During that time, according to Tolstoy scholar Kathryn B. In fact, it took almost a full year for the author to write an introduction that he was happy with. The book’s opening scene did not come to Tolstoy in a flash. He had issues writing the opening of the novel. As Tolstoy began writing, he was so taken with the time period surrounding the Napoleonic Wars that he decided to make it his sole focus. Tolstoy saw the uprising as a seminal moment in Russian history-a turning point for the nation when Western ideals clashed with traditionally Russian ideals. The second book would focus on their failed uprising, with a third book following the officers during their exile and eventual return from Siberia. The first book would examine the officers’ lives and ideological development during the Napoleonic Wars. Tolstoy envisioned a trilogy that centered on the attempted overthrow of Tsar Nicolas I by a group of military officers who became known as The Decembrists. The Russian count’s original plan for War and Peace was nothing like the end product. “There will be these people who go into re-reading books to get away from the news cycle and there will be explorers who throw themselves into trying to learn as much as possible.Writer Leo Tolstoy Sitting at Desk in His Study. “I see a parallel between this and the pandemic,” says McLoughlin. The war in Ukraine presents a new frontier for bookworms, and while Oprah is still recommending ‘War and Peace’ readers can choose for themselves whether to learn about geopolitics or escape with a childhood classic

Sadly these nations have either been directly threatened by Putin or are former Soviet territories that stand a chance of invasion. “People were dealing with Darwin and freaking out really.”Įurope’s top nations for reading are Estonia followed by Finland, with Poland coming in a close third. “There were anxieties about things that would take us back into this world which is quasi-medieval or tribal. “There were anxieties around scientific advancements in the Victorian era,” says Boucher. Whatever people were reading while they had one eye on homeschooling their children, the pandemic built on a rich tradition of using literature to understand the era we live in.

War and peace tolstoy book