Considered one of the best books ever written, "War and Peace" has remained in the upper echelon of world literature because it masterfully captures an intimate view of humanity on an epic scale. Through the use of fictional narrative, Tolstoy utilizes a huge cast of characters, centering on five aristocratic Russian families in 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars. These characters, particularly Pierre, Prince Andrei, and the beautiful Natasha, demonstrate different human struggles that are affected by their history, present era, and culture. They simultaneously develop the concepts on which Tolstoy expounds in the thematic essays interspersed throughout the narrative: a person's free will and the shaping of historical events, morality in an imperfect world, youth and age, marriage and death, and, of course, war and peace, in a work so groundbreaking that it was not considered a novel when published in 1865. In redefining the fictional novel, Tolstoy's genius has explored what is fundamentally human with scope and Russian spirit. Presented here in this edition is the second of two volumes.
Lev Nikolaevic Tolstoj nasce a Jasnaja Poljana, in Russia, il 9 settembre 1828 da una famiglia di tradizioni aristocratiche, appartenente alla vecchia nobiltà russa.
Questa condizione influenzerà tutta la sua esistenza: da un punto di vista positivo perché avrà opportunità che altri non avranno, ma anche da un punto di vista negativo perché lo distinguerà dagli altri letterati del suo tempo da cui si sentirà spesso escluso.
La madre morirà quando lui avrà solo due anni e dopo