War and Peace: Book 3, Part 2, Chapter 20

[osprey_archer]

PRINCESS MARYA HAS A SUITOR! PRINCESS MARYA HAS A SUITOR!

Oh, and also Napoleon is invading Russia, and he is coming EVER CLOSER to Moscow (the Muscovites have not yet quite assimilated the fact that their city is about to be invaded, and they're partying), and also Tolstoy is having a jolly good time expostulating on the fact that history happens because... I suppose history forces itself to happen somehow, even against the will of its participants?

I find his theory a bit puzzling. He emphasizes that Napoleon was very foolish to invade Russia at all, or to give battle at Borodino; I'm not sure why he concludes from this fact that the forces of History swept Napoleon along, rather than that Napoleon behaved foolishly and history is often decided by the foolishness of supposedly Great Men.

Speaking of foolishness, Pierre has decided that now is the time to join the army. Oh no, Pierre! Stay safe! I worry about him: he's clever about books and ideas, but otherwise he doesn't seem to have the sense God gave a goose.

But all of this pales in comparison to Princess Marya's happy fortune. After her father's death - the book does not expect us to feel deeply sad about his death, but I think I felt even less sad than I was supposed to; he was so awful - Marya was trapped on her estate by a recalcitrant peasantry, unable to flee as the French army loomed ever closer - and who should arrive but a gallant Russian officer, who saves her from her peril and, in this incomparably romantic situations, falls in love with her! And she, of course, swoons over her knight in shining armor.

The only fly in my ointment is that this gallant Russian officer is Nikolai Rostov, the beloved of Sonya, who is clearly either going to marry him or pine away and die. I am so torn! I want everyone to be happy! But I think I want Princess Marya to be happy just a little bit more, so poor Sonya is just going to have to pine.

Not that my desires are likely to have the slightest effect on the outcome, mind. Nikolai Rostov might get killed in battle at any moment, and then the whole question is moot.

Comments

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I read War & Peace years and years ago, and sadly I remember almost nothing of the plot or characters, but Tolstoy's long rants about the 'tide of history' seem to be burned into my brain. Which is really too bad, because I didn't find them any more sensible than you do.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Tolstoy is this strange mixture of thoughtful and thought-provoking and... well, I guess his weird rants about history are also thought-provoking, but they tend to provoke thoughts about the weirdness of Tolstoy rather than the sweeping tides of history or whatever he wants me to be thinking about.