u/moss_tones

AKA Volume/Book 4, Part 2, Chapter 1

(All information for this post was copied from the War and Peace posting guide)

Historical Threads: 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | no post in 2023 | 2024 | 2025

Summary courtesy of /u/Honest_Ad_2157: Ok, we’re back to exposition on why the Great Man of history theory sucks. We infer simple causes when multiple causes exist. The scholars of Tolstoy’s time preferred causes which invoked human agency so they could assign credit to Great Men. We must reorient our view to history, rejecting the Great Man, as astronomers reoriented their view by rejecting the fixed position of the earth to embracing the fixed position of the sun. [And then rejecting that and embracing gravity.] The Russian army didn’t retreat along the Kalúga road because it was a genius move. It was where they could feed themselves; “even a dull boy of thirteen could have guessed that” [Maude]. The French Marshal Murat (2.14/1.2.14 & 9.4/3.1.4) lost contact with the Russian Army, limiting the French options, and forcing the Russians to turn south when contact was reestablished. Lanskóy (first mention) at the Council at Fili (11.4/3.3.4) had argued that the evacuation route planned by the council along the Nízhni road would separate the army from their supplies by the uncrossable river Oká (this argument was not portrayed in that chapter). The army ignored that plan for these many reasons, and historians retconned the results to literally make Great Men.

Links

Today's Podcast

Ander Louis translation of War & Peace

Medium Article by Denton

Discussion Prompts

"But why military writers, and everyone else after them, suppose this flanking march, which saved Russia and destroyed Napoleon, to be the profound invention of some one person--is very hard to understand. First of all, it is hard to understand what the profundity and genius of this movement consisted in; for it takes no great mental effort to figure out that the best position for an army (when it is not under attack) is where there are most provisions."

1. Do you think Tolstoy thinks this applies to every aspect of life? Or just military aspects? For instance, would he apply this questioning to his own success with W&P?

Final line of today's chapter:

... Only when the troops had already reached Tarutino, owing to countless differential forces, only then did people begin to assure themselves that they had wanted it and had long foreseen it.

AKA Volume/Book 4, Part 1, Chapter 16

(Sorry I'm a little late today! All information for this post was copied from the War and Peace posting guide)

Historical Threads: 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | no post in 2023 | 2024 | 2025

Summary courtesy of /u/Honest_Ad_2157: The chapter begins with Andrei knowing he will die, stuck in the liminal space between life and death. He considers the two other times he was close to death, when he felt fear. He no longer understands that fear. He muses on the kinds of love. When Natásha relieves Sonya at the bedside, he observes her knitting, which she took up because she heard good nurses knit. He sees her taking care not to let the candlelight fall on his face, to not breathe too loudly, when she bends to pick up a fallen ball of yarn. They talk, he professes his love, asks her if he will live and she confirms that he will. She tells him to sleep. As he drifts off, he has thoughts of love keeping death away, but love having to return to the source of love, God, at death. He has a vivid dream of being healed, in bed, talking to folks, but there is a door behind which death lurks that he must get up and lock to keep death out. In a perfect description of sleep paralysis, Tolstoy recounts Andre’s battle getting to the door too late. This marks the change described by Natásha to Marya as happening two days prior to Marya’s arrival (see 12.15/4.1.15). He is dying. He performs rituals, including kissing Nikolushka goodbye and taking last Communion. He dies. His circle mourns. A longish chapter at 2179 words (Maude).

Links

Today's Podcast

Ander Louis translation of War & Peace

Medium Article by Denton

Discussion Prompts

1. Is this what you thought might happen to Andrei in the end?

2. Tolstoy dedicated quite a lot of space to this chapter, whereas he sometimes drops significant events quite brutally with only a sentence. Why do you think he chose to dedicate so much space to Andrei's death?

3. And finally: what was your favourite line in this chapter?

Additional Discussion Prompts

4. Wow. That was… a lot to take in. Is everyone ok?

5. What do you think about Andrei’s final truth -- that death is an awakening? How does this fit (if at all) with his other big moments of clarity - his tree and his great big sky?

6. The final section says that Count Rostov, “wept because he felt that soon he, too, would have to take that dreadful step.” Does this indicate a permanent change in the Count or is it a temporary bout of self-pity? What do you see in the future for Count Rostov and his family?

7. How do you interpret Natásha and Marya’s reaction to Andrei’s final days and his death. What is the ‘reverent emotion’ referenced in the final line?

Final line of today's chapter:

... They wept with a melting sensation of reverence gripping their very souls as they contemplated the simple and solemn mystery of death that had been accomplished before their eyes.

AKA Volume/Book 4, Part 1, Chapter 14

(All information for this post was copied from the War and Peace posting guide)

Historical Threads: 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Chapters 14-16 post in 2023 (not the standard post) | 2024 | 2025

Note: the link to Denton’s medium article is incorrect in 2022, 2021 and probably earlier posts. It should be day 273, Nature Likewise by the Power of Reason.

In a 2020 thread started by /u/WarAndCovfefe, /u/Acoustic_eels referred to the Michael Scott (The Office) effect in describing reactions to the Rostov family.

Summary courtesy of /u/Honest_Ad_2157: Maria is on her way to Yaroslavl to tend to Andrei, after being told by Nicolai that he’s with the Rostovs in 12.7/4.1.7. She takes a large party, including her nephew and Bourienne, in a wagon train of three carriages. During the journey where she’s so focused on traveling she doesn’t have time to worry, her companions notice a change in her. In an internal narration, Tolstoy reveals she’s finally got a measure of peace because she loves and is loved. A messenger she sent ahead returns and tells her precisely where the Rostovs are staying but doesn’t find out Andrei’s exact condition, just that it’s “still the same.” Still the same as…what? At the merchant Brónnikov’s (first and only mention) house, where the Rostovs are staying, she encounters Sonya with a fake smile, an exasperating Countess, a diminished Ilya, and, finally, after multiple requests that she just be able to see Andrei, she finds a newly-canonized soul sister in Natásha. They fall into each other’s arms, weeping for Andrei and each other, and Natásha gives her an update on Andrei’s varying condition, which may have taken a turn for the worse.

Links

Today's Podcast

Ander Louis translation of War & Peace

Medium Article by Denton

Discussion Prompts

1. During the journey to Andrei, Marya’s servants are astonished by her firmness of spirit and energy. Did this surprise you too, and if not, how can it be that the servants are surprised by it?

2. After arriving at the house Sonya welcomes them and to Marya it seems that she smiles unpleasantly and falsely. Could this be a true observation and if not, why would it seem unpleasant and false to Marya?

3. Ending with such a cliffhanger, without spoiling it, who couldn’t wait a day and already read next chapter? (no spoilers!)

Final line of today's chapter:

... “No, not that, but worse. You’ll see. Ah, Marie, Marie, he’s too good, he can’t, he can’t live, because…”

AKA Volume/Book 4, Part 1, Chapter 13

(Another script error today, all information for this post was copied from the War and Peace posting guide

Historical Threads: 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | no post in 2023 | 2024 | 2025

In 2018, /u/biscuitpotter asked about other translations of Platon’s homey saying on waking up, “Lay down in a curl, got up in a whirl!”

Summary courtesy of /u/Honest_Ad_2157: Tolstoy leads us down the garden path to an idealized peasant in this chapter. “Platon” (means Plato, great way to telegraph a Platonic ideal, Lev!) is a well-rounded guy with no memory of what he says or sings from one moment to another who absolutely changes Pierre’s life blah blah blah. We have no idea if we’re going to meet this guy again, but it’s important to know that every action he takes doesn’t make sense outside of his social existence as a peasant and he has no inner life. Oh, yeah, and Platon is naturally healthy because of this way of being, so “healthy” means “good”. You know what “sick” must mean, and whose fault it is! As Marvin Minsky said, religious-like revelations make us think we have all the answers because they cause us to cease asking questions. Important plot information is given to us in the first line only: Pierre remains captive for four weeks. That sentence should be the entire summary.

Links

Today's Podcast

Ander Louis translation of War & Peace

Medium Article by Denton

Discussion Prompts

1. Platon’s appearance is revealed here. Does he look like you expected him to be?

2. As Iosif Alexeevich[, the Mason from the train in 5.2/2.2.2, in whose house Pierre was just staying when the French invaded Moscow], was an important person in Pierre’s life, Platon Karataev seems to become one according to the following quote: … Platon Karataev remained for ever in Pierre’s soul as the strongest and dearest memory and the embodiment of everything Russian, kindly and round. What do Iosif and Platon have in common to make them as important as they are/were/will be to Pierre?

3. The last paragraph summarizes the way that Platon lives his life. Would this be a possible way to live life during peace time in the working field?

Final line of today's chapter:

... He was unable to understand either the value or the meaning of a word or act taken separately.