The little white attic

1/ Tolstoy starts the epilogue by talking about historians’ criticisms of Alexander I.  “In what does the substance of those reproaches lie?...

1/ In Part 3 of Volume 4, we meet again Petya, the youngest of the Rostovs. His naïve enthusiasm is reminiscent of the naïveté in the young ...

1/ In the previous blog post, I wrote that there’s a problem in Tolstoy’s portrayal of Hélène, and wondered if there would be anything diffe...

1/ In an earlier blog post , I wrote that Tolstoy a few times compared things to the stage. The theatre metaphors reappear in this part.  “T...

1/ It is in this part that Tolstoy the philosopher appears for the first time, as he starts talking about the French invasion of Russia in 1...

1/ The opening chapter of this part is brilliant and uncomfortably, if not painfully, relatable.  “How horrified [Pierre] would have been se...

I’m still reading the translation by Aylmer and Louise Maude, revised by Amy Mandelker.  1/ Often Tolstoy picks a feature or an image for a ...

1/ I can see more parallels between Tolstoy’s novel and Vanity Fair. “The unsolved problem that tormented [Pierre] was caused by hints given...