Ranchin Andrey Mikhailovich – Doctor in Philology, Leading Researcher at the Department of Literary Studies, Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences RAS
The book under review examines the poetics of L.N. Tolstoy’s War and Peace. The first twenty-five chapters of Tolstoy’s work are examined in the so-called “slow” or “close” reading mode, followed by a selective analysis of episodes and philo-sophical fragments of the book, primarily internal “rhymes” or repetitions in events, psychological characteristics of characters and details. Vyacheslav Kuritsyn shows that in some cases such echoes are intended to indicate similarities between characters. The researcher shows that the life plots of Tolstoy’s characters are largely determined by the principle of difficulties: the characters achieve their goals, achieve what they want not on the first try, but after several failures, overcoming obstacles. The book also contains observations on the poetics of space and the points of view that implement it. Worthy of attention is the definition of the psychologism of the author of War and Peace as an example of the “poetics of generalization”, which goes beyond the individual and beyond the socially typical in the depiction of characters. Vyacheslav Kuritsyn’s book is a serious work of scientific value. It will be useful both for philologists – researchers of Tolstoy’s works, and for all who love and appreciate War and Peace.
War and Peace; poetics; composition; echoes; repetitions; points of view; psychologism