War and Peace and Tolstoy's View of History
Count Lev Tolstoy wrote abundantly on the philosophical issues that he felt were universally important. One of the most prolific examples of this is his view of history. This is set out most clearly and most famously in his largest work, War and Peace. As Tolstoy claimed himself in a public statement on the work, 'War and Peace is what the author wanted and was able to express in that form in which it was expressed.' Not only do the themes and incidents in the novel reflect his theory of history, Tolstoy iterates this in less narrative terms in the twelve chapters of the Second Epilogue, described as, 'A general discussion on the historians' study of human life, and on the difficulty of defining the forces that move nations. The problem of freewill and necessity.' The view of history explored by Tolstoy has had few sympathisers and copious critics. Tolstoy predicts this disagreement earlier in War and Peace in his description of 'the life of a bee':
A bee settling on a flower has stung a child. And the child is afraid of bees and declares that bees exist to sting people. A poet admires the bee sucking from the chalice of a flower, and says it exists to suck the fragrance of flowers. A beekeeper...The higher the human intellect rises in the discovery of these purposes, the more obvious it becomes that the ultimate purpose is beyond our comprehension. All that is accessible to man is the relation of life to the bee to other manifestations of life. And so it is with the purpose of historical characters and nations.
This presupposition of the impossibility of a total, ultimate view of history helps to explain why Tolstoy, in his view of human actio...
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Notes
1 F.F. Seeley, Tolstoy's Philosophy of History, From, Ed. Malcolm Jones, New Essays on Tolstoy, Bristol: Cambridge University Press, 1978, p. 176.
2 Ibid., pp. 178 - 183.
3 Edward Wasiolek, War and Peace: The Theoretical Chapters, From, Ed. Harold Bloom, Modern Critical Interpretations - War and Peace, New York, Chelsea House Publishers, 1988, pp. 92 - 97.
A Rose for Emily Life is fickle and most people will be a victim of circumstance and the times. Some people choose not to let circumstance rule them and, as they say, “time waits for no man”. Faulkner’s Emily did not have the individual confidence, or maybe self-esteem and self-worth, to believe that she could stand alone and succeed at life especially in the face of changing times. She had always been ruled by, and depended on, men to protect, defend and act for her. From her Father, through the manservant Tobe, to Homer Barron, all her life was dependent on men.
War is the means to many ends. The ends of ruthless dictators, of land disputes, and lives – each play its part in the reasoning for war. War is controllable. It can be avoided; however, once it begins, the bat...
Raffel, Burton. and Alexandra H. Olsen Poems and Prose from the Old English, (Yale University Press)Robert Bjork and John Niles,
Fear causes people to pray for salvation and have Christian resignation because of the hope they gain from it. Christian resignation refers to the submission of a person's life to Christian ideology of salvation and life everlasting. The Christian idea of life everlasting provides an excellent escape from the present life of fear and paranoia. It blinds people from the true desperation present to them in their life. The idea of fear causing Christian resignation becomes evident in the novel when the sacristan tries to remove himself and others from the fear of the government through prayer. "The sacristan's voice spread Christian resignation throughout the prison cell"(202) in order to provide hope from the state of fear they are currently living in. Another example at the end of the novel is when the student's mother is seen praying to God for the people who are dying and "[suffering] persecution of the law"(287) resulting from the president's rule. She says "Kyrie eleison" which is a petition to God ask for him to grant mercy. Her praying for relief from her current sate of fear and paranoia immediately gratifies her with the prospect of liv...
Kjetsaa, Geir. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, A Writer's Life. New York, New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1987,
Carl von Clausewitz, “What is War?” On War. Edited and translated by Michael Howard and Peter Paret, 89-112. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976.
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William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily tells a story of a young woman who is violated by her father’s strict mentality. After being the only man in her life Emily’s father dies and she finds it hard to let go. Like her father Emily possesses a stubborn outlook towards life, and she refused to change. While having this attitude about life Emily practically secluded herself from society for the remainder of her life. She was alone for the very first time and her reaction to this situation was solitude.
Merriman, C.D.. "Leo Tolstoy." - Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read Online . Discuss.. Jalic INC., 1 Jan. 2007. Web. 16 May 2014. .
Holsti, K. J. Peace and War: Armed Conflicts and International Order, 1648-1989. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991. Print.
Hansen, Bruce. “Dostoevsky’s Theodicy.” Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1996. At . accessed 18 November 2001.
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Márquez, Gabriel. Chronicle of a Death Foretold . New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1982. Print.
Wood, Paul. "The Unbroken Chain Tolstoy’s legacy of nonviolence influenced many great leaders. Tolstoy." . N.p., 1 Jan. 2009. Web. 5 May 2014. .
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