Tolstoy’s "War and Peace" Part II and Alexievich’s "The Unwomanly Face of War"

Class Description

Finish reading slowly and closely the second part (Books 3, 4, and Epilogues) of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (1865–69), together with Svetlana Alexievich’s oral history of women in WWII, The Unwomanly Face of War (1985).

Though War and Peace tells the story of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, it is also a story about many other things: friendship, love, violence, and death; parents and children; patriotism and the search for one’s place in the world. Following the main characters of the novel, we will explore the problems of causality, moral responsibility, and free will, the book’s reflection in film adaptations, and a way to read War and Peace now at the time of Russia’s turn towards imperialism and war.

During the last three sessions, we will turn to The Unwomanly Face of War, a book that analyzes WWII from the perspective of women and is based on powerful and poignant well-documented eyewitness accounts of wartime experiences. Similar to Tolstoy, Svetlana Alexievich emphasizes the discrepancy between the official Soviet story of victory and the true stories full of horror and tragedy.

Julia Kriventsova Denne studied literature at St. Petersburg University, Russia, and teaches Russian literature and culture in the Chicago area.

All virtual classes are recorded and made available to participants registered in the class. These recordings are password-protected and available for up to two weeks after the class ends.

Materials List

Required

• Tolstoy, Leo, War and Peace. Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780199232765
• Alexievich, Svetlana, The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2018. ISBN: 9780399588747
• Other Instructor-Distributed Materials

First Reading

• Please read War and Peace, Book Three, Part One, pp. 647–73 for the first class.

A Brief Syllabus

1. This week’s focus will be on different perspectives of understanding of Napoleon’s invasion within Russia and Napoleon’s feelings of superiority in the novel and in its historical context.
2. We will start with the discussion of the title of War and Peace and the use of the Russian word “mir”, which means “peace”, “world”, and “community”. We will analyze the causes of the destruction of the French army as presented in the first theoretical chapters of War and Peace.
3. We will discuss Kutuzov in his role of the commander-in-chief and the Council of War at Fili. Why did Tolstoy choose to show this scene through the eyes of a 6-year-old girl? We will also talk about the meaning of patriotism in the novel.
4. We will use the thematic diagram “Mapping of Napoleon’s March” made by Charles Joseph Minard to help us to understand better the movements of Napoleon’s army. We will explore one of the most spiritual and exquisite episodes in War and Peace: the illness of Prince Andrew and the mystery of death, with death shown as a spiritual force, “an awakening from life.”
5. We will discuss the genre of the book, including Tolstoy’s definition. The 1812 war on the territory of Russia is depicted as the people’s war. We will look at guerilla warfare and its organization. We will also discuss Pierre’s recovery and his return to Moscow, as well as Natasha’s grief and her spiritual recovery.
6. We will analyze the epilogues and discuss their significance for War and Peace. We will focus on the way Tolstoy understands the duality of freedom and necessity. We will conclude the discussion by looking at the composition War and Peace and will try to put the parts together as one harmonious whole.
7. We will begin our discussion of Alexievich’s The Unwomanly Face of War. We will examine the blurred borderline between fiction and non-fiction, journalism and literature.
8. We will explore how Alexievich drew inspiration from her mentor, Ales Adamovic, but decided against authorial intrusions, which makes her oral history particularly raw, painful, and heroic.
9. During the last session, we will examine Alexievich’s methodology in the larger context of the debates about collective and individual memory, specifically, what it means to remember together through individual voices and stories.

Cost and Registration

9 sessions, $320 ($288 for Newberry members, seniors, and students). Learn about becoming a member.

We offer our classes at three different price options: Regular ($320), Community Supported ($300), and Sponsor ($340). Following the models of other institutions, we want to ensure that our classes are accessible to a wider audience while continuing to support our instructors. You may choose the price that best fits your situation when registering through Learning Stream.

To register multiple people for this class, please go through the course calendar in Learning Stream, our registration platform. When you select the course and register, you’ll be prompted to add another registrant.

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