Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-11-13
By WINSTON CHURCHTLL

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TRANSLATED by Constance Garnett)
Published By Special Arrangement with III
Chicago Tribune-New York News syndieats
Incorporated
IN TWO PARTS--PART ONE
4" HIS tremendous novel, I'm 60
Nunion Of completely With com
pactness, In the scale Of Gh
- events and chs grandeur Of kh
issues which Il sets Rox4h. ia Ia
vfvAdness with which ff p0rerays thi
manners and the modes Of feeling q
past epoch, and In the pulIuIati0n Ol
innumerabke human beings whom 4
displays In the essence of their outer
and inner lives, Is the greatest micro
cOsm IN literature
! Such q book cannot be summarized
with any adequacy; it is impossible ia
do more than single out the principal
characters and groups, follow the most
important chains of incident and hint
at the chief lines of thought.
/ The story begins in 1905, when the
| Car Alexander Is on the point Of de-
claring var against Napoleon; and the
/ leading characters emerge gradually
! from an elaborate background OF high
society in Petersburg and Moscow. IN
! like most reformerS, Tolstoi had in his
unregenerate days acquired q complete
knowledge from inside of the world
which he desired later to reform, and
his presentment OF it has an atmoS-
phere which is denied to the random
and uninstructed satirist. A surface
of good breeding wells and controls the
jealousies and animoSities the little
meanesses and selfish ambitions which
are working beneath and makes high
comedy of a Squalid scene. Nor is the
picture too one-sided. for fine qualities
oY1H FfnfaIn O crNfFu ffnYlc nV- oil lnxxynE IN.
play their part
1t will make a convenient beginning
to introduce here the personages and
groups with which the tale Is mainly
concerned. Chief Of all, is perhaps
Pierre whom we first meet as the
bastard son of an immensely rich and
powerful nobleman, a survival from
the times of Catherine the Great, Count
Bezuhov. He is a plain, stout young
man, susceptible to every influence;
full of vague ideals and an indirected
love of his fellow creatures, combined
with a strong tendency to every kind
of dissipation, to which he is apt to
succumb as often as his higher aims
are disconnected and discouraged. His
Importance in the world is due to the
fact that the old Count, who is on
the point of death. has it In his power
to legitimatize him and make him heir
to his vast fortune.
The chief rival claimant Is Prince
VASTLY Kuragin, who has a son, Ana
tole, a handsome and unprincipaled
rake, who plays a crucial part in the
story; and a daughter, Elena, Superla-
tive beauty, who conceals low intel
ligence and a corrupt and lascivious
nature under an exterior Of flawless
dignity and poise. A minor member OF
this group is young Boris Droubetskoy,
a distant connection Of Count Bezuhov.
Boris plays throughout the book the !
part of the attractive and specious /
climber who makes a stepping stone |
of everything and everybody.
We pass to the Bolkonskys, whose
scion, Prince Audrey, Is the second /
most important male character IN the
book. Handsome, charming ana OF q
nature fundamentally noble. He, like
Pierre. is full Of vague inspirations;
but he is made Of harder stuff, not
clinging, but self-centered and rabidly
independent He Is married to the eX-
uuisite Lisa, known and beloved by all
Pefersburp as the Little Princess; she
adores him, but there is an indefinable
barrier between them; his dissatisfac-
lion with his life, his ambition, which
Is for personal glory and the love OF his
fellow man in general, leaves him no
freedom to love Lisa In particular; and
Enough ne is deeply ashamed OF him
self he makes her miserable by his
GOODNESS.
His father, old Prince Nicholas, an
1ther survival from the age OF Gather
ne, lives in retirement with his daugn-
,er. Maya on an estate called Bisak
Hills. A man of great natural ability
and strong character, he has degen-
rated into an eccentric tyrant, and
,hough he has a deep love for Marya-
! pirI in the late twenties whose plain
ness is redeemed by q beauty Of spirit
Uhich shines through her eyes-he can
1ot refrain from terrorizing her and
making her life burden.
There remain the RoStovs, a family
# the highest consideration In MOS /
ow, where they mainly live but OF less
n Petersburg. The Count Is cnarm- |
NO old gentleman, universally beloved j
nd laughed at. whose excessive hos
,italitv and thoughtless extravaganza /
radually bring the family to ruin;
he Countess, amiable and fusSy. Their ]
LAUGHTER, Natasha, is the heroine and
ewel of the book, one Of the most
creatures that Fable e'er 9
lath feigned." She has two brotners, !
Jikolay. who may be called the third !
lero Of the novel-a handsome, gay !
nd pood-hearted boy, of far less COM
a
.ndre. and little Petya. Also an elder !
ister. Vera. The group is completed
v an orphan cousin, Sonya, absorbed +
i a childish passion for Nikolay, VINO !
J fond Of her.
The stage is now set, and the expo :
tion ends with an event OF the frSC !
Count Bezuhov, with ms :
wing breath, makes Pierre his lawful !
IN and leaves him his title and his :
,iIlions. Prince VASTLY, foiled in his
lai or aim. turns "by instinct" TO the 9
ext best thing, and into marriage with
is daughter, the lovely and deploraole +
lena. n
War breaks out In the autumn; Inc 2
ussian Commander in Chief Kutusoy Z
Bills of exchange and promisSory !,
otes in Great Britain and Ireland are q
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