Tolstoy's War and Peace

This book consists of eight essays written by world-renowned Tolstoy specialists; the essays provide an in-depth consideration of the central topics of Tolstoy's masterpiece. Tolstoy's War and Peace explores the concepts of war and peace, historical truths, freedom, friendship, love, living, and dying. Underlying all of these discussions is the examination of Tolstoy's preoccupation with the pursuits of truth, goodness, and beauty in a world replete with deceptions, destructions, and artificiality. As a body of work, these essays together suggest that Tolstoy's novel leaves room for the possibility of objective values and judgments, as well as for the possibility of discerning some fundamental truths regarding the value and meaning of human life.