There are not so many books in the world that, by their fame, could compare with the novel “War and Peace.” Lev Tolstoy, creating it, probably did not suspect how much his creation would become famous far beyond the borders of Russia. “War and Peace” has been translated into numerous foreign languages, it is studied by literary critics, and this book is often called the standard in its genre.
Lev Tolstoy, creating it, used many sources in his work – publications, newspaper notes, magazines and much more. Moreover, the sources were both Russian and foreign. The events of the novel “War and Peace” cover a period of time of fifteen years. The translation of the name of the novel is sometimes incorrect, since Leo Tolstoy meant by the word “peace” the opposite of war, and not the world around (also, check some Interesting facts about Leo Tolstoy). “War and Peace” has indeed gained widespread recognition. In the history of new literature, this novel was recognized as the greatest.
On the pages of the novel you can get acquainted with more than 550 characters. Skilfully weaving real events and his own fiction, the author saturated the pages of War and Peace with both real historical figures and his own characters. In the original edition of the novel there are a lot of French texts, since in that era Russian nobles were fluent in French. In modern editions, French texts are accompanied by a Russian translation.
The idea of the novel “War and Peace” came to Tolstoy long before he actually began to write it. Over the years, he created sketches, which he then used in his work. Surprisingly, Tolstoy himself treated his novel quite differently than the public. In correspondence, he even called it “verbose rubbish”. The original idea of the novel “War and Peace” was even larger, and the latest events were to unfold in 1856, after Pierre and Natasha returned from exile. But in the end, Tolstoy changed his mind and ended the novel differently.
