Pyotr Kirillovich Bezukhov

A lost sheep, a lonely bear

Also known as: Pierre, Petrushka

BOOK ONE

Book One, Part One

Chapter 2

Pierre has recently returned from abroad, where he has been educated. His rich father is dying in Moscow, but here he, “a child in a toy shop”, looking for a profound political conversation to join. He is stout, bespectacled and evidently unaware of the proper way to conduct oneself at such an engagement.

Chapter 3

He and the abbé Morio are “talking and listening too eagerly and too naturally”, the worst sort of behaviour at an event such as this. But note: he is the only man in the room who can put a smile on the weary face of Andrei Bolkonsky.

Chapter 4

Oh, Pierre. With his “extreme youth” and wish to express his mind, he throws himself into an argument with a French émigré. His social faux pas come thick and fast: the “political necessity” of an assassination, “Napoleon is great”, and “The Revolution was a grand thing”. Only his arresting smile, “childlike, kindly, even rather silly”, prevents a truly ugly scene. Oh, and the intervention of his friend, Andrei Bolkonsky.

Chapter 5

Our stout young friend can neither enter nor leave a room in the correct way, and yet everyone must agree he’s a “good-natured fellow”. At Andrei’s, he makes himself at home with a book. He admits to his friend that he has spent three months not making a decision about his future. He has been out of the country since he was ten, but his father says he must now choose a profession. He says he would fight for freedom but not against “the greatest man in the world”.

Chapter 6

Pierre is distressed and dumbfounded to see her dear friend so unhappy and at odds with his wife. We learn how much Pierre reveres Andrei. But still, he quickly talks himself out of his promise not to visit Anatole Kuragin. There, among drink and gambling and a harrassed bear, he watches the notorious Dolokhov win a bet with an Englishman, a windowsill and a bottle of rum.

Chapter 7

The wild night ended with them tying the bear to a policeman and throwing them in the canal. Pierre has been sent to Moscow in disgrace, where his father is dying. Despite being illegitimate, there is talk of him inheriting his father’s fortune.

Chapter 11

From Count Rostov, we learn that Pierre is a familiar guest of the Rostovs and has “danced with the children.” He must come to the name-day celebrations!

Chapter 13

A touching portrait of a young man leading a “lonely life”. Prince Vasili is making sure he does not see his father, and he spends his time in his room and in his head. There he imagines he is Napoleon fighting the dastardly William Pitt, prime minister of the United Kingdom. Pierre is happy to discover a “pleasant, intelligent and resolute” friend in Boris.

Chapter 15

Well, everyone is looking at Pierre after what happened in St Petersburg with the bear and the policeman. And he’s the only one who doesn’t notice he’s in the way, as usual. Marya Dmitrievna tells him frankly how shameful his behaviour has been. At table, he sits across from Natasha, and “that funny lively little girl’s look” makes him laugh without knowing why.

Chapter 16

Our monosyllabic bear gives a little grunt when poked, but he hardly seems there. Natasha is the only one who really notices him. Perhaps hoping to make him smile with her hijinks at the table.

Chapter 17

Pierre is bored by the political conversation between Shinshin and the other guests. Natasha asks him to dance, and he is delighted to be dancing with a grown-up man who has been abroad.

Chapter 18

While Pierre makes merry with the Rostovs, we learn his father has had a second stroke and is not expected to survive. We also learn about a will that would make Pierre his father’s legitimate heir.

Chapter 19

Pierre is led to his father’s rooms by Anna Mikhailovna, who pointedly reminds him that she is watching over his interests. He resolves to “not act on his own ideas tonight”, but to do as he’d told. He feels ashamed to call the count his father.

Chapter 20

Like many of us, Pierre has no idea what to do in the presence of someone who is dying. He follows Anna Mikhailovna’s instruction, although she struggles to understand what Count Bezukhov wants and needs. No final words of comfort for the son, only a “lifeless arm” and “a feeble, piteous smile”.

Chapter 21

He stumbles through the charade with the inlaid portfolio, swaying between incomprehension and a sense that all this is somehow essential. He is hungry and tired, and when his father is dead, the young man falls asleep without understanding anything Anna Mikhailovna is saying.

Chapter 22

In Julie’s letter, we get the confirmation that Pierre is now Count Bezukhov, inheriting the “finest fortune in Russia”. All the “mamas burdened by marriageable daughters” are after him, and some are even saying Julie will be his wife. Marya says he has an “excellent heart” and worries about his newfound burden of riches.