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The meaning of the title "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy

As for what the meaning of Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" was, there were fierce arguments. Now, it seems, everyone has come to more or less certain interpretations.

Antithesis in the broadest sense of the word

Indeed, if we read only the title of the novel, then immediately the most simple opposition is cast into the eye: a peaceful, calm life and military battles that occupy a very important place in the work. The meaning of the name "War and Peace" is, as it were, on the surface. Let us consider this aspect of the question. Of the four volumes of the novel, only the second only illuminates a peaceful life. In other volumes, war is interspersed with a description of episodes from the life of various parts of society. It is not for nothing that the earl himself, referring to his epic in French, wrote only La guerre et la paix, which is translated without additional interpretations: "war is war, and the world is only domestic life". There are reasons to think that the author considered the meaning of the name "War and Peace" without additional subtext. Nevertheless, it is embedded in it.

Older disputes

Before the reform of the Russian language, the word "peace" was written and interpreted in two ways. It was "peace" and "peace" through i, which in Cyrillic was called "and", and Izhitsu, which was written as "and". These words differed in meaning. "Mir" is a time without military events, and the second variant meant the universe, the globe, society. Spelling could easily change the meaning of the name "War and Peace". Employees of the country's main Institute of the Russian language found that the old spelling, which flashed in a single rare edition, is nothing more than a typo. One cliche was also found in the business document, which attracted the attention of some commentators. But the author wrote only "peace" in his letters. As the title of the novel appeared, it has not been reliably established yet. Again, we refer to our leading institute, in which the linguists have not established exact analogies.

The problems of the novel

What issues are discussed in the novel?

  • Noble society.
  • Private life.
  • Problems of the people.

And they are all connected in one way or another with wars and a peaceful life, which reflects the meaning of the name "War and Peace". Artistic reception of the author is an opposition. In the first part of the first volume, the reader has only plunged into the life of Petersburg and Moscow, as immediately the second part takes him to Austria, where preparations are being made for the battle of Shengraben. The third part of the first volume stirs Bezukhov's life in St. Petersburg, Prince Vasily's trip with Anatole to the Bald Mountains to Bolkonsky and the Battle of Austerlitz.

Contrasts of society

The Russian nobility is a unique layer. In Russia, the peasantry perceived it as foreigners: they spoke French, their manners and way of life were different from Russian. In Europe, on the contrary, they were looked at as "Russian bears." In any country they were strangers. In their home country, they could always wait for peasant rebellion. Here is another contrast of society, which reflected the meaning of the title of the novel "War and Peace". For an example, let's cite an episode from the third volume, part two. When the French approached Bogucharov, the peasants did not want to let Princess Mary go to Moscow. Only the intervention of N. Rostov, who accidentally passed by with the squadron, saved the princess and pacified the peasants. Military and peacetime in Tolstoy intertwined, as it happens in modern life.

Movement from west to east

Two wars are described by the author. One is alien to a Russian person who does not understand its meaning, but is fighting the enemy, as ordered by the authorities, without regretting himself, even without the necessary outfit. The second is understandable and natural: the defense of the Fatherland and the struggle for their families, for a peaceful life in their native land. This is also indicated by the meaning of the title of the novel "War and Peace". Against this background, the opposite, antagonistic qualities of Napoleon and Kutuzov are revealed, the role of the individual in history is revealed. The epilogue of the novel tells a lot about this. It compares emperors, generals, generals, and also analyzes the questions of will and necessity, genius and chance.

Contradiction between battles and peaceful life

In general, Tolstoy divides the world into two polar parts and war. The war, which is entirely filled with the history of mankind, is disgusting and unnatural. It causes in people hatred and hostility and brings destruction and death. Peace is happiness and joy, freedom and naturalness, work for the benefit of society and the individual. Each episode of the novel is a song of the joys of peaceful life and the condemnation of war as an indispensable attribute of human life. This opposition is the meaning of the title of the epic novel "War and Peace". The world denies war not only in the novel, but also in life. The innovation of L. Tolstoy, who himself participated in the battles of Sevastopol, is that he showed not her heroism, but the underside - the everyday, genuine, experiencing all the mental strength of man.

Nobility society, its contrasts

Nobles are not a single cohesive mass. Petersburg, the upper world, looks down on the hard-core, kind-hearted Muscovites. Salon Scherer, the house of the Rostovs and unique, intellectual, standing all alone Bogucharovo, are so different worlds that they will always be separated by an abyss.

The meaning of the name "War and Peace": composition

Six years of life (1863 - 1869) gave L. Tolstoy the writing of an epic novel, which was later expressed with disdain. But we appreciate this masterpiece for the discovery of the widest panorama of life, in which everything that surrounds a person day after day is included.

The main device that we see in all the episodes is the antithesis. The whole novel, even a description of the peaceful life, is built on contrasts: the ceremonial salon A. Scherer and the cold family way of Lisa and Andrei Bolkonsky, the patriarchal warm family of the Rostovs and the rich intellectual life in the God-forgotten Bogucharovo, the beggarly quiet existence of the adored Dolohov family and its outward, empty , The bright life of an adventurer, Pierre's unnecessary meetings with Freemasons who do not ask themselves the deep questions of the reconstruction of life, like Bezukhov.

The war also has polar sides. The foreign company 1805-1806, meaningless for Russian soldiers and officers, and the terrible 12th year, when they had to retreat, give a bloody battle at Borodino and surrender Moscow, and then, liberating their homeland, across Europe to drive the enemy to Paris, leaving him in Integrity.

The coalition that was formed after the war at the Congress of Vienna, when all the countries united against Russia, fearing its unexpected power.

Infinitely many invested in the novel-epic of his philosophical reasonings, L. N. Tolstoy ("War and Peace"). The meaning of the name does not lend itself to an unambiguous interpretation. It is multidimensional and multifaceted, as the life itself that surrounds us. This novel was and will be relevant at all times and not only for Russians who understand it more deeply, but also for foreigners who again and again refer to it, making feature films.

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