WAR AND PEACE BY LEO TOLSTOY: AN EPIC OF RUSSIAN LIFE

Abstract
Leo Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace is an epic work that covers a wide range of topics: from the historical events of the Napoleonic Wars to deep philosophical reflections on fate, morality, and human destiny. Tolstoy creates a multi-layered narrative that intertwines the destinies of several aristocratic families against the backdrop of significant historical changes. The novel explores the inner transformation of key characters - Pierre Bezukhov, Andrei Bolkonsky, and Natasha Rostova - through the prism of their personal quests and spiritual growth. Tolstoy also offers an alternative concept of history, which emphasizes not the actions of great personalities, but a variety of random factors and the actions of ordinary people. War and Peace is a philosophical study of war, peace, human nature, and the place of man in a larger historical context.
Keywords
Leo Tolstoy, “War and Peace”, philosophy of history, psychological novel, Napoleonic Wars, Pierre Bezukhov, Andrei Bolkonsky, Natasha Rostova, morality, fate, inner growth, epic, Russian literature.
References
- L. N. Tolstoy, “War and Peace. Moscow”, State Publishing House of Fiction, 1960.
- B. M. Eichenbaum, Lev Tolstoy “War and Peace” Leningrad: Soviet Writer, 1946.
- N. N. Gusev, “Lev Tolstoy: Materials for a Biography from 1855 to 1869” Moscow: Science, 1973.
- N. G. Medvedeva, “Problems of Artistic Time and Space in L. N. Tolstoy's Novel “War and Peace”. Moscow: Vysshaya shkola, 1980.
- Yu. M. Lotman, “Lev Tolstoy and the Peculiarities of Russian Literature”, St. Petersburg: Iskusstvo, 1993.
- E. A. Maimin, “War and Peace” by L. N. Tolstoy: Problems of Poetics and Worldview. Moscow: Nauka, 1978.
- L. I. Rudneva, The Artistic System of Lev Tolstoy in the Novel “War and Peace”. Moscow: Sovetskaya Rossiya, 1967.
- I. S. Turgenev, “About Tolstoy and “War and Peace”. In the book: Letters and Memories. Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1970.