War and Peace - How Tolstoy Challenges Historians (summary & analysis) 

Expecting Anna Karenina Summary and Analysis.🙏

Yes. Soon.

@@Fiction_Beast, I hate "Anna Karenina" but I do approve of the assessment in the end, but here is a better way to understand it. If after death you awake to a new heavens and a new Earth, then how would you know if you are being punished or rewarded by God in the next life for both heaven and hell can be found on this Earth. The answer is if the Germans are the engineers, the English are the cops, if the Swedish are the bankers, the Italians are the lovers, and the French are the cooks, then you are in heaven. BUT, if the Germans are the police, if the English are the cooks, if the Swedish are the lovers, the Italians are the bankers, and the French are the engineers, then you are in hell.

Jean Jacques Rousseau was citizen of Genève which is in Switzerland, he influenced his compatriotes such as Henri Dunant, general Henri Dufour and Johann Pestalozzi the founder of Public Schools, all of tem were of Huguenot or as Pestalozzi Waldneser-Valdeser origin.

I have read this novel twice, and all his stories I believe if not I will, I have also read his books on art and literature, he actually considered Shakespeare a bad writer.

nonsense

Nice

"La vida es sueño... / Life is a dream... " was said first by Calderon de la barca Spanish writer.

@Marcin 13 the science of consciousness agrees with Tolstoy that life is a "dream", and to die is to "wake up" from the illusion of first person subjective reality.

@@burgermind802 sounds like a bunch of bullshit

Keith, Many years ago I saw a 1927 (silent) film directed by Abel Gance. With a live orchestra playing an original score, composed by Carmine Coppola. I lead a simple life (and was definitely taken out of my element); that said, it provided a great lifetime memory. Next up? The film you saw---Thanks for the insights!

I found it a total slog to be honest. It felt like State Cinema. Missed the humanity of the novel by quite a bit and the director should not have cast himself as Pierre.

Thank you , Keith!!! Thank you for your brilliant analysis of one of the greatest movies in the history of the unrivaled Soviet cinematography. I am Russian , now American Russian for many years but have always been cherishing our old Soviet movies . I think that the decision to work on the movie was already a heroic act on the part of our great Director Sergei Bondarchuk. If you are interested I can let you know quite a few other wonderful movies . Thank you again, I was very impressed with your comment .Lydia

It missed the humanity of the novel though.

Bought the book (the Maudes translation) and just finished watching War & Peace from 2016, currently watching the -66-67 film series and I'm enchanted already. Amazing stuff!

He isn't that important today. But it doesn't mean that we should stop reading his books.

No, during T's lifetime history as process vs great man was in open debate. T, in essence proved nothing. Rather Napoleon was simply defeated by Kutuzov.

@@00billharris yo actually didn't read War and Peace

@bill harris wrong, the great man theory is dead in academia. Only the popular imagination refuses to drop hero worship.

@@burgermind802 The focus of my remarks is real history--not hero-worshipping trash-talk by the hoi poloi. To this end, the counterfactuals of the napoleonic Wars are simple: a mass popular uprising of russkiepalookas did not defeat Napoleon. Rather Kutuzov did with a revitalized army of conscripts.

Thank you!

Agree. "Be the change we want to see the world. Change from within to manifest the change from without."

That’s Russian lit for you, thought the same thing when I read crime and punishment. The difference between that and something like a tale of two cities and massive, something about the language really makes the writing feel direct, in a very appealing way.

I had a similar thought, and wondered if that was (chapter designation aside) part of the result of the translation, and if the language and syntax itself is more archaic in the original Russian. Just a thought, if anybody has read the Russian language text I'd be curious to know.

@@robbiearroyo2292 Yeah, same here, looking for someone that read it in Russian

@@kevincardinale5655 Half of it is in French, which is translated in the footnotes. The characters often mix it with Russian in dialogues which looks unbearable, because you have to look down for the translation and try to find the place where you stopped. ‘Not French again’ is the most common thought in your head while reading. On the second reread you start paying attention to the motivations of the people, on the first reading you can barely keep up with the overarching story. Everyone seems to be acting as an idiot. Tolstoy never knows when to finish his sentences. He is preachy, Karatayev (the peasant) speaks with proverbs that sound as though Tolstoy is shoving this wisdom of the manure heap down the throats of his fruity aristocrat buddies. Every time he philosophises he uses the antiquated manner of the XVIII century Russian writers that used to torture the structure of the language to make it conform to the Latin and Ancient Greek syntax. After learning French you begin to see that he was translating his thoughts from his mother tongue into Russian. He was no Pushkin, who did the same thing with pleasant elegance. In short, Tolstoy’s language is heavy and coarse.

​@@stanislavbudaev4564...you may have picked up a bad translation

Not a native Russian but appreciate the comment

One does not to be a native Russian to understand the complexity of a Russian novel, far from it, in fact.

@@englishwithanerudite You need cultural insight to understand any work. English fool.

@@sheevinopalpatino4782 You would be really surprised at my cultural insight, I can read, speak and write in Russian :-)

that's really awesome to hear! Kudos to you for finishing the novel.

I just read it, masterpiece!

Glad to hear it!

Thanks, will do!

Thank you so much!

Thank you! Will do!

Excellent!

Me either. I didn’t understand his overly analytic explanation because it was bullshit. Analyzers always wanna put all this baggage onto a simple great work whos story stands alone and needs no torchbearer

Yeah its fun to re-read stuff that I read when I was younger and just see all the shit that flew WAY over my head.

Appreciate it. Also for the suggestions.

Appreciate it.

Really appreciate your support

Thank you very much!

That’s awesome to hear. Thank you.

You’re welcome. Thank you!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Glad I could help!

My pleasure!

So nice of you

Awesome.

You're welcome

Appreciate it.

Wow, thanks!

Thank you!

Glad you enjoyed it!

I got a dream of owning own one day

@@ethanredfern4442 I find Dostoyevsky's writing extremely depressing, perhaps because he was so orthodox and conservative in his views and thus rejected "western" contitutionalism and parliamentarism. At the age of 51, when he was painted by Pierov, he looked very old and very sad. There is no happiness that you mentioned in your comment, whatsoever.

@@ethanredfern4442 Yes, you are absolutely right; I think I do not understand Christ, in fact nobody does because we have too little information about him, in my humble opinion. Cheers.

​@@englishwithanerudite Thanks for sharing your thoughts, you seem very humble. While i personally also find a lot about the person Jesus of Nazareth way beyond my capcity to understand, there is something there that strikes me in a beautiful way. I know that i will die, and living all by and for myself seems to make death claim even more from me, but by living for others and loving them, something i daily struggle to do though, I think somehow my life joins something eternal, the same power i "feel" from the cross. It's hard to express and am sorry for writing so wordy, but i definately think there is a lot for me and for you in the gospel, have a great week and God bless you and give you peace!

@@peterlindal3352 Thank you!

@@englishwithanerudite most welcome friend, thanks to you as well!

I’m struck by Tolstoy’s insight into HUMAN NATURE…👍🏼👍🏼👣

Awesome!

Hi Sheng! Can you please explain how they differ? Thank you!

@@perk478 they are completely different. The only thing they have in common is the greatness of talent

You are welcome!

Agreed!

Glad you enjoyed it! I have not seen the Last Station. I think it came out a few years ago. Again I really appreciate your support.

I am Russian And I am so proud to be Russian when I read your comments . Thank you!!!

Appreciate the comment.

I too enjoyed deeply ,The Brothers , Another modern book is by James Michener , POLAND , it was quick coverage of some history and it was prophetic in its journey , to today , SOON, we will be the added chapter of Micheners insightful epic , God Bless. Ani Angela

I also love all of CS Lewis's books , especially , THIS HIDEOUS STRENGTH, and MERE CHRISTIANITY ,

DOSTOYEVSKY'S " Brothers Karamazov " is NO: ONE . I read same every Year without fail .

Your verdict is definitely hasn't matured enough. If you still compare

@@angelashort1331 Angela, thanks for that. I don’t have your knowledge of Lewis, but I did read his “A Grief Observed” after the death of my own wife, now 20 years ago, and found it supportive and profound. Which is a lot to say, coming from me, an atheist!

Cheers!

Great suggestion! I actually prefer Yu Hua.

@@Fiction_Beast Yeah, his name is also quite famous and familiar these days

Awesome.

Thank you! Actually I got it in Mongolia.

Awesome.

Thanks mate!

E

By the "idea", you mean, an actual plan that was almost executed? She was about to escape, you can't justify the infidelity

@@illchangelateridk I'm saying there are mitigating cicumstances: nothing happened, it wasn't her plan to begin with, she was swept up by a practised seducer and, not least of all, the person she promised herself to went off for years on end and left her alone. At this point in her young life she has basically no experience in romantic matters and the person she wanted to explore that with went off god knows where. I find it easy to make allowances for her confusion.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think it would be infidelity unless she and Bolkonsky were actually married or in a relationship and some concrete unfaithful act took place; you can't be judged on your thoughts.

@@kekohokko7213 Reading about her thoughts for probably tens of pages about how she "loves" them both was disgusting and infuriating. Nothing made sense in her thoughts. I'm sure that Tolstoy was very experienced in life, it would be a garbage writing, if this wasn't a real thing. She knew what she was doing, she was going for it, it wasn't like they tried to kidnap her against her will. It was very emotionally charged decision, but blaming everything on some "practiced seducer" is not enough for me. Even in modern day Russia, as wild as it is, there's this thing about a girl waiting a guy for one year from the army, it used to be 2 years like 20 years ago, and the girls who would fail to wait are deemed sl*ts, and you're telling me, that in traditional Russian society 200 years ago (tell anything you want about the balls and luxury, you can't deny the importance of church, marriage, family, how holy these things were considered, people married for life, "husband comes from God", just like tsar, all that good stuff, look at Maria's views about that) a girl couldn't wait one year and like 2-3 months or something, when they are practically engaged? Parents on her side approved the marriage, and they tried to abide by Andrey's father's "1-year rule", "years on end" is a hell of a stretch. Maybe kissing this mf isn't cheating too? F me then, what do I know Also Andrey said to her that she's free to go, if she wants, all that was needed is for Anatol to come to the parents openly. Everyone suggested to Natasha to tell Anatol to do so, but nah, f it, here I come in the night. All the perfect reasoning from Sonya and aunt went down the drain, that's what I was referring to as "garbage writing". And that's one of the points of the novel, there's nothing black and white in life. You can kill both of your lovers, because one was running from another at war and the other was pretty literally running from life, and still become a good mother... or at least a "fertile female", as Tolstoy calls her, was always good for breeding. ok, and maybe a little bit of singing, maybe a little of singing