Napoleon in Russian Literature
Author(s): Robert L. Jackson
Source: Yale French Studies, No. 26, The Myth of Napoleon (1960), pp. 106-118
Published by: Yale University Press
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ROBERT L. JACKSON
Napoleon in RussianLiterature
"This Hermann. . . is a trulyromanticcharacter:he has
theprofileof a Napoleon and the soul of a Mephistopheles.
I thinkthathe has at least threecrimeson his conscience."
Pushkin's"The Queen ofSpades."
"Out of a great numberof suppositions,shrewdin their
own way,one in particularemergedat last (one feelsoddly
evenmentioning
it): whetherChichikovwerenotNapoleon
in disguise.. . Of course,whenit actuallycame to believing
this, the bureaucratsdid not believe, yet just the same
they fell into deep thoughtand, as each one scrutinized
thisbusinessto himself,theyfoundthatChichikov'sface,
werehe to turnand standsideways,did bear a moststriking
resemblanceto a portraitof Napoleon." - Gogol's Dead
Souls.
"'But really,who doesn't considerhimselfa Napoleon in
Russia now?' Porfirysaid suddenlywithterrifying
familiarity."- Dostoevsky'sCrimeand Punishment.
"This Bonapartehas turnedall theirheads; theyall think
how he rose froma lieutenantand became an emperor.
Well,well,God grantit . . ." - Tolstoy'sWar and Peace.
. . . If Napoleon is France, if Napoleon is Europe," observed
Emersonin his essay "Napoleon: or, The Man of the World","it
is because the people whomhe swaysare littleNapoleons." Napoleon is the "agent or attorneyof the middle class of modern
society,"of the vast throng"aimingto be rich." Emerson'scharacterizationlaterdelightedTolstoy."I read Emerson's 'Napoleon'
a representative
of therapaciousbourgeoisegoist- splendid."'
Withouta doubt the sway of Napoleon - the fascinationwith
his imageand example- extendedintoRussia. Politicaland social
conditionsin Russia at the beginningof the nineteenthcentury
may have been less favorablethan in France to the flourishing
in real lifeof "littleNapoleons", of JulienSorels and Rastignacs,
but the significance
of the typewas graspedimmediatelyin Rus1 L. N. Tolstoj,Polnoe sobraniesochinenij(Moscow, 1952), 49, 108.
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sian literature.
Pushkinsharplydelineatedthe featuresof this
typeinhisstory,
"TheQueenofSpades"(1833). Gogolwovethe
hard threadof the aspiringbourgeoislittleNapoleoninto that
indefinable
ball of burlesque,poetryand pettydemonism
Chichikov,in Dead Souls (1842). The Chichikovwho methodicallycourtsthedaughter
ofan important
official
andthendrops
her on attaining
his objectiveof a higherrankbelongsto the
schoolofPushkin's
Hermann.
It is severaldecadeslaterthatDostoevsky
and Tolstoy- in
Crimeand Punishment
(1866) and Warand Peace (1863-69)
pose again the questionof Bonapartism
in its broadlymoral,
psychological
and philosophical
aspects.The wholeproblemof
thelittleNapoleongone"underground"
is exploredin the abyss
of RodionRaskolnikov,
whileTolstoydisclosesthe mighty
dynamismof Napoleon- not in the pitifulhistoricalfigurehe
depicts- but in thestrivings
and problems
of his protagonists.
The historical
imageof Napoleonburstupon Russia in full
forcewiththe invasionof 1812. Russianpoets and singersin
patrioticprideand indignation
excoriatedNapoleonas "God's
enemy",a "demonicforce",a "rapaciouseagle", "thief"and
"scoundrel".2
thundered
The agingclassicist
poet,G. R. Derzhavin,
out in the symbolism
of the Apocalypseagainstthe "serpentgiant",the"seeming
genius"and "evilleader"Napoleon("LyricEpic Hymn",1812), whilethe fifteen
yearold Pushkinin his
in TsarskoeSelo" (1814) celehistorical
elegy"Reminiscences
bratesRussia's greatnessand its victoryover the "universal
scourge"and"tyrant"
Napoleon.
But in the politically
moresombreand philosophically
more
Romanticatmosphere
of the 1820s and 1830s,thepurelynegativeimageof the"tyrant"
Napoleon-gave
wayto thatof a lonely
and anguishedexile,a sinfulyetheroicrebel.Epithetssuch as
"horrorof the world"and "autocraticscoundrel"
"destroyer",
whichappeared,forexample,in Pushkin'searlypoemsweredisas
placed in his ode "Napoleon" (1821) by such expressions
ruler"and "universal
"condemned
exile".The veryfirstlinesof
the poemcast Napoleonin a new light:"A miraculous
destiny
has cometo an end/Agreatmanhas perished. . ." But it is not
Pushkin- whoin hisworksgraspstheimageof Napoleonin its
2
All citationsfromRussian authors,unlessotherwiseindicated,are fromthe Russian texts.
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- butRussia'sbrooding
RomanticpoetYu. Lerfullcomplexity
montovwho givestypicalexpressionto the cult of Napoleon.
Lermontov's
Napoleonis a "hero",a "gloomyexile,a victimof
treachery
and of theblindcapriceof fate"("St. Helena",1831);
and empty"Frenchpeoplefor
thepoetlashesout at the"pitiful
"sharpening
the daggerin thedark",forbetraying
treacherously
"Him" like a womanand a slave ("The Last Housewarming",
1841).
In thesecondchapterof his "novelin verse",EugeneOnegin
(ChapterTwo appearedin 1826), Pushkinwritesaproposof
zeros/And
integers
"friendship",
that"We considereverybody
millionsof
all considerourselvesNapoleons/The
ourselves/We
to us is
us are only a tool/Feeling
two-legged
creatures/For
Hermannin "The
fantastic
and ridiculous."
Pushkin's
protagonist
embodiment
ofthisoutlook.
QueenofSpades"is theconcentrated
impressed
by Pushkin's
who was tremendously
Dostoevsky
"The Queen of Spades"3
has one of his heroesin The Raw
thoran extraordinary,
Youthcall Hermann"a colossalfigure,
_
oughlyPetersburgtype." Hermannis also a European type; like
JulienSorel,4 he is the emblematichero of his
his contemporary,
time. Sketchedas in a fineline drawing,Hermannis the sparse
image of a nascentbourgeoistype. Money, wealth,withthe end
goal of "independenceand ease", is the passion of this prudent
and parsimoniousofficerwho has inheriteda small fortune.But
is vaulting
behind the facade of prudenceand rigid self-control
"We are pigmiesbeforePushkin,therehas neverbeen such a geniusamongus,"
Dostoevskyexclaimedto M. A. Polivanovain 1880. "What beauty,whatstrength
in his fantasy!RecentlyI rereadhis 'Queen of Spades'. What fantasy!. .. Read
it as soon as you get home! You will see what it is. . . We have a long way to
go to equal Pushkin.We are pigmies,we are pigmies!"Quoted by A. L. Bemr
Dostoevskogo"(" 'The Queen of Spades'
in his "'Pikovaja dama' v tvorchestve
in Dostoevsky'sCreative Work," U istokovtvorchestvaDostoevskogo,Prague,
1936, p. 37.
Pushkinhad read Stendhal'sLe Rouge et Le Noir not long beforewriting"The
Queen of Spades". "J'en suis enchants,"he wroteMme. E. M. KhitrovoMay 8,
the
1831 afterreadingthe firstvolume of Stendhal'snovel; and afterfinishing
secondvolume,he commented:"Rouge et noirest un bon roman,malgr6quelques
faussesdeclamationset quelques observationsde mauvaisgouit."A. S. Pushkin,
Pis'ma, Polnoe sobraniesochinenil(Moscow, 1958), X, No. 407, p. 349; No.
41 1, p. 353.
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ROBERT L. JACKSON
ambition,an ardentimaginationand the "soul of a gambler".
"'Homme sans moeurset sans religion!'- A Correspondence,
7 mai, 18-" is Pushkin'spointedepigraphto thatchapter(IV)
in whichhe twice bracketshis hero withNapoleon as a physical
and moraltype."You are a monster!"Lizaveta Ivanovna remarks
to Hermann in theirencounterafterthe death of the Countess
when the motivesof Hermann'sbehaviorare apparentto her. "I
did not wish her death," Hermann replies. Lizaveta looked at
Hermann. "He sat by the window, hands folded and frowning
fiercely.In this position he bore a strikingresemblanceto a
portraitof Napoleon." Hermann'sreplyis self-revealing.
For the
essence of his crimelies not in any willfulor calculatingintention
to kill or destroy,but in a completemoral indifference
to people
whomhe sees merelyas means to an end. This "hardenedsoul",
Pushkinemphasizes,"did not feel any pangs of conscienceat the
thoughtof theold woman'sdeath."Preciselyindifference
to people,
egoisticinsensibility
to anythingopposing his will, the complete
subordinationof means to ends, and the passion for power characterizedNapoleon.
Hermann's catastrophicdefeat in the final round of the card
finaleof near-victory,
is not an accident,
game,in thatintoxicating
whichhe has denied. "The
but rootedin the moral transgression
game went on as usual," PushkinremarkslaconicallyafterHermann's defeat.But if Hermannin some inexplicableway is the
victimof the "secretill will" of fate,a pawn in the hands of some
"unknownpower",he is also the victimof a real social hypnosis;
JulienSorel, he has his eyes fixed
togetherwithhis contemporary
on the "bird of prey".Had he been articulate,he could have remarked like Sorel: "I have been ambitious; I have acted in
of thetime."
accordancewiththeconventions
It seems incredible,at firstconsideration,that so thaumaturgic
a creationas Gogol's Chichikovcould be countedin the company
of Pushkin'sHermann or of those calculatingadventurersSorel
and Rastignac.Yet Gogol, in his retrospective
chapteron Chichikov, casts his hero in the hard metal of an aspiringbourgeois.
an
"The mostjust thingof all would be to call him a proprietor,
farcical
in
which
half-witted
townsThe
the
acquirer.")
episode
, All citationsare fromNikolaiGogol,Dead Souls, trans.BernardGuilbertGuerney
(New York, 1942).
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menponderChichikov's
physicallikenessto Napoleontakeson a
symboliccharacteragainstthe backgroundof Gogol's social
exegesis
ofhishero.
Is theremorethanan odd physicalresemblance
to Napoleon
in Chichikov
in thatstrangeconcatenation
of passionatewill
to rise,phenomenal
energyand mobility,
poeticfancy,and bourgeois mediocrity?
Chichikov,
of "obscureand humbleorigins",
makeshis waythrough
thebureaucratic
jungles.Like someprovincialRussianLuciende Rubempre
he is impressed
bytherestless
movement
ofmens'fortunes.
WhensomeCroesuswhirled
pasthimin a light,handsome
droshky,
drawnbythoroughbreds
in richharness,
he'dstop
as ifhe wererootedto thespotand then,uponcomingto
as if aftera longsleep,wouldsay: "And yetthatfellow
was nothing
but an officeclerk,and used to get badger
hair-cuts!"
And everything
thathad an aura of richesand
well-being
madean impression
uponhimwhichhe himself
couldnotanalyze.
launchedintotheworldof thecitywithhisfather's
Chichikov,
admonition
that"moneyis themostreliablethingin thisworld",
earlysetsout to accumulate
his capitalwiththecalculating
diligenceof a born acquirer.Gogol speaksof his "stringent
selfimposedlaws of abstinence,"
his "implacableself-denial",
his
"patience"and "fortitude",
his "unheardof sacrifices",
his "insuperablestrength
of will",his "protracted
fast"- all withthe
end goal of "a life of ease, withall mannerof good things:
carriages,
an excellently
builthouse,delectable
dinners. . ." and,
ofcourse,an inheritance
forhischildren.
butfailure
Andafterthe
Nothing
greetsChichikov's
enterprises.
catastrophe
of his smuggling
ring,he criesout. "But whyshould
it be I? Whyhas calamitycrasheddownupon me? Who is the
forthe government,
man,working
who isn'twide awaketo the
mainchance?"But here,as withHermann- also struckdown
by a seemingly
irrational
fate- theanswerto the question"butwhyshoulditbe I"
liesnotin therandomchoiceof fate,
but in the unrecognized
premisesof his actions,in thatpassion
forrichesand well-being
"whichhe couldnotanalyze."". . . A
trainofthought
is neverfalse,"Conradobservesin UnderWestern
in
Eyes. "The falsehoodlies deep in thenecessities
of existence,
inthesecretconfidence
thesecretfearsandhalf-formed
ambitions,
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ROBERT L. JACKSON
combinedwitha secretmistrustof ourselves,in the love of hope
and thedreadof uncertaindays."
It remainedforDostoevskyin Crimeand Punishmentto explore
the moral-psychological
abyss of the gamblerwho has lost his
supremebid forpowerand who,unreconciled,
refusesto recognize
thatit is his violationof moral law thatunderlieshis catastrophe.
"Whathe was ashamedof was thathe, Raskolnikov,had perished
so blindly,hopelessly,dumblyand stupidly,because of some verdict of blind fate,and thathe had to humblehimselfand submit
to the 'senselessness'of some verdictif he wanted any peace of
heart."
Raskolnikov- untilthatlast momentwhen somethingakin to
grace miraculouslytransforms
him - remainsadamantlyunrepentant. "What does 'crime' mean?" he asks in the Epilogue.
The "benefactors
of mankind"who seized powerwere,technically,
criminals."But those men took their step and held firm,and
thereforetheywere right,but I did not hold firm,and, therefore,
I did not have the rightto permitmyselfthis step." "It was in
this alone", Dostoevsky comments,"that he acknowledgedhis
crime: onlyin the factthathe did not hold firmand made a confessionof guilt."
Napoleon I is an ideal to Raskolnikov;he is one of the recent
examples of an historicaltypeto whom all is permissible- the
"legislatorsand arbitersof mankind. . . the Lycurguses,Solons,
Mahomets,Napoleons, and so on..." But Napoleon I is an ideal
who evokes in Raskolnikovthe bitterconsciousnessof his own
impotence.As earlyas his shortstory,"Mr. Prokharchin"(1846),
Dostoevskyemploysthe image of Napoleon as an ironic,indeed
tragic commentaryon his hero's impotence.The pathetic and
wiltingMr. Prokharchin,
a preyto fantasticfearsand insecurities,
is beratedbyone of hisfellowlodgers:
You sheep! You've nothingto your name. Now do you
thinkyou're the only personin the world?thatthe world
was made for you, or something?Do you thinkyou're
some kindof Napoleon? Whatare you? Who are you? Are
you a Napoleon, eh? A Napoleon or not?! Speak, sir, are
you a Napoleon or not? But Mr. Prokharchinwas not
answeringthisquestion.Not thathe was ashamedat being
a Napoleon, or flinchedat taking upon himselfsuch a
responsibility
no, he was no longercapable of disputing
or of sayinganythingsensible.His illnessreached
further,
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a crisis.Tinyteardrops
gushedsuddenly
fromhisglittering,
burningly
feverish
greyeyes.
The Napoleonicimageis used indirectly
in Notes fromthe
Underground
(1864) to emphasizethe utterhelplessness
and
moraldefeatof the would-be"hero".The Underground
Man,
crushedand humiliated
by theunexpected
visitof theprostitute
Liza, is doublyhumiliated
by the procrastination
of his servant
Apollon."I waitedforthreeminutes,
standing
beforehim,with
armsfoldeda' la Napoleon.Mytemples
weresoakedwithperspiration;I myself
was pale, I feltthis.But,thankGod, he probably
feltsorry
formeas helookedatme..
On the one hand,Napoleon,the distantideal: the supreme
measureof a man'sself-mastery
and self-determination;
and on
theother,illnessand impotence
intensifying
the cravingforthe
ideal; and theindividual
collapsing
beforethatideal.This is the
psychological
diagramof Raskolnikov.
Raskolnikov's
Napoleon
is notso muchan historical
figure
as an ideaofpowerwhichevokes
an anguishedconfessionof impotence.When the prosecutor
Porfiry
and his assistantZametovneedleRaskolnikov
withthe
of theold lady,perhaps,considered
thatthemurderer
suggestion
a Napoleon,Raskolnikov
himself
remains
silent.But a shortwhile
later,alone withhimself,
he bitterly
contrasts
his own behavior
withthatofNapoleon.
"No, thosepeoplewerenotmadelike that;a real ruler,
to whomeverything
is permitted,
smashesToulon,carries
out a massacrein Paris,forgets
an armyin Egypt,loses
halfa millionpeoplein the Moscowcampaignand gets
awaywitha pun in Vilna; and to thisperson,afterhis
death,monuments
are erected- all of whichmeansthat
are
No! such people,obviously,
everything
is permitted.
notmadeoffleshbutofbronze!"All at oncean irrelevant
thoughtsuddenlyalmostmade him laugh. "Napoleon,
wife
thepyramids,
Waterloo- and a wizenedloathesome
witha littlered
an old hag,a moneylender
of a registrar,
trunkunderthe bed - now there'ssomething
foreven
Petrovich
Porfiry
to stewover!But whatis thereforhim
to stewover!His aesthetic
sensewouldn'tallowit: "now
woulda Napoleon,he wouldsay,crawlundera bed, 'all
aboutan old hag?'" "Ugh,howtrashy!"
Julien
abovehim.
Sorelenviedthe"birdofprey"he sawcircling
"It was thedestiny
of Napoleon,wouldit one day be his own?"
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ROBERT L. JACKSON
Raskolnikov,in essence, also asks himselfthisquestion,but with
him the question is answeredin the asking. In his confessionto
Sonya (Part V, ch. iv), Raskolnikovdeclaresthathe "had wanted
to become a Napoleon", thathe had acted on the "exampleof an
authority"when he murderedthe old moneylender.But a few
momentslater he assertsthat he knew quite well that the mere
raisingof the question of whetherhe had the "rightto possess
power" only meant that he had "no rightto possess power"; he
knewthathis posingof thequestion- is a man a louse?- merely
meantthat to him a man was not a louse, "but thathe mightbe
a louse to a personwho had neverthoughtof this and who went
straight
ahead withoutany questions.""Indeed," Raskolnikovcontinues,"if I tormentedmyselffor so many days over whether
Napoleon would have gone ahead with it or not, it was really
because I clearlyfeltthatI was notNapoleon."
The question- am I a Napoleon?- is answeredin the asking.
The crimeis but a fatefulextensionof the answer,a verification,
and thereforea self-annihilation.
The murderof the old moneylender,paradoxically,is an experimentin whichthe experimenter
is both subject and object - the murdererand the one who is
being murdered (this is anticipatedby Raskolnikov's terrible
dream of the beatingof the horse). "Did I kill the old hag? I
killedmyselfand not the old hag! I did away withmyselfat one
blow and for good!" Raskolnikovdestroyedhis self-conception.
The desire to become a Napoleon, like all other motivesfor
Raskolnikov'scrime,is partof a spiralof motiveswhichdescends
intothelonelyice-boundworldof Raskolnikov."I wanted,Sonya,
to killwithoutcasuistry,to killformyself,formyselfalone!"
Georg Lukacs has characterizedRaskolnikovas the "Rastignac
of the second halfof the nineteenth
century",a personforwhom
the concretegoal has been replaced by the moral-psychological
problem,for whom action has become an aspect of self-inquiry,
of pure experiment.The experimentis "a despairingattemptto
finda firmfoundationin oneself,to findout who one is; a despairing attemptto tear down the self-erectedChinese wall between
I and you, betweenI and the world. A despairingattemptand
alwaysin vain. The experiment
givesexpressionto the tragedyof the lonelyman in its purestform."6
or tragi-comedy
The Napoleonic motifentersits final"underground"phase in
o Georg Lukacs, "Dostojewskij",in Der RussischeRealismusin der Weltliteratur
(Berlin,1953), pp. 162-63; 167-68.
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Crimeand Punishment.
Here in the"underground"
all is subject
to change,to transformation,
to humiliating
reversals.
The ridiculous, utterly
senilePrinceK. in Dostoevsky's
"Uncle'sDream"
(1859) remarks
that"everybody
tellsmethatI resemble
Napoleon
Bonaparte.. ." Thisfleeting
conception
of PrinceK. as Napoleon
pointsto thefateof theNapoleonicmotif,
and to thetragedy
of
Raskolnikov,
in Crimeand Punishment.
It also quaintly
prefigures
Tolstoy'sdevastating
caricature
of Napoleonin Warand Peace.
The problemof therelationof the "greatman"to history,
to
thepeople- one thatRaskolnikov
attempts
to resolvebothin
theoryand practice- preoccupies
Tolstoyin War and Peace.
The Napoleonwholoomsbefore'
Raskolnikov
as a mighty
figure
who had the "right"- thisNapoleon,figuratively
speaking,is
forcedunderthe bed by Tolstoy.The historicalNapoleon,the
proverbial
moverof menand history,
emergesin Warand Peace
as a pitiful
andvain,frequently
ridiculous,
butalwayscontemptible
toolofhistory.
Tolstoy'ssavagelyiconoclastic
portrait
of Napoleonrestsnot
onlyupona deep-seated
dislikeof Napoleonand upona theory
of history
whichdeniestheveryconceptof an individual
playing
a commanding
but upon generalaestheticconrole in history,
siderations
as well.In one of thedraftsforhis epiloguein War
andPeace,Tolstoywrites:
and if Kutuzovis
Arthas itslaws.And if I am an artist,
depictedwellby me,thisis notbecauseI wantedit this
way(I havenothing
to do withthecase here),butbecause
whileothersdo not.Je
thisfigure
has artistic
conditions,
defie,as theFrenchsay,anyoneto makean artistic
figure,
nota ridiculous
one, out of Rastopchin
or Miloradovich.
Although
thereare manyadmirers
of Napoleon,yetnot
one poethas evermadean imageout of him,and it will
neverbe done.7
An "image",an "artistic
figure",
one with"artistic
conditions",
withsomedepth,somepositivemoral-spiritual
clearly,is a figure
on Napoleon,
dimensions,
some beauty.Tolstoy'sobservations
and Miloradovich
are precededby a mockconversaRastopchin
tionwithoneofhiscritics,
an oldlady.
Why,saysan old emaciated
lady,didyoumakemycousin
7L.
N. Tolstoj,Polnoe sobraniesochinenij(Moscow, 1955), 15, 242.
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ROBERT L. JACKSON
so beautiful,but me you didn't;afterall, you have talent.
Preciselybecause I am an artistI cannotmake of you anythingbut a caricature,and not because I want to offend
you, madam, but because I am an artist.I am an artist,
and mywhole lifeis spentin the searchforbeauty.If you
had shownit to me, I would have beggedyou on myknees
to give me preciselythat most loftyhappiness.Yes, but
you're an artist,you can adorn. This is the way many
people talk,as thoughartwere a gold leaf withwhichyou
can gildanything
you like.8
A man of such absurd pretensions,consumingegoism and
pervasivebanalityas Napoleon, a man whose actionsand aspirationsare so arrogantand intrinsically
amoral - such a personto
Tolstoycan have no beautyof spiritor formin a literaryincarnation; he is lackingin "artisticconditions",that is, he is suitable
onlyfora caricature.". . . I mustrepeata truism,"Tolstoywrites
in the same draftto his epilogue,"thatI triedto writethe history
of the people. And thereforeRastopchin,who said: "I will burn.
Moscow", just like Napoleon who said: "I will punish my
peoples", can in no way be a greatman, unless the people are a
crowd of sheep".9For Tolstoy therecan be "no greatnesswhere
thereis no simplicity,
goodnessand truth"(War and Peace, Book
IV, Part III, chapterxviii). Napoleon lacked these requisitesto
Tolstoy.I
Napoleon, who appears in War and Peace as a pompous,
palpably false, history-mademannikin,takes shape also as a
Ibid.,pp. 241-242.
Ibid., p. 241.
Tolstoydid not changehis view of Napoleon in subsequentyears. "Yes, I have
not changedmyview and even will say thatI treasureit verymuch,"he wrotein
1890 to A. I. Ertel who had in mindwritinga popular book about Napoleon.
"You will not findany lightsides in him, theyare impossibleto finduntilyou
exhaustall thosedark,terriblesides thatthisfigureembodies."In the same letter
Tolstoyremarks,in connectionwithLas Cases' Memorialde Sainte Helene and
O'Meara's Napoleon in Exile, or a Voice fromSt. Helena; "The wretchedfat
figurewith a paunch, in a hat, traipsingabout the island and livingonly on
recollectionsof his formerquasi-glory,is pitifuland disgusting.This reading
always stirredme up frightfully,
and I verymuch regretthat therewasn't the
chance to touch on this period of his life." In those last years, Tolstoy wrote,
Napoleon "turnsout to be a completemoralbankrupt".(Ibid., Vol. 65, pp. 4-5.)
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importance
to Tolstoy'sprotagsymbolof immense
psychological
negative
symbol.
onists;anditis nota wholly
" 'You talkofBonaparte
said (though
andhiscareer,'[Andrew]
aboutBonaparte).'You talkofBonaPierrehadnotsaidanything
whenhe workedwentstepby stepto his
parte;but Bonaparte,
besidehisgoal,andhe achieved
goal,he was free,he had nothing
it!'" He was free.. . The illusionthatmanis free- an illusion
of Bonapartism
whichTolstoyassociateswiththewholesyndrome
- entersintothe pro and contraof Andrew'sexistence.For
Andrew, as for Pierre, the attainmentof happiness,of a true
sense of reality,of the moral ideal, is dependentupon conquering
this illusion.Napoleon is not simplyan ideal to Andrew,he is a
demon who pursues him througheach downwardspiral of his
career. He is the symbol of Andrew's inner disorder,of -his
of behavior,
egoism,his fatalrigidity
"hubris": his insurmountable
his faithin reason and rationalisticinsistenceon the absolute,his
passionforfameand glory.
Emerson,who fullycomprehendedthe egoismand moral vacuity of Napoleon, was not insensibleto-another aspect of "The
Man of theWorld":
He had a directnessof action neverbeforecombinedwith
so much comprehension.He is a realist, terrificto all
talkersand confusedtruth-obscuring
persons. . . We can
not, in the universalimbecility,indecisionand indolence
of men, sufficiently
congratulateourselveson this strong
and ready actor, who took occasion by the beard, and
showed us how much may be accomplishedby the mere
force of such virtuesas all men possess in less degrees;
by personalattention,by courage
namely,by punctuality,
and thoroughness.
. . The lesson he teaches is thatwhich
vigor always teaches - that thereis always room for it.
To whatheaps of cowardlydoubtsis not thatman's lifean
answer.
It is obvious fromany analysisof AndrewthatTolstoy,no less
than Emerson, was responsiveto this aspect of Napoleon's example, and that it enteredinto his whole conceptionof Andrew.
For the real tragedyof Andrewis thathis "hubris"is the eye of
a deep, a vital,an epic burstof creativeenergy,the centerof a
legitimatequest for activityand expressionof a powerfulnature,
the manifestationof a consuminghonestyand strivingfor the
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ROBERT L. JACKSON
it is, in a word,everything
thatdistinguishes
infinite;
Andrewfrom
the charmingly
spontaneousand happy,but limitedNicholas who
instinctively
resolves and dissolves all personal and social disharmoniesin thereadyriverof his primordialnature.
Napoleon plays a vital role in,Pierre'slife as in Andrew's. It
is characteristic
thatPierreis closestto Napoleon when he would
rise to breathtaking
achievement.These momentscan be sick and
absurd as in desertedMoscow, when Pierre,in his desire to kill
Napoleon and save the world fromthe "antichrist",himselfbecomes a parodyof the Napoleonic hubris.But Pierre'smore lofty
strivings
are linkedwithNapoleonic aspirations.At a timeof low
on thetimehe had
ebb in his spirituallife,Pierrereflects
passionatelydesiredto establisha republicin Russia, then
himselfto be a Napoleon,thento be a philosopher,thena
a conquerorof Napoleon. Had he not seen the
strategist,
possibilityof, and ferventlydesired, the regenerationof
the sinfulhumanrace, and his own progressto the highest
degree of perfection?Had he not establishedschools and
hospitalsand liberatedhis serfs?(Vol. II, Part V, ch. i)
Pierre'sexperienceson the battlefieldof Borodino,his ordeal
as a prisonerof the French,his meetingwiththe peasant Karataev
(the ideal in harmoniousorientationto life) bringhim in touch
withthose organicrealitiesof existencewhich,in Tolstoy's view,
formthe foundationof happiness.Yet Pierrein the Epilogue (1)
is not contentto live alone withhis happiness; involvedin subversive political activities,he admits that Karataev would "not
have approved"his new activities,thoughhe would have approved
of "our familylife",so anxiouswas he to find"seemliness,happiness and peace in everything".Pierre, whose earliest attraction
to Napoleon was based on a beliefthatNapoleon had "preserved
all thatwas good" in the Revolution- equalityof citizenshipand
freedomof speech and of the press - this same Pierrenow saw
himselfas "chosento give a new directionto thewhole of Russian
societyand to thewholeworld"(Epilogue, 1).
Tolstoy once remarkedof War and Peace: "Without false
modesty,it is like the Iliad." "Was that megalomania?"Thomas
Mann asks in his essay "Goetheand Tolstoy",and replies."To me,
frankly,it sounds like plain and simplefact. 'Nur die Lumpen',
says Goethe, 'sind bescheiden'". And Mann, commentingon the
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factthatTolstoyat theage of 37 rankedhis ownworkswiththe
greatliterature
of the world,observesthatTolstoyalwayssaw
himself
of"heroicgrandeur".
TolstoyinvestedPierreand Andrew,not artistsand livingin
a societyclosingin upon itself,withhis own sense of heroic
grandeur,
withthe consciousness
of immensestrength
and the
premonition
of vitalcreation.It is on thisplanethattheydeeply
empathizewithNapoleon.For, thoughultimately
misdirected,
thoughwithout
moralcenter,thoughemanating
froma figure
of
unimaginable
theepic scopeand forceof Napoleonic
self-conceit,
energy
couldnotbe gainsaid.Napoleonas a symbol- Napoleon
in themindof his era - is an epic figure,
and Emersonhimself
was thoroughly
a manof histimeswhenhe subtitled
hisessayon
Napoleon- "ManoftheWorld".
The epicqualityof Warand Peace restsultimately
on Tolstoy's
recreation
of the continuum
of existence,
upon his intuition
of
thoseorganicforcesthatgiveto lifewhatever
and
unity,
harmony
meaningit possesses.Almosteverymajorcharacter
in Warand
Peace experiences
a moment
of awareness
of thisultimate
reality
duringthewarof 1812.The spiritual
content
is
of thisawareness
antithetical
that Napoleon represents.
to everything
Yet paradoxicallytheepic qualityof Warand Peace is also sustainedby
thegrandscope of the Napoleonicurgeof Andrewand Pierre.
In thecontradiction
betweentheorganicpullforunityin nature
andthefamily,
andtherestlessness
and endlesssearchof Andrew
and Pierre,Tolstoyrevealsthedialecticalunitybetweencreativenessanddestruction.
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