TOLSTOY’S WAR AND PEACE (3 cr)
01:860:489/ 01:195:480:02 – 3 credits
M W 1:10-2:30, 172 College Ave, Seminar Rm
Fall 2010
Prof. Edyta Bojanowska
bojanows@rci.rutgers.edu
Office: 195 College Ave, Rm. 201
Office hrs: M 2:45-3:45 or by appt.
Dept. ph (732) 932-7201
Dept. address: 172 College Ave
A sweeping panorama of Russian nineteenth-century society, a novel of profound philosophical questions,
and an unforgettable gallery of artfully drawn characters, War and Peace offers its readers rich
opportunities for reflection and delight. Reading the novel closely, we will take pleasure in reflection and
reflect on our pleasure. We will ponder spiritual epiphanies, like Prince Andrew’s encounter with the
starry sky, and study Tolstoy’s use of details as minute as a dimple. We will test Henry James’
characterization of the Tolstoyan novel as a “loose baggy monster” by studying its structure and design.
We will also pose larger interpretive questions. In what ways is it a national and an imperial novel? What
myths does it destroy and construct? How does a novel intended to send a pacifist message become a
patriotic war epic? What is the relation of story to history? How does the novel treat individual agency,
social forces, and – a question that is never too broad for Tolstoy – the meaning of life? We will explore
these and other dimensions of this capacious and intricate novel while fine-tuning our use of key
conceptual tools of literary analysis and situating the novel in its historical context. Secondary materials
will include maps, historical writings, Tolstoy’s letters, contemporary reviews, literary criticism, and
narrative theory.
Course requirements:
1) participation in discussions, regular attendance, timely completion of all assignments: 10%
2) two informal 2 pg response papers: 10% (one on a secondary source, the other on a close reading of
a passage). Students will present these orally in class and submit the written version for my evaluation.
Here, bullet points and colloquial language are fine. The goal is to offer your thoughtful reaction to the
readings and to jump-start a class discussion. You will volunteer for topics and due dates that suit you.
3) two short essays: 15% (3-4 pgs) and 25 % (5-6 pgs). Formally executed argumentative essays, with
emphasis on close reading. I will suggest topics but students are free to craft their own, subject to my
approval (email me your topic idea at least five days before the essay is due)
4) final essay (10-12 pages) that incorporates 3-5 secondary sources: 40%. A formally executed
argumentative essay; the capstone of your semester’s work. You are expected to tackle in this essay a
problem of considerable complexity and discuss it with nuance and intellectual depth. You will be
allowed to use the material from your previous two essays if they prove relevant for your chosen topic
(but a thoughtless and mechanical cut-and-paste is not likely to yield a high grade). I will suggest
topics but all are encouraged to define their own, subject to my prior approval (do not begin your work
until I have approved your topic). I recommend emailing me your thesis paragraph for feedback prior
to submitting your essay.
5) Revision of the final essay. This is required of all Honors students. Other students have an option
to revise their final essay and to resubmit it. Revising does not guarantee a higher grade. Cosmetic
changes (e.g., fixing commas) are unlikely to raise it. Aim instead for substantial improvements in
analysis, the quality of the thesis, evidencing, argumentation, and the organization of the essay. Honors
students will receive a grade on their revision only; for other students who choose to revise, the final
essay grade will be the average of the initial submission and the revised version.
6) at least two individual meetings with me: one early on in the semester, the other about your plans for
the final essay; if revising, another meeting prior to submitting the revision.
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Learning goals. Students will:
 gain an understanding of an important and complex novel that is a recognized masterpiece of world
literature
 learn about its author, its historical, cultural, and literary context, its contemporary reception, and
key critical approaches to it
 develop an understanding of the novel’s ethical, philosophical, and historical questions (see course
description for examples) and the artistic means that the author uses to probe them
 hone analytical skills in interpreting the novel in oral and written form; be able to propose an
argumentative thesis and support it with appropriate evidence
 develop writing skills though an extensive writing component; those who take up the option will
learn to revise their writing in response to feedback, especially their thesis, argumentation,
evidentiary support, and organization
 learn how to locate a thesis in a secondary source, paraphrase it, and begin to evaluate critically
scholarly arguments
 Learn how to incorporate secondary sources into one’s own arguments
 Learn how to cite sources in the Chicago Manual of Style format
Required texts: (available at the Rutgers Bookstore):
Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, tr. R. Pevear and L. Volokhonsky
(Vintage, ISBN: 9781400079988) [marked on the syllabus as WP]
Orlando Figes, Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia (Picador, ISBN: 0312421958)
W 9/1
Course introduction.
Read ahead of class:
Nikolai Riasanovsky, A History of Russia, pp. 307-313
Orlando Figes, Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia, 4-38
Jeff Love, a short biography of Tolstoy (all on sakai)
M 9/6
NO CLASS (Labor Day)
W 9/8
WP 3-52 Get to know your edition: List of principal characters (p. xvii), notes - always read
them (pp. 1225-47), index of historical personages mentioned in the novel (pp. 1249-64),
summary, by chapter (1264-73 – but don’t spoil your suspense by reading ahead)
Figes, Natasha’s Dance, 38-68
M 9/13
WP 53-111
W 9/15
WP 112-158
M 9/20
WP 158-200. Week of 9/20: individual meetings #1 (there will be a sign-up sheet)
W 9/22
WP 201-269
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M 9/27
WP 269-294 (Battle of Austerlitz)
W 9/29
WP 297-346
Figes, Natasha’s Dance, 157-171
M 10/4
WP 347-417 (Short essay #1, on WP Pt 1, due in class)
W 10/6
WP 418-487
M 10/11
WP 488-534 (hunt scene, Natasha’s dance)
Figes, Natasha’s Dance, “Introduction,” xxv-xxxiii
Bojanowska, excerpts on Russian nationalism from Nikolai Gogol: Between
Ukrainian and Russian Nationalism, 14-27 (sakai)
Mikhail Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World (excerpt, sakai)
W 10/13
WP 535-600 (opera scene)
Shklovsky, “Art as Device”
Tolstoy, excerpts from “What Is Art?” and “Guy de Maupassant” (all on sakai)
M 10/18
WP 603-655
Maps: “The Campaign of 1812” and “Europe in May 1812,” sakai
Reviews from The Russian Messenger (1866) and by Annenkov (1868), sakai
Philippe-Paul de Ségur, excerpt from Defeat: Napoleon’s Russian Campaign (1824),
sakai
WP 655-705
W 10/20
M 10/25
WP 705-777
Stephen Norris, ”Images of 1812: The Patriotic War in Russian Culture,” sakai
(cf. “Rostopchin’s little posters,” WP 746)
Larry Wolff, excerpt from Inventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the
Mind of the Enlightenment (cf. “Moscou, la capitale asiatique,” WP 709)
W 10/27
WP 777-820 (Battle of Borodino)
Dominic Lieven, chapter “Borodino and the Fall of Moscow” from Russia Against
Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of ‘War and Peace’
Richard Gustafson, “States of Human Awareness,” Resident and Stranger (all on sakai)
M 11/1
WP 821-867
Isaiah Berlin, excerpt from “The Hedgehog and the Fox,” sakai
W 11/3
WP 868-932 (queenless hive),
Figes, Natasha’s Dance, 150-157
Thursday, 11/4 (or in class W 11/3): (Short essay #2, on WP Pt 2-3, due by 3 p.m., 195 Coll. Ave.
M 11/8
WP 935-986 (Platon Karataev)
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Robert Louis Jackson, “The Second Birth of Pierre Bezukhov”
Edward Wasiolek, “Andrei,” from Tolstoy’s Major Fiction
Victor Shklovsky, ”Details in War and Peace,” (all on sakai)
W 11/10
WP 987-1030
M 11/15
WP 1030-1074 (Petya)
W 11/17
WP 1075-1125
Review by Norov, on Tolstoy’s “falsification of history” (1868)
Dan Ungurianu, “Visions and Versions of History: Veterans of 1812 on Tolstoy’s W&P”
[optional: Lev Sobolev, “W&P as Read by Contemporaries,” all on sakai]
M 11/22
WP 1129- 1178 (Epilogue Pt 1)
Figes, Natasha’s Dance, 72-108, 130-146 (or entire chapter if you’re interested)
Juliet Mitchell, ”Natasha and Hélène” in Franco Moretti, ed. The Novel, vol. 2 (sakai)
Jennifer Wilson, “(Drag)ging Tolstoy Into Queer Theory: On the Cross-Dressing Motif in
War and Peace”
W 11/24
NO CLASS (Thanksgiving Break)
M 11/29
WP 1179-1215 (Epilogue Pt 2)
Drafts of an introduction and extracts from Tolstoy’s letters and diaries (1865-68), sakai
Kathryn Feuer, “The Book That Became War and Peace,” sakai
Between 11/29- 12/1: individual meetings to discuss ideas and topics for the final paper
W 12/1
Tolstoy, “A Few Words Apropos of the Book War and Peace,” WP 1217-1224
Morson, “Narrative and Creative Potentials of War and Peace”
-----, “’War and Peace,’” from The Cambridge Companion to Tolstoy
Caryl Emerson, “Where Bakhtin Misses the Mark on Tolstoy” (all texts on sakai)
Handout on citing sources in the Chicago Manual of Style format; compile a list of
citations for the sources included on the handout
M 12/6
In-class tutorial on citing sources
Ewa Thompson, “The Consolidating Vision: War and Peace as the New Core Myth of
Russian Nationhood,” from her Imperial Knowledge, sakai
Lieven, introduction to his Russia Against Napoleon, sakai
W 12/8
Henry James, comments on WP (“loose baggy monsters”)
Boris Eikhenbaum, comments on the genre and structure of WP from Tolstoy in the Sixties
Rimvydas Silbajoris, “Recurrences and Linkages” (all three readings on sakai)
M 12/13
Presentation and discussion of students’ final projects.
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Final project schedule
Wed, 12/15, noon. FINAL ESSAY DUE in my box, 195 College Ave.
Fri 12/17, noon: essays with my feedback available for pick-up in 195 College Ave
By Sun 12/19, 8 p.m.: notify me by email if you will be revising (all Honors students MUST revise)
Wed, 12/22, noon. REVISED FINAL ESSAY DUE in my box, 195 College Ave.
COURSE POLICIES
Attendance and participation
All students must attend regularly and arrive prepared. Those who miss more than two classes without a
compelling excuse (a doctor’s or college dean’s note, for instance, or a University-excused absence) should
expect a one-step reduction in the participation part of the course grade (e.g., an A becomes a B+). Three
late arrivals count as one absence. If you have 7 unexcused absences (25% of the course), expect a onestep reduction in your final course grade (e.g., from B+ to B). If you have 11 unexcused absences (40% of
the course), you will fail the course, no matter what grades you received on the assignments. It is the
responsibility of students who have been absent (for any reason) to find out what they have missed and
obtain materials that may have been handed out. You are expected to read all assignments on schedule; if
you don’t – there is no way to hide it in a seminar-sized class. The format of this seminar is discussion. If
you do not participate, I will call on you.
Note taking
This is an important component of any literature class. Students who take notes of their reading and of
class discussions perform better on graded assignments. It helps to have reference to a cumulative record
of ideas discussed in the course. If you missed a class, ask a classmate for notes. I am unable to meet with
students individually to recap the class they missed. I also encourage you to keep an informal journal of
your reading, jotting down your own ideas, noting passages that interest you, and keeping track of major
plot events. When you’re working on your final paper, you will be very happy that you did. This is a big
novel: a journal will help you orient yourself in it.
Online course materials
Our course will have its own website on https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal. You can log on using your Net ID
and password. If the course does not appear as one of your tabs, please search and add it or contact me and
I will grant you access. Many readings will be available via Sakai and you are required to print and bring
those readings to class on the scheduled day.
Written work
You must submit all written work on the day it is due. Extensions will only be granted for documented
health problems or other dire emergencies. Please bring hard copies of all papers to class (I welcome
double-sided copies) and ALSO submit them to the dropbox on our sakai site.
Format: double-spaced, 12 pt font, 1 inch margins all around, numbered pages, state the title, staple
– no paper clips. Indicate your chosen topic and print your and my name on the first page.
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Plagiarism
Plagiarism is an extremely serious matter. When referring to ideas other than your own, always
acknowledge your sources clearly and completely, whether you are quoting or paraphrasing. You are
expected to know and abide by the official Rutgers policy on academic integrity:
http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/integrity.shtml. Please note especially the sections on cheating and
plagiarism. Err on the side of caution. If in doubt, feel free to contact me. Any violation of this policy
will result in a formal complaint to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs. Students found guilty of
plagiarism will fail the course and face disciplinary action.
Disability Support Services
Students who may be requesting accommodations due to disabilities are encouraged to familiarize
themselves with procedures and policies regarding disability support services at the following website:
http://disabilityservices.rutgers.edu/. It is recommended that students seeking accommodations begin filing
paperwork as soon as possible as the documentation review process may take up to 30 business days.
Students are encouraged to speak with teachers about these issues at the beginning of the term. All such
conversations will be kept strictly confidential.
Cell Phones
Cell phones and all other technological devices (beepers, iPods, MP3players…) must be turned off during
class out of respect for the instructor and fellow students. Please schedule all important phone
communications outside of class time.
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