War and Peace

EpichistoricalnovelbyLeoTolstoy,originallypublishedasVoynaimirin1865-69.Thispanoramicstudyofearly19th-centuryRussiansociety,notedforitsmasteryofrealisticdetailandvarietyofpsychologicalanalysis,isgenerallyregardedasoneoftheworld'sgreatestnovels.WarandPeaceisprimarilyconcernedwiththehistoriesoffivearistocraticfamilies--particularlytheBezukhovs,theBolkonskys,andtheRostovs--themembersofwhichareportrayedagainstavividbackgroundofRussiansociallifeduringthewaragainstNapoleon(1805-14).Thethemeofwar,however,issubordinatetothestoryoffamilyexistence,whichinvolvesTolstoy'soptimisticbeliefinthelife-assertingpatternofhumanexistence.Theheroine,NatashaRostova,forexample,reacheshergreatestfulfillmentthroughhermarriagetoPierreBezukhovandhermotherhood.Thenovelalsosetsforthatheoryofhistory,concludingthatthereisaminimumoffreechoice;allisruledbyaninexorablehistoricaldeterminism.--TheMerriam-WebsterEncyclopediaofLiterature--ThistextreferstoanalternatePaperbackedition.