8 ms·

Tolstoy as philosopher

62 points by jaza 6y ago

o_class_star 6y ago
One of my friends had an interesting observation about novels. Themes aren't created so much as discovered. If you start from a theme a priori, you're at risk of being preachy. However, the amount of effort involved in constructing a long story, drafting it over and over, and then editing it to sufficient quality, is so substantial that no writer can keep it up for the amount of time a serious work takes unless he has a strong philosophical reason.
- minkzilla 6y ago
  I think some truly excellent authors can start novels with themes in mind and still have a great book at the end. I am thinking C.S. Lewis specifically. Many of his works he knew the philosophical themes that would be present before writing them, but none of the come off as preachy (though some of his children books are basic) because they are such good stories. On the whole though I do think a lot of discovery and learning takes place well writing. Though I have never written a novel so I do not really know.
  - pmoriarty 6y ago
    "I am thinking C.S. Lewis specifically. Many of his works he knew the philosophical themes that would be present before writing them, but none of the come off as preachy" I don't know about that.. they come off as incredibly preachy to me. C. S. Lewis was basically a Christian apologist, and that's very obvious in his work. It's pretty hard to stomach for those of us who don't share his views. A much better example is Dostoyevsky, who was probably at least as devout a Christian as Lewis, and also had an agenda, but he didn't make even the most repulsive of his characters in to two-dimensional caricatures as Lewis tended to do. Instead, Dostoyevsky could get the reader to understand and even sympathize with the worst characters in his books, and see the world through their eyes... something Lewis could not aspire to as he always had to make his antagonists in to whipping boys for his faith.
    - leftyted 6y ago
      > It's pretty hard to stomach for those of us who don't share his views. I don't think this is true. I'm not a Christian and I loved his books as a kid. Tolkien and Madeleine L'Engle wrote novels in a similar vein (that are also excellent children's books). Some fiction is full of cliches and thin characters but, surprisingly, this ends up working in its favor as it takes on a mythical quality. I also like moral ambiguity and morally complex characters but good luck getting a child to sit through The Brothers Karamazov.
      - pmoriarty 6y ago
        "I'm not a Christian and I loved his books as a kid" As a kid the Christian overtones go right over your head.. as an adult they're a lot more glaring, and (to some of us), grating. "Tolkien and Madeleine L'Engle wrote novels in a similar vein (that are also excellent children's books)." I loved Madeline L'Engle as a kid, but tried to pick up A Wrinkle in Time recently, and couldn't bear all the Christian preachiness. Worked for me as a kid, though, and back then I had no idea that was in it. I guess that's saying something. But as an adult it's nauseating.
        minkzilla 6y ago
        I think it may be different if you are philosophically opposed to the themes the author is trying to convey. My views do somewhat align with CS Lewis so I am biased. But the reason I specifically mentioned him is because he has many overtly Christian themes he actively portrays in his novels but I never feel like he is banging me over the head with obvious allegories. His novels are not overly complex but have much depth in terms of the characters and the people and themes they portray. Narnia is an obvious exception, but it is a childrens book. I am currently reading Till We Have Faces and would highly recommend it. It has a Christ like figure, but the more interesting part of it is the exploration of relationship and love. With Dostoevsky I do not know if he really set out to convey a specific philosophical truth or not. To me his novels seem more of an exploration of human suffering and what living in his day was like. But I am not Dostoevsky scholar. Tolkien may be a better example. You can easily read Lord of the Rings without picking up any Christian symbolism.
- kinghtown 6y ago
  Not quite my favourite novel overall but I adore the way Joyce plays with circulation in Ulysses. Water imagery, reincarnation, myth becoming reality which becomes myth, and of course the return of Odysseus to Ithaca. It’s just so masterful and was obviously premeditated to a huge degree. It’s got to be, Joyce mines the same symbolism in Finnegans Wake (even the titles are saturated with it, more so with FW.)
asimovfan 6y ago
Related: A Letter to A Hindu The Subjection of India-Its Cause and Cure. With an Introduction by M. K. Gandhi. by Leo Tolstoy http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2733/ http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2733/
lcd123-tols-1 6y ago
Gospel in brief is in words of tolstoi himself his most important work , anyone wanting to understand tolstoi as philosopher should read it since it has the tolstoi beliefs in it Basically tolstoi resume the teachings of Jesus from the original greek works, and remove any sobrenatural aspect of it, miracles etc I recommend it to anyone how wants to learn about jesus teachings and real christianity a not the current ones Versions we have
- sudosysgen 6y ago
  Tolstoy was definitely very interesting in that aspect. I'm not a christian myself, but his "anarchist" interpretation is certainly interesting.
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    If you lack crimestop reflex for heresy and are interested in gospel reboots, I recommend the J'lem chapters of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.
    - sudosysgen 6y ago
      Thank you, will read eventually.
jojobas 6y ago
Can one really separate Tolstoy's ideology from his philosophy? I'd say the former defined the latter.
- ericmcer 6y ago
  That is something I struggle with in politics today. Philosophy is boring and tedious, it has no hard answers, but how can it be so thoroughly divorced from politics? Two people with differing social philosophies will never agree on something like immigration. It is also hard to pin down what the underpinning philosophies of our political parties are.
  - jojobas 6y ago
    Modern politicians don't encumber themselves with philosophy; resolve is way more important than wisdom. Modern philosophers don't encumber themselves with applicable policy either.
    - sebmellen 6y ago
      If only the fabled philosopher king would arise again. Maybe that's you!
  - smogcutter 6y ago
    Worth noting that that’s a fairly recent development. Whether for good or ill though I really can’t say.
  - nathias 6y ago
    It's really hard to distinguish between ideology and philosophy, if you're just excluding philosophy and calling ideology philosophy. Most people don't have a philosophy, they barely have a worldview.
- jaza 6y ago
  He wrote War and Peace several decades before he came out with his ideology, and before he accordingly altered his lifestyle. But then again, his philosophy later evolved to significantly encompass his ideology. So can one separate Tolstoy's ideology from his early philosophy? Sure. But his later philosophy? Perhaps not. They're two distinct beasts.
drummer 6y ago
Highly recommend his writings on money and government. The man was brilliant. "The truth is that the State is a conspiracy designed not only to exploit, but above all to corrupt its citizens… Henceforth, I shall never serve any government anywhere." — Leo Tolstoy "The essence of all slavery consists in taking the product of another’s labor by force. It is immaterial whether this force be founded upon ownership of the slave or ownership of the money that he must get to live. ('Taxation')" - Leo Tolstoy
- lcd123-tols-1 6y ago
  Yes tolstoi influence was key to the liberation of russian peasants under the tsar rule , before bolchevike revolution, most of the land was already distributed from landlords and nobles
  - cookieswumchorr 6y ago
    no way, he became known after his great novels in the 60s, he had no influence on the liberation which was officially pronounced 1861. Maybe as part of the overall public opinion in the upper class (he was a count, after all)
- sudosysgen 6y ago
  >money that he must get to live That refered to taxation as a secondary measure, but much less so as it refered to the wage system. From "What shall we do?", Tolstoy : -"So it was in ancient times, in the Middle Ages, and so it occurs now. In the ancient world, where the subjugation of one people by another was frequent, personal slavery was the most widespread method of subjugation, and the centre of gravity in this compulsion, owing to the non-recognition of the equality of men. In the Middle Ages, feudalism—land-ownership and the servitude connected with it—partly takes the place of personal slavery, and the centre of compulsion is transferred from persons to land. In modern times, since the discovery of America, the development of commerce, and the influx of gold (which is accepted as a universal medium of exchange), the money tribute has become, with the increase of state power, the chief instrument for enslaving men, and upon this all economic relations are now based." (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38690 http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38690) Tolstoy here refers also to the centrality of the state in the institution of wage labour, that he sees as akin to slavery. Indeed, Tolstoy was an anarchist, and thus violently anti-capitalist.
marttt 6y ago
A lenghty, notable non-fiction work by Tolstoy where he discusses nonviolent resistance and the core of Christianity, is "The Kingdom of God is Within You" [1]. Apparently Mahatma Gandhi listed this one among the three books that have most influenced his views. A short (ca 80 pages in my language) interpretation on these topics was also "A Confession" [2]. I sometimes wonder if I would have made a few different choices if I had read this book in my early 20s. Probably not, but it is a nice dream. Also, a short fiction masterpiece by Tolstoy on life and death is "The Death of Ivan Ilych" [3]. It has some excellent plot twists. I remember feeling like a ping-pong ball in the hands of the author; whatever he wanted me to think, I did. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_of_God_Is_Within_You https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_of_God_Is_Within_Y... 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confession https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confession 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Ivan_Ilyich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Ivan_Ilyich
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  Parker on one facet of A Confession: "Razors pain you / Rivers are damp."
- catawbasam 6y ago
  Similarly, Tolstoy's thought influenced Martin Luther King Jr. Arguably among the most influential thinkers of the 20th century in terms of social and political impact.
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    In one of MLKJ's speeches, he laid out his calculations for a boycott strategy: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23414101 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23414101 He was cancelled the very next day, suggesting that economic sanctions might be a kind of nonviolence on which state level actors prefer to retain their monopoly.
- xlm1717 6y ago
  Interesting that this isn't more widely known. At the peak of his popularity Tolstoy was an international celebrity, not only for his novels (which are among the greatest works of literature of all time), but for his social teachings. The article mentions that if anything outside of his novels is discussed, he is more often than not called a cult-inspirer. He was aware of this, and asked people not to follow "Toltoyism", but their own conscience. Nevertheless, people still started what they called Tolstoy Farms. Almost all of these farms quickly collapsed. So people forgot about Tolstoy's social teachings, even while his novels remain timeless, and people inspired by him, like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., are still celebrated today. I think the problem was Tolstoy's social teachings removed the timeless aspects of Christ's teachings (what other people would call the religious/supernatural aspects), and like other rationalist movements, such as the French Revolution and eventually the Bolshevik Revolution, Tolstoy's social teachings gradually faded away (though thankfully his teachings were explicitly based on nonviolence). What MLK and Gandhi did was take what Tolstoy saw as the best parts of Christianity, and recontextualize them in religion, MLK in Christianity and Gandhi in Hinduism. Gandhi was very familiar with many religious traditions, and remained a Hindu his whole life, approaching nonviolence, boycotts, and hunger strikes with a Hindu perspective. MLK regularly delivered sermons at churches, and one of his most remembered speeches, I've Been to the Mountaintop, was one such sermon. MLK's speeches, teachings and actions wholeheartedly embraced Christianity. I think religion will let MLK's and Gandhi's teachings endure, while today most people aren't even aware of the influence Tolstoy had on them.
prennert 6y ago
Even before reading the article I was about to comment on "War and Peace". Its size is initmitating and I only started to read it because it is a classic and I had some time on a lenghy train ride. I braced myself for a torturous read ala Dostoevsky (no offence, but I really dont enjoy his tangents). But to my complete surprise "War and Peace" is not only an enjoyable read, it is also extremely educating and still relevant today. Of course it is set in its time, but what is brilliant about it is that it covers a vast amount of people in different positions, locations and upbringings and puts them into a vast amount of different situations. And the outcome feels realistic. Some people fare well, others dont. Most have to make sacrefices in some way or another. Some survive, some dont. Some become better of and some dont. Some deserve what happens to them, some dont. In that sense it is different than most other books. Due to the war setting and its allegedly realistic description of the campaign on the ground, it feels like a massive companion to Sun Tzus "Art of War". Without referring to "Art of War" at all (I dont know if Tolstoy knew it), "War and Peace" puts it into the context of politics and society, and expanding on the impact decisions have on individuals. It also show-cases the impact of "Art of War" principles in the strategies of Napoleon and Kutuzov and how human nature can get into the way of the best plans. In that way I recommend "War and Peace" as an essential read for entrepreneurs who find the "Art of War" useful.
- m0zg 6y ago
  FYI to folks who consider War and Peace intimidating: at least the Russian audio version on Audible is excellent, and fairly easy to enjoy. More so than the book itself, in my opinion, because narration is excellent. I was forced to read War and Peace when I was 15 (it's required reading in Russian schools), and didn't like it then because I wasn't yet equipped to understand it. Nor did I understand any Dostoevsky we were required to read either. A 16 year old just can't understand any of what's going on in such works - it's easy for me to see that now when I have a son that age. After I listened to it some 25 years later, it became my favorite work of literature by quite a margin. I strongly suspect that as I get older, I might be due for another pass through it, and I will enjoy it even more then. So there's no shame in listening to an audiobook on your commute, once we have commutes again. I just don't know if there are English language productions of it that are any good. Perhaps someone could chime in and recommend. But if you speak Russian, get the version from Audible and spend some quality time with it, you won't regret it.
shvedchenko 6y ago
I'd strongly recommend his best non fiction book "What is my faith?". Unfortunately, I cant find out wheather its tranlsated to english or not
- xlm1717 6y ago
  I think in English it is most often given the title "My Religion"

62 points by jaza 6y ago

One of my friends had an interesting observation about novels. Themes aren't created so much as discovered. If you start from a theme a priori, you're at risk of being preachy. However, the amount of effort involved in constructing a long story, drafting it over and over, and then editing it to sufficient quality, is so substantial that no writer can keep it up for the amount of time a serious work takes unless he has a strong philosophical reason.

minkzilla 6y ago
I think some truly excellent authors can start novels with themes in mind and still have a great book at the end. I am thinking C.S. Lewis specifically. Many of his works he knew the philosophical themes that would be present before writing them, but none of the come off as preachy (though some of his children books are basic) because they are such good stories. On the whole though I do think a lot of discovery and learning takes place well writing. Though I have never written a novel so I do not really know.
- pmoriarty 6y ago
  "I am thinking C.S. Lewis specifically. Many of his works he knew the philosophical themes that would be present before writing them, but none of the come off as preachy" I don't know about that.. they come off as incredibly preachy to me. C. S. Lewis was basically a Christian apologist, and that's very obvious in his work. It's pretty hard to stomach for those of us who don't share his views. A much better example is Dostoyevsky, who was probably at least as devout a Christian as Lewis, and also had an agenda, but he didn't make even the most repulsive of his characters in to two-dimensional caricatures as Lewis tended to do. Instead, Dostoyevsky could get the reader to understand and even sympathize with the worst characters in his books, and see the world through their eyes... something Lewis could not aspire to as he always had to make his antagonists in to whipping boys for his faith.
  - leftyted 6y ago
    > It's pretty hard to stomach for those of us who don't share his views. I don't think this is true. I'm not a Christian and I loved his books as a kid. Tolkien and Madeleine L'Engle wrote novels in a similar vein (that are also excellent children's books). Some fiction is full of cliches and thin characters but, surprisingly, this ends up working in its favor as it takes on a mythical quality. I also like moral ambiguity and morally complex characters but good luck getting a child to sit through The Brothers Karamazov.
    - pmoriarty 6y ago
      "I'm not a Christian and I loved his books as a kid" As a kid the Christian overtones go right over your head.. as an adult they're a lot more glaring, and (to some of us), grating. "Tolkien and Madeleine L'Engle wrote novels in a similar vein (that are also excellent children's books)." I loved Madeline L'Engle as a kid, but tried to pick up A Wrinkle in Time recently, and couldn't bear all the Christian preachiness. Worked for me as a kid, though, and back then I had no idea that was in it. I guess that's saying something. But as an adult it's nauseating.
      - minkzilla 6y ago
        I think it may be different if you are philosophically opposed to the themes the author is trying to convey. My views do somewhat align with CS Lewis so I am biased. But the reason I specifically mentioned him is because he has many overtly Christian themes he actively portrays in his novels but I never feel like he is banging me over the head with obvious allegories. His novels are not overly complex but have much depth in terms of the characters and the people and themes they portray. Narnia is an obvious exception, but it is a childrens book. I am currently reading Till We Have Faces and would highly recommend it. It has a Christ like figure, but the more interesting part of it is the exploration of relationship and love. With Dostoevsky I do not know if he really set out to convey a specific philosophical truth or not. To me his novels seem more of an exploration of human suffering and what living in his day was like. But I am not Dostoevsky scholar. Tolkien may be a better example. You can easily read Lord of the Rings without picking up any Christian symbolism.
kinghtown 6y ago
Not quite my favourite novel overall but I adore the way Joyce plays with circulation in Ulysses. Water imagery, reincarnation, myth becoming reality which becomes myth, and of course the return of Odysseus to Ithaca. It’s just so masterful and was obviously premeditated to a huge degree. It’s got to be, Joyce mines the same symbolism in Finnegans Wake (even the titles are saturated with it, more so with FW.)

asimovfan 6y ago

Related: A Letter to A Hindu The Subjection of India-Its Cause and Cure. With an Introduction by M. K. Gandhi. by Leo Tolstoy http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2733/ http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2733/

lcd123-tols-1 6y ago

Gospel in brief is in words of tolstoi himself his most important work , anyone wanting to understand tolstoi as philosopher should read it since it has the tolstoi beliefs in it Basically tolstoi resume the teachings of Jesus from the original greek works, and remove any sobrenatural aspect of it, miracles etc I recommend it to anyone how wants to learn about jesus teachings and real christianity a not the current ones Versions we have

sudosysgen 6y ago
Tolstoy was definitely very interesting in that aspect. I'm not a christian myself, but his "anarchist" interpretation is certainly interesting.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  If you lack crimestop reflex for heresy and are interested in gospel reboots, I recommend the J'lem chapters of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.
  - sudosysgen 6y ago
    Thank you, will read eventually.

jojobas 6y ago

Can one really separate Tolstoy's ideology from his philosophy? I'd say the former defined the latter.

ericmcer 6y ago
That is something I struggle with in politics today. Philosophy is boring and tedious, it has no hard answers, but how can it be so thoroughly divorced from politics? Two people with differing social philosophies will never agree on something like immigration. It is also hard to pin down what the underpinning philosophies of our political parties are.
- jojobas 6y ago
  Modern politicians don't encumber themselves with philosophy; resolve is way more important than wisdom. Modern philosophers don't encumber themselves with applicable policy either.
  - sebmellen 6y ago
    If only the fabled philosopher king would arise again. Maybe that's you!
- smogcutter 6y ago
  Worth noting that that’s a fairly recent development. Whether for good or ill though I really can’t say.
- nathias 6y ago
  It's really hard to distinguish between ideology and philosophy, if you're just excluding philosophy and calling ideology philosophy. Most people don't have a philosophy, they barely have a worldview.
jaza 6y ago
He wrote War and Peace several decades before he came out with his ideology, and before he accordingly altered his lifestyle. But then again, his philosophy later evolved to significantly encompass his ideology. So can one separate Tolstoy's ideology from his early philosophy? Sure. But his later philosophy? Perhaps not. They're two distinct beasts.

drummer 6y ago

Highly recommend his writings on money and government. The man was brilliant. "The truth is that the State is a conspiracy designed not only to exploit, but above all to corrupt its citizens… Henceforth, I shall never serve any government anywhere." — Leo Tolstoy "The essence of all slavery consists in taking the product of another’s labor by force. It is immaterial whether this force be founded upon ownership of the slave or ownership of the money that he must get to live. ('Taxation')" - Leo Tolstoy

lcd123-tols-1 6y ago
Yes tolstoi influence was key to the liberation of russian peasants under the tsar rule , before bolchevike revolution, most of the land was already distributed from landlords and nobles
- cookieswumchorr 6y ago
  no way, he became known after his great novels in the 60s, he had no influence on the liberation which was officially pronounced 1861. Maybe as part of the overall public opinion in the upper class (he was a count, after all)
sudosysgen 6y ago
>money that he must get to live That refered to taxation as a secondary measure, but much less so as it refered to the wage system. From "What shall we do?", Tolstoy : -"So it was in ancient times, in the Middle Ages, and so it occurs now. In the ancient world, where the subjugation of one people by another was frequent, personal slavery was the most widespread method of subjugation, and the centre of gravity in this compulsion, owing to the non-recognition of the equality of men. In the Middle Ages, feudalism—land-ownership and the servitude connected with it—partly takes the place of personal slavery, and the centre of compulsion is transferred from persons to land. In modern times, since the discovery of America, the development of commerce, and the influx of gold (which is accepted as a universal medium of exchange), the money tribute has become, with the increase of state power, the chief instrument for enslaving men, and upon this all economic relations are now based." (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38690 http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38690) Tolstoy here refers also to the centrality of the state in the institution of wage labour, that he sees as akin to slavery. Indeed, Tolstoy was an anarchist, and thus violently anti-capitalist.

marttt 6y ago

A lenghty, notable non-fiction work by Tolstoy where he discusses nonviolent resistance and the core of Christianity, is "The Kingdom of God is Within You" [1]. Apparently Mahatma Gandhi listed this one among the three books that have most influenced his views. A short (ca 80 pages in my language) interpretation on these topics was also "A Confession" [2]. I sometimes wonder if I would have made a few different choices if I had read this book in my early 20s. Probably not, but it is a nice dream. Also, a short fiction masterpiece by Tolstoy on life and death is "The Death of Ivan Ilych" [3]. It has some excellent plot twists. I remember feeling like a ping-pong ball in the hands of the author; whatever he wanted me to think, I did. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_of_God_Is_Within_You https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_of_God_Is_Within_Y... 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confession https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confession 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Ivan_Ilyich https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Ivan_Ilyich

082349872349872 6y ago
Parker on one facet of A Confession: "Razors pain you / Rivers are damp."
catawbasam 6y ago
Similarly, Tolstoy's thought influenced Martin Luther King Jr. Arguably among the most influential thinkers of the 20th century in terms of social and political impact.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  In one of MLKJ's speeches, he laid out his calculations for a boycott strategy: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23414101 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23414101 He was cancelled the very next day, suggesting that economic sanctions might be a kind of nonviolence on which state level actors prefer to retain their monopoly.
xlm1717 6y ago
Interesting that this isn't more widely known. At the peak of his popularity Tolstoy was an international celebrity, not only for his novels (which are among the greatest works of literature of all time), but for his social teachings. The article mentions that if anything outside of his novels is discussed, he is more often than not called a cult-inspirer. He was aware of this, and asked people not to follow "Toltoyism", but their own conscience. Nevertheless, people still started what they called Tolstoy Farms. Almost all of these farms quickly collapsed. So people forgot about Tolstoy's social teachings, even while his novels remain timeless, and people inspired by him, like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., are still celebrated today. I think the problem was Tolstoy's social teachings removed the timeless aspects of Christ's teachings (what other people would call the religious/supernatural aspects), and like other rationalist movements, such as the French Revolution and eventually the Bolshevik Revolution, Tolstoy's social teachings gradually faded away (though thankfully his teachings were explicitly based on nonviolence). What MLK and Gandhi did was take what Tolstoy saw as the best parts of Christianity, and recontextualize them in religion, MLK in Christianity and Gandhi in Hinduism. Gandhi was very familiar with many religious traditions, and remained a Hindu his whole life, approaching nonviolence, boycotts, and hunger strikes with a Hindu perspective. MLK regularly delivered sermons at churches, and one of his most remembered speeches, I've Been to the Mountaintop, was one such sermon. MLK's speeches, teachings and actions wholeheartedly embraced Christianity. I think religion will let MLK's and Gandhi's teachings endure, while today most people aren't even aware of the influence Tolstoy had on them.

prennert 6y ago

Even before reading the article I was about to comment on "War and Peace". Its size is initmitating and I only started to read it because it is a classic and I had some time on a lenghy train ride. I braced myself for a torturous read ala Dostoevsky (no offence, but I really dont enjoy his tangents). But to my complete surprise "War and Peace" is not only an enjoyable read, it is also extremely educating and still relevant today. Of course it is set in its time, but what is brilliant about it is that it covers a vast amount of people in different positions, locations and upbringings and puts them into a vast amount of different situations. And the outcome feels realistic. Some people fare well, others dont. Most have to make sacrefices in some way or another. Some survive, some dont. Some become better of and some dont. Some deserve what happens to them, some dont. In that sense it is different than most other books. Due to the war setting and its allegedly realistic description of the campaign on the ground, it feels like a massive companion to Sun Tzus "Art of War". Without referring to "Art of War" at all (I dont know if Tolstoy knew it), "War and Peace" puts it into the context of politics and society, and expanding on the impact decisions have on individuals. It also show-cases the impact of "Art of War" principles in the strategies of Napoleon and Kutuzov and how human nature can get into the way of the best plans. In that way I recommend "War and Peace" as an essential read for entrepreneurs who find the "Art of War" useful.

m0zg 6y ago
FYI to folks who consider War and Peace intimidating: at least the Russian audio version on Audible is excellent, and fairly easy to enjoy. More so than the book itself, in my opinion, because narration is excellent. I was forced to read War and Peace when I was 15 (it's required reading in Russian schools), and didn't like it then because I wasn't yet equipped to understand it. Nor did I understand any Dostoevsky we were required to read either. A 16 year old just can't understand any of what's going on in such works - it's easy for me to see that now when I have a son that age. After I listened to it some 25 years later, it became my favorite work of literature by quite a margin. I strongly suspect that as I get older, I might be due for another pass through it, and I will enjoy it even more then. So there's no shame in listening to an audiobook on your commute, once we have commutes again. I just don't know if there are English language productions of it that are any good. Perhaps someone could chime in and recommend. But if you speak Russian, get the version from Audible and spend some quality time with it, you won't regret it.

shvedchenko 6y ago

I'd strongly recommend his best non fiction book "What is my faith?". Unfortunately, I cant find out wheather its tranlsated to english or not

xlm1717 6y ago
I think in English it is most often given the title "My Religion"