War and Peace, Volume I

I seem to be making good progress with War and Peace, having just finished Volume I. Here are a few initial thoughts.

The story in July of 1805 with a sophisticated St Petersberg soiree attended by the great and the good, including Vasily Kuragin, Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukov. Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoya also attends, but only in order to get Prince Vasily to pull strings for her son Boris. The soiree is Pierre's first venture into society following his return to Russia after having been educated abroad and does not acquit himself well. After the soiree, Pierre and Anatoly Kuragin disgrace themselves by tying a bear to a policeman and heaving the pair of them into the river.

In Moscow, the Rostovs are celebrating the nameday of Countess Natalia and her daughter Natasha. A steady parade of visitors passes on the latest gossip: Count Bezukov, the third richest man in Russia, is dying and Vasily Kuragin is hovering over his deathbed like a vulture. The reception is briefly interrupted by the arrival of the Rostov children, including Nicholai, a future hussar, Vera, the icy and unlikeable elder daughter and Natasha, the spirited younger daughter. Following the nameday party, Anna Mikhailovna, worried that Pierre will be disinherited by Prince Vasily and that Count Bezukov will not remember his obligations to his godson Boris, takes a hand in things and prevents the destruction of a letter that legitimises Pierre.

By October, both Nicholai Rostov and Andrei Bolkonski have joined the army and been dispatched to Austria to serve under General Kutuzov. Both are involved in the Battle of Schöngrabern under Bagration's command, Nicholai on the front line and Andrei as aide to an artillery unit.

Back in Russia, Prince Vasily's plans are preceding apace. He has managed to maneuver Pierre in such a way that his beautiful daughter Helene and the new Count Bezukov have become inextricably linked in the minds of Russian society. Even though Pierre knows, deep down, that marriage to Helene would be a disaster, he also feels that there is no way he can get out of it. Kuragin's other plan, to marry Anatoly to Marya Bolkonskya, has gone rather less well. Despite visiting the Bolkonskys in the country, Kuragin is unable to secure a marriage, partly because old Prince Nicholai Bolkonsky doesn't like him and partly because Anatoly dedicates himself to seducing Marya's companion.

By the middle of November, events in Austria have started to come to a head. Both the coalition emperors, Alexander and Francis II believe that Napoleon is weak — an idea reinforced by Napoleon's willingness to parley — and want to press the attack. Kutuzov and the old guard are not convinced — at one point, Kutuzov demonstrates his contempt with Weierother's battle by falling asleep during a pre-battle briefing — but they are overruled. During the Battle of Austerlitz, Nicholai, sent by Bagration to obtain new orders, wanders all over the battlefield and sees the tide of battle turn against the coalition. Nicholai, whilst attempting to grab some glory for himself, is knocked unconscious.

I have discovered, somewhat to my surprise, that there really is a reason why many people claim that War and Peace is the finest novel ever written. All the characters are superbly realised and wonderfully vivid. Within a few paragraphs of meeting him, you immediately know that Vasily Kuragin is an arch manipulator and puller of strings, that Andrei is desperately unhappy with his marriage, that he thinks his wife is rather stupid, and that he feels enclosed and contained by the facade he has to present to St Petersberg society. Pierre, in particular, is quite brilliantly imagined. A bear of a man, weak willed but with a good heart, someone who will go out of his way to be kind but feels himself to be at the mercy of forces beyond his control.

The plot, too, is moderately stupendous even if you're as profoundly ignorant of Napoleonic history as I am. The battles are presented from an interesting perspective, with Andrei's presence within the inner circles of command giving Tolstoy a way to describe the behaviours of Kutuzov and Bagration, while Nicholai's presence at the front provides a more soldierly view of the battles. After all that, I'm very much looking forward to Volume II.