Why should you read Tolstoy's "War and Peace"? - Brendan Pelsue
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0:08 - 0:09"War and Peace,"
-
0:09 - 0:10a tome,
-
0:10 - 0:12a slog,
-
0:12 - 0:15the sort of book you shouldn't read in bed
because if you fall asleep, -
0:15 - 0:18it could give you a concussion, right?
-
0:18 - 0:19Only partly.
-
0:19 - 0:22"War and Peace" is a long book, sure,
-
0:22 - 0:25but it's also a thrilling examination
of history, -
0:25 - 0:30populated with some of the deepest, most
realistic characters you'll find anywhere. -
0:30 - 0:35And if its length intimidates you,
just image how poor Tolstoy felt. -
0:35 - 0:39In 1863, he set out to write a short novel
about a political dissident -
0:39 - 0:42returning from exile in Siberia.
-
0:42 - 0:46Five years later, he had produced
a 1,200 page epic -
0:46 - 0:47featuring love stories,
-
0:47 - 0:48battlefields,
-
0:48 - 0:49bankruptcies,
-
0:49 - 0:50firing squads,
-
0:50 - 0:51religious visions,
-
0:51 - 0:52the burning of Moscow,
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0:52 - 0:55and a semi-domesticated bear,
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0:55 - 0:57but no exile and no political dissidents.
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0:57 - 0:59Here's how it happened.
-
0:59 - 1:01Tolstoy, a volcanic soul,
-
1:01 - 1:06was born to a famously eccentric
aristocratic family in 1828. -
1:06 - 1:09By the time he was 30, he had already
dropped out of Kazan University, -
1:09 - 1:11gambled away the family fortune,
-
1:11 - 1:12joined the army,
-
1:12 - 1:13written memoirs,
-
1:13 - 1:17and rejected the literary establishment
to travel Europe. -
1:17 - 1:21He then settled into Yasnaya Polyana,
his ancestral mansion, -
1:21 - 1:24to write about the return
of the Decembrists, -
1:24 - 1:31a band of well-born revolutionaries
pardoned in 1856 after 30 years in exile. -
1:31 - 1:32But, Tolstoy thought,
-
1:32 - 1:35how could he tell the story
of the Decembrists return from exile -
1:35 - 1:37without telling the story of 1825,
-
1:37 - 1:42when they revolted against
the conservative Tsar Nicholas I? -
1:42 - 1:45And how could he do that without telling
the story of 1812, -
1:45 - 1:47when Napoleon's disastrous
invasion of Russia -
1:47 - 1:52helped trigger the authoritarianism
the Decembrists were rebelling against? -
1:52 - 1:56And how could he tell the story of 1812
without talking about 1805, -
1:56 - 1:59when the Russians first learned of
the threat Napoleon posed -
1:59 - 2:03after their defeat at
the Battle of Austerlitz? -
2:03 - 2:05So Tolstoy began writing,
-
2:05 - 2:06both about the big events of history
-
2:06 - 2:09and the small lives
that inhabit those events. -
2:09 - 2:12He focused on aristocrats,
the class he knew best. -
2:12 - 2:14The book only occasionally touches
-
2:14 - 2:17on the lives of the vast majority
of the Russian population, -
2:17 - 2:19who were peasants,
or even serfs, -
2:19 - 2:23farmers bound to serve the owners
of the land on which they lived. -
2:23 - 2:27"War and Peace" opens on the eve
of war between France and Russia. -
2:27 - 2:31Aristocrats at a cocktail party fret
about the looming violence, -
2:31 - 2:35but then change the topic to those things
aristocrats always seem to care about: -
2:35 - 2:36money,
-
2:36 - 2:37sex,
-
2:37 - 2:38and death.
-
2:38 - 2:39This first scene is indicative
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2:39 - 2:43of the way the book bounces
between the political and personal -
2:43 - 2:45over an ever-widening canvas.
-
2:45 - 2:47There are no main characters
in "War and Peace." -
2:47 - 2:50Instead, readers enter
a vast interlocking web -
2:50 - 2:53of relationships and questions.
-
2:53 - 2:55Will the hapless
and illegitimate son of a count -
2:55 - 2:58marry a beautiful but conniving princess?
-
2:58 - 3:01Will his only friend survive
the battlefields of Austria? -
3:01 - 3:07And what about that nice young girl
falling in love with both men at once? -
3:07 - 3:11Real historical figures mix and mingle
with all these fictional folk, -
3:11 - 3:13Napoleon appears several times,
-
3:13 - 3:17and even one of Tolstoy's ancestors
plays a background part. -
3:17 - 3:20But while the characters
and their psychologies are gripping, -
3:20 - 3:23Tolstoy is not afraid to interrupt
the narrative -
3:23 - 3:26to pose insightful
questions about history. -
3:26 - 3:27Why do wars start?
-
3:27 - 3:30What are good battlefield tactics?
-
3:30 - 3:35Do nations rise and fall on the actions
of so-called great men like Napoleon, -
3:35 - 3:39or are there larger cultural and economic
forces at play? -
3:39 - 3:42These extended digressions are part
of what make "War and Peace" -
3:42 - 3:44so panoramic in scope.
-
3:44 - 3:46But for some 19th century critics,
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3:46 - 3:50this meant "War and Peace" barely felt
like a novel at all. -
3:50 - 3:55It was a "large, loose, baggy monster,"
in the words of Henry James. -
3:55 - 3:57Tolstoy, in fact, agreed.
-
3:57 - 4:00To him, novels were
a western European form. -
4:00 - 4:05Russian writers had to write differently
because Russian people lived differently. -
4:05 - 4:07"What is 'War and Peace'?" he asked.
-
4:07 - 4:08"It is not a novel.
-
4:08 - 4:10Still less an epic poem.
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4:10 - 4:12Still less a historical chronicle.
-
4:12 - 4:17'War and Peace' is what the author wanted
and was able to express -
4:17 - 4:20in the form in which it was expressed."
-
4:20 - 4:24It is, in other words, the sum total
of Tolstoy's imaginative powers, -
4:24 - 4:26and nothing less.
-
4:26 - 4:28By the time "War and Peace" ends,
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4:28 - 4:32Tolstoy has brought his characters
to the year 1820, -
4:32 - 4:3736 years before the events he originally
hoped to write about. -
4:37 - 4:40In trying to understand his own times,
-
4:40 - 4:44he had become immersed in the years
piled up behind him. -
4:44 - 4:48The result is a grand interrogation
into history, -
4:48 - 4:49culture,
-
4:49 - 4:50philosophy,
-
4:50 - 4:51psychology,
-
4:51 - 4:53and the human response to war.
- Title:
- Why should you read Tolstoy's "War and Peace"? - Brendan Pelsue
- Description:
-
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-should-you-read-tolstoy-s-war-and-peace-brendan-pelsue
"War and Peace." A tome. A slog. The sort of book you shouldn’t read in bed because if you fall asleep it could give you a concussion. Right? Only partly. "War and Peace" is a long book, sure, but it’s also a thrilling examination of history populated with some of the deepest, most realistic characters you’ll find anywhere. Brendan Pelsue shares everything you need to know to read this classic book.
Lesson by Brendan Pelsue, animation by Patrick Smith.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 05:10
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Ростислав Голод commented on English subtitles for Why should you read Tolstoy's "War and Peace"? - Brendan Pelsue | ||
Ola Królikowska commented on English subtitles for Why should you read Tolstoy's "War and Peace"? - Brendan Pelsue | ||
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Ola Królikowska
There is a mistake in the video.
At 1:32-1:42 it says: „How could he tell the story of the Decembrists return from exile without telling the story of 1825, when they revolted against the conservative Tsar Nicholas II?”
Tsar against whom Decembrists revolted was, in fact, Nicholas the First (Nicholas Pavlovich; 1796-1855).
Nicholas II (Nicholas Alexandrovich), the last Emperor of Russia, was born only in 1868, so for obvious reasons he couldn’t crush the uprising.
Ростислав Голод
Yes, it should be Nicolas I ! It's a misprint. Why isn't anyone listening to what the speaker is reading?