Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, Voina i mir [War and Peace]

A.D.P. Briggs (University of Bristol)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.1.00: Slavic and Russian Writing and Culture: Old, Medieval and Tsarist, 700-1917.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1865 - 1869

Places

Russia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Although Voina i mir [War and Peace] has been described more than once as the greatest novel ever written, Tolstoy himself once expressed the view that it wasn't a novel at all. This claim had a particular purpose. He wanted his readers to expect something broader and deeper than the romances they were used to finding in fiction. There would be no single hero and heroine, no straightforward system of exposition, crisis and resolution, no sense of closure in an orthodox ending. It was a narrative in which the author made up new rules as it expanded, a society novel that turned into a family story, only to grow into a historical chronicle and a mighty epic that was underwritten by a deep interest i…

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2421 words

Citation: Briggs, A.D.P.. "Voina i mir". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 March 2006 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8682, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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