• Tolstoy, Leo, War and Peace, tr. Aylmer Maude, rev. George Gibian, ed. George Gibian, New York, W. W. Norton, latest ed. This ed. is preferable since it also contains important background and critical material that we will study. If you already own a different ed. you might use it and share/copy the critical material from fellow-first-years.
• Tolstoy, Leo, Hadji Murad, tr. Aylmer Maude, intro. Gitta Hammarberg, New York, Barnes and Noble, 2005. Other editions are OK.
• Culler, Jonathan, Literary Theory. A Very Short Introduction, New York, Oxford University Press, 1997
• Lunsford, Andrea A., Easy Writer, Boston, Bedford/St.Martin's, latest ed. This is a writing manual in a convenient format and will be useful in all your Mac classes that require writing. We won't read it in class, but you will want to consult it for our writing projects.

• Bayley, John, Tolstoy and the Novel, New York, The Viking Press, 1966
• Bloom, Harold, The Western Canon. The Books and School of the Ages. New York, Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994
• Bloom Harold, Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace," Modern Critical Interpretation, New York, Chelsea House, 1988
• Briggs, A. D. P., "Hadji Murat: the Power of Understatement," New Essays on Tolstoy, ed. Malcolm Jones, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,1978, pp.109-27
• Christian, R. F., Tolstoy. A Critical Introduction. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1969
• Eikhenbaum, Boris, Tolstoy in the Seventies, tr. A. Kaspin, Ann Arbor, MI, Ardis, 1982
• Fanger, Donald, "Nazarov's Mother: Notes Toward an Interpretation of 'Hadji Murat'," in Mnemozina. Studia litteraria russica in Honorem Vsevolod Setchkarev, ed. Joachim T. Baer and Norman W. Ingham. Munich, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1974, pp.95-104
• Feuer, Kathryn, B., Tolstoy and the Genesis of War and Peace, pl publ, 1996
• Gifford, Henry, Tolstoy, New York, Oxford University Press, 1987
• Heldt, Barbara, "Tolstoy's Path to Feminism," in Terrible Perfection: Women and Russian Literature, Bloomington, Indiana University press, 1987
• Herman, David, "Khadzhi-Murat's Silence," Slavic Review 64,1 (2005):1-23
• Jones, Malcolm, ed., New Essays on Tolstoy, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1978.
• Layton, Susan, Russian Literature and Empire. Conquest of the Caucasus from Pushkin to Tolstoy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994
• Makanin, Vladimir, "The Prisoner From the Caucasus" in The Loss. A Novella and Two Short Stories, tr. Byron Lindsey, Evanston, Illinois University Press, 1998, pp. 117-54
• Matlaw, Ralph, ed., Tolstoy. A Collection of Critical Essays, Englewood Cliffs, HJ, Prentice-Hall, 1967
• Maude, Aylmer, The Life of Tolstoy, 2 vols. in 1, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1987
• McLean, Hugh, In the Shade of the Giant. Essays on Tolstoy, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1989.
• Merezhkovski, D., Tolstoi as Man and Artist, New York, 1902.
• Morson, Gary Saul, Hidden in Plain View. Narrative and Creative Potentials in War and Peace, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1987.
• Orwin, Donna Tussing, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Tolstoy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002
• Orwin, Donna T., "Nature and Narrator in Chadzi-Murat," Russian Literature (North-Holland) 28 (1990): 125-44
• Poggioli, Renato, "Lev Tolstoy as man and Artist," Oxford Slavonic Papers 10 (1962): 25-37
• Price, martin, "Tolstoy and the Forms of Life," in Forms of Life. Character and Moral Imagination in the Novel, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1983.
• Silbajoris, Rimvydas, Tolstoy's Aesthetics and His Art, Columbus, OH, Slavica Publishers, 1991.
• Steiner, George, Tolstoy or Dostoevsky, New York, 1959.
• Tolstoy, Leo, The Centenary Edition of Tolstoy, tr. Louise and Aylmer Maude, 21 vols. London, Oxford University Press, 1929-37.
• Wasiolek, Edward, Tolstoy's Major Fiction, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1978
• Wasiolek, Edward, ed., Critical Essays on Tolstoy, Boston, G. K. Hall, 1986
• Wilson, A. N. Tolstoy, New York, W. W. Norton, 1988

• Voina i mir [=War and Peace]. dir. V. Gardin & Ia. Protasova, Russia 1915
• Natasha Rostova, dir A. Kamenskii, Russia 1915
• War and peace/Guerra e pace, dir. King Vidor, Screenplay Bridget Boland, Mario Camerini et. al. Cast: Audrey Hepburn (Natasha) Henry Fonda (Pierre), Mel Ferrer (Andrew), Anita Ekberg (Helene), USA/Italy 1955-59
• Tozhe liudi [=People too], dir. G.Daneliia, I. Talankin (diploma work, VGIK), USSR 1958
• Voina i mir [=War and Peace], dir. S.Bondarchuk. Cast: L. Savel'eva (Natasha), V. Tikhonov (Andrew), S. Bonda (Pierre), V. Strzhel'chik (Napoleon), B. Zakhava (Kutuzov), A. Ktorov (the old prince), A. Shuranov (Mary), O. Tabakov (Nicholas), O. Efremova (Dolokhov). USSR, Mosfilm 1966-68.
• War and Peace, dir. John Howard Davies, screenplay Jack Pulman, BBC Television, 1973. Cast: Anthony Hopkins (Pierre), Alan Dobe (Andrew), Morag Hood (Natasha).
• Kavkazskii plennik, [Engl. tr.: The Prisoner of the Mountains, based loosely on, among other things, Tolstoy's story], film, (99 min), dir. Sergei Bodrov, Sergei, script Sergei Bodrov, Arif Aliyev, and Boris Giller, Moscow, Mosfilm-Kopor, 1996

Bell, Fraser. “Truth and Lies in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace.” The Queen's Quarterly 109.2 (2002): pp. 221-31.
http://0-www-md1.csa.com.clicnet4.clic.edu/ids70/view_record.php?id=3&recnum=5&SID=8huhtah1e2k75bl20ih1ta0al6&mark_id=search%3A3%3A1%2C0%2C10
MLA International Bibliography. MLASearch. 9/20/2006 <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?v+and+peacersn=3&locID=mnadwl&srchtp=mla&STYP=FA&c=1&ste=157&tbst=mlastd&tab=8388608&docNum=N2811754187&MST=tolstoy+war+and+peace&bConts=12582912>.
In “Truth and Lies in Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace” Fraser Bell questions the validity of some of Tolstoy’s characterizations in War and Peace. Bell focuses primarily upon Napoleon, citing inaccuracies before addressing the question of characterization. Although not factually correct, Bell argues there is fundamental truth behind Tolstoy’s characterizations. He lastly compares Napoleon and Tolstoy. Although not a towering authority on the topic of Tolstoy, Bell has obviously written an essay devoid of factual error. It was printed in a journal, the Queen’s Quarterly, which focuses upon scholarly and artistic issues. Bell is a frequent contributor to this publication, and his work has upheld peer review, validating its credibility. This article could be useful in the writing of a research paper, specifically one concerning Napoleon Bonaparte’s characterization in War and Peace.

Berlin, Isaiah. “The Dilemma of History.” Critical Essays on Tolstoy. Edward Wasiolek (ed.). New York: Mentor, 1957.
In his article, Isaiah Berlin discusses the discrepancies between actual historical facts and Tolstoy’s interpretations in War and Peace. He analyses Tolstoy's devotion to the central "thesis"- the dichotomy between universal free will and responsibility, and historical determinism (an individual's disappearance into the stream of human existence). Isaiah Berlin is certainly a qualified source, as he was a political philosopher in addition to one of the leading liberal thinkers of the 20th century. Berlin was also a well-known lecturer and professor of Social and Political Theory at Oxford University in the 1950s. He digresses somewhat from his point in the latter half of the article; however, in its entirety, Berlin’s article offers an interesting insight into Tolstoy’s historical distortions for the sake of the novel.

Carden, Patricia. “The Recuperative Powers of Memory: Tolstoy’s War and Peace”.
Modern Critical Interpretations: Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988. 103-121.
This article analyzes War and Peace through Tolstoy’s philosophy on the “remembered past”. Carden states that the structure of War and Peace was built on Platonic doctrines and builds parallels between the characters and their role in presenting these doctrines. Her article is oftentimes dense and hard to decipher. She explains to a greater extent the Platonic philosophies rather than actually applying it to War and Peace. Patricia Carden is currently a professor of Russian Literature at Cornell University. She is a member of the editorial board for the journal The Silver Age of Russian Literature and Culture, and a member of the executive committee of the Mid-Atlantic Slavic Conference.

Christian, R.F. “Style in War and Peace.” Tolstoy: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Ralph E. Matlaw. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1967. 102-110.
This essay is an analysis of Tolstoy’s writing style, focusing particularly on his abundance of repetition. Christian gives a variety of uses to which Tolstoy employs this device: characterization, rhythm, balance. He also addresses Tolstoy’s tendency to write in grammatically and syntactically incorrect Russian. Christian appears to be a fairly reliable source on the subject, having translated a number of Tolstoy’s works as well as having written a biography and numerous literary criticisms of Tolstoy. This particular source would most likely be useful in analyzing Tolstoy’s writing style, or possibly in compiling a research paper.

Clay, George C., "Nicholas: Hamletizing Horatio." Tolstoy's Phoenix: From Method to Meaning in War and Peace.. Ed Gary Saul Morson and caryl Emerson. Evanston, IL: Northwester University press, 1968. 63-69.
Chapter six of Tolstoy's Phoenix, "Nicholas: Hamletizing Horatio," provides insight into the character of Nicholas Rostov. It addresses his gradual maturation throughout War and peace. Clay shows this by citing instances of Rostov's poor choices, and how he reacts to them. From the beginning Rostov appears set in his simplistic views of serious matters and this certainly effectively wanes throughout the course of the book leaving him an able young man. Tolstoy'a Phoenix is an authoritative look at War and Peace. Although the writing is simple, the views expressed are interesting and insightful. This book is respected by the academic world, Clay being an academic himself, and is often listed as required reading for introduction to Russian and Tolstoy courses in universities, further bvalidating its credibility. It was published by Northwestern University and its purpose is to inspire the continued study of the writing methods of Tolstoy.

George R. Clay’s Tolstoy’s Phoenix is a collection of essays on specific topics and
characters in Tolstoy’s War and Peace. The essay on Prince Andrew (Prince Andrew: Nurse and Father) specifically discusses his personality conflicts. Clay devotes a great deal of time in making the point that Andrew throughout the novel never looks at the here and now or at any attainable happiness but seeks only things that are impossible to reach in his life. The article also explores other conflicts in Andrew such as his fear of death and his aversion to human emotional attachment. Finally, the essay draws connections between certain influences in Andrew’s life and his recurring internal struggle between his contrasting cold and sensitive natures. Overall, Clay’s collection of essays and specifically his article on Prince Andrew is a good source for ideas on War and Peace from a scholar reputable in his field and thus would be very useful as both as an introduction to Tolstoy’s work and in writing a research paper .

Ekirch Jr., Arthur A. "Reflections on Problems of Militarism and History in Tolstoy's War and Peace." Peace & Change 8.4 (1982) 1-5. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. 20 September 2006 <http://0-plinks.ebscohost.com.clicnet4.clic.edu/ehost/pdf?vid=7&hid=2&sid=a2acf3e0-d769-4cc0-8654-d0e447e299ee%40sessionmgr4>.
Ekirch asserts that Tolstoy wrote War and Peace to portray history as he saw it, which was starkly different from the accepted understanding. He states that Tolstoy viewed Napoleon’s invasion of Russia as a struggle between the cunning and aggressive Napoleon and the slow, single-minded, and defensive Kutuzov. Ekirch also argues that Tolstoy’s belief in fatalism pervades his novel and shows especially in the fates of his characters.
Ekirch was a professor of History at the State University of New York at Albany and has published numerous books and articles.

Ekirch discusses his views on how Tolstoy deals with the issues of war and personal choice. He begins with relating Tolstoy’s book to the questions, “How can we accomplish change without resorting to war? And how can we achieve the kind of peaceful world which still eludes mankind?” He supposes that Tolstoy was trying to answer these same questions in his book and also the question of who is able to control the movement of these wars. He says, “The sum of men’s individual wills produced both the revolution and Napoleon; and only the sum of those wills endured them and then destroyed them.” This summarizes his argument that it is collective personal choice that places one in a war and eventually ends a war. Reflections on the problems of militarism and history in Leo Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace.

This article discusses Tolstoy's philosophy and view of history. The authoris a philosopher who was a Harvard professor in the 50s and 60s. It is from a scholarly journal, but is not peer reviewed.
This article was taken from an academic journal, Peace and Change, which is a peer-reviewed collection of articles aimed at achieving a peaceful, just, and humane society. Arthur A. Ekrich Jr., who was a professor emeritus of history at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany, presents some interesting views on War and Peace. This article as if offers a unique view on Tolstoy’s purpose

This is a brief but strong essay on the way Tolstoy views warfare. War and Peace, as Ekirch points out, is a postwar reflection on the Napoleonic Wars. While Ekirch addresses Tolstoy’s disdain towards the leaders of the Napoleonic Wars, he mainly focuses on Tolstoy’s emphasis on the individual will in combat. He explains that the mass of individual wills is what drives war, as opposed to leaders who will receive the historical credit. Arthur A. Ekirch Jr. was a professor of History at the State University of New York. He also authored ten books and over a hundred book reviews.

Figes, Orlando. Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia. Vol. 1. New York: Metropolitan Books: Henry Holt and Company, 2002.
This book gives a cultural history of Russia from Peter the Great through the Soviet era. the author analyzes how the literature, art, music, and architecture reflect Russian society during various time periods. This book makes several references to War and Peace explicitly but mainly serves as an excellent source of background information on Russian culture during the war of 1812 as well as in Tolstoy's time.
This is a very credible source for information about Russian history and culture. Figes graduated from Cambridge and now lectures at Birkbeck University in London. He has written three other books about Russia as well as numerous other journal and newspaper articles.

Griffiths, F.T. and S.T. Rabinowitz. “Tolstoy and Homer.” Comparative Literature. 35.2 (1983): 97-125. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Macalester College Lib., Saint Paul, MN. 21 Sep. 2006.
<http://0-web.ebscohost.com.clicnet4.clic.edu:80/ehost/pdf?vid=6&hid=7&sid=c2faa666-4e92-44ad-ae93-e1ee2af24157%40sessionmgrZ.
This article is a critique of Tolstoy’s narrative style, using the timeless style of Homer as a comparison in the epic tradition. The authors seem to regard War and Peace as an unfocused and uncontrolled narrative sprawl. Both Griffiths and Rabinowitz have considerable knowledge of classical Greek and Roman works like Homer and Virgil, so their criticism is worth considering from a structural standpoint. Such a comparison as this article would likely be useful in compiling a research paper or in studying Tolstoy’s work and analyzing it on one’s own.

Griffiths, F.T. and S.J. Rabinowitz. “Tolstoy and Homer.” Comparative Literature 35, 2 (Spring 1983): 97-126.
<<http://www.jstor.org/view/00104124/ap010138/01a00010/0>>
This article contains a literary criticism of War and Peace. The contention is made that while War and Peace is undoubtedly a masterpiece, many of the criticisms of it that have been made are valid. The authors explain that the fault lies not in War and Peace itself, but with the whole epic novel genre, and that Tolstoy himself changed his style of writing after War and Peace and Anna Karenina by creating works that focused on one character and a central plot. The authors have also written another criticism, “Doctor Zhivago and the Tradition of National Epic”, which was also published in Comparative Literature. Comparative Literature is the official journal of the American Comparative Literature Association, and is the oldest in its field.

Gustafson, Richard F. Leo Tolstoy: Resident and Stranger. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.
Gustafson has authored an exceedingly dense, 463-page tome on the subject of Tolstoy’s fiction. He writes that War and Peace is essentially a novel about the nature of human relatedness. In this portrait of human relatedness, the world is divided into residents and strangers. Gustafson also discusses, though to a lesser extent, Tolstoy’s use of similes and paradigmatic actions. While Gustafson has compiled an extensive body of research, as evinced by the six-page bibliography, he does not communicate his ideas well and persistently lacks clarity. However, Gustafson is a respected Tolstoy scholar, and this book in particular is taught at the graduate level at Columbia University in conjunction with Tolstoy Studies. Gustafson was also an editor of the Tolstoy Studies Journal. He is certainly a reliable expert.

Hagan, John. "Patterns of Character Development in Tolstoy's War and Peace: Nicholas, Natasha, and Mary." PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 84.2 (1969): 234-44.
http://0-www.jstor.org.clicnet4.clic.edu/view/00308129/ap040591/04a00050/0, accessed 9/23-2006
Link through MLA (cause the direct link doesn?t always work)
http://0-www-md1.csa.com.clicnet4.clic.edu/ids70/view_record.php?id=14&recnum=1&SID=bjr5l07jmoc15h0oi5h6m2qr27&mark_id=search%3A14%3A16%2C0%2C2
Hagan’s article is written as an essay exploring the parallels between three characters in Tolstoy’s War and Peace. He believes that the title symbolizes the overall character movement throughout the novel. He starts off by establishing the two words war and peace as merely metaphorical words describing the mental state of one’s body or soul (1). The three examples Hagen uses to show character development, are Nicholas Rostov, Natasha, and Mary. Each of those character s comes to a turning point in the book where he or she switches from a state of war to a state of peace, or in Natasha’s case from a state of peace to a state of war. The turning point for all three characters is a result of love. Hagan argues that this character movement is show through repetition of events, specific to each character, and through the way other characters perceive them to change over the course of the novel.
While Hagan has published many other essays, none of them appear to be on Russian literature or Tolstoy, making this source questionable in terms of reliability. On the other hand, the article has been peer reviewed and published on the MLA database. I believe that this essay, seeing as it is mostly opinion and analysis can be used as a means for acquiring new ideas from the text of War and Peace, but is not particularly helpful for a larger scale project.

Hare, Richard. “Tolstoy’s Motives for Writing War and Peace,” Russian Review 15, 2 (April 1956): 110-121.
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0036-0341%28195604%2915%3A2%3C110%3ATMFW%223E2.0CO%3B2-D
In the article,discusses the many reasons for Tolstoy to write his epic novel. Hare states that Tolstoy’s main goal was to present the historical content of the Napoleonic era in a very “ambitious” and “original” form. Hare went as far as to say that the reason for the book’s popularity was because it was so grand that it went “beyond the age.”
Tolstoy tells the “untold” history of the era. It is this fact that draws a lot of criticism, says Hare, because he places emphasis not on the generals but on the masses. Tolstoy concentrates on giving the reader what he believes to be the true story of the time. This source uses the character of Natasha and the genre of War and Peace. It especially discusses epic and novel traditions in regards to the book. MLN is an academic journal olf European literature, founded in 1886.
The article is provided by a not-for-profit organization, JSTOR, which strives to “maintain a trusted archive of important scholarly journals.” These articles are peer reviewed and well presented. The author of this particular article, Richard Hare, gives many good points on why Tolstoy would write War and Peace. He makes an interesting point about how Tolstoy discusses the untold history of the war, which is really intriguing.
Description of Leo Tolstoy’s purpose in writing War and Peace

Holbrook, David. Tolstoy, Woman, and Death: A Study of War and Peace and Anna
Karenina. Madison: London Associated University Presses, 1997.
A recent study of Tolstoy is undertaken by David Holbrook, Emeritus Fellow of the English Association, Downing College, Cambridge. In this work Holbrook reveals Tolstoy’s sentiments towards women and death by asserting that main characters Andrew Bolkonski and Pierre Bezukhov are literary depictions of Tolstoy himself. Holbrook states that Tolstoy’s view of women was deeply impacted by the death of his mother upon his birth, much in the case of Lise and her child. Holbrook illustrates how Tolstoy uses Pierre in particular as his model for existential crises.

Jepsen, Laura. “Two Immodest Proposals in Tolstoy’s War and Peace”. South Atlantic
Bulletin.Vol. 41, no. 2 (1976): 68-70. MLA International Bibliography.
<<http://0-www.csa.com.clicnet4.clic.edu/>>.
Jepsen addresses the recurring theme of farce, greed, and dishonesty and how it relates to love and marriage in War and Peace. The title “Two Immodest Proposals” refers to the two main proposals that take place in War and Peace for purely economic reasons. Laura Jepsen was a professor at the Florida State University, and is therefore a reasonably credible source. The article is brief, yet informative, on the subject of Tolstoy’s ridicule of love. Overall, I found the article to be fairly useful, and certainly interesting; however, it does not provide a very detailed analysis and is rather brief. It would therefore probably be more useful as a short accompaniment to further research on a related topic.

Johnston, Charles. “Count Tolstoy At Home.” The Arena (Oct. 1898): 480-490.
<<http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/JohCoun.html>> Accessed 19 Sept. 2006
Charles Johnston, translator, critic, and expert on Tolstoy’s What is Art?, presents us with actual tidbits of conversation between Leo Tolstoy and three visitors to his house nearing the turn of the 19th century. These encounters, recorded first hand by Johnston, were originally aimed to explain loopholes and unclear sentiments on Tolstoy’s part that are not fully explained in his writing. Judging by Tolstoy’s attitude towards the three different guests- a writer, a Frenchman, and a prince- we are able to better form a picture of him as a master of his craft who truly believed that his opinions were truths. Johnston also delves into Tolstoy’s opinion of all things Hellenic, women, and Christianity.

Kaufman, Andrew D. "Microcosm and Macrocosm in War and Peace: The Interrelationship of Poetics and Metaphysics." Slavic and East European Journal 43.3 (1999): 495-510.
MLA International Bibliography. http://0-www.jstor.org.clicnet4.clic.edu/view/00376752/ap010174/01a00040/0 Accessed 9/25, 2006.
This author argues that Tolstoy develops "a sense of unity among the many contradictory aspects of the world" through use of certain poetic techniques and the metaphysics of his characters. In several specific examples taken from the text of the novel, Kaufman shows how Tolstoy conveys the supra-personal forces beyond the power of humans to comprehend (e.g. history, perspective) as well as how Tolstoy creates characters (Pierre Bezukhov especially) who personify Tolstoy's own belief in the potential for humans to create, to some degree, their own future. Kaufman argues that these seemingly contradictory themes in the novel actually reinforce the essential message of War and Peace: that these contradictions exist and they define the human condition.
This article is very credible and scholarly. It is taken from a reputable, peer-reviewed journal, and the author has a Ph.D. and a Masters in Slavic languages and Russian, respectively. He also lectures at Stanford and the University of Virginia, and has published numerous articles (and a coming book) on Tolstoy and War and Peace.

McSweeney, Kerry. “Dream Representation in Wuthering Heights, Crime and Punishment, and War and Peace.” Symposium 59( Fall 2005): 163-78 (accessed 9-18-06).http://search
This is an intriguing article about the use of dreams in several works of nineteenth century literature. In general, it discusses the views of dreams and dream-representation that were held by writers of that time period. McSweeney provides criticisms of how Emily Bronte, Fyodor Dostoevski, and Leo Tolstoy in particular used this technique. In addition, he compares and contrasts the writers’ techniques. Most importantly, McSweeney suggests interpretations of why they used it, whether it was intended to clarify a previously ambiguous point for the reader, or to reveal something significant to the character having the dream. According to McSweeney, Tolstoy utilizes dreams for the latter reason. The author is a professor of nineteenth century literature at McGill University, and has written for other scholarly journals as well. He therefore has credence in this subject, as well as the ability to discuss it with clarity and interest.

Morson, Gary Saul. Hidden in Plain View: Narrative and Creative Potentials in War and Peace. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987.
Morson discusses the criticism of War and Peace from the time it was published and what makes it different from its contemporaries. He also examines Tolstoy’s psychological theories and his views of history and how these influenced his novel.
Morson is a professor of Russian and European literature at Northwestern University, has received numerous awards, and has published extensively

Orwin, Donna Tussing. The Cambridge Companion to Tolstoy
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
This book focuses on the writing and life of Tolstoy, specifically targeting his relationship to popular writing, his issues with gender and sexuality, and his personal artistic philosophy. A chronology of his life is included, and many of his works of fiction are discussed. Remarks of Tolstoy himself are included only if they apply to the text being analyzed. The focus is on Tolstoy personally, the events going on around him at the time are not remarked upon unless they directly affect his writing. In addition to writing this book, Donna Tussing Orwin has also written three other books about Leo Tolstoy.

Simmons, Ernest, ed. "War and Peace." Introduction to Tolstoy's Writtings. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1968. 64-82.
Simmons talks about Tolstoy’s War and Peace in three different ways. He starts off by giving a background on Tolstoy’s reasons for writing the novel and explains that it was written as a “history of people” rather than a historic novel (68). After that is established, he starts to analyze the true meaning of that statement, explaining that there are two approaches to a history of people, one where a person acts on free will, and a more deterministic view where a person actsas a result of all past factors and experiences (69). He gives concrete examples of both, showing how all the characters inter-relate through out the book to create one linear story line or history so to say. That leads us to his third point, being that Tolstoy wrote War and Peace to portray an ordinary and realistic view of life. His goal in writing War and Peace was not to show an exaggerated and exciting story, but rather to show everyday, truthful, and realistic interactions between real people.Evaluation:
Ernest Simmons is an author and critic renowned for his work in Russian studies; he has taught at Cornell, and Harvard. The book as also been edited by the University of Chicago’s Press, which is known for academic scholarship in their books. Given these credentials this book is a very reliable source of information and could be potentially helpful as a resource in later projects.

Simmons, Ernest J. “War and Peace”. Introduction to Tolstoy’s Writings. Chapter 4 http://www.ourcivilization.com/smartboard/shop/smmnsej/Tolstoy/chap5.htm. Accessed September 21, 2006.
The website www.ourciviliztion.com ( a webpage that contains many academic articles and chapters available free of charge) contains the full text of the well known Russian literature scholar Ernest J. Simmons’s book Introduction to Tolstoy’s Writings, including a chapter entitled War and Peace. The chapter on War and Peace specifically focuses on the long creative process that gave birth to the epic novel as well as the important influences on Tolstoy himself that are manifested in the story’s many conflicts and characters. The essay goes over many of the themes found in the novel in great detail; including the varied implications of the title itself: War and Peace. Simmons reviews several of the story’s main characters as well; going over important traits and characteristics displayed by them as well as how these relate to their personalities. Overall, this chapter of Simmons’s scholarly work found on the internet is a very good, up-to-date introduction to Tolstoy’s masterpiece by an author widely respected in the field (Simmons is a former Professor of Russian Literature and has written many books on the subject) and thus is useful in preparing a research paper or in any general study of War and Peace.

Sloane, David. “The Poetry in War and Peace.” Slavic and East European Journal 40.1
(1996): 63-84.
This article discusses how Tolstoy used both prosaic and poetic styles in his novel. It also briefly discusses Tolstoy’s descriptions of how characters sounded and his desire for the book to be read aloud. It was very informative with proof supplied from quotes from other critics and from War and Peace. However, since the quotes from the book were in Russian, it was hard to follow his argument about poetic style. David Sloane is a Russian Studies professor at Tufts University in Boston.

Tolstoy, Nikolai. The Tolstoys. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1983.
This book provides an in-depth history of the Tolstoy family, tracing the actions of twenty-four generations of Tolstoys all the way up to the year that the book was published. While focusing on the family as a whole, Nikolai Tolstoy does devote a forty page chapter to Leo. The author delves quite deeply into Leo’s life and shines valuable light on his early, formative years. As you probably deduced, the author himself is a member of the Tolstoy clan, and is the head of the senior branch of the Tolstoy and Miloslavsky families. He has written a number of other fiction and non-fiction books.

Warner, Nicholas O
. "Character and Genre in War and Peace: The Case of Natasha." MLN 100.5, Comparative Literature (1985): 1012-24. MLA International Bibliography. JSTOR. DeWitt Wallace Library., St. Paul. Accessed 21 September 2006 <http://www.jstor.org>.<http://
In this article, the author puts forth a theory about the genre of War and Peace. He illustrates, using Natasha, that War and Peace is a Biblical and a Homeric epic. The author is a professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College and has been published in a number of other scholarly journals besides MLN. His teaching and research interests include, among other things, Russian literature.

Zeldis, Leon. “Freemasonry in Russia.” Freemasonry.org. 4 May. 2002. The Philaethes
Society. 20 Sept. 2006 <http://freemasonry.org/leonzeldis/russia.htm>
This article discusses the history of Freemasonry in Russia from before its documented beginning in 1717. It gives proof of the involvement of the aristocracy in masonry. It is attached to a larger site that has information on Freemasonry throughout the world and about its practices and beliefs. This site is a good place to get a simple understanding of Freemasonry and to check facts regarding Freemasonry in Russia. The author, Leon Zeldis is an expert on Freemasonry, writing other articles and books about the topic. He, himself is a Freemason and a master at lodges throughout the world.