This was a slightly confusing section with all the new characters, but the way the novel jumps around in time to give us another point of view of the same events is fun if delirious, just like the life Olga led with Ilya (explains her love)
Daily Archives: December 10, 2015
4% done with War and Peace
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I love how he bookends the dinner scene with “The chairs scraped” [along the ground]. It’s those attentions to detail that bring the novel to life.
This is the first time we see Natasha’s power and energy put to use (mischievous as it is) and how she is always indulged. We also get her looking at Pierre twice, mere glances, but his inadvertent giggle is telling of what’s to come.
4% done with War and Peace
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I love the observation of the party guests engaging in only light conversation because they know dinner will be served soon and don’t want to get into anything too heavy less they miss the call to eat. Here we meet Berg and how self centered he is, but also how Tolstoy seems to have a low opinion of Germans (cheap, hungry only for knowledge and not food at a party).
The Russians party with the world at war.
4% done with War and Peace
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This is the first of many beautiful moments in the novel: the giving of money between Anna M and Countess Rostova. It’s complicated because it’s an unnecessary expense for the Count who is bad with money, but it’s vital because it’s the right thing to do, to help a friend. And this moment is the last real moment we get of the parents generation – it’s a passing of the torch, they know it, and they cry.
64% done with The Russian Peasantry 1600-1930: The World the Peasants Made
Though the landowners had total control of the peasants, it was in their best interest (economically) to work with the social commune structure to maintain order and profit. A well of peasant will want to remain well off so control went both ways and was complex.