Sergei A. Shul’ts, DSc in Philology, Independent Researcher, Rostov-on-Don, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3429-6714
In Leo Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace the reference to the sign of the comet is symbolic. It brings together, in the vein of Buddhism, the psychic (psychological) with the cosmic – i.e. brings together consciousness, the soul (relating to man as a historical being) with the world whole (with nature, with the “natural” element of life). Thanks to this, a hint of objectivity is acquired, polemically opposed to the criticism of “superstitions” by the enlighteners and Swift, in particular. The conditional identification of the comet with the images of Pierre Bezukhov and Natasha Rostova corresponds to the texts of Alexander Pushkin (“Portrait”) and Apollon Grigoriev (“Comet”). It is intended to strengthen in the images of Tolstoy’s characters the principles of “naturalness”, “naturalness”, but also “lawlessness”, which are in their own way connected with the world cosmic life, with the renewal of the physical and historical space as a whole. Ultimately, the motif of the comet turns out to be connected with one of Tolstoy’s main motifs – the motif of purely personal renewal, which also resonates in the transformation of the external world.
Leo Tolstoy; Jonathan Swift; Alexander Pushkin; Apollon Grigoriev; comet; superstition; “naturalness”.
04.02.2025
10.03.2025
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