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Title: Hidden in Plain View: Narrative and Creative Potentials in War and Peace by Gary Saul Morson ISBN: 0-8047-1387-1 Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr Pub. Date: August, 1987 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $49.50

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: How to make "War & Peace" meaningful & manageable. . .
Comment: Gary Morson was a professor of mine at Northwestern University, and his classes on Russian Literature are outstanding. This is his book on the many themes Tolstoy uses in War and Peace, and it's a great way to make sure you're getting the most out of one of the best novels of all time. . ....

I am paraphrasing horribly, but here are some of the themes that Morson illustrates in this book about "W&P" that I found really interesting:

- "Unexpected Influence" - War & Peace is one of few novels that is written to represent real life. Characters you may feel at the beginning of the book are really important may get killed off unexpectedly halfway through. Other characters that you thought were minor or side characters end up being very influential later on. Tolstoy keeps you guessing. . . Just as in life, you never know who is going to be really important to you when you first meet them.

- "Flexibility is key to success/survival" - Tolstoy shows that many of the most successful people in life are those that adapt to changing circumstances as they occur. Morson helps you compare some of the "strong" characters to some of the "bendable" characters, and watch how they thrive (or do not thrive) throughout circumstances.

- "History is not made by big, historical figures." Tolstoy's view is that it is crafted by the decisions of thousands of 'little people' over many, many instances. (e.g., Napoleon may think he won the war, but it was really thousands of soldiers that made the right fighting decisions over thousands of instances that got the job done.) This is a theme that (according to Morson) Tolstoy is really interested in, and is reflected in other Tolstoy novels as well.

- "What is 'history'? Not what we think." Tolstoy reflects that "history" as we think we know it is not really "REAL history". History as we know it is written by historians, who act as a filter and put their own spin on events. Tolstoy shows in W&P that you can't really know history unless you were present, and even then, 'your history' will differ from everyone else's.

- and many other really interesting themes. This is a great treatise on a great novel that deals with life philosophies. Enjoy! ...