Give War and Peace a Chance
Tolstoyan Wisdom for Troubled Times
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“This lively appreciation of one of the most intimidating and massive novels ever written should persuade many hesitant readers to try scaling the heights of War and Peace sooner rather than later” (Publishers Weekly). Considered by many critics the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is also one of the most feared. And at 1,500 pages, it’s no wonder why. Still, in July 2009 Newsweek put War and Peace at the top of its list of 100 great novels and a 2007 edition of the AARP Bulletin included the novel in their list of the top four books everybody should read by the age of fifty. A New York Times survey from 2009 identified War and Peace as the world classic you’re most likely to find people reading on their subway commute to work. What might all those Newsweek devotees, senior citizens, and harried commuters see in a book about the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s? War and Peace is many things. It is a love story, a family saga, a war novel. But at its core it’s a novel about human beings attempting to create a meaningful life for themselves in a country torn apart by war, social change, political intrigue, and spiritual confusion. It is a mirror of our times. Give War and Peace a Chance takes readers on a journey through War and Peace that reframes their very understanding of what it means to live through troubled times and survive them. Touching on a broad range of topics, from courage to romance, parenting to death, Kaufman demonstrates how Tolstoy’s wisdom can help us live fuller, more meaningful lives. The ideal companion to War and Peace, this book “makes Tolstoy’s characters lively and palpable…and may well persuade readers to finally dive into one of the world’s most acclaimed—and daunting—novels” (Kirkus Reviews).
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Russian literature scholar Andrew D. Kaufman shares his thoughts on War and Peace in Give War and Peace a Chance: Tolstoyan Wisdom for Troubled Times (boy, he just thought he was living in troubled times in 2014). He tells all the reasons War and Peace is the world's greatest novel, and he includes wonderful quotes from the book as well as episodes from Tolstoy's life.
Here are some of my takeaways:
(War and Peace is) “...a masterpiece that manages to re-create life in all its unpredictable misery and splendor.”
“Plans may very well not work, but planning is well worth doing anyway.”
He acknowledges that War and Peace is long and complicated and sometimes confusing: “In short, this pockmarked, feisty, untutored monstrosity of a work reflects life in all its turmoil, all it's roiling, overflowing possibility.”
“Tolstoy's genius lies in his uncanny ability to make our familiar, everyday world suddenly seem strange—and therefore fresh.”
“...part of the fun of the novel is that we get to know the characters in much the same way we meet people in real life.”
“Tumultuous times, Tolstoy tells us, can jar us into heightened awareness....”
The heart of W&P is what the author calls “optimism-grounded-in-reality.”
“...the real secret to survival, Tolstoy helps us to see, is learning to live courageously in a world filled with real uncertainty, real hardship, and real suffering.”
“Does hardship make us beasts, Tolstoy asks, or better human beings?”
“Do we continuously focus on getting what we think we want or on making something meaningful out of what we have?”
“To love, Tolstoy says, is to see. To see is to know the truth. And to know the truth is to truly live.”
“Joy and tragedy...give meaning to each other.”
Whew. A lot to consider. Very helpful in my reading of War and Peace.
