The problem of finding the truth
Man is born not just for eating and drinking. To do this, it would be much more convenient to be born a rain worm.
So wrote Vladimir Dudintsev in the novel “Not by bread alone”. The search for the meaning of life is the lot of every thinking and conscientious person. Therefore, our best writers have always been searching for an artistic solution to this eternal question. And our Soviet literature did not bypass it. And today, when the old ideals have faded, and the new ones have just won their place, these problems have become almost the most important.
The outstanding Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, according to M. Gorky, “told us about Russian life almost as much as the rest of our literature… Tolstoy is a whole world.”
Roman – the epic Tolstoy wrote six years, the text of the novel was rewritten seven times. The writer studied the works of historians, memoirs, letters, went to the Borodino field. The image of a concrete historical
“War and Peace” is a book of searches. The writer tries to formulate the general laws of human history. Realizing the activity of evil in the public and private life of people, he relies on the fullness of the “knowledge of the heart”, which serves him and his beloved heroes as the only true guide in the complex confusion of ideas and opinions.
The characters of the novel are in a cycle of great events, with which the destinies of Russia are connected. The study of human consciousness, prepared by self-observation and introspection, allowed Tolstoy to become a profound psychologist. In the images he created, especially in the characters
The history of Bolkonsky is a peculiar variant of the “novel of a career” widespread in Western literature of the 19th century.
Only Prince Andrew does not seek material prosperity, not class, but spiritual self-affirmation. As a staff officer, broadly educated, intelligent and solid, he understands the essence of what is happening deeper than many others. In a difficult situation, at the price of his own blood, the hero hopes to find his “Toulon”, which, in his opinion, should pave the way for “glory, triumph over people.” The most significant milestone in the life of Prince Andrew was the events of 1812. The supreme goal of his life is the defense of the homeland from the enemy. Dreams of personal happiness and personal glory back down, do not worry him anymore. To live, helping and sympathizing with people – this is the new ideal that is born in the soul of Prince Andrew in the days of harsh tests for the homeland.
It was in a conversation with Pierre on the eve of the battle of Borodino that the unity of Prince Andrew’s thoughts and the fighting people was felt.
Expressing his attitude to the events of 1812, he says that his thoughts are consonant with the people’s: “And so Timokhin and the whole army thinks.” The highest praise of Andrei Bolkonsky is put by the soldiers of the regiment in his nickname – “our prince”. Proximity to the soldiers, their sincere love for Andrei softens and alleviates his state of mind, but still they do not remove acute frustration and skeptical indifference.
Only on the verge of death Bolkonsky comes to the thought: “Something was in this life that I did not understand and do not understand.” This thought persistently invades the consciousness of the character, accompanies it in delirium and during periods of wakefulness. Only in suffering and through suffering Prince Andrew comes to the idea of forgiving and all-knowing love.
It is unlikely that the idea of universal, but impersonal love – the last truth, which can come Andrew Bolkonsky.
Hardly anyone is able to reach the end in his search, because truth is the opposite of lies; all that is true, truly, exactly, justly, what is today.
The problems posed by Tolstoy in the novel “War and Peace” are of universal significance. This novel, in Gorky’s opinion, is “a documentary exposition of all the searches that the strong personality made in the 19th century in order to find its place in the history of Russia…”.
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