Progress Report Number 1
March 28, 1998
Breathtaking is the best word to use in describing the feeling one gets in reading this book. Having now finished Book I of IV (p. 360 of 1456, in the Signet Classic, 1968, paperback edition), I shall endeavor to describe only what action has occurred. Since I am only an amateur, I’ll try to allow as little space as possible to any of my own critical commentary.
Book I introduced the five chief families whose lives were chronicled throughout the novel: The Bezukhovs, the Kuragins, the Bolkonskys, the Rostovs, and the Drubetskoys. The setting changed from Petersburg, Russia, to Bald Hills (near Moskow), to the battlefields in Austria, in 1805. The Russians, allied with the Austrians, were trying to check the advance of Napoleon’s French troops from Ulm, past Vienna, to the field of Austerlitz. In all these battles, Napoleon’s forces were victorious.
As the book opened, most of the young men of the various families were eagerly setting out to go on active duty with their Russian units. Pierre Bezukhov remained behind. His father, Count Kiril Bezukhov, died and left all of his estate to Pierre, changing that young man’s estate from illegitimate son to the new Count Bezukhov, the richest man in all Russia. Though Pierre continually felt that it would be a mistake to do so, he married the beautiful Princess Elena Kuragin, through trickery by Elena’s father, Prince Vasily, but also through Pierre’s own weakness at directing his own affairs—business and personal.
Prince Vasily also tried to get a rich wife for his eldest son, Anatol Kuragin, by taking him to call on Marya Bolkonsky. Marya lived with her aging, eccentric father, the formidable Prince Nikolai, in their country estate at Bald Hills. Marya’s brother, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, had gone off to the war and left his new and pregnant wife, Lisa, to the care of his father and sister. While the Kuragins are visiting the Bolkonskys, Prince Anatol was discovered by Marya in an amorous embrace with the lovely and charming Mademoiselle Bourienne, a long-time house guest of the Bolkonskys. This convinced the plain and homely Marya to rebuff the marriage proposal announced by Prince Valisy, on behalf of Anatol, to Marya, through her father, old Prince Nikolai. Though Marya shared her discovery only with Mlle. Bourienne, it was a tremendous relief to both old man Nikolai and Marya herself that she refused the proposal. Although Marya's father despised Prince Vasily and Anatol, and would have preferred his daughter remain with him, it would have been socially unthinkable for him to deny permission, and Marya was so meek that she would have married a man she had met for only one evening had she not discovered this evidence of his lack of affection and propensity to play the field. Marya was lucky also that her father allowed her this freedom to say yes or no. Most young women would not have had any choice in the matter.
While on campaign, Prince Andrei made the acquaintance of Nikolai Rostov, a calvary cadet (Hussar), and Nikolai’s childhood friend, Boris Drubetskoy, an officer attached to the Guards, an elite group. Boris’ mother, Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, had secured him this position through her persistence and influence; she and her son were otherwise almost penniless, living with the Rostovs. They were distantly related to the Bezukhovs, and Anna was instrumental in keeping Prince Vasily from cheating Pierre Bezukhov out of his vast inheritance.
The Rostovs were a happy family, headed by Count Ilya and his wife, Countess Natalya Rostova. Besides their eldest son, Nikolai, they had, living at home, a younger son, Pyotr (Petya), two daughters, Vera and Natasha, and their cousin, Sonya, who was in love with Nikolai. Natasha hoped someday to marry Boris Drubetskoy, Nikolai's friend, and they all rejoiced in receiving a letter from Nikolai, telling of his wounded shoulder and promotion to officer’s rank, in a recent action (see Extraordinary Quotes).
The first book concluded with the horrible defeat of the Russians on the field of Austerlitz, where Prince Andrei Bolkonsky was severely wounded after distinguishing himself with valor, and he was left in critical condition by Napoleon’s doctors to the care of the local inhabitants. During this battle, Nikolai Rostov, in a mission as messenger to either the Commander-in-Chief or the Emperor, saw his hero, Tsar Aleksandr, first. The young Rostov was so shocked to find his Emperor in such a defeated condition, and he was so overcome by the same feelings a shy boy has in trying to reason his way out of introducing himself to the girl of his dreams when he finally meets up with her, that he turned away without delivering his then-useless message. Not only did he disobey his orders in not doing so, but he thereby threw away a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to offer personal assistance to the Tsar. What a sad day for the Russians and our main characters.
Copyright 1998, Herman Fontenot
Go forward to another of the four articles on, or ‘extraordinary quotations’ from, War and Peace: 1, 2, 3, 4, Extraordinary Quotations
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