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Having survived the horrors of war, Tolstoy’s characters enter a time of peace in a Russian nation attempting to rebuild. Happiness, romance, and domestic bliss rise from the ashes of violence and chaos, and a new generation is born. In War and Peace: The Epilogues, Leo Tolstoy ends his epic story and meditates on the philosophy of history.
About the author
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was a Russian author of novels, short stories, novellas, plays, and philosophical essays. He was born into an aristocratic family and served as an officer in the Russian military during the Crimean War before embarking on a career as a writer and activist. Tolstoy’s experience in war, combined with his interpretation of the teachings of Jesus, led him to devote his life and work to the cause of pacifism. In addition to such fictional works as War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy wrote The Kingdom of God is Within You, a philosophical treatise on nonviolent resistance which had a profound impact on Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. He is regarded today not only as one of the greatest writers of all time, but as a gifted and passionate political figure and public intellectual whose work transcends Russian history and literature alike.
Summary
War and Peace (1869) is a novel by Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Serialized between 1865 and 1867, it was published in book form in 1869 and has since been recognized as a masterpiece of world literature. Notable for its epic scale, War and Peace encompasses hundreds of characters, diligently following its five central families across fifteen years while featuring detailed imaginings of such historical figures as Napoleon Bonaparte. In The Epilogues, Tolstoy draws his epic story to a heartwarming close while offering his theory on the philosophy of history. After so much death and destruction, Tolstoy finds solace in the sanctity of marriage and the effort of traumatized people to rebuild and reclaim their lives. As a new generation is born, hope is rekindled, but faint rumblings of unrest and conspiracy suggest that peace, once more, will be difficult to maintain. In the epilogue’s second part, Tolstoy breaks from his narrative to offer his theory on the philosophy of history, condemning the popular Great Man Theory’s elevation of the individual and proposing that small, singular events form the basis of historical change. With its depiction of the brutalities of war on individuals and society alike, Tolstoy’s story brings history to life while reminding us that the past is always closer than we care to think. As ambitious as it is triumphant, Leo Tolstoy’s masterpiece is an epic novel of history and family, a story of faith and the will to persevere in the face of unspeakable catastrophe. War and Peace is a work that transcends both history and description, not just for the scale of its narrative and setting, but for the scope of its philosophical interests. Since its publication, it has been praised as an essential work of literature by Ivan Turgenev, Gustave Flaubert, Thomas Mann, and Ernest Hemingway, and has been adapted for film, theater, and television countless times. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace is a classic of Russian literature reimagined for modern readers.
