BOOK ONE
Book One, Part One
Chapter 5
We learn that he sent his illegitimate son Pierre abroad when he was ten with an abbé. Pierre returned to Moscow when he was twenty with a foreign education and some odd ideas. Bezukhov sent him to Petersburg to choose his profession.
Chapter 7
“I have never seen a handsomer man,” the Countess Rostova tells us. In the last year, he is “very much altered” and “may die at any moment”, according to Anna Mikhailovna. He is the godfather of Boris and one of the richest men in Russia, with “forty thousand serfs.” He has no heirs and many illegitimate children, of which Pierre is his favourite. As things stand, Prince Vasili is set to inherit through his wife.
Chapter 12
Our glimpse into the Bezukhov house in St Petersburg, surely one of the grandest homes in the city. A celebrated doctor, Lorrain, is here, but it doesn’t look good for the old man. The doctors expect a “crisis”. Prince Vasili says the count hasn’t once asked for his son Pierre. But do we believe him?
Chapter 18
Life and death. As the Rostovs dance, Count Bezukhov has a second stroke and “the doctors pronounced recovery impossible.” Moscow dignitaries come to give their respects; the undertakers wait in expectation of an important order. And the feathered relatives circle, snapping their beaks.
Chapter 20
The dying man receives the last sacrament. We see what a big man he is, like his son. He is “majestic” but now has a “cold listless gaze” that cannot be understood by the living. Pierre kisses his hand. His arm falls down, and he smiles at Pierre but does not speak.
Chapter 21
The count dies. Anna Mikhailovna claims that he promised not to forget Boris. But her tender version of the count’s dying words with Pierre strongly suggests she is not a reliable witness to the count’s desires.
RIP Count Bezukhov