War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (ebook reader for pc TXT) ๐
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Against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, five aristocratic families in Russia are transformed by the vagaries of life, by war, and by the intersection of their lives with each other. Hundreds of characters populate War and Peace, many of them historical persons, including Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I, and all of them come to life under Tolstoyโs deft hand.
War and Peace is generally considered to be Tolstoyโs masterpiece, a pinnacle of Russian literature, and one of historyโs great novels. Tolstoy himself refused to call it that, saying it was โnot a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle.โ It contains elements of history, narrative, and philosophy, the latter increasing in quantity as the book moves towards its climax. Whatever it is called, it is a triumph whose breadth and depth is perhaps unmatched in literature.
This production restores the Russian given names that were anglicized by the Maudes in their translation, the use of Russian patronymics and diminutives that they eliminated, and Tolstoyโs original four-book structure.
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- Author: Leo Tolstoy
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โAnd so they are writing from Potsdam already?โ he said, repeating Prince Vasรญliโs last words. Then rising, he suddenly went up to his daughter.
โIs it for visitors youโve got yourself up like that, eh?โ said he. โFine, very fine! You have done up your hair in this new way for the visitors, and before the visitors I tell you that in future you are never to dare to change your way of dress without my consent.โ
โIt was my fault, mon pรจre,โ interceded the little princess, with a blush.
โYou must do as you please,โ said Prince Bolkรณnski, bowing to his daughter-in-law, โbut she need not make a fool of herself, sheโs plain enough as it is.โ
And he sat down again, paying no more attention to his daughter, who was reduced to tears.
โOn the contrary, that coiffure suits the princess very well,โ said Prince Vasรญli.
โNow you, young prince, whatโs your name?โ said Prince Bolkรณnski, turning to Anatole, โcome here, let us talk and get acquainted.โ
โNow the fun begins,โ thought Anatole, sitting down with a smile beside the old prince.
โWell, my dear boy, I hear youโve been educated abroad, not taught to read and write by the deacon, like your father and me. Now tell me, my dear boy, are you serving in the Horse Guards?โ asked the old man, scrutinizing Anatole closely and intently.
โNo, I have been transferred to the line,โ said Anatole, hardly able to restrain his laughter.
โAh! Thatโs a good thing. So, my dear boy, you wish to serve the Tsar and the country? It is wartime. Such a fine fellow must serve. Well, are you off to the front?โ
โNo, Prince, our regiment has gone to the front, but I am attachedโ โโ โฆ what is it I am attached to, Papa?โ said Anatole, turning to his father with a laugh.
โA splendid soldier, splendid! โWhat am I attached to!โ Ha, ha, ha!โ laughed Prince Bolkรณnski, and Anatole laughed still louder. Suddenly Prince Bolkรณnski frowned.
โYou may go,โ he said to Anatole.
Anatole returned smiling to the ladies.
โAnd so youโve had him educated abroad, Prince Vasรญli, havenโt you?โ said the old prince to Prince Vasรญli.
โI have done my best for him, and I can assure you the education there is much better than ours.โ
โYes, everything is different nowadays, everything is changed. The ladโs a fine fellow, a fine fellow! Well, come with me now.โ He took Prince Vasรญliโs arm and led him to his study. As soon as they were alone together, Prince Vasรญli announced his hopes and wishes to the old prince.
โWell, do you think I shall prevent her, that I canโt part from her?โ said the old prince angrily. โWhat an idea! Iโm ready for it tomorrow! Only let me tell you, I want to know my son-in-law better. You know my principlesโ โeverything aboveboard! I will ask her tomorrow in your presence; if she is willing, then he can stay on. He can stay and Iโll see.โ The old prince snorted. โLet her marry, itโs all the same to me!โ he screamed in the same piercing tone as when parting from his son.
โI will tell you frankly,โ said Prince Vasรญli in the tone of a crafty man convinced of the futility of being cunning with so keen-sighted a companion. โYou know, you see right through people. Anatole is no genius, but he is an honest, goodhearted lad; an excellent son or kinsman.โ
โAll right, all right, weโll see!โ
As always happens when women lead lonely lives for any length of time without male society, on Anatoleโs appearance all the three women of Prince Nikolรกy Andrรฉevichโs household felt that their life had not been real till then. Their powers of reasoning, feeling, and observing immediately increased tenfold, and their life, which seemed to have been passed in darkness, was suddenly lit up by a new brightness, full of significance.
Princess Mรกrya grew quite unconscious of her face and coiffure. The handsome open face of the man who might perhaps be her husband absorbed all her attention. He seemed to her kind, brave, determined, manly, and magnanimous. She felt convinced of that. Thousands of dreams of a future family life continually rose in her imagination. She drove them away and tried to conceal them.
โBut am I not too cold with him?โ thought the princess. โI try to be reserved because in the depth of my soul I feel too near to him already, but then he cannot know what I think of him and may imagine that I do not like him.โ
And Princess Mรกrya tried, but could not manage, to be cordial to her new guest. โPoor girl, sheโs devilish ugly!โ thought Anatole.
Mademoiselle Bourienne, also roused to great excitement by Anatoleโs arrival, thought in another way. Of course, she, a handsome young woman without any definite position, without relations or even a country, did not intend to devote her life to serving Prince Nikolรกy Andrรฉevich, to reading aloud to him and being friends with Princess Mรกrya. Mademoiselle Bourienne had long been waiting for a Russian prince who, able to appreciate at a glance her superiority to the plain, badly dressed, ungainly Russian princesses, would fall in love with her and carry her off; and here at last was a Russian prince. Mademoiselle Bourienne knew a story, heard from her aunt but finished in her own way, which she liked to repeat to herself. It was the story of a girl who had been seduced, and to whom her poor mother (sa pauvre mรจre) appeared, and reproached her for yielding to a man without being married. Mademoiselle Bourienne was often touched to tears as in imagination she told this story to him, her seducer. And now he, a real Russian prince, had appeared. He would carry her away and then sa pauvre mรจre would appear and he would marry her. So her future shaped itself in Mademoiselle Bourienneโs head at
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