The history of the creation of the novel "War and Peace" L. N

Tolstoy's rejection of traditional history, in particular the interpretation of the events of 1812, developed gradually. The beginning of the 1860s was a time of a surge of interest in history, in particular, in the era of Alexander I and the Napoleonic Wars. Books dedicated to this era are published, historians give public lectures. Tolstoy does not stand aside: just at this time he approaches the historical novel. After reading the official work of the historian Alexander Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, who painted Kutuzov as a faithful executor of the strategic ideas of Alexander I, Tolstoy expressed a desire to "compile a true true history of Europe of the present century"; work Adolphe Thiers Adolphe Thiers (1797-1877) French historian and politician. He was the first to write a scientific history of the French Revolution, which was very popular - about 150,000 copies were sold in half a century. Published "History of the Consulate and the Empire" - a detailed coverage of the era of Napoleon I. Thiers was a major political figure: twice headed the government under the July Monarchy and became the first president of the Third Republic. ⁠ forced Tolstoy to devote entire pages of War and Peace to such pro-Napoleonic historiography. Extensive discussions about the causes, the course of the war and, in general, about the force that moves peoples, begin with the third volume, but are fully crystallized in the second part of the epilogue of the novel, its theoretical conclusion, in which there is no longer a place for Rostov, Bolkonsky, Bezukhov.

Tolstoy's main objection to the traditional interpretation of historical events (not only the Napoleonic Wars) is that the ideas, moods and orders of one person, largely due to chance, cannot be the true causes of large-scale phenomena. Tolstoy refuses to believe that the murder of hundreds of thousands of people can be caused by the will of one person, however great he may be; he is rather ready to believe that some natural law, like those in the animal kingdom, governs these hundreds of thousands. Russia’s victory in the war with France was led by the combination of many wills of the Russian people, which individually can even be interpreted as selfish (for example, the desire to leave Moscow, which the enemy is about to enter), but they are united by the unwillingness to submit to the invader. By shifting the emphasis from the activities of rulers and heroes to the “uniform inclinations of people,” Tolstoy anticipates the French Annalov school, A group of French historians close to the Annals of Economic and Social Theory. In the late 1920s, they formulated the principles of the "new historical science": history is not limited to political decrees and economic data, it is much more important to study the private life of a person, his worldview. The "Annalists" first formulated the problem, and only then proceeded to search for sources, expanded the concept of the source and used data from disciplines related to history. ⁠ which made a revolution in the historiography of the XX century, and develops the ideas Mikhail Pogodin Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin (1800-1875) - historian, prose writer, publisher of the Moskvityanin magazine. Pogodin was born into a peasant family, and by the middle of the 19th century he had become such an influential figure that he gave advice to Emperor Nicholas I. Pogodin was considered the center of literary Moscow, he published the almanac Urania, in which he published poems by Pushkin, Baratynsky, Vyazemsky, Tyutchev, in his "Moskvityanin" was published by Gogol, Zhukovsky, Ostrovsky. The publisher shared the views of the Slavophiles, developed the ideas of pan-Slavism, and was close to the philosophical circle of philosophers. Pogodin professionally studied the history of Ancient Rus', defended the concept according to which the foundations of Russian statehood were laid by the Scandinavians. He collected a valuable collection of ancient Russian documents, which was later bought by the state. ⁠ and partly Henry Thomas Buckle Henry Thomas Buckle (1821-1862), English historian. His main work is The History of Civilization in England, in which he creates his own philosophy of history. According to Buckle, the development of civilization has general principles and patterns, and even the most seemingly random event can be explained by objective reasons. The scientist builds the dependence of the progress of society on natural phenomena, analyzes the influence of climate, soil, food on it. The History of Civilization in England, which Buckle did not have time to finish, had a strong influence on historiosophy, including Russian philosophy. ⁠ (both wrote in their own way about the unified laws of history and states). Another source of Tolstoy's historiosophy is the ideas of his friend, mathematician, chess player and amateur historian Prince Sergei Urusov, obsessed with discovering the "positive laws" of history and applying these laws to the war of 1812 and the figure of Kutuzov. On the eve of the release of the sixth volume of War and Peace (initially the work was divided into six, not four volumes), Turgenev wrote about Tolstoy: get pissed off- and instead of muddy philosophizing, he will give us a drink of pure spring water of his great talent. Turgenev's hopes were not justified: just the sixth volume contained the quintessence of Tolstoy's historiosophical doctrine.

Andrei Bolkonsky is a nobody, like any person of a novelist, and not a writer of personalities or memoirs. I would be ashamed to publish if all my work consisted in writing off a portrait, finding out, remembering

Lev Tolstoy

To some extent Tolstoy's ideas are contradictory. While refusing to regard Napoleon or any other charismatic leader as a world-changing genius, Tolstoy at the same time acknowledges that others do so—and devotes many pages to this view. According to Efim Etkind, “the novel is driven by the actions and conversations of people who are all (or almost all) mistaken about their own role or the role of someone who seems ruler" 27 Etkind E. G. "Inner Man" and External Speech. Essays on the psychopoetics of Russian literature of the 18th-19th centuries. M .: School "Languages ​​of Russian Culture", 1998. C. 290. ⁠ . Tolstoy suggests that historians “leave tsars, ministers, and generals alone, and study homogeneous, infinitesimal elements that lead the masses,” but he himself does not follow this instruction: a significant part of his novel is devoted specifically to tsars, ministers, and generals. However, in the end, Tolstoy judges these historical figures according to whether they were spokesmen for the popular movement. Kutuzov in his delay, unwillingness to risk the lives of soldiers in vain, leaving Moscow, realizing that the war had already been won, coincided with the people's aspirations and understanding of the war. Ultimately, Tolstoy is interested in him as a "representative of the Russian people", and not as a prince or commander.

However, Tolstoy also had to defend himself against criticism of the historical authenticity of his novel, so to speak, from the other side: he wrote about reproaches that War and Peace did not show “the horrors of serfdom, the laying of wives in walls, the beating of adult sons, Saltychikha, etc.” Tolstoy objects that he did not find evidence of a special revelry of “violence” in numerous diaries, letters and legends studied by him: “In those days, they also loved, envied, sought truth, virtue, were carried away by passions; the same was a complex mental and moral life, sometimes even more refined than now, in the upper class. The “horrors of serfdom” for Tolstoy are what we would now call “cranberries”, stereotypes about Russian life and history.

War, peace... and some details. On the eve of the start of online readings of the great novel by Leo Tolstoy, we decided to recall some details

Text: Mikhail Wiesel/Year of Literature.RF
Collage: watercolor by N. N. Karazin; portrait of Leo Tolstoy. 1873, I. N. Kramskoy (State Tretyakov Gallery)

1. The volume of the novel "War and Peace" is 1300 pages of the usual book format. This is not the largest novel in world literature, but one of the largest included in the canon of European literature of the 19th century. Initially, in the first two publications, it was divided not into four parts, as we are used to, but into six. Only in 1873, when the novel was being prepared for publication for the third time as part of the Works of L. N. Tolstoy, did the author change the distribution of the text by volume and allot him exactly half of the 8-volume collection.

2. We confidently call "War and Peace" a "novel", but the author himself categorically objected to such a genre definition. In an article dedicated to the release of the first separate edition, he wrote: This is not a novel, even less a poem, even less a historical chronicle. "War and Peace" is what the author wanted and could express in the form in which it was expressed. … History since time not only presents many examples of such a departure from the European form, but does not even give a single example of the contrary. Starting from Gogol's "Dead Souls" and up to Dostoevsky's "Dead House", in the new period of Russian literature there is not a single artistic prose work that is a little out of mediocrity, which would fit perfectly into the form of a novel, poem or short story.". Nevertheless, now "War and Peace" is certainly considered one of the pinnacles of world romance.

3.
Initially, in 1856, Tolstoy was going to write a novel not about the Napoleonic wars, but about the old one, which finally, thirty years later, is allowed to return from Siberia. But he quickly realized that he would not be able to reveal the motives for the hero’s participation in the December uprising if he did not describe his youthful participation in the Napoleonic wars. In addition, he could not help but take into account that when describing the events of December 14, 1825, he would begin to have problems with censorship. In the 1890s, Tolstoy would not have paid any attention to this, but in the 1860s, for an author who was not yet forty years old, it mattered. So the idea of ​​"the story of the Decembrist" was transformed into "an epic novel about the Napoleonic wars in Russia."

4.
For censorship reasons, as well as at the insistent request of his wife, Tolstoy cut out fairly frank descriptions of Pierre and Helen's wedding night. Sofya Andreevna managed to convince her husband that the church censorship department would not let them through. With Helen Bezukhova, who, obviously, acted for Tolstoy as the bearer of the "dark sexual beginning", the most scandalous plot twist is also connected. Helen, a flourishing young woman, suddenly dies just in 1812, untying Pierre's hands to marry Natasha Rostova. Russian schoolchildren, studying the novel at the age of 15, perceive this unexpected death as a convention necessary for the development of the plot. And only those of them who reread the novel as adults understand, to their embarrassment, from Tolstoy's dull hints that Helen is dying ... from the consequences of an unsuccessful pharmacological abortion, which she went for, entangled between two supposed husbands, a Russian nobleman and a foreign prince - she intended to marry one of them, having received a divorce from Pierre.

5. The Russian word "mir" means "absence of war" and "society". Until the reform of Russian spelling in 1918, this difference was also fixed graphically: “lack of war” was written “mir”, and “society” - “mir”. Tolstoy, of course, implied this ambiguity when he gave the name of the novel, but, contrary to the well-established misconception, he called the novel precisely "War and Peace" - which is clearly visible on the covers of all lifetime publications. On the other hand, Mayakovsky called his 1916 poem "War and Peace", in defiance of Lev Nikolaevich, and this difference has now become invisible.

6. The novel was written in 1863–69. Tolstoy himself acknowledged that

« an essay on which I have assigned five years of unceasing and exceptional labor, under the best conditions of life».

A year before the start of this work, the 34-year-old Tolstoy married, and his wife, 18-year-old Sonya Bers, took over, in particular, the duties of a secretary. In the course of working on the novel, Sofya Andreevna rewrote the text completely from beginning to end at least eight times. Individual episodes were rewritten up to 26 times. During this time, she gave birth to the first four children (out of thirteen).

7. In the same article, Tolstoy assured that the names of the characters - Drubetskoy, Kuragin - resemble real Russian aristocratic surnames - Volkonsky, Trubetskoy, Kurakin - only because it was more convenient for him to enter his characters in the historical context and "allow" them to talk with real Rostopchin and Kutuzov. In reality, this is not entirely true: describing the Rostov and Bolkonsky families, Tolstoy described his own ancestors quite closely. In particular, Nikolai Rostov is to a large extent his own father, Nikolai Tolstoy (1794–1837), hero of the war of 1812 and lieutenant colonel of the Pavlograd (!) Regiment, and Marya Bolkonskaya is his mother, Marya Nikolaevna, nee Princess Volkonskaya (1790– 1830). The circumstances of their wedding are described quite closely, and Bald Mountains are similar to Yasnaya Polyana. Immediately after the release of the novel, in the absence of the Internet and the "gossip column" in the modern sense, this, of course, could only be guessed by people close to Tolstoy. But everyone immediately recognized three characters: Vaska Denisov, Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova and Ivan Dolokhov. Under these transparent pseudonyms, famous people were designated then: the poet and hussar Denis Vasilyevich Davydov, the eccentric Moscow lady Nastasya Dmitrievna Ofrosimova. As for Dolokhov, it turned out to be more difficult with him: it seems that General Ivan Dorokhov (1762–1815), the hero of the Napoleonic wars, is meant, but in fact Tolstoy quite accurately described his son with the strange name Rufin (1801–1852), a hussar and a breter, repeatedly demoted to the soldiers for riot and again, with courage, he sought the officer's epaulettes. Tolstoy met Rufin Dorokhov in his youth in the Caucasus.

8.
The protagonist of "War and Peace" - - has no exact prototype. At the same time, it is not difficult to point out the prototype of his father, Catherine's nobleman, who recognized his illegitimate son only before his death - this is one of the richest and most influential people in Russia in the 18th century, Chancellor Alexander Bezborodko. But in the character of Pierre, the youthful features of Tolstoy himself and the collective "thinking young man" from the nobles of the early 19th century are combined - in particular, Prince Peter Vyazemsky, the future poet and closest friend

9.
Georges Nivat, the greatest contemporary French Slavist, who speaks fluent Russian, confirms that the French language of War and Peace is not a conditional “international French”, like modern “international English”, but a real aristocratic French language of the 19th century. True, still closer to the middle of the century, when the novel was written, and not the beginning, when the action takes place. Tolstoy himself compares French blotches with "shadows in the picture", giving sharpness and bulge to faces. It's easier to say this: refined French allows you to convey the flavor of an era when all of Europe spoke French. It is better to read these phrases out loud, even if you do not quite understand their meaning, and not to read the translation. The narrative is constructed in such a way that at its key moments all the characters, even the French, switch to Russian.

10. To date, "War and Peace" has served as the basis for ten cinematographic and television films, including the grandiose four-part epic by Sergei Bondarchuk (1965), for the filming of which a special cavalry regiment was created in the Soviet army. However, before the end of the year, the 11th project will be added to this list - an 8-episode television series BBC one. And, probably, it will not spoil the reputation of the "historical British series", which has now become a global brand.

September 23, 1862 Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy married Sofia Andreevna Bers. She was 18 at that time, the count was 34. They lived together for 48 years, until Tolstoy's death, and this marriage cannot be called easy or uncloudedly happy. Nevertheless, Sofya Andreevna bore the count 13 children, published both a lifetime collection of his works and a posthumous edition of his letters. Tolstoy, in the last message written to his wife after a quarrel and before leaving home, on his last journey to the Astapovo station, admitted that he loved her, no matter what - only that he could not live with her. AiF.ru recalls the love story and life of Count and Countess Tolstykh.

Reproduction of "Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy and Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya at the Table" by artist Ilya Repin. Photo: RIA Novosti

Sofya Andreevna, both during her husband's lifetime and after his death, was accused of not understanding her husband, not sharing his ideas, being too mundane and far from the count's philosophical views. He himself accused her of this, and this, in fact, became the cause of numerous disagreements that darkened the last 20 years of their life together. Nevertheless, Sofya Andreevna cannot be reproached for being a bad wife. Having devoted her whole life not only to the birth and upbringing of numerous children, but also to taking care of the house, household, solving peasant and economic problems, as well as preserving the creative heritage of her great husband, she forgot about dresses and social life.

Writer Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy with his wife Sophia. Gaspra. Crimea. Reproduction of a 1902 photograph. Photo: RIA Novosti

Before meeting his first and only wife, Count Tolstoy, a descendant of an ancient noble family, in which the blood of several noble families was mixed at once, had already managed to make both a military and a teaching career, was a famous writer. Tolstoy was familiar with the Bersov family even before his service in the Caucasus and travel around Europe in the 50s. Sophia was the second of three daughters of a doctor in the Moscow Palace Office. Andrey Bers and his wife Lubov Bers, nee Islavina. The Berses lived in Moscow, in an apartment in the Kremlin, but they often visited the Tula estate of the Islavins in the village of Ivitsy, not far from Yasnaya Polyana. Lyubov Alexandrovna was friends with the sister of Lev Nikolaevich Mary, her brother Konstantin with the Count himself. He saw Sophia and her sisters for the first time as children, they spent time together both in Yasnaya Polyana and in Moscow, played the piano, sang and even once staged an opera house.

Writer Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy with his wife Sofia Andreevna, 1910. Photo: RIA Novosti

Sophia received an excellent home education - her mother instilled in her children a love of literature from childhood, and later a diploma as a home teacher at Moscow University and wrote short stories. In addition, the future Countess Tolstaya from her youth was fond of writing stories and kept a diary, which would later be recognized as one of the outstanding examples of the memoir genre. Returning to Moscow, Tolstoy found no longer a little girl with whom he once staged home performances, but a charming girl. The families again began to visit each other, and the Berses clearly noticed the count's interest in one of their daughters, but for a long time they believed that Tolstoy would marry the elder Elizabeth. For a while, as you know, he doubted himself, but after another day spent with the Bers in Yasnaya Polyana in August 1862, he made a final decision. Sophia conquered him with her spontaneity, simplicity and clarity of judgment. They parted for a few days, after which the count himself came to Ivitsy - to the ball, which was arranged by the Berses and at which Sophia danced so that there was no doubt left in Tolstoy's heart. It is even believed that the writer conveyed his own feelings at that moment in War and Peace, in the scene where Prince Andrei is watching Natasha Rostova at her first ball. On September 16, Lev Nikolayevich asked the Bers for the hand of their daughter, after sending Sophia a letter to make sure she agreed: “Tell me, as an honest person, do you want to be my wife? Only if with all your heart, you can boldly say: yes, otherwise you’d better say: no, if there is a shadow of self-doubt in you. For God's sake, ask yourself well. It will be terrible for me to hear: no, but I foresee it and find the strength in myself to bear it. But if I will never be loved by my husband the way I love, it will be terrible! Sophia immediately agreed.

Wanting to be honest with his future wife, Tolstoy gave her his diary to read - this is how the girl learned about the fiancé's turbulent past, about gambling, about numerous novels and passionate hobbies, including a relationship with a peasant girl Aksinya who was expecting a child from him. Sofya Andreevna was shocked, but she hid her feelings as best she could, nevertheless, she will carry the memory of these revelations through her whole life.

The wedding was played just a week after the engagement - the parents could not resist the pressure of the count, who wanted to get married as soon as possible. It seemed to him that after so many years he had finally found the one he had dreamed of as a child. Having lost his mother early, he grew up listening to stories about her, and thought that his future wife should also be a faithful, loving companion, mother and assistant who fully shares his views, simple and at the same time able to appreciate the beauty of literature and the gift her husband. This is exactly how Sofya Andreevna saw him - an 18-year-old girl who abandoned city life, secular receptions and beautiful outfits for the sake of living next to her husband in his country estate. The girl took care of the household, gradually getting used to rural life, so different from the one to which she was accustomed.

Leo Tolstoy with his wife Sophia (center) on the porch of the Yasnaya Polyana house on Trinity Day, 1909. Photo: RIA Novosti

Seryozha Sofya Andreevna gave birth to her first child in 1863. Tolstoy then took up the writing of War and Peace. Despite the difficult pregnancy, his wife not only continued to do household chores, but also helped her husband in his work - she rewrote drafts cleanly.

Writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and his wife Sofya Andreevna drink tea at home in Yasnaya Polyana, 1908. Photo: RIA Novosti

For the first time, Sofya Andreevna showed her character after the birth of Seryozha. Unable to feed him herself, she demanded that the count bring a nurse, although he was categorically against it, saying that then the children of this woman would be left without milk. Otherwise, she completely followed the rules set by her husband, solved the problems of the peasants in the surrounding villages, even treated them. She taught and raised all the children at home: in total, Sofya Andreevna gave birth to 13 children to Tolstoy, five of whom died at an early age.

Russian writer Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (left) with his grandchildren Sonya (right) and Ilya (center) in Krekshino, 1909. Photo: RIA Novosti

The first twenty years passed almost cloudlessly, but resentment accumulated. In 1877, Tolstoy finished working on Anna Karenina and felt a deep dissatisfaction with life, which upset and even offended Sofya Andreevna. She, who sacrificed everything for him, in return received dissatisfaction with the life that she so diligently arranged for him. Tolstoy's moral searches led him to the formation of commandments, according to which his family now had to live. The count called, among other things, for the simplest existence, the rejection of meat, alcohol, and smoking. He dressed in peasant clothes, he made clothes and shoes for himself, his wife and children, he even wanted to give up all his property in favor of the villagers - Sofya Andreevna had to work hard to dissuade her husband from this act. She was sincerely offended that her husband, who suddenly felt guilty before all of humanity, did not feel guilty towards her and was ready to give everything she had acquired and protected for so many years. He expected from his wife that she would share not only his material, but also his spiritual life, his philosophical views. For the first time, after a major quarrel with Sofya Andreevna, Tolstoy left home, and when he returned, he no longer trusted her manuscripts - now the duty to copy drafts fell on her daughters, for whom Tolstaya was very jealous. Knocked her down and the death of the last child, Vani, born in 1888 - he did not live up to seven years. This grief at first brought the spouses together, but not for long - the abyss that separated them, mutual insults and misunderstanding, all this prompted Sofya Andreevna to seek solace on the side. She took up music, began to travel to Moscow to take lessons from a teacher Alexandra Taneeva. Her romantic feelings for the musician were not a secret either for Taneyev himself or for Tolstoy, but the relationship remained friendly. But the count, who was jealous and angry, could not forgive this "half-treason."

Sofya Tolstaya at the window of the house of the head of the Astapovo station I. M. Ozolin, where the dying Leo Tolstoy lies, 1910. Photo: RIA Novosti.

In recent years, mutual suspicions and resentments have grown almost into a manic obsession: Sofya Andreevna reread Tolstoy's diaries, looking for something bad that he could write about her. He scolded his wife for being too suspicious: the last, fatal quarrel took place on October 27-28, 1910. Tolstoy packed his things and left home, leaving Sofya Andreevna a farewell letter: “Don’t think that I left because I don’t love you. I love you and pity you with all my heart, but I can’t do otherwise than I do. According to the stories of the family, after reading the note, Tolstaya rushed to drown herself - miraculously managed to pull her out of the pond. Soon information came that the count, having caught a cold, was dying of pneumonia at the Astapovo station - the children and his wife, whom he even did not want to see then, came to the sick man in the stationmaster's house. The last meeting between Lev Nikolaevich and Sofya Andreevna took place just before the death of the writer, who died on November 7, 1910. The Countess outlived her husband by 9 years, was engaged in publishing his diaries and until the end of her days listened to reproaches that she was a wife not worthy of a genius.

Education

Improve general literacy by rewriting the novel "War and Peace"

I heard this legend and I want to experience it for myself. There is one non-traditional method - to rewrite Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. Just rewrite a few pages every day. In practice, such a case is described. The girl passed 3 entrance exams for 5, and Russian for 2, the professor took care of her and accepted her as a candidate on the condition that she would rewrite "War and Peace" in six months. She brought him notebooks, he accepted without reading. She cried, but she wrote without thinking about the content. A year later, the student became the most literate on the course.

Quantity turned into quality. Only Tolstoy needs to be written, he has no mistakes. The hand itself will remember what was written (the writer reads twice), and the brain will learn the spelling by the method of repeated repetition.
Try it if you have a strong desire to achieve the goal. If there is willpower.

I will also train willpower)))

Termination Criteria

rewrite the novel War and Peace" from 1 to 4 volumes.

"War and Peace" is a great work. What is the history of the creation of the epic novel? L. N. Tolstoy himself more than once wondered why in life it happens this way and not otherwise ... Indeed, why, for what and how did the creative process of creating the greatest work of all times and peoples proceed? After all, it took seven long years to write it ...

The history of the creation of the novel "War and Peace": the first evidence of the beginning of work

In September 1863, a letter arrives in Yasnaya Polyana from the father of Sofya Andreevna Tolstoy - A.E. Bersa. He writes that the day before, he and Lev Nikolayevich had a long conversation about the people's war against Napoleon and about that era in general - the count intends to start writing a novel dedicated to those great and memorable events in the history of Russia. The mention of this letter is not accidental, since it is considered "the first accurate evidence" of the beginning of the work of the great Russian writer on the novel "War and Peace". This is also confirmed by another document dated the same year a month later: Lev Nikolaevich writes to a relative about his new idea. He was already involved in work on an epic novel about the events of the beginning of the century and up to the 50s. How much moral strength and energy he needs to carry out what he has planned, he says, and how much he already possesses, he already writes and thinks about everything in the way that he "has never written or thought about."

First idea

The history of the creation of Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" indicates that the writer's original intention was to create a book about the difficult fate of a Decembrist who returned to his native land in 1865 (the time of the abolition of serfdom) after many years of exile in Siberia. However, Lev Nikolayevich soon revised his idea and turned to the historical events of 1825 - the time. As a result, this idea was also abandoned: the protagonist's youth took place against the backdrop of the Patriotic War of 1912, a formidable and glorious time for the entire Russian people, which, in turn, was another link in the unbreakable chain of events of 1805. Tolstoy decided to start telling stories from the very beginning - the beginning of the 19th century - and revived the half-century history of the Russian state with the help of not one main character, but many vivid images.

The history of the creation of the novel "War and Peace" or "Three Pores"

We continue ... Undoubtedly, a vivid idea of ​​the writer's work on the novel is given by his story of creation ("War and Peace"). So, the time and place of the novel are determined. The author leads the main characters - the Decembrists, through three historically significant periods of time, hence the original title of the work "Three Pores".

The first part covers the period from the beginning of the 19th century until 1812, when the youth of the heroes coincided with the war between Russia and Napoleonic France. The second is the 20s, not without including the most important thing - the Decembrist uprising in 1825. And, finally, the third, final part - the 50s - the time of the return of the rebels from exile under the amnesty granted by the emperor against the backdrop of such tragic pages of Russian history as the inglorious defeat and death of Nicholas I.

Well, the novel, in its conception and scope, promised to be global and demanded a different art form, and it was found. According to Lev Nikolayevich himself, “War and Peace” is not historical chronicles, and not a poem, and not even just a novel, but a new genre in fiction - an epic novel, where the fates of many people and an entire nation are associated with grandiose historical events .

torment

Work on the work was very difficult. The history of creation ("War and Peace") suggests that many times Lev Nikolayevich took the first steps and immediately stopped writing. There are fifteen versions of the first chapters of the work in the writer's archive. What hindered? What haunted the Russian genius? The desire to fully express their thoughts, their religious and philosophical ideas, research, their vision of history, to give their assessments of those socio-political processes, the huge role not of emperors, not leaders, but of the whole people in the history of the country. This required a colossal effort of all spiritual forces. More than once he lost and regained hope to fulfill his plan to the end. Hence the idea of ​​the novel, and the names of the early editions: "Three Pores", "All's well that ends well", "1805". They seem to have changed more than once.

Patriotic War of 1812

Thus, the author’s long creative throwing ended in a narrowing of the time frame - Tolstoy focused all his attention on 1812, the war of Russia against the “Great Army” of the French Emperor Napoleon, and only in the epilogue touched on the birth of the Decembrist movement.

The smells and sounds of war... To convey them, it was necessary to study a huge amount of material. This is fiction of that time, and historical documents, memoirs and letters of contemporaries of those events, battle plans, orders and orders of military commanders ... He spared neither time nor effort. From the very beginning, he rejected all those historical chronicles that sought to portray the war as a battlefield between two emperors, extolling first one, then the other. The writer did not belittle their merits and their significance, but put the people and their spirit at the forefront.

As you can see, the work has an incredibly interesting history of creation. "War and Peace" boasts another interesting fact. Between the manuscripts, another small, but nevertheless important document has been preserved - a sheet with the notes of the writer himself, made during his stay on it. On it, he captured the horizon line, indicating exactly where which villages were. Here you can also see the line of movement of the sun during the battle itself. All this, one might say, is bare sketches, sketches of what was later destined under the pen of a genius to turn into a real picture depicting a great full of movement, life, extraordinary colors and sounds. Incredible and amazing, isn't it?

chance and genius

L. Tolstoy on the pages of his novel talked a lot about the laws of history. His conclusions are also applicable to life, they contain much that concerns a great work, in particular the history of creation. "War and Peace" went through many stages to become a true masterpiece.

Science says that chance and genius are to blame for everything: chance offered to capture the half-century history of Russia with the help of artistic means, and the genius - Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy - took advantage of it. But from this follow new questions about what this case is, what genius is. On the one hand, these are just words designed to explain what is actually inexplicable, and on the other hand, it is impossible to deny some of their suitability and usefulness, at least they denote "a certain degree of understanding of things."

Where and how the idea itself and the history of the creation of the novel "War and Peace" appeared - it is impossible to find out until the end, there are only bare facts, therefore we say "case". Further - more: we read the novel and cannot imagine that power, that human spirit, or rather superhuman, which managed to clothe the deepest philosophical thoughts and ideas in an amazing form - therefore we say "genius".

The longer the series of “cases” that passes before us, the more the facets of the author’s genius shine, the closer we seem to be to revealing the secret of L. Tolstoy’s genius and some incomprehensible truth contained in the work. But this is an illusion. What to do? Lev Nikolaevich believed in the only possible understanding of the world order - the renunciation of knowledge of the ultimate goal. If we admit that the ultimate goal of creating a novel is inaccessible to us, if we renounce all the reasons, visible and invisible, that prompted the writer to take up writing a work, we will comprehend or at least admire and enjoy to the full its infinite depth, designed to serve common goals, not always accessible to human understanding. As the writer himself said while working on the novel, the ultimate goal of the artist is not the undeniable resolution of issues, but leading and pushing the reader to love life in all its countless manifestations, so that he would cry and laugh along with the main characters.