War and Peace (with a movie DVD, 1 disc)

Author: (Russian) Leo Tolstoy
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: War and Peace is one of the representative works of the famous Russian critical realist writer Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), written in the 1860s (1863-1869). The author centers the story around the national war of resistance against Napoleon's invasion, reflecting the life in Russia from 1805, when the Russian army suffered a defeat in the Battle of Austerlitz, to the eve of the 1825 Decembrist uprising, through the depiction of several aristocratic families. The novel intertwines "war" and "peace," or "the front" and "the rear," to create a vast and magnificent picture. The novel portrays more than 500 characters, from the highest representatives of the ruling class to ordinary peasants, combining literature, philosophy, and political commentary into a unified whole. Epic narration, diverse life scenes, and profound character and psychological portrayals are interwoven throughout the book. This novel is undoubtedly an outstanding work in the history of world literature.