IN 1951, AFTER READING War and Peace for the twelfth time, the Russian writer Mikhail Prishvin (1873- 1954) noted in his diary that he felt, at last, that he understood his life. Like all great works of art, Tolstoy’s masterpiece has the capacity, on each successive reading, to transform our understanding of the world.
On any first reading, War and Peace is bound to dazzle with its immense panorama of humanity. The whole of life appears to be contained in its pages. Tolstoy presents us with a cast of several hundred characters. Yet to each one he brings such profound understanding of the human condition, with all its frailties and contradictions, that we recognise and love these characters as reflections of our own identity. ...more here
No comments:
Post a Comment