Vasili Sergeevich Kuragin
A sly old schemer
BOOK ONE
Part One
1 Jan: Chapter 1
Prince Vasili arrives early at Anna Pavlovna’s soirée, desiring to aid his son Ippolit’s diplomatic appointment in Vienna. The prince speaks “languidly” like an actor repeating a “stale part”. And is none-too-kind about his children: fools, the bane of his life, the cross he bears.
3 Jan: Chapter 3
As Vasili makes his early departure for the ambassador’s ball, he tells Anna Pavlovna that Pierre has been staying with him: “Educate this bear for me!”
4 Jan: Chapter 4
Before he can slide out the door, Anna Mikhailovna intercepts him. He believes he must be economical with his influence, but is “moved” by the “consideration” that Anna may make a “scene”. To pacify her, he promises to speak to the emperor on behalf of her son, who she wants to be transferred to the Guards.
11 Jan: Chapter 11
Let’s take a moment to imagine a young Prince Vasili acting with the now countess Rostova. “He paid me attention in those days,” she remembers with a smile. Anna Mikhailovna paints a glowing portrait of him that doesn’t exactly match reality.
12 Jan: Chapter 12
I am sure Prince Vasili is delighted to see Anna Mikhailovna turn up at Count Bezukhov’s house! He can’t get rid of her, so she delays any damage she might do to the count and Vasili’s hopes of inheritance. Oh, and a cheeky detail: I suspect he did once hope to marry Nathalie Shinshina, who ended up with “that unlicked bear”, Count Rostov.
13 Jan: Chapter 13
“The count is very, very, ill, and you must not see him at all”, he tells Pierre. He’s keeping the son and father apart in these last days of Count Bezukhov’s life.
18 Jan: Chapter 18
It is always curious to discover a public man’s face in private. With his cousin Katiche, his cheeks twitch nervously, and her face assumes “an unpleasant expression which was never to be seen on it in a drawing room.” He speaks to her “about business” and a dangerous set of papers that would disinherit his family and hers. And make Pierre the legitimate and sole heir.
19 Jan: Chapter 19
Prince Vasili is suited and booted in his long cloak with all his stars. With an audience about him, he makes a point of holding Pierre’s hand and calling him a friend. A shrewd move. Less elegant is his jerky tiptoe into the count’s room.
20 Jan: Chapter 20
A man who considers himself serious and wants to be seen as serious, he is all piety and resignation in the count’s room. But there’s still time to check under the dying man’s pillow for the inlaid portfolio.
21 Jan: Chapter 21
In the case of the inlaid portfolio, Prince Vasili’s inaction contrasts with Katiche’s behaviour. He appears almost ashamed and overcome by the situation, his flabby cheeks expressing his agitation in all their twitching horror. And when death comes to the count, we glimpse a rare moment of “sincerity and weakness” from the old courtier: “How often we sin, how much we deceive, and all for what?”
22 Jan: Chapter 22
According to Julie Karagin, the prince played a “despicable part” in the inheritance of Count Bezukhov, and has been left with nothing. He has returned to St Petersburg “crestfallen”. Marya says that Vasili has requested an invitation to visit Bald Halls, where Julie suspects he will attempt to match Marya to his son Anatole.
Book 1 Part 3
16 Feb: Chapter 1
In Moscow and Saint Petersburg, we learn that Prince Vaslili is devious not by design but by habit. He is incapable of not scheming to his advantage. He makes sure to free Pierre from the burden of some of his wealth and employs Anna Pavlovna to bring Helene to Pierre’s attention.
17 Feb: Chapter 2
Prince Vasili is pressed for time: he needs to get off to match-make Anatole and Marya Bolkonskaya. He’s a busy man. So on Helene’s name day, he takes matters in hand and congratulates the happy couple, saving Pierre the bother of doing any proposing himself.
18 Feb: Chapter 3
He writes to Bolkonsky, calling him “my honoured benefactor”, saying he will visit with his son so they can both “express the deep respect” they have for the prince.
19 Feb: Chapter 4
Prince Vasili happily invents the idea that Anatole has been pining for Marya, “a pearl among women.” He talks of his friendship with Bolkonsky and how well Marya's hair suits her. He lies so spontaneously!
Alone with Nikolai Bolkonsky, he confesses that Anatole is no genius, but “he is an honest, good-hearted lad.”
20 Feb: Chapter 5
His son rejected, Vasili begs for a “perhaps” from Marya. But the princess says, “I shall never be your son’s wife.”
BOOK TWO
Book Two, Part Two
Chapter 5
Kuragin attempts to patch up things between Pierre and his daughter, speaking sweetly, softly and full of creeping charm. “It is simply a misunderstanding.” Once upon a time this would have worked on Pierre. But not today. He tells his father-in-law to leave him.
BOOK THREE
Book Three, Part Two
Chapter 6
In Petersburg, the battle of the salons continues. Bilibin joins the pro-French gaggle at Hélène’s salon. Prince Vasili flits between his daughter’s circle and Anna Pavlovna’s. He often forgets what is correct to say where. As Kutuzov’s star ascends, Vasili is forced to change his opinions overnight. The blind courtier becomes the ‘very wise man’ who will save Russia.
Book Three, Part Three
Chapter 7
Prince Vasili seeks rather ineffectually to intervene in his daughter’s affairs.
BOOK FOUR
Book Four, Part One
Chapter 1
Prince Vasili attends one of Anna Pavlovna’s parties to read a patriotic letter from the bishop to the emperor. ‘The art of his reading was supposed to lie in rolling out the words, quite independently of their meaning, in a loud and sing-song voice alternating between a despairing wail and a tender murmur, so that the wail fell quite at random on one word and the murmur on another.’
Chapter 2
After Borodino, Vasili continues to flipflop over his support for Kutuzov: ‘I always said he was the only man capable of defeating Napoleon.’ When news arrives of the loss of Moscow, he says: ‘I only wonder that the fate of Russia could have been entrusted to such a man.’ His daughter Hélène dies. He blames the Italian doctor but the doctor produces letters from Hélène that make him and the old count drop the matter.
Book Four, Part Four
Chapter 13
Vasili sends Pierre letters from Petersburg impressing on him the importance of settling his wife’s debts.
@footnotesandtangents Please check the month referenced under Vasili in Book 1 Part 3. Says January but should be February. I was reminding myself of his history in the story and noticed the date.