What is a literary genre? "War and Peace": the genre peculiarity of the work

Writers create their own works in various genres. Some literary forms, such as the epic, drama and lyric poetry, were also used by ancient authors. Others appeared much later. Leo Tolstoy, combining several directions in his great book, created a new literary genre. "War and Peace" is a novel-epic. This genre is a combination of elements of the family-household, philosophical, historical novel. This genre blending was first used by the Russian classic.

Family-household theme

In his great work Tolstoy depicts the fate of several generations of representatives of the nobility. And although the lives of these people are inseparably linked with important historical events, the book traces the obvious features of such a literary trend as a family-household genre. "War and Peace" is a work in which the theme of the family plays a significant role. This subject was also devoted to other works by the writer. But the image of the "ideal family" emerges only at the end of the epic novel.

Historicism

In the book of Leo Tolstoy, historical events and personalities are described, which points to a certain genre. "War and Peace" is a historical work. Legendary characters in Tolstoy's novel are Kutuzov and Napoleon. Although it should be said that the Russian classic had an original attitude to history. He believed that even from the most prominent personalities in history, nothing depends. They are only bright images. Historical events are spontaneous in nature and can not depend on the will of even the most active and talented people.

Image of battles and battles

The battle scenes in the work say that this is a military genre. "War and Peace" - a novel, much of which was devoted to the war, which the author himself called "a bloodbath massacre, contrary to the human essence." From these arguments, another aspect of the genius work was born, thanks to which the novel became a reflection of the author's philosophical views.

Philosophical Ideas

One of the most patriotic books of Russian literature is War and Peace. The literary genre of this work is, first of all, a philosophical novel. The author criticizes the official church, conveying his ideas in the thoughts of the main characters.

On the questions that excite Pierre Bezukhov, he does not give instant answers. The search takes years and a lot of mistakes made by the main character. But this character is not without a moral principle, which helps him to find himself and find spiritual harmony. The supreme task of man is the existence without excess fuss, the closeness to the people - to this belief Pierre comes already at the end of the work.

Returning to the question of the inability of man to decide the fate of peoples and influence the course of events, Tolstoy maintains that anyone who seeks to slow down or speed up the historical process looks ridiculous and naive. The genre of "War and Peace" by Tolstoy is not easy to define. This is a novel-epic, full of philosophical judgments of the author, which compels many years to re-read the work not only in his homeland, but also beyond.

Socio-psychological novel

This genre differs from the others in the psychological depiction of heroes in complex life situations, the multi-linearity of the plot and the large volume. What is the genre of War and Peace? This question does not deserve an unambiguous answer. Tolstoy's brilliant book is very versatile and extremely complex. But the features of the socio-psychological novel, along with the features of other genres, it is present.

The problems of the society and the questions of his organization excited Leo Tolstoy. Relations between the nobles and peasants are considered by the author of the novel from a quite realistic point of view. His views in this respect are also ambiguous. But the inner world of the individual person was of no small importance for the writer. With the help of an image of the external appearance of the character, the author transmitted his soul world. Bezukhov's friendly eyes are associated with his gentleness and kindness. Helen Kuragina - the owner of "victoriously operating beauty". But this beauty is dead and unnatural, because there is no inner content in this heroine.

The genre of the great work "War and Peace" is a novel-epic. However, due to the scale of events and the global problems, this book is unique in genre terms.