I get so much from your reflections Simon. You so eloquently put into words the often hodgepodge of emotions I am feeling. This week I am struck by how you compare and contrast infinite skies and comets with the far more common Rostov experiences. Real life indeed.
Then the compare and contrast between Nikolai and Natasha - militaristic and patriarchal indeed.
“We see, but we don’t see. And like this, we grow” (you know you really should put all these postings together for a publisher! Truly, it far exceeds ‘Tolstoy Together’.)
"...every living person has his own and always has his own peculiar, personal, novel, complicated disease,..." This could be a summation of the entire book.
It comes in the midst of Tolstoy getting the nature of disease quite wrong, as we now know. Specific microorganisms can and do cause specific diseases, and the resulting diseases can be treated with specific medicines that remain effective across the majority of individuals.
Natasha suffers from a disorder of the spirit, which is much more complex. Even today when we prescribe Prozac and it has the desired effect we wonder if we are merely papering over the underlying malady. To feel grief and sorrow when we have been ill-used, particularly if we have been complicit, is quite normal and even healthy if not carried to extremes. With our newly found power, we run the very real risk of treating every deviation from the norm as pathology. But as LT reminds us, life itself, the human condition, is pathological. Look at what we have done with our very human ability to act as one across large groups. We love to focus on our differences, our arguments, and our fights, but think of the vast cooperation that was necessary to bring into your hand the device upon which you are reading this. Yet that same power we belatedly realize, has brought us to the brink of extinction.
Another great summary Simon of what was a collection of interesting chapters, taking us from the battlegrounds of war to the battlegrounds of home. I have to agree the Rostov's have become more compelling and likeable.
“We see, but we don't see. And like this, we grow.” Love this, thanks, Simon🥰
Thanks Elsa!
Grandiloquently, my new favorite word!
Full disclosure: I stumbled over this word about five times when I recorded it. Not a word I normally use!
😁
I get so much from your reflections Simon. You so eloquently put into words the often hodgepodge of emotions I am feeling. This week I am struck by how you compare and contrast infinite skies and comets with the far more common Rostov experiences. Real life indeed.
Then the compare and contrast between Nikolai and Natasha - militaristic and patriarchal indeed.
“We see, but we don’t see. And like this, we grow” (you know you really should put all these postings together for a publisher! Truly, it far exceeds ‘Tolstoy Together’.)
That is high praise indeed! Thank you!
"...every living person has his own and always has his own peculiar, personal, novel, complicated disease,..." This could be a summation of the entire book.
It comes in the midst of Tolstoy getting the nature of disease quite wrong, as we now know. Specific microorganisms can and do cause specific diseases, and the resulting diseases can be treated with specific medicines that remain effective across the majority of individuals.
Natasha suffers from a disorder of the spirit, which is much more complex. Even today when we prescribe Prozac and it has the desired effect we wonder if we are merely papering over the underlying malady. To feel grief and sorrow when we have been ill-used, particularly if we have been complicit, is quite normal and even healthy if not carried to extremes. With our newly found power, we run the very real risk of treating every deviation from the norm as pathology. But as LT reminds us, life itself, the human condition, is pathological. Look at what we have done with our very human ability to act as one across large groups. We love to focus on our differences, our arguments, and our fights, but think of the vast cooperation that was necessary to bring into your hand the device upon which you are reading this. Yet that same power we belatedly realize, has brought us to the brink of extinction.
"What a piece of work is a man,..."
"A decision with no small consequence for the life of Andrei Bolkonksy." This sounds ominous, Simon.
It wouldn't be a story if there weren't consequences!
Also LOVE the Gustave Dore illustration.
Another great summary Simon of what was a collection of interesting chapters, taking us from the battlegrounds of war to the battlegrounds of home. I have to agree the Rostov's have become more compelling and likeable.
The Rostovs grow on you! 😆
They certainly do 😆
This quote at the end of that section of writing made me tear up.