Pyotr Nikolaevich Shinshin
Countess Rostova's cousin
BOOK ONE
Book One, Part One
15 Jan: Chapter 15
Countess Rostova’s cousin, an old bachelor who dresses like a young man and mixes his Russian and French in the most peculiar way. He has a “sharp tongue” and likes to talk.
16 Jan: Chapter 16
Shinshin uses his “sharp tongue” to goad a colonel into a patriotic outburst. It’s all the same to this old man: generals have come and gone, wars won and lost. What matters, dear friend, is the conversation!
21 Mar: Chapter 15
When Nikolai is in misery, and Natasha is in bliss, Vera is playing chess with Shinshin. I’m not sure whether she even looked up.
BOOK TWO
Book Two, Part One
21 Mar: Chapter 15
When Nikolai is in misery, and Natasha is in bliss, Vera is playing chess with Shinshin. I’m not sure whether she even looked up.
Book Two, Part Five
29 May: Chapter 8
Shinshin is at the opera with the Rostovs and fills them in with all the gossip about Anatole Kuragin and Dolokhov.
BOOK THREE
Book Three, Part One
Chapter 20
Shinshin is with the Rostovs when the emperor’s appeal to the people is read out. He mentions that it is now dangerous to speak French in the streets. He makes jokes at the expense of Ilya Rostov’s patriotism, provoking Natasha’s anger.