from people, he strives to merge with kindred souls. They cannot be found in the higher spheres, in Speransky’s circle, but Natasha and everything connected with her give Andrey hope for a happy, meaningful and spiritually fulfilled existence.
The writer emphasizes that his characters have a strong tribal element. For Andrey, this is, first of all, pride, aristocracy, uncompromisingness, and following the path of honor. He can understand Natasha’s mistake, but he cannot forgive it. These people were too different. But 1812 revealed what makes them organic parts of a more significant world than the family. They act as particles of a people inspired by a single goal. Never before had the aristocrat Bolkonsky been so close and understandable to those ordinary people with whom fate brought him together. Because they live general feeling: “The French have ruined my house and are going to ruin Moscow, and they have insulted and insulted me every second. They are my enemies, they are all criminals, according to my standards. And Timokhin and the whole army think the same.”
Understand another, get closer to state of mind other people - this is what the proud and lonely Bolkonsky strived for all his life. In the face of death during the war, in his dying suffering, he managed to achieve this. In everyday existence, the fullness of the “swarm” existence was still revealed to him with difficulty. Andrei, according to the writer’s plan, is ready to die truly heroically, without posture (although his behavior at the fateful moment is indicative - and here Bolkonsky did not want to bend, let alone fall and cling to the ground, seeking salvation and support from it). The metaphorically understood “earth”, simplicity and naturalness of behavior in everyday life are recognized by him as the most important value, but are not given to him. He leaves the battlefield, which life turned out to be for him, with the thought: “There was something in this life that I did not understand and do not understand.”
This understanding of the most important thing in life not only gradually becomes the worldview of Pierre Bezukhov, it has always been the unconscious basis of his behavior. It is symbolic that Pierre is a distinctly peaceful, worldly person. He enters the novel in this role from the very beginning. That’s why Pierre looks funny and clumsy in Scherer’s salon, because he is open, not committed to conventions, natural in every word, truthful like a child. There for everything there is a place, time, form - the “clumsy” Pierre destroys all these lifeless conventions.
However, living according to the dictates of the heart without the proper life experience, without the necessary intellectual support, initially leads him to numerous mistakes and suffering. He becomes a toy in the hands of intriguers fighting for the inheritance of Count Bezukhov, he is married to the immoral, cold Helen, and forced to shoot with Dolokhov. The artificially constructed philosophy of the Freemasons, which is far from the life with which Pierre is literally saturated, cannot satisfy Pierre for long.
The novel was originally conceived by Tolstoy as a work about a Decembrist returning from exile. Attempts to understand and explain the peculiar intellectual and moral complex that formed the basis of the activities of the Decembrists forced the writer to go to the origins of its origins, and they turned out to be connected with the Patriotic War. It was the war that “rounded”, brought into harmonious balance the impulses of the soul and the searches of Pierre’s mind, and predetermined his future path.
Andrei explains the tasks and logic of behavior of the people's commander to Pierre, but Bezukhov achieves complete personal fusion with the people. Already at the Raevsky Battery, the soldiers show “affectionate and playful concern for Pierre, similar to what soldiers have for their animals.” It is important for the writer to emphasize this “animal,” organic, sensual level of Pierre’s rapprochement with the masses.
The battle and Pierre's subsequent stay in captivity are depicted precisely as a cruel meat grinder. Tolstoy does not skimp on naturalistic details not only when describing the battlefield and infirmaries, but also when talking about, for example, how physically Pierre and other people suffered in captivity, what his broken, scabbed legs looked like, etc. There is a true communion with the flesh and blood of the people. For the spiritual development of the future Decembrist, going through all this turned out to be extremely important. Here he gains a sense of blood, inextricable connection with the people, literally becomes part of their worldly body that has survived the trials.
And this familiarization with the “earth,” the common, the swarm, does not at all deprive a person of individuality, free will and choice. On the contrary, having realized himself as an organic part of the national whole, Pierre acts more freely, obeying the considerations of his own mind and the dictates of his, now also popular moral feeling, heart. Platon Karataev, the embodiment of “everything Russian, good, round,” had a huge influence on the formation of the updated Pierre. Pierre carries memories of him throughout his life. But when asked whether Karataev would approve of what he is now doing, and Pierre “was one of the main founders” of a certain secret society, he replies: “No, he would not approve... What he would approve of is our family life " The world, of which Pierre realized himself, imposes on him the obligation to strive for good and gives him the opportunity to freely choose a morally pure path to it.
Numerous female images novel. Natasha Rostova most fully embodies the writer’s ideas about the free, natural and organic development of the female personality. She was given the opportunity to experience different manifestations of the most important feeling in life - love: childhood love for Boris Drubetsky, the unexpected matchmaking of Vasily Denisov, a strange, great and frightening love for Andrei Bolkonsky, which ended in a breakup due to reckless infatuation, passion caused by Anatoly Kuragin, and finally, persistent , a feeling for Pierre that is not subject to the destructive influence of time and distance.
And in all these complex and contradictory circumstances, Natasha remains herself, retains her main qualities - spontaneity, integrity of emotional reaction to the world, commitment to goodness, a sense of justice, love of life, surprise at its mystery, beauty, incomprehensibility, everything that so amazed and Andrey was attracted to him even during his first, correspondence acquaintance with Natasha in Otradnoye.
Communication with national peace Tolstoy's heroine is also organic, she initially has heartfelt, not head or social class foundations. “Where, how, when did this countess, raised by a French emigrant, suck into herself from that Russian air that she breathed, this spirit, where did she get these techniques from...?” - the author exclaims, talking about Natasha’s dance at her uncle’s.
Not everything is simple in the life of such spontaneous natures. The “mistake” with Anatole is very indicative of the difficulties associated with their self-determination in a world where there is not only goodness and selflessness, but also evil and selfishness. Anatole displays them as naturally and directly, freely as Natasha does his best qualities, and attracts her precisely because he is, in a certain sense, “like her,” only with a different acquaintance.
It was necessary to go through trials and suffering in order to gain the necessary experience, endurance, which restrains the heroine’s sometimes overflowing life. This is her charm, but this also became a source of dangers for Natasha that could not be overcome painlessly.
It is characteristic that for her, as for Pierre, the way out of a moral impasse, the full disclosure of personality inclinations, is associated with spiritual uplift, trials, losses, suffering, and self-sacrifice, which the Patriotic War demanded of the Russian people.
The spiritualized, and not animal, happiness of a mother, wife, beloved, found in a difficult search, is justified by Tolstoy’s view of Natasha as a truly folk national female type.
It is worth at least briefly dwelling on the features artistic skill Tolstoy in the novel. We have already noted the compositional harmony and plot transparency with all the substantive complexity of such a multi-figured work. Tolstoy's outstanding achievement is also considered to be the reconstruction of the dialectics of the soul, psychological analysis in forms unknown before him. Leo Tolstoy creates a feeling of complete authenticity, rawness of many of the characters’ internal monologues. Thought develops according to the laws of internal associations and unexpected connections. Normal logic and causality are violated. The characters embody a purely subjective view of the world that is unique to them. Points of view intersect, positions collide, in turn generating internal emotional and intellectual reactions. The very manner of the narration seems to embody the principle of a “swarm”, universal, apparently chaotic, but rushing towards specific goals of movement. These general goals of the book are determined by the author. He formulates them directly - in the original social and philosophical parts of the novel, and also draws the necessary lines to that point, the emotional and semantic “focus where everything comes from and where it converges” (L. Tolstoy), using plot and compositional means.
The creative legacy and tireless international activity of Leo Tolstoy had a huge impact on the development of world literature, art, philosophy, social theories and practice. Tolstoy himself said that he rejoiced at “Tolstoy’s authority. Thanks to him, I have connections like radii with the most distant countries.” He maintained correspondence with thousands of correspondents around the world. The authority of Russian thought and Russian art through the efforts of L.N. Tolstoy has grown significantly.

On the eve of the 60s, the creative thought of L.N. Tolstoy struggled to solve the most significant problems of our time, directly related to the fate of the country and people. At the same time, by the 60s, all the features of the art of the great writer, deeply “innovative in its essence”, had been determined. Wide communication with the people as a participant in two campaigns - the Caucasian and Crimean - and also as a school leader and world mediator enriched Tolstoy. artist and ideologically prepared him to solve new, more complex tasks in the field of art. In the 60s, the period of his broad epic creativity began, marked by the creation of the greatest work of world literature, War and Peace.

Tolstoy did not come to the idea of “War and Peace” right away. In one of the versions of the preface to “War and Peace,” the writer said that in 1856 he began to write a story, the hero of which was supposed to be a Decembrist returning with his family to Russia. However, no manuscripts of this story, no plans, no notes have been preserved; Tolstoy's diary and correspondence also lack any mention of work on the story. In all likelihood, in 1856 the story was only conceived, but not started.

The idea of a work about the Decembrist came to life again in Tolstoy during his second trip abroad, when in December 1860 in Florence he met his distant relative, the Decembrist S. G. Volkonsky, who partially served as a prototype for the image of Labazov from the unfinished novel.

S. G. Volkonsky, in his spiritual appearance, resembled the figure of the Decembrist, which Tolstoy sketches in a letter to Herzen on March 26, 1861, shortly after meeting with him: “I started a novel about 4 months ago, the hero of which should be the returning Decembrist. I wanted to talk to you about this, but I never had time. “My Decembrist should be an enthusiast, a mystic, a Christian, returning to Russia in 1956 with his wife, son and daughter and trying on his strict and somewhat ideal view of the new Russia. - Please tell me what you think about the decency and timeliness of such a plot. Turgenev, to whom I read the beginning, liked the first chapters.”1

Unfortunately, we do not know Herzen's answer; Apparently, it was meaningful and significant, since in the next letter, dated April 9, 1861, Tolstoy thanked Herzen for his “good advice about the novel”1 2.

The novel opened with a broad introduction, written in a sharply polemical manner. Tolstoy expressed his deeply negative attitude towards the liberal movement that unfolded in the first years of the reign of Alexander II.

In the novel, events unfolded exactly as Tolstoy reported in the above-quoted letter to Herzen. Labazov with his wife, daughter and son returns from exile to Moscow.

Pyotr Ivanovich Labazov was a good-natured, enthusiastic old man who had the weakness of seeing his neighbor in every person. The old man withdraws from active intervention in life (“his wings have become difficult to wear”), he is only going to contemplate the affairs of the young.

Nevertheless, his wife, Natalya Nikolaevna, who accomplished a “feat of love” by following her husband to Siberia and spent many years of exile with him, believes in the youth of his soul. And indeed, if the old man is dreamy, enthusiastic, and capable of getting carried away, then the youth are rational and practical. The novel remained unfinished, so it is difficult to judge how these very different characters would have developed.

Two years later, Tolstoy returned to work on a novel about the Decembrist, but, wanting to understand the socio-historical causes of Decembrism, the writer comes to 1812, to the events preceding the Patriotic War. In the second half of October 1863, he wrote to A.A. Tolstoy: “I have never felt my mental and even all my moral powers so free and so capable of work. And I have this job. This work is a novel from the time of 1810 and 20s, which has been occupying me quite since the fall. ...I am now a writer with all the strength of my soul, and I write and think as I have never written or thought before.”

However, for Tolstoy much of the planned work remained unclear. Only in the autumn of 1864 was the concept of the novel clarified? and the boundaries of the historical narrative are determined. Creative quest The writer is captured in brief and detailed notes, as well as in numerous versions of the introductions and beginnings of the novel. One of them, relating to the very initial sketches, is called “Three Pores. Part 1. 1812." At this time, Tolstoy still intended to write a trilogy novel about the Decembrist, in which 1812 was supposed to constitute only the first part of an extensive work covering “three periods,” i.e., 1812, 1825 and 1856. The action in the passage was dated to 1811’ and then changed to 1805. The writer had a grandiose plan to depict half a century of Russian history in his multi-volume work; he intended to “guide” many of his “heroines and heroes through the historical events of 1805, 1807, 1812, 1825 and 1856”1. Soon, however, Tolstoy limits his plan, and after a number of new attempts to begin a novel, among which was “A Day in Moscow (Name Day in Moscow 1808),” he finally creates a sketch of the beginning of a novel about the Decembrist Pyotr Kirillovich B., entitled “ From 1805 to 1814. Novel by Count L.N. Tolstoy, 1805, part I, chapter I.” A trace of Tolstoy’s extensive plan still remains here, but from the trilogy about the Decembrist the idea of a historical novel from the era of Russia’s war with Napoleon, in which several parts were supposed to stand out, stood out. The first, entitled “The Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Five,” was published in No. 2 of the Russian Messenger for 1865.

Tolstoy later said that he, “going to write about the Decembrist who returned from Siberia, returned first to the era of the revolt of December 14th, then to the childhood and youth of the people who participated in this matter, became carried away by the war of the 12th year, and since the war of the 12th -th was in connection with the year 1805, then the whole essay began from that time.”2.

By this time, Tolstoy's plan had become significantly more complicated. The historical material, exceptional in its richness, did not fit into the framework of the traditional historical novel.

Tolstoy, as a true innovator, is looking for new literary forms and new visual means to express his ideas. He argued that Russian artistic thought does not fit into the framework of the European novel, and is looking for a new form for itself.

Tolstoy was gripped by such quests as greatest representative Russian artistic thought. And if earlier he called “1805” a novel, now he was bothered by the thought that “the writing will not fit into any frame, no novel, no story, no poem, no history.” Finally, after much torment, he decided to put aside “all these fears” and write only what “needs to be expressed,” without giving the work “any name.”

However, the historical plan immeasurably complicated the work on the novel in one more respect: the need arose for an in-depth study of new historical documents, memoirs, letters from the era of 1812. The writer is looking in these materials, first of all, for such details and touches of the era that would help him historically truthfully recreate the characters of the characters, the uniqueness of the lives of people at the beginning of the century. The writer widely used, especially to recreate peaceful pictures of life at the beginning of the century, in addition to literary sources and handwritten materials, direct oral stories of eyewitnesses of 1812.

As we approached the description of the events of 1812, which aroused enormous creative excitement in Tolstoy, work on the novel began at an accelerated pace.

The writer was full of hopes for the speedy completion of the novel. It seemed to him that he would be able to finish the novel in 1866, but this did not happen. The reason for this was the further expansion and "deepening of the concept. The widespread participation of the people in the Patriotic War required the writer to rethink the nature of the entire war of 1812, sharpened his attention to the historical laws that "governed" the development of mankind. The work decisively changes its original appearance: from family -a historical novel like “The Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Five", as a result of ideological enrichment, it turns at the final stages of the work into an epic of enormous historical scale. The writer widely introduces philosophical and historical reasoning into the novel, creates magnificent pictures of the people’s war. He reconsiders everything until now written parts, abruptly 'changes the original plan for its ending, makes corrections in the development lines of all the main characters, introduces new characters, gives the final title to his work: “War and Peace”1. While preparing the novel in 1867 separate publication, the writer reworks entire chapters, throws out large chunks of text, makes stylistic corrections, “which is why,” according to Tolstoy, “the essay wins in all respects.”* 2. He continues this work of improving the work in proofreading; in particular, the first part of the novel was subjected to significant reductions in proofs.

While working on the proofs of the first parts, Tolstoy simultaneously continued to finish writing the novel and approached one of the central events of the entire war of 1812 - the Battle of Borodino. On September 25-26, 1867, the writer makes a trip to the Borodino field in order to study the site of one of the greatest battles, which created a sharp turning point in the course of the entire war, and with the hope of meeting eyewitnesses of the Borodino battle. For two days he walked and drove around the Borodino field, making notes in notebook, drew a battle plan, looked for old people who were contemporaries of the War of 1812.

During 1868, Tolstoy, along with historical and philosophical “digressions,” wrote chapters devoted to the role of the people in the war. The people deserve the main credit for expelling Napoleon from Russia. The pictures of the people's war, magnificent in their expressiveness, are imbued with this conviction.

In assessing the war of 1812 as a people's war, Tolstoy agreed with the opinion of the most advanced people and historical era 1812, and its time. Tolstoy, in particular, was helped to understand the popular nature of the war against Napoleon by some historical sources that he used. F. Glinka, D. Davydov, N. Turgenev, A. Bestuzhev and others speak about the national character of the war of 1812, about the greatest national upsurge in their letters, memoirs, and notes. Denis Davydov, who, according to Tolstoy’s correct definition, “with his Russian instinct,” was the first to understand the enormous significance guerrilla warfare, in the “Diary of Partisan Actions of 1812”, came up with a theoretical understanding of the principles of its organization and conduct.

Davydov’s “Diary” was widely used by Tolstoy not only as material for creating pictures of the people’s war, but also in its theoretical part.

The line of advanced contemporaries in assessing the nature of the war of 1812 was continued by Herzen, who wrote in the article “Russia” that Napoleon aroused an entire people against himself, who resolutely took up arms.

This historically correct assessment of the war of 1812 was continued to be developed by the revolutionary democrats Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov.

Tolstoy, in his assessment of the people's war of 1812, which sharply contradicted all official interpretations of it, relied largely on the views of the Decembrists and was in many ways close to the statements about it by revolutionary democrats.

Throughout 1868 and a significant part of 1869, the writer’s intense work continued to complete “War and Peace.”

And only in the fall of 186’9,\ in mid-October, he sent the last proofs of his work to the printing house. Tolstoy the artist was a true ascetic. He put almost seven years of “incessant and exceptional work, under the best living conditions” into the creation of “War and Peace”2. Great amount rough sketches and variants, in volume exceeding the main text of the novel, dotted with corrections and additions, proofreading quite eloquently testify to the colossal work of the writer, who tirelessly searched for the most perfect ideological and artistic embodiment of his creative concept.

The readers of this work, unparalleled in the history of world literature, were exposed to an extraordinary wealth of human images, an unprecedented breadth of coverage of life phenomena, a profound depiction of the most important events in the history of the whole

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The pathos of “War and Peace” lies in the affirmation of the great love of life and the great love of the Russian people for their homeland.

There are few works in literature that are profound ideological issues, by strength artistic expression, in terms of its enormous socio-political resonance^ and educational impact, could become close to “War and Peace”. Through huge work Hundreds of human images pass through, the life paths of some come into contact and intersect with the life paths of others, but each image is unique and retains its inherent individuality. The events depicted in the novel begin in July 1805 and end in 1820. Ten years of Russian history, rich in dramatic events, are captured on the pages of War and Peace.

From the very first pages of the epic, Prince Andrei and his friend Pierre Bezukhov appear before the reader. Both of them have not yet finally determined their role in life, both have not found the work to which they are called to devote all their strength. Their life paths and quests are different.

We meet Prince Andrei in Anna Pavlovna Sherer's living room. Everything in his behavior - a tired, bored look, a quiet measured step, a grimace that spoiled him Beautiful face, and the manner of squinting when looking at people - expressed his deep disappointment in secular society, fatigue from visiting living rooms, from empty and deceitful small talk. This T~ attitude towards the world makes Prince Andrei similar to Onegin and partly to Pechorin. Prince Andrey is natural, simple and good only with his friend Pierre. A conversation with him evokes in Prince Andrei healthy feelings of friendship, heartfelt affection, and frankness. In a conversation with Pierre, Prince Andrei appears as a serious, thoughtful, widely read man, sharply condemning lies and emptiness social life and striving to satisfy serious intellectual needs. This is how he was with Pierre and with the people to whom he was sincerely attached (father, sister). But as soon as he found himself in a secular environment, everything changed dramatically: Prince Andrei hid his sincere impulses under the mask of cold secular politeness.

In the army, Prince Andrei has changed: pretense, // fatigue and laziness have disappeared. Energy appeared in all his movements, in his face, in his gait. Prince Andrei takes the progress of military affairs to heart.

The Ulm defeat of the Austrians and the arrival of the defeated Mack cause him to worry about the difficulties the Russian army will face. Prince Andrey proceeds from a high understanding of military duty, from an understanding of everyone’s responsibility for the fate of the country. He is aware of the inseparability of his fate with the fate of his fatherland, rejoices at the “common success” and is sad about the “common failure.”

Prince Andrei strives for fame, without which, according to his concepts, he cannot live, he envies the fate of “Natto-Leon”, his imagination is disturbed by dreams of his “Toulon”, about his “Arcole Bridge” Prince Andrei in Shengrabensky. in battle he did not find his “Toulon”, but at the Tushin battery he acquired true concepts of heroism. This was the first step on the path of his rapprochement with ordinary people.

Du?TL£y.?.TsZ. Prince Andrey again dreamed of glory and of accomplishing a feat under some special circumstances. On the day of the Battle of Austerlitz, in an atmosphere of general panic that gripped the troops, in front of Kutuzov, with... a banner in his hands, he carried an entire battalion into the attack. He gets hurt. He lies alone, abandoned by everyone, in the middle of a field and “moans quietly, like a child. In this state, he saw the sky, and it aroused in him sincere and deep surprise. The whole picture of his majestic calm and solemnity sharply set off the vanity of people , their petty, selfish thoughts.

Prince Andrei, after “heaven” was opened to him, condemned his false aspirations for fame and began to look at life in a new way. Fame is not the main incentive human activity, there are other, more sublime ideals. Napoleon's petty vanity now seems to him like an insignificant person. There is a debunking of the “hero” who was worshiped not only by Prince Andrei, but also by many of his contemporaries.

■ After the Austerlitz campaign, Prince Andrei decided never i j | no longer serve military service. He returns home. Prince Andrei's wife dies, and he concentrates all his interests on raising his son, trying to convince himself that “this is the only thing” he has left in life. Thinking that a person should live for himself, he shows extreme detachment from all external social forms of life.

At the beginning, Prince Andrei’s views on contemporary political issues were largely of a clearly expressed noble-class character. Speaking with Pierre about the liberation of the peasants, he shows aristocratic contempt for the people, believing that the peasants do not care what state they are in. Serfdom must be abolished because, in the opinion of Prince Andrei, it is the source moral ruin many nobles corrupted by the cruel system of serfdom.

His friend Pierre looks at the people differently. Over the past years, he has also experienced a lot. The illegitimate son of a prominent Catherine nobleman, after the death of his father he became the largest rich man in Russia. The dignitary Vasily Kuragin, pursuing selfish goals, married him to his daughter Helen. This marriage with an empty, stupid and depraved woman brought Pierre deep disappointments. . is hostile to secular society with its false morality, gossip and intrigue. He is not like any of the representatives of the world. Pierre had a broad outlook, was distinguished by a lively mind, keen observation, courage and freshness of judgment. The spirit of freethinking was developed in him. In the presence of the royalists he praises the French revolution, calls Napoleon the greatest man in the world and admits to Prince Andrei that he would be ready to go to war if it were a “war for freedom." A little time will pass, and Pierre will reconsider his youthful 'hobbies with Napoleon; in the Armenian and with a pistol in his pocket, among the fires of Moscow, he will seek a meeting with the Emperor of the French in order to kill him and thereby avenge the suffering of the Russian people.

"A man of violent temperament and enormous physical strength, terrible in moments of rage, Pierre was at the same time gentle, timid and kind; when he smiled, a meek, childish expression appeared on his face. All his extraordinary mental strength he devotes himself to the search for truth and the meaning of life. Pierre thought about his wealth, about “money, which cannot change anything in life, cannot save from evil and inevitable death. In such a state of mental confusion, he became an easy prey for one of the Masonic lodges.

In the religious and mystical spells of the Freemasons, Pierre's attention was attracted primarily by the idea that it is necessary to “with all our might resist the evil that reigns in the world.” And Pierre “imagined the oppressors from whom he saved their victims.”

In accordance with these beliefs, Pierre, having arrived at the Kyiv estates, immediately informed the managers of his intentions to free the peasants; he laid out before them a broad program of assistance to the peasants. But his trip was so arranged, so many “Potemkin villages” were created on his way, deputies from the peasants were so skillfully selected, who, of course, were all happy with his innovations, that Pierre already “reluctantly insisted” on the abolition of serfdom. He did not know the true state of affairs. In the new phase of his spiritual development, Pierre was quite happy. He outlined his new understanding of life to Prince Andrei. He spoke to him about Freemasonry as a teaching of Christianity, freed from all state and official ritual foundations, as a teaching of equality, brotherhood and love. Prince Andrei believed and did not believe in the existence of such a teaching, but he wanted to believe, since it brought him back to life, opened the way for him to rebirth.

The meeting with Pierre left a deep mark on Prince Andrei. With his characteristic energy, he carried out all the activities that Pierre had planned and did not complete: he transferred one estate of three hundred souls to free cultivators - “this was one of the first examples in Russia”; on other estates, corvee was replaced by quitrent.

However, all this transformative activity did not bring satisfaction to either Pierre or Prince Andrei. There was a gap between their ideals and the unsightly social reality.

Pierre's further communication with the Freemasons led to deep disappointment in Freemasonry. The order consisted of people who were far from selfless. From under the Masonic aprons one could see the uniforms and crosses that the members of the lodge sought in life. Among them were people who were completely non-believers, who joined the lodge for the sake of getting closer to influential “brothers”. Thus, the falsity of Freemasonry was revealed to Pierre, and all his attempts to call on the “brothers” to more actively intervene in life ended in nothing. Pierre said goodbye to the Freemasons.

Dreams of a republic in Russia, of victory over Napoleon, of the liberation of the peasants are a thing of the past. Pierre lived in the position of a Russian gentleman who loved to eat, drink and sometimes lightly scold the government. It was as if not a trace remained of all his young freedom-loving impulses.

At first glance, this was already the end, spiritual death. But the fundamental questions of life continued to disturb his consciousness. His opposition to the existing social order remained, his condemnation of the evil and lies of life did not weaken at all - in this lay the foundations of his spiritual revival, which later came in the fire and storms of the Patriotic War. l ^The spiritual development of Prince Andrei in the years before World War II was also marked by an intense search for the meaning of life. Overwhelmed by gloomy experiences, Prince Andrei looked hopelessly at his life, expecting nothing for himself in the future, but then comes spiritual rebirth, a return to the fullness of all life’s feelings and experiences.

Prince Andrei condemns his selfish life, limited by the family nest and disconnected from the lives of other people, he realizes the need to establish connections, spiritual community between himself and other people.

He strives to take an active part in life and in August 1809 he arrives in St. Petersburg. This was the time of greatest glory for the young Speransky; Many committees and commissions under his leadership prepared legislative reforms. Prince Andrey takes part in the work of the Commission for drafting laws. At first, Speransky makes a huge impression on him with the logical turn of his mind. But later, Prince Andrei not only becomes disappointed, but also begins to despise Speransky. He loses all interest in the Speransky transformations being carried out.

Speransky as a statesman and as an official. the reformer was a typical representative of bourgeois liberalism and a supporter of moderate reforms within the framework of the constitutional-monarchical system.

Prince Andrei also feels the profound disconnect between all of Speransky’s reform activities and the living demands of the people. While working on the section “Rights of Individuals,” he mentally tried to apply these rights to the Bogucharov men, and “it became surprising to him how he could do such idle work for so long.”

Natasha returned Prince Andrei to the true and real life with her joys and worries, he gained the fullness of life sensations. Under the influence of a strong feeling he had not yet experienced from Her, the entire external and internal appearance of Prince Andrei was transformed. “Where Natasha was,” everything illuminated for him with sunlight, there was happiness, hope, love.

But the stronger the feeling of love for Natasha, the more acutely he experienced the pain of her loss. Her infatuation with Anatoly Kuragin, her agreement to run away from home with him dealt Prince Andrei a heavy blow. Life in his eyes has lost its “endless and bright horizons.”

Prince Andrei is experiencing a spiritual crisis. The world in his view has lost its purposefulness, life phenomena have lost their natural connection.

He turned entirely to practical activities, trying to drown out his moral torments with work. While on the Turkish front as a general on duty under Kutuzov, Prince Andrei surprised him with his willingness to work and accuracy. Thus, on the path of his complex moral and ethical quest, the light and dark sides of life are revealed to Prince Andrei, and so he undergoes ups and downs, approaching comprehension true meaning life. t

Next to the images of Prince Andrei and Pierre Bezukhov in the novel there are images of the Rostovs: a good-natured and hospitable father, embodying the type of old master; touchingly loving children, a little sentimental mother; judicious Vera and captivating Natasha; enthusiastic and limited Nicholas^; playful Petya and quiet, colorless Sonya, completely lost in self-sacrifice. Each of them has their own interests, their own special spiritual world, but on the whole they make up the “world of the Rostovs,” deeply different from the world of the Bolkonskys and from the world of the Bezukhovs.

The youth of the Rostov house brought excitement, fun, the charm of youth and falling in love into the life of the family - all this gave the atmosphere that reigned in the house a special poetic charm.

Of all the Rostovs, the most striking and exciting is the image of Natasha - the embodiment of the joy and happiness of life. The novel reveals the captivating image of Natasha, the extraordinary liveliness of her character, the impetuosity of her nature, the courage in the manifestation of feelings and the truly poetic charm inherent in her. At the same time, in all phases of spiritual development, Natasha shows her vivid emotionality.

Tolstoy invariably notes the closeness of his heroine to to the common people, a deep national feeling inherent in her. Natasha “knew how to understand everything that was in Anisya, and in Anisya’s father,” and in her aunt, and in her mother, and in every Russian person.” She is captivated by the manner of singing of her uncle, who sang the way the people sing, that’s why he the unconscious chant was so good.

The images of the Rostovs undoubtedly bear the stamp of Tolstoy’s idealization of the “good” morals of patriarchal landowner antiquity. At the same time, it is in this environment, where patriarchal morals reign, that the traditions of nobility and honor are preserved.

The full-blooded world of the Rostovs is contrasted with the world of secular revelers, immoral, shaking the moral foundations of life. Here, among the Moscow revelers led by Dolokhov, the plan to take Natasha away arose. This is the world of gamblers, duelists, desperate rakes, who often committed criminal crimes. gentlemen! But Tolstoy not only does not admire the riotous revelry of aristocratic youth, he mercilessly removes the halo of youth from these “heroes”, shows the cynicism of Dolokhov and the extreme depravity of the stupid Anatoly Kuragin. And the “real gentlemen” appear in all their unsightly guise.

The image of Nikolai Rostov emerges gradually throughout the novel. At first we see an impetuous, emotionally responsive, courageous and ardent young man who leaves the university and goes to military service.

Nikolay Rostov - average person, he is not prone to deep thoughts, he was not bothered by contradictions difficult life, so he felt good in the regiment, where he didn’t have to invent or choose anything, but only obey the long-established way of life, where everything was clear, simple and definite. And this suited Nikolai quite well. His spiritual development stopped at the age of twenty. The book does not play a role in the life of Nikolai, and, in fact, in the lives of other members of the Rostov family. significant role. Nicholas is not concerned about social issues; serious spiritual needs are alien to him. Hunting, a common pastime for landowners, fully satisfied the unpretentious needs of Nikolai Rostov’s impetuous but spiritually poor nature. The original is alien to him creativity. Such people do not bring anything new into life, are not able to go against its current, they recognize only what is generally accepted, easily capitulate to circumstances, and resign themselves to the spontaneous course of life. Nikolai thought of arranging life “according to his own mind”, marrying Sonya, but after a short, albeit sincere internal struggle, he humbly submitted to “circumstances” and married Marya Bolkonskaya.

The writer consistently reveals1 two principles in Rostov’s character: on the one hand, conscience - hence the internal honesty, decency, chivalry of Nicholas, and, on the other hand, intellectual limitations, poverty of mind - hence ignorance of the circumstances of the political and military situation of the country, inability think, refusal to reason. But Princess Marya attracted him to her precisely because of her high spiritual organization: nature generously endowed her with those “spiritual gifts” that Nikolai was completely deprived of.

The war brought decisive changes to the life of the entire Russian people. All the usual living conditions had shifted, everything was now assessed in the light of the danger that hung over Russia. Nikolai Rostov returns to the army. Petya also volunteers to go to war.

Tolstoy in “War and Peace” historically correctly reproduced the atmosphere of patriotic upsurge in the country.

In connection with the war, Pierre is experiencing great excitement. He donates about a million to organize a militia regiment.

Prince Andrey from Turkish army transfers to the Western Army and decides to serve not at headquarters, but to directly command a regiment, to be closer to ordinary soldiers. In the first serious battles for Smolensk, seeing the misfortunes of his country, he finally gets rid of his former admiration for Napoleon; he observes the growing patriotic enthusiasm in the troops, which was transmitted to the residents of the city. (

Tolstoy depicts the patriotic feat of the Smolensk merchant Ferapontov, in whose mind an alarming thought arose about the “destruction” of Russia when he learned that the city was being surrendered. He no longer sought to save his property: what was his shop with goods when “Russia decided!” And Ferapontov shouts to the soldiers who were crowding into his shop to carry everything, “don’t get it from the devils.” He decides to burn everything.

But there were other merchants. During the passage of Russian troops through Moscow, one merchant of the Gostiny Dvor “with red pimples on his cheeks” and “with a calm, unshakable expression of calculation on his well-fed face” (the writer, even in stingy portrait details expressed a sharply negative attitude towards this type of self-interested people) asked the officer to protect his goods from robbery by soldiers.

Even in the years preceding the creation of “Warrior and Peace,” Tolstoy came to the conviction that the fate of the country is determined by the people. Historical material about the Patriotic War of 1812 only strengthened the writer in the correctness of this conclusion, which had especially progressive significance in the conditions of the 60s. The writer's deep understanding of the very foundations of the national life of the people allowed him to historically correctly determine its enormous role in the fate of the Patriotic War of 1812. This war was by its nature a people's war with a widely developed partisan movement. And precisely because Tolstoy, as a great artist, managed to understand the very essence, the nature of the war of 1812, he was able to reject and expose it ^ misinterpretation in official historiography, and his “War and Peace” became the epic of glory of the Russian people, a majestic chronicle of their heroism and patriotism. Tolstoy said: “For a work to be good, you must love the main, the main idea in it. So in “Anna Karenina” I love the family thought, in “War and Peace” I loved the people’s thought...”1.

This is the main ideological task of the epic, the very essence of which is the image historical destinies people, is artistically realized in pictures of the general patriotic upsurge of the people, in the thoughts and experiences of the main characters of the novel, in the struggle of numerous partisan detachments, in the decisive battles of the army, also captured by patriotic inspiration. The idea of a people's war penetrated into the very midst of the masses of soldiers, and this decisively determined the morale of the troops, and consequently the outcome of the battles of the Patriotic War of 1812.

On the eve of the Battle of Shengraben, in full view of the enemy, the soldiers behaved as calmly, “as if somewhere in their homeland.” On the day of the battle, there was general excitement at the Tushin battery, although the artillerymen fought with extreme dedication and self-sacrifice. Both Russian cavalrymen and Russian infantrymen fight bravely and bravely. On the eve of the Battle of Borodino, an atmosphere of general animation reigned among the militia soldiers. “The whole people want to rush in; one word - Moscow. They want to make one end,” says the soldier, deeply and truly expressing in his ingenuous words the patriotic upsurge that gripped the masses of the Russian army, preparing for the decisive Battle of Borodino.

The best representatives of the Russian officers were also deeply patriotic. The writer clearly shows this by revealing the feelings and experiences of Prince Andrei, in whose spiritual appearance significant changes took place: the features of a proud aristocrat faded into the background, he fell in love with ordinary people - Timokhin and others, was kind and simple in his relations with the people of the regiment, and he was called "our prince". The sounds of the Rodinets transformed Prince Andrei. In his reflections on the eve of “Borodin, gripped by a premonition of inevitable death,” he sums up his life. In this regard, his deep patriotic feelings, his hatred of the enemy who is robbing and ruining Russia are revealed with the greatest force.

Hi>ep fully shares the feelings of anger and hatred of Prince Andrei. 1After GrZhShbra "with" "him, everything he saw that day, all the majestic pictures of preparations for battle, seemed to illuminate for Pierre with a new light, everything became clear and understandable to him: it is clear that the actions of many thousands of people were imbued with a deep and pure patriotic feeling. He He now understood the whole meaning and significance of this war and the upcoming battle, and the soldier’s words about the nationwide resistance and Moscow acquired a deep and meaningful meaning for him.

On the Borodino field, all the streams of patriotic feeling of the Russian people flow into a single channel. The bearers of the patriotic feelings of the people are the soldiers themselves and the people who stand close to them: Timokhin, Prince Andrei, Kutuzov. Here they are fully revealed spiritual qualities of people.

How much courage, courage and selfless heroism the artillerymen of the Raevsky battery and the Tushino battery show! All of them are united by the spirit of a single team, working harmoniously and cheerfully! -

no matter what. Tolstoy gives a high moral and ethical assessment to the Russian soldier. These simple people are the embodiment of spiritual vigor and strength. In his depictions of Russian soldiers, Tolstoy invariably notes their endurance, good spirits, and patriotism.

Pierre observes all this. Through his perception, a majestic picture of the famous battle is given, which only a civilian who had never participated in battles could feel so keenly. Pierre saw the war not in its ceremonial form, with prancing generals and waving banners, but in its terrible real appearance, in blood, suffering, death.

Assessing the enormous significance of the Battle of Borodino during the Patriotic War of 1812, Tolstoy points out that the myth of Napoleon's invincibility was dispelled on the Borodino field, and that the Russians, despite heavy losses, showed unprecedented perseverance. The moral strength of the French attacking army was exhausted. The Russians discovered moral superiority over the enemy. The French army near Borodino was inflicted a mortal wound, which ultimately led to its inevitable death. For the first time, at Borodino, Napoleonic France was struck by the hand of a powerful enemy. The Russian victory at Borodino had important consequences; it created the conditions for the preparation and conduct of the “flank march” - Kutuzov’s counteroffensive, which resulted in the complete defeat of Napoleonic army.

But on the way to final victory, the Russians had to go through a series of difficult trials, military necessity forced the abandonment of Moscow, which the enemy set on fire with vengeful cruelty. The theme of “burnt Moscow” occupies the most important place in the figurative system of “War and Peace”, and this is understandable, because Moscow is the “mother” of Russian cities, and the fire of Moscow responded deep pain in the heart of every Russian.

Talking about the surrender of Moscow to the enemy, Tolstoy exposes the Moscow Governor-General Rostopchin, shows his pathetic role not only in organizing resistance to the enemy, but also in saving the material assets of the city, confusion and contradictions in all his administrative orders.

Rastopchin spoke with contempt about the crowd of people, about the “rabble”, about the “plebeians” and was expecting indignation and rebellion from minute to minute. He tried to rule a people he did not know and whom he feared. Tolstoy did not recognize this role of “manager” for him; he was looking for incriminating material and found it in the bloody story of Vereshchagin, whom Rostopchin, in animal fear for his life, handed over to be torn to pieces by the crowd gathered in front of his house.

The writer with enormous artistic power conveys the inner turmoil of Rostopchin, rushing in a carriage to his country house in Sokolniki and pursued by the cry of a madman about the resurrection from the dead. The “blood trail” of the crime committed will remain for life - this is the idea of this picture.

Rastopchin was deeply alien to the people and therefore did not understand and could not understand the popular nature of the war of 1812; he stands among the negative images of the novel.

* * *

After Borodin and Moscow, Napoleon could no longer recover; nothing could save him, since his army carried within itself “as if chemical conditions decomposition."

Already from the time of the fire of Smolensk, a partisan people's war began, accompanied by the burning of villages and cities, the capture of marauders, the capture of enemy transports, and the extermination of the enemy.

The writer compares the French to a fencer who demanded “fighting according to the rules of art.” For the Russians, the question was different: the fate of the fatherland was being decided, so they threw down the sword and, “taking the first club they came across,” began to nail the dandies with it. “And it is good for that people,” exclaims Tolstoy, “... who, in a moment of trial, without asking how others acted according to the rules in similar cases, with simplicity and ease lifts the first club that comes their way and nails it with it until in his soul the feeling of “insult and revenge will not be replaced by contempt and pity.”

Guerrilla warfare arose from the very midst of the popular masses; the people themselves spontaneously put forward the idea of guerilla warfare, and before it was “officially recognized,” thousands of Frenchmen were exterminated by peasants and Cossacks. Defining the conditions for the emergence and nature of guerrilla warfare, Tolstoy makes deep and historically correct generalizations, indicating that it is a direct consequence of the popular nature of the war and the high patriotic spirit of the people._J

History teaches: where there is no genuine patriotic upsurge among the masses, there is and cannot be a guerrilla war. The War of 1812 was a patriotic war, which is why it stirred the masses of the people to the very depths and raised them to fight the enemy until his complete destruction. For the Russian people there could be no question whether things would be good or bad under French rule. “It was impossible to be under French rule: it was the worst of all.” Therefore, during the entire war, “the people had one goal: to cleanse their land from invasion.” ■"The writer in images and paintings shows the techniques and methods of partisan warfare of the Denisov and Dolokhov detachments, creates bright image a tireless partisan - the peasant Tikhon Shcherbaty, who attached himself to Denisov’s detachment. Tikhon was distinguished by his excellent health, enormous physical strength and endurance; in the fight against the French, he showed dexterity, courage and fearlessness.

Petya Rostov was among Denisov’s partisans. He is completely filled with youthful impulses; his fear of not missing something important in the partisan detachment and his desire to certainly be in time / “to the most important place” are very touching and clearly express the “restless desires of his youth.”—J

-< В образе Пети Ростова писатель изумительно тонко запечатлел это особое psychological condition young man, alive; emotionally receptive, inquisitive, selfless.

On the eve of the raid on the convoy of prisoners of war, Petya, who had been in an excited state all day, dozed off on the truck. And the entire world around him is transformed, taking on fantastic shapes. Petya hears a harmonious choir of music performing a solemnly sweet hymn, and he tries to lead it. Petya’s romantically enthusiastic perception of reality1 reaches its highest limit in this half-dream, half-reality. This is a solemn song of a young soul rejoicing at its inclusion in the life of adults. This is the anthem of life. And how exciting are the half-childish ones on the left that arose in Denisov’s memory when he looked at the murdered Petya: “I’m used to something sweet. Excellent raisins. Take all..." Denisov burst into tears, Dolokhov also did not react indifferently to Petya’s death, he made a decision: not to take prisoners.

The image of Petya Rostov is one of the most poetic in War and Peace. On many pages of War and Peace, Tolstoy depicts the patriotism of the masses in sharp contrast with the complete indifference to the fate of the country on the part of the highest circles of society. The warrior did not change the luxurious and peaceful life of the capital's nobility, which was still filled with the complex struggle of various “parties”, drowned out “as always by the tdv-beating of the court drones.” ’

d So, on the day of the Battle of Borodino, it was evening in the salon of A. P. Scherer, they were awaiting the arrival of “important persons” who had to be “shamed” for traveling to french theater and “to inspire a patriotic mood.” All this was just a game of patriotism, which is what the “enthusiast” A.P. Scherer and the visitors to her salon were doing. The salon of Helen Bezukhova, which Chancellor Rumyantsev visited, was considered French. There Napoleon was openly praised, rumors about the cruelty of the French were refuted, and the patriotic rise in the spirit of society was ridiculed. This circle thus included potential allies of Napoleon, friends of the enemy, traitors. The link between the two circles was the unprincipled Prince Vasily. With caustic irony, Tolstoy depicts how Prince Vasily got confused, forgot himself and said to Scherer what should have been said to Helen.

The images of the Kuragins in “War and Peace” clearly reflect the writer’s sharply negative attitude towards the secular St. Petersburg circles of the nobility, where double-mindedness and lies, unprincipledness and meanness, immorality and corrupt morals reigned.

The head of the family, Prince Vasily, a man of the world, important and official, in his behavior reveals unprincipledness and deceit, the cunning of a courtier and the greed of a self-seeker. With merciless truthfulness, Tolstoy tears off the mask of a secularly amiable man from Prince Vasily, and a morally vile predator appears before us. F

And “The depraved Helen, and the stupid Hippolyte, and the vile, cowardly and no less depraved Anatole, and the flattering hypocrite Prince Vasily - all of them are representatives of the vile, heartless, as Pierre says, Kuragin breed, bearers of moral corruption, moral and spiritual degradation

The Moscow nobility was also not particularly patriotic. The writer creates a bright picture meetings of nobles in the Sloboda Palace. It was some kind of fantastic sight: uniforms of different eras and reigns - Catherine’s, Pavlov’s, Alexander’s. Low-blind, toothless, bald old men, far from political life, were not truly aware of the state of affairs. The speakers from the young nobles delighted in their own eloquence. After all the speeches

ononat “BeSaHHe: I was wondering about my participation in the organization. The next day, when the tsar left and the nobles returned to their usual conditions, they, grunting, gave orders to the managers about the militia and were surprised at what they had done. All this was very far from a genuine patriotic impulse.

It was not Alexander I who was the “savior of the fatherland,” as government patriots tried to portray, and it was not among those close to the tsar that one had to look for the true organizers of the fight against the enemy. On the contrary, at court, in the tsar’s inner circle, among the highest-ranking government officials, there was a Group of outright traitors and defeatists, led by Chancellor Leo Rumyantsev and the Grand Duke, who feared Napoleon and stood for concluding peace with him. They, of course, did not have a grain of patriotism. Tolstoy also notes a group of military personnel who were also devoid of any patriotic feelings and pursued in their lives only narrowly selfish, selfish goals. This “drone population of the army” was occupied only with

that caught rubles, crosses, ranks.

There were also real patriots among the nobles - among them, in particular, was the old Prince Bolkonsky. When bidding farewell to Prince Andrei, who was leaving for the army, he reminds him of honor and patriotic duty. In 1812 he energetically began to raise a militia to fight the approaching enemy. But in the midst of this feverish activity, he is overcome by paralysis. Dying, the old prince thinks about his son and about Russia. In essence, his death was caused by the suffering of Russia in the first period of the war. Acting as the heir to the patriotic traditions of the family, Princess Marya is horrified by the thought that she could remain in the power of the French.

According to Tolstoy, the closer the nobles are to the people, the sharper and brighter their patriotic feelings, the richer and more meaningful their spiritual life. And on the contrary, the further they are from the people, the drier and callous their souls, the more unattractive their moral character: these are most often lied to and completely false courtiers like Prince Vasily or hardened careerists like Boris Drubetsky.

Boris Drubetskoy is a typical embodiment of careerism; even at the very beginning of his career, he firmly learned that success is brought not by work, not by personal merit, but by “the ability to handle”

those who reward service.

The writer in this image shows how careerism distorts human nature, destroys everything truly human in him, deprives him of the opportunity to express sincere feelings, instills lies, hypocrisy, sycophancy and other disgusting moral qualities.

On the Borodino field, Boris Drubetskoy displays precisely these disgusting qualities: he is a subtle swindler, a court flatterer and a liar. Tolstoy reveals Bennigsen’s intrigue and shows Drubetsky’s complicity in this; Both of them are indifferent to the outcome of the upcoming battle, even better - defeat, then power would pass to Bennigsen.

Patriotism and closeness to the people in the nai to a greater extent at-; Essences to Pierre, Prince Andrei, Natasha. IN people's war 1812 contained that enormous moral force that purified and reborn these heroes of Tolstoy, burned out class prejudices and selfish feelings in their souls. They became more humane and nobler. Prince Andrei becomes close to ordinary soldiers. He begins to see the main purpose of man in serving people, the people, and only death cuts him off moral quest, but they will be continued by his son Nikolenka.

Ordinary Russian soldiers also played a decisive role in the moral renewal of Pierre. He went through a passion for European politics, Freemasonry, charity, philosophy, and nothing gave him moral satisfaction. Only in communication with ordinary people did he understand that the purpose of life is in life itself: as long as there is life, there is happiness. Pierre realizes his commonality with the people and wants to share their suffering. However, the forms of manifestation of this feeling were still of an individualistic nature. Pierre wanted to accomplish the feat alone, to sacrifice himself to the common cause, although he was fully aware of his doom in this individual act of struggle against Napoleon.

Being in captivity further contributed to Pierre's rapprochement with ordinary soldiers; in his own suffering and deprivation, he experienced the suffering and deprivation of his homeland. When he returned from captivity, Natasha noted dramatic changes in his entire spiritual appearance. Moral and physical composure and readiness for energetic activity were now visible in him. Thus, Pierre Trich went to spiritual renewal, having experienced, together with all the people, the suffering of his homeland.

And Pierre, and Prince Andrei, and Hajauia, and Marya Bolkonskaya, and many other heroes of “War and Peace” during the Patriotic War became familiar with the foundations of national life: the war made them think and feel on the scale of the whole Russia, thanks to which their personal lives were immeasurably enriched .

Let us remember the exciting scene of the Rostovs’ departure from Moscow and the behavior of Natasha, who decided to take out as many of the wounded as possible, although to do this it was necessary to leave the family’s property in Moscow for the enemy to plunder. The depth of Natasha's patriotic feelings is compared by Tolstoy with the complete indifference to the fate of Russia of the mercantile Berg.

In a number of other scenes and episodes, Tolstoy mercilessly exposes and executes the stupid soldiery of various Pfulls, Wolzogens and Benigsens in the Russian service, exposes their contemptuous and arrogant attitude towards the people and the country in which they were located. And this reflected not only the ardent patriotic feelings of the creator of “War and Peace,” but also his deep comprehension of the true ways of developing the culture of his people.

Throughout the epic, Tolstoy wages a passionate struggle for the very foundations of Russian national culture. Affirmation of the identity of this culture, its great traditions is one of the main ideological problems"War and Peace". The Patriotic War of 1812 very acutely raised the question of the national origins of Russian culture.

f the traditions of the national military school, the traditions of Suvorov, were alive in the Russian army. The frequent mention of Suvorov’s name on the pages of War and Peace is natural because his legendary Italian and Swiss campaigns were still vivid in everyone’s memory, and in the ranks of the army there were soldiers and generals who fought with him. The military genius of Suvorov lived in the great Russian commander Kutuzov, in the famous general Bagration, who had a saber named after him.

Brief analysis of war and peace

Answers:

The title of the novel “War and Peace” The title of the novel itself is very ambiguous. The combination of the words “war” and “peace” can be perceived as meaning war and peacetime. The author shows the life of the Russian people before the start of the Patriotic War, its regularity and calm. Next comes a comparison with wartime: the absence of peace unsettled the usual course of life and forced people to change priorities. Also, the word “peace” can be considered as a synonym for the word “people”. This interpretation of the title of the novel speaks of the life, exploits, dreams and hopes of the Russian nation in the conditions of hostilities. The novel has many plot lines, which gives us the opportunity to delve not only into the psychology of one particular hero, but also to see him in various life situations, to evaluate his actions in the most diverse conditions, ranging from sincere friendship to his life psychology. Features of the novel “War” and the world” With unsurpassed skill, the author not only describes the tragic days of the Patriotic War, but also the courage, patriotism and insurmountable sense of duty of the Russian people. The novel is filled with many storylines, a variety of characters, each of whom, thanks to the author’s subtle psychological sense, is perceived as an absolutely real person, along with his spiritual quests, experiences, perception of the world and love, which is so common to all of us. The heroes go through a complex process of searching for goodness and truth, and, having gone through it, they comprehend all the secrets of universal human problems of existence. The heroes have a rich, but rather contradictory inner world. The novel depicts the life of the Russian people during the Patriotic War. The writer admires the indestructible majestic power of the Russian spirit, which was able to withstand the invasion of Napoleonic army. The epic novel masterfully combines pictures of grandiose historical events and the life of the Russian nobility, who also selflessly fought against opponents who were trying to capture Moscow. The epic also inimitably describes elements of military theory and strategy. Thanks to this, the reader not only expands his horizons in the field of history, but also in the art of military affairs. In describing the war, Leo Tolstoy does not allow a single historical inaccuracy, which is very important in creating a historical novel. Heroes of the novel "War and Peace" The novel "War and Peace" first of all teaches you to find the difference between real and false patriotism. The heroes of Natasha Rostova, Prince Andrey, Tushin are true patriots who, without hesitation, sacrifice a lot for the sake of their Motherland, without demanding recognition for it. Each hero of the novel, through long searches, finds his own meaning in life. So, for example, Pierre Bezukhov finds his true calling only during participation in the war. The fighting revealed to him a system of real values and life ideals - what he had been looking for so long and uselessly in the Masonic lodges. The novel, thanks to its deep meaning and wide plot coverage, won its fans in many countries of the world. For Russian people, this work is a kind of biblical historical narrative, which does not allow us to forget about the past exploits of the people.

Title of the novel "War and Peace"

The title of the novel itself is very ambiguous. The combination of the words “war” and “peace” can be perceived as meaning war and peacetime. The author shows the life of the Russian people before the start of the Patriotic War, its regularity and calm. Next comes a comparison with wartime: the absence of peace threw the usual course of life off track and forced people to change their priorities.

Features of the novel "War and Peace"

With unsurpassed skill, the author not only describes the tragic days of the Patriotic War, but also the courage, patriotism and insurmountable sense of duty of the Russian people. The novel is filled with many storylines, a variety of characters, each of whom, thanks to the author’s subtle psychological sense, is perceived as an absolutely real person, along with his spiritual quests, experiences, perception of the world and love, which is so common to all of us. The heroes go through a complex process of searching for goodness and truth, and, having gone through it, they comprehend all the secrets of universal human problems of existence. The heroes have a rich, but rather contradictory inner world.

The epic also inimitably describes elements of military theory and strategy. Thanks to this, the reader not only expands his horizons in the field of history, but also in the art of military affairs. In describing the war, Leo Tolstoy does not allow a single historical inaccuracy, which is very important in creating a historical novel.

Heroes of the novel "War and Peace"

The novel “War and Peace” first of all teaches you to find the difference between real and false patriotism. The heroes of Natasha Rostova, Prince Andrey, Tushin are true patriots who, without hesitation, sacrifice a lot for the sake of their Motherland, without demanding recognition for it.

Each hero of the novel, through long searches, finds his own meaning in life. So, for example, Pierre Bezukhov finds his true calling only during participation in the war. The fighting revealed to him a system of real values and life ideals - something that he had been looking for so long and uselessly in the Masonic lodges.