Features of the compositional structure of the novel War and Peace. Essay “Composition of the novel “War and Peace”

“War and Peace” is a broad historical epic, the main character of which is the Russian people. In the diaries of S. A. Tolstoy, direct statements about this by L. N. Tolstoy are recorded. “I try to write the history of the people,” he said. “For a work to be good, you must love the main, fundamental idea in it. So... in “War and Peace” I loved popular thought...”
The main idea of the work is invincible force people's patriotism. The theme and ideological orientation of the work here, as elsewhere, determine its genre, composition, figurative system, language.
In “War and Peace” the life of Russia was vividly reflected and, in part, Western Europe the first two decades of the 19th century. Great historical events transfer the course of action from Russia to Austria, Prussia, Poland, to the Balkans, from Smolensk to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Russian and German villages, from royal palace, high society living room, landowner's estate on the battlefield, in the hospital, in the barracks of prisoners of war. The reader hears echoes of bourgeois French Revolution, the European wars of 1805-1807 and 1812-1813 take place before him, great battles of nations flare up, Napoleon's empire collapses. Along with this, the author shows dissatisfaction with their position as serfs, the legislative activities of Speransky, the general patriotic upsurge of 1812, the onset of reaction, and the organization of the first secret revolutionary society.
The culmination of War and Peace is battle of Borodino. This bloody battle, in which the forces of the warring parties were strained to the last limit, became the starting point for the salvation of Russia, on the one hand, the death of Napoleon’s army and the collapse of his power, on the other. Epilogue from which we learn about the organization secret society, is perceived as the beginning of a new novel.
The heroes of the novel are both fictional characters and famous historical figures.
In light of all these historical events and phenomena, Tolstoy depicts the peasantry and the urban poor, the courtiers and landed nobility, advanced noble intelligentsia.
The depiction of the life and characters of people is given liveliness and brightness by wide everyday canvases: the regimental life of soldiers and officers, the hospital, the life of a fortress village, ceremonial dinner parties in Moscow, receptions and balls in St. Petersburg, lordly hunting, mummers, etc.
The main characters of the novel are taken from the nobility, and the plot develops in the same direction. The entire novel runs through the story of four families: the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, the Kuragins, and the Bezukhov family, which changed its composition several times, except for the main character. These four narrative lines form the basis of the plot of War and Peace. However, not only the Rostovs, Bolkonskys, Kuragins, Bezukhovs, who are invariably in the author’s field of vision, not only such major historical figures as Kutuzov and Napoleon, attract his attention: all 559 characters find theirs specific place in the novel, their characters and behavior are socially and historically determined. Some of them appear briefly and then are lost in the general mass, others pass through the entire work, but all of them are perceived by the reader as living people. It is impossible to forget or mix with each other if they are outlined even by a few features, such as Lavrushka, officer Telyanin, Princess Kuragina, headman Dron, a soldier dancing in the cold without a sole and an infinite number of others.
But the main character here is the people, the author’s focus is on their mass image. In “War and Peace” there are clearly defined characters who almost do not protrude from the general mass background. They announce themselves with one or two lines, receive an apt but instantaneous outline, sometimes in two or three strokes, appear on stage only once within a few lines and then disappear, never to return. Showing with exceptional strength and persuasiveness the patriotism, humanity, sense of truth and justice of the Russian people and the best part that gravitates towards them noble intelligentsia, Tolstoy contrasts them with a court aristocracy that has become detached from the people and is in a state of hopeless moral decay. While masses, experiencing severe suffering and hardship, strain all their strength to fight the enemy, the courtiers are engaged in catching rubles, crosses and ranks; Countess Bez-ukhova negotiates with the Jesuits and enters the “womb” catholic church” in order to marry a foreign prince, etc. Thus, the reader is confronted with two social worlds in terms of antithesis.
The technique of contrast is also used by Tolstoy when comparing the people's commander Kutuzov and the conqueror Napoleon.
This is of great importance compositional technique and when depicting other characters, such as Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre, as well as entire groups of different internal character of people (officers different types, such as, for example, Tushin, Timokhin, Dokhturov, on the one hand, and Berg, Zherkov, Bennigsen, etc., on the other).
Reading the novel, you notice that images that have an accusatory character, such as Kuragins, Dolokhov, Berg, Napoleon, Alexander I, are presented statically; characters goodies, like Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostova, Marya Bolkonskaya, are shown in development, in all their complexity and inconsistency inner life. This amazing art of depicting the inner life of a person in its constant movement, this brilliant ability to penetrate into the very recesses of mental life, the like of which we do not know before Tolstoy, was first noted by Chernyshevsky. He wrote about the works of L.N. Tolstoy that the writer is interested “most of all in the psychological process itself, its forms, its laws, the dialectics of the soul.” And further: “This depiction of an internal monologue must, without exaggeration, be called amazing... that side of Count Tolstoy, which gives him the opportunity to capture these mental monologues, constitutes a special strength in his talent, unique to him.”
During his stay in Yasnaya Polyana V. G. Korolenko once told Lev Nikolaevich: “You know how to grab this moving thing in human nature and capture it, and this is the most difficult thing.”
This internal dynamics of thoughts, feelings, and aspirations of Tolstoy’s beloved heroes throughout the novel is mainly determined by their search for those opportunities in which life would be filled with content, comprehended by broad useful activity, and although their path is uneven, their whole life is moving forward.
And next to them “acted” people with deadened souls.

Essay plan
1. Introduction. Tolstoy's innovation.
2. Main part. Plot and compositional features of the work.
— The principle of antithesis is the basis of the composition of the novel.
— The principle of “linkages” is the basis of plot development. character system, artistic time And art space.
— Chronicle of the life of three families in the novel.
— Depiction of historical events as the basis for plot development. The beginning.
— The Battle of Borodino is the climactic scene of the novel.
- Denouement.
— Author's digressions and their role in the work.
- as a “monologue” novel.
3. Conclusion. The artistic originality of "War and Peace".

In the novel “War and Peace,” which combines the features of a novel and a folk-historical epic, L.N. acts as an innovative artist. And the unusualness of the work was noted contemporary writer criticism. So, P.V. Annenkov noted the absence of traditional intrigue in Tolstoy, which occupies a dominant position. The plot and composition of "War and Peace" were determined by historical topics work, and the philosophical understanding of events, and the nature of the conflict underlying the development of the action. Let's try to consider the plot and compositional features of the epic novel.
Critics noted that the composition of the work is based on the principle of antithesis. Tolstoy contrasts war and peaceful life, the characters - Kutuzov and Napoleon, who are peculiar poles towards which all the other characters in the novel gravitate. Secular society(salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer), with its “set” of false life values, opposed the best people from the nobility (Prince Andrei, Pierre Bezukhov), who are characterized by a search for the meaning of life; The Russian people, honest “working warriors” are depicted against the background of careerist officers. Inner beauty in the novel is contrasted with external beauty (Princess Marya and Helen), living, genuine life is contrasted with false (Natasha and Helen). The types are contrastingly compared in the novel human natures– emotional and ideological. Thus, the Bolkonsky family embodies the intellectual and rational principle, the Rostov family – the emotional and intuitive one.
The very movement of the plot in the novel is determined by the principle of “linkages” (L.N. Tolstoy), leaving the impression of a mosaic of events. The work has several storylines, five hundred and fifty-nine characters, including real ones. historical figures, And fictional characters, and nameless characters (“the general who ordered”). The artistic time and artistic space of War and Peace are vast. The content of the novel covers long period- from 1805 to 1820. From Russia the action moves to Prussia, Austria, Poland, from Smolensk to Moscow, from St. Petersburg to the village. Before us appear the palace of the emperor, the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, the mansion of the dying Count Bezukhov, the Rostov estate in Otradnoye, the Bolkonsky house in Bogucharovo, peasant hut in Fili, the fields of the Austerlitz, Shengraben and Borodino battles, soldiers’ camp tents.
At the center of the novel is a chronicle of the lives of three noble families - the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys and the Kuragins. At the same time, in the life of each of the families there are culminating events. Thus, Tolstoy assessed the episodes depicting Natasha’s infatuation with Anatole and her refusal to Prince Andrei as “the most difficult place and knot of the entire novel.” Readers thought the same. “The main interest of the book is as a novel,” wrote V.F. Odoevsky, - begins precisely with this culmination. And he added: “The outcome is curious.” However, the author himself noted that in the novel “the death of one person only aroused interest in other persons and marriage seemed for the most part the beginning, not the ending, of interest.” The death of Count Bezukhov, Pierre's marriage to Helen, the failed matchmaking of Prince Vasily are thus important initial, but not defining, plot points of the work. At the same time, the personal lives of the heroes are inextricably linked with the most important historical events of the era.
Flow privacy in the novel it organically merges with the historical plot. “Three main historical events form the core line of plot development. The beginning is the year 1805, the beginning of the war with Napoleon, a period whose main events are the battles of Austerlitz and Schöngraben.<…>These events of the first military stage precede the epic people's war 1812 and serve as a starting point further development the lives of the heroes - Andrei Bolkonsky, Nikolai Rostov, Dolokhov and others. 1812, the Battle of Borodino - the climax of the novel."
The Battle of Borodino and the abandonment of Moscow are an entire era V spiritual development heroes, a kind of focus in which their destinies converge. It is with this event that the formation of new qualities in them, new views on the world and society is associated. All the main characters of the novel are put through the ordeal of fire, suffering, and death. Shortly before the Battle of Borodino, the old man Bolkonsky dies, and Princess Marya takes his death seriously. The year 1812 changes a lot in the life of Pierre Bezukhov. This is a period of restoring spiritual integrity, introducing him to the “common”, establishing in his soul a sense of the harmony of life. A big role here was played by Pierre's visit to Raevsky's battery during the Battle of Borodino and his stay in French captivity. Being on the Borodino field, among the endless roar of guns, the smoke of shells, the screech of bullets, the hero experiences a feeling of horror, mortal fear. The soldiers seem to him strong and courageous, there is no fear in them, no fear for their lives. The very patriotism of these people, seemingly unconscious, comes from the very essence of nature, their behavior is simple and natural. And Pierre wants to become “just a soldier”, to free himself from the “burden outer man", from everything artificial, superficial. Having encountered the people among the people for the first time, he acutely senses the falseness and insignificance of the secular-conventional world, feels the fallacy of his previous views and life attitudes. The Battle of Borodino becomes fateful for Prince Andrei. In battle, he is seriously wounded, after which he is operated on. Here the hero again feels the proximity of death, and a turning point occurs in his worldview. After suffering, he feels “a bliss that he has not experienced for a long time.” His heart is filled with a previously unexperienced feeling of Christian love, he finally overcomes his vanity, selfishness, and aristocratic prejudices. He feels pity and compassion when he sees the wounded Anatole lying next to him. “Compassion, love for brothers, for those who love us, who hate us, love for enemies - yes, the love that God preached on earth...” - all this is suddenly revealed to Prince Andrei. Bolkonsky dies, and his death becomes greatest sorrow for Princess Marya and Natasha. Finally, the Battle of Borodino becomes a turning point in the development of historical theme, symbolizing the victory of Russia.
The denouement of the novel is the victory over Napoleon, the defeat of the French and the emergence of new ideas in Russian society. These events determine the personal destinies of the heroes, without, however, overshadowing the writer’s human personality. Tolstoy shows historical events through the prism of various destinies and characters.
A large role in the novel is played by the author's digressions, which reveal Tolstoy's philosophical, religious and ethical views, his thoughts about historical process. The philosophical issues of the author's digressions are the structure of the world and the place of man in it, the role of the individual in history, the relationship between freedom and necessity in the fate of man, true and false values in life. In the novel, Tolstoy reveals his views on the war of 1812 and its participants. These views are based on historical fatalism (personality does not play a role in the historical process). History, according to the writer, is a movement of huge human masses(Tolstoy considered the Russian people to be the main character of the novel, noting that he valued “people’s thought” most of all in “War and Peace”). Compositional role copyright disclaimers vary. Thus, in the third part, the author discusses the war of 1812 as a people’s war of liberation, and this digression plays the role of a kind of generalization of the artistic chapters. The introduction of the author’s journalistic and philosophical reasoning “expands the boundaries of the narrative and at the same time combines the historical, philosophical novel and a psychological "essay on morals".
It is worth noting that the author’s voice “undividedly dominates the novel. The author is omniscient, he rises above the heroes and events to an unattainable height. According to M. Bakhtin’s definition, Tolstoy’s novel is “monological” (in contrast to Dostoevsky’s “polyphonic” or “polyphonic” novel).
Thus, let us note once again artistic originality"War and Peace". Tolstoy created a work that organically combines the features of an epic, historical novel, chronicles, essays on morals, generously nourishing it philosophical issues And psychological analysis. The novel does not have a single intrigue; we see several storylines, each of which is correlated with the most important historical events of the era. Tolstoy's life is presented in all its diversity. All these artistic properties made the novel a masterpiece of world literature.

1. See: Fortunatov N.M., Krasnov G.V. Roman L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace": Commentary. Electronic version. www.rvb.ru

2. Bychkov S.P. Decree. cit., p. 199.

3. Lyon P.E., Lokhova N.M. Decree. cit., p. 342.

4. Bychkov S.P. Decree. cit., p. 201.

5. There, p. 342.

L.N. Tolstoy's epic novel is practically the only work of Russian literature of this scale. It reveals a whole layer of history - Patriotic War 1812, military campaigns of 1805-1807. Real ones are depicted historical figures, such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor Alexander I, commander-in-chief of the Russian army Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov. Using the example of the Bolkonskys, Rostovs, Bezukhovs, and Kuragins, Tolstoy shows the development of human relationships and the creation of families. The people's war is becoming centrally war of 1812. The composition of the novel “War and Peace” by Tolstoy is complex, the novel is enormous in its volume of information, and is striking in the number of characters (more than five hundred). Tolstoy showed everything in action, in life.

Family thought in Tolstoy's novel

Throughout the novel there are four storylines- four families, changing their composition depending on the circumstances. Kuragins are an image of vulgarity, self-interest and indifference to each other. The Rostovs are an image of love, harmony and friendship. The Bolkonskys are an image of prudence and activity.
Bezukhov builds his family by the end of the novel, having found his ideal of life. Tolstoy describes families using the principle of comparison, and sometimes the principle of contrast. But this does not always indicate what is good and what is bad. What is present in one family may be a complement to another. So in the epilogue of the novel we see the union of three families: the Rostovs, the Bezukhovs and the Bolkonskys. This gives new round relationships. Tolstoy says that the main component of any family is love and respect for each other. And the family - main meaning life. There are no great stories of people, they are worth nothing without family, without loved ones and loving families. You can survive in any difficult situation if you are strong, and you are strong with your family. The importance of family in the novel is undeniable.

Popular thought in Tolstoy's novel

The War of 1812 was won thanks to the strength, resilience and faith of the Russian people. The people in their entirety. Tolstoy does not differentiate between peasants and nobles - in war everyone is equal. And everyone has the same goal - to free Russia from the enemy. “The club of the people’s war,” says Tolstoy about the Russian army. It is the people who are the main force that defeated the enemy. What can military leaders do without the people? A simple example is the French army, which Tolstoy shows in contrast to the Russian one. The French fought not for faith, not for strength, but because they needed to fight. And the Russians, following the old man Kutuzov, for the faith, for the Russian land, for the Tsar-Father. Tolstoy confirms the idea that the people make history.

Features of the novel

Many characteristics in Tolstoy's novel are presented through contrast or antithesis. The image of Napoleon is contrasted with the image of Alexander I as an emperor and the image of Kutuzov as a commander. The description of the Kuragin family is also based on the principle of contrast.

Tolstoy is a master of the episode. Almost all portraits of heroes are given through action, their actions in certain situations.
The stage episode is one of the features of Tolstoy's narrative.

Landscape in the novel “War and Peace” also occupies a certain place. Description of the old oak is an integral element of the description state of mind Andrey Bolkonsky. We see the calm Borodino field before the battle, not a single leaf moves on the trees. The fog in front of Austerlitz warns us of an invisible danger. Detailed Descriptions estates in Otradnoye, natural views that appear to Pierre when he is in captivity - all these are necessary elements of the composition of “War and Peace”. Nature helps to understand the state of the characters without forcing the author to resort to verbal descriptions.

Title of the novel

The title of the novel "War and Peace" contains artistic technique which is called an oxymoron. But the name can also be taken literally. The first and second volumes share scenes of either war or peace. The third volume is almost entirely devoted to war; in the fourth, peace prevails. This is also Tolstoy's trick. Still, peace is more important and necessary than any war. At the same time, war without life in “peace” is impossible. There are those who are there, at war, and those who are left to wait. And their wait, sometimes, is the only salvation for their return.

Novel genre

L.N. Tolstoy himself did not give the exact name of the genre to the novel “War and Peace”. In fact, the novel reflected historical events, psychological processes, social and moral problems, raised philosophical questions, the characters live through family and everyday relationships. The novel contains all sides human life, reveals characters, shows destinies. An epic novel - this is precisely the genre given to Tolstoy’s work. This is the first epic novel in Russian literature. Truly L.N. Tolstoy created a great work that has stood the test of time. It will be read at all times.

Composition of the novel “War and Peace” by Tolstoy – genre, features, main idea |

Composition of the novel "War and Peace"

The main idea of the work is the invincible power of people's patriotism. The theme and ideological orientation of the work here, as elsewhere, determine its genre, composition, figurative system, and language.

“War and Peace” vividly reflected the life of Russia and partly Western Europe in the first two decades of the 19th century. Great historical events transfer the course of action from Russia to Austria, Prussia, Poland, the Balkans, from Smolensk to Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Russian and German villages, from the royal palace, the high society drawing room, the estate of the landowner on the battlefield, to the hospital, to the barracks of prisoners of war. The reader hears echoes of the bourgeois French Revolution, the European wars of 1805-1807 and 1812-1813 take place before him, great battles of nations flare up, and Napoleon's empire collapses. Along with this, the author shows dissatisfaction with their position as serfs, the legislative activities of Speransky, the general patriotic upsurge of 1812, the onset of reaction, and the organization of the first secret revolutionary society.

The culmination of “War and Peace” is the Battle of Borodino. This bloody battle, in which the forces of the warring parties were strained to the last limit, became the starting point for the salvation of Russia, on the one hand, the death of Napoleon’s army and the collapse of his power, on the other. The epilogue, from which we learn about the organization of a secret society, is perceived as the beginning of a new novel.

The heroes of the novel are both fictional characters and famous historical figures.

In the light of all these historical events and phenomena, Tolstoy depicts the peasantry and urban poor, the court and local nobility, and the advanced noble intelligentsia.

The depiction of the life and characters of people is given liveliness and brightness by wide everyday canvases: the regimental life of soldiers and officers, the hospital, the life of a fortress village, ceremonial dinner parties in Moscow, receptions and balls in St. Petersburg, lordly hunting, mummers, etc.

The main characters of the novel are taken from the nobility, and the plot develops in the same direction. The entire novel runs through the story of four families: the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, the Kuragins, and the Bezukhov family, which changed its composition several times, except for the main character. These four narrative lines form the basis of the plot of War and Peace. However, not only the Rostovs, Bolkonskys, Kuragins, Bezukhovs, who are invariably in the author’s field of vision, not only such major historical figures as Kutuzov and Napoleon, attract his attention: all 559 characters find their specific place in the novel, their characters and behavior are social and historically determined. Some of them appear briefly and then are lost in the general mass, others pass through the entire work, but all of them are perceived by the reader as living people. It is impossible to forget or mix with each other if they are outlined even by a few features, such as Lavrushka, officer Telyanin, Princess Kuragina, headman Dron, a soldier dancing in the cold without a sole and an infinite number of others.

But the main character here is the people, the author’s focus is on their mass image. In “War and Peace” there are clearly defined characters who almost do not protrude from the general mass background. They announce themselves with one or two lines, receive an apt but instantaneous outline, sometimes in two or three strokes, appear on stage only once within a few lines and then disappear, never to return. Showing with exceptional strength and persuasiveness the patriotism, humanity, sense of truth and justice of the Russian people and the best part of the noble intelligentsia gravitating towards them, Tolstoy contrasts them with the court aristocracy, which has become detached from the people and is in a state of hopeless moral decay. While the masses, experiencing severe suffering and hardship, are straining all their strength to fight the enemy, the courtiers are busy fishing for rubles, crosses and ranks; Countess Bez-ukhova negotiates with the Jesuits and enters the “bosom of the Catholic Church” in order to marry a foreign prince, etc. Thus, two social worlds appear before the reader in terms of antithesis.

The technique of contrast is also used by Tolstoy when comparing the people's commander Kutuzov and the conqueror Napoleon.

This compositional technique is also of great importance when depicting other characters, such as Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre, as well as entire groups of different internal makeup of people (officers of different types, such as Tushin, Timokhin, Dokhturov, on the one hand, and Berg, Zherkov, Bennigsen, etc. - on the other).

Reading the novel, you notice that images that have an accusatory character, such as Kuragins, Dolokhov, Berg, Napoleon, Alexander I, are presented statically; the characters of the positive heroes, like Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha Rostova, Marya Bolkonskaya, are shown in development, in all the complexity and inconsistency of their inner life. This amazing art of depicting the inner life of a person in its constant movement, this brilliant ability to penetrate into the very recesses of mental life, the like of which we do not know before Tolstoy, was first noted by Chernyshevsky. He wrote about the works of L.N. Tolstoy that the writer is interested “most of all in the psychological process itself, its forms, its laws, the dialectics of the soul.” And further: “This depiction of an internal monologue must, without exaggeration, be called amazing... that side of Count Tolstoy, which gives him the opportunity to capture these mental monologues, constitutes a special strength in his talent, unique to him.”

During his stay in Yasnaya Polyana, V. G. Korolenko once said to Lev Nikolaevich: “You know how to grab this moving thing in human nature and capture it, and this is the most difficult thing.”

This internal dynamics of thoughts, feelings, and aspirations of Tolstoy’s beloved heroes throughout the novel is mainly determined by their search for those opportunities in which life would be filled with content, comprehended by broad useful activity, and although their path is uneven, their whole life is moving forward.

Composition of the novel "War and Peace"

The heroes of the novel are both fictional characters and famous historical figures.

In the light of all these historical events and phenomena, Tolstoy depicts the peasantry and urban poor, the court and local nobility, and the advanced noble intelligentsia.

The technique of contrast is also used by Tolstoy when comparing the people's commander Kutuzov and the conqueror Napoleon.

During his stay in Yasnaya Polyana, V. G. Korolenko once said to Lev Nikolaevich: “You know how to grab this moving thing in human nature and capture it, and this is the most difficult thing.”