Welcome to this second episode of War and Peace, R&W’s year long read. In this episode, Shari and Rhea talk and wonder about a whole host of topics. They talk about the scenes that stand out to them: Vasili’s cunning and manipulating, Old Bolkonsky’s gruff love, Nikolai’s obsession with the emperor, and Andrei’s Toulon. They do a deep dive in all study of contrasts Tolstoy is developing: Andrei - Nikolai; Vasili Kuragin - Old Bolkonsky (fathers); Pierre’s match to Hélène - Marya’s (un)match to Anatole; Scön Grabern - Austerlitz; and others. They discuss the continued development of characters, the fact that so far no Kuragin is a good Kuragin, and how the total omniscient narrator allows us to know more about the characters than they know about themselves. They discuss the ways they see War and Peace in conversation with other books they’ve been reading: namely The Screwtape Letters, and Pachinko. And there’s more!
Our next episode will air April 4. We’ll be discussing March’s readings:
Book 1 | Part 3: Chapters 14 - 19 thru Book 2 | Part 2: Chapters 1 - 8
Some Links:
For Rhea’s nifty bookmarks with each month’s reading: Rhea’s Substack
For note-taking suggestions as you read War and Peace: Shari’s essay On Notetaking
On Austerlitz and a creative look on the art of narration: A War & Peace Post
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