War and Peace: Day 75, Page 1209

 There is one, very simple truth at the heart of War and Peace, and this is that "there is no greatness where simplicity and goodness are absent" (1144) Can you fall in love with a quote?  I think that this one is perfect, no wonder it's one of Tolstoy's most famous. Tolstoy clearly thought that feelings objectified reality better than language ever could. Oddly enough, by writing novels he evokes feeling though language, which is a contradiction of these feelings. As I sit in front of my computer trying to come up with something to write, I have realised how frustratingly difficult  it is to describe the plot in a way that will do the novel justice right now. Although it's gotten quite philosophical and serious, Tolstoy was talented enough of a writer to include forms of whimsical escapism.

Volume 4 contained a lot of history lessons, but mostly interesting ones. Tolstoy discusses military strategy and the internal politics of a country, yet also produces graphic and appallingly vivid descriptions of the final battle scenes. One of the most confusing aspects of his writing in these scenes is the constant flip-flop between the view of a solider and of a general. The worst part is that after mentioning their names once, he goes on to refer to every character as "he." In the end, Tolstoy doesn't identify the winner of the war, because--according to him--the outcome was made up of dozens of mysteries, and each side had many successes.

After being sick for two volumes of the novel, Prince Andrew finally dies with Natasha by his side. Is killing one of the main characters a joke that Tolstoy chose to play on his readers? It could be his interpretation of  history's joke on all of humanity: that while we are alive we make up only a tiny section of the earth's history, and then we die inglorious, insignificant deaths. Either way, Prince Andrew's fate is cruel, and leaves Natasha in depression until she abruptly falls in love with Pierre four pages before the novel ends.

I'm surprisingly sad to have finished the body of the novel; it really did swallow me whole. I used to think that I was a fast reader, yet this tome has taken me much longer than anything else I have attempted. 75 days seems like an extremely long time to commit to one book, but this is by far the most difficult piece of literature that I've read. It's too difficult to compare it to anything else though, War and Peace is in a league of its own!