Tolstoy On War: Narrative Art and Historical Truth in “War and Peace”
Rick McPeak and Donna Tussing Orwin
Abstract
In 1812, Napoleon launched his fateful invasion of Russia. Five decades later, Leo Tolstoy published War and Peace, a fictional representation of the era that is one of the most celebrated novels in world literature. The novel contains a coherent (though much disputed) philosophy of history and portrays the history and military strategy of its time in a manner that offers lessons for the soldiers of today. To mark the two hundredth anniversary of the French invasion of Russia and acknowledge the importance of Tolstoy's novel for our historical memory of its central events, this book provides f ... More
In 1812, Napoleon launched his fateful invasion of Russia. Five decades later, Leo Tolstoy published War and Peace, a fictional representation of the era that is one of the most celebrated novels in world literature. The novel contains a coherent (though much disputed) philosophy of history and portrays the history and military strategy of its time in a manner that offers lessons for the soldiers of today. To mark the two hundredth anniversary of the French invasion of Russia and acknowledge the importance of Tolstoy's novel for our historical memory of its central events, this book provides fresh readings of the novel. The chapters focus primarily on the novel's depictions of war and history, and the range of responses suggests that these remain inexhaustible topics of debate. The book aims to open fruitful new avenues of understanding War and Peace while providing a range of perspectives and interpretations without parallel in the vast literature on the novel.
Keywords:
Leo Tolstoy,
War and Peace,
world literature,
philosophy of history,
Napoleon
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2012 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780801448980 |
| Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: August 2016 |
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9780801448980.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Rick McPeak, editor
Professor and Head of the Department of Foreign Languages, the United States Military Academy, West Point
Donna Tussing Orwin, editor
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