Status Updates From War and Peace

“The huge, endless bivouac that had previously resounded with the crackling of campfires and the voices of many men had grown quiet, the red campfires were growing paler and dying down. High up in the light sky hung the full moon. Forests and fields beyond the camp, unseen before, were now visible in the distance.”

End of book eleven. Man’s inhumanity…Moscow begins to burn.

The death of Vereshchágin.

“To study the laws of history we must completely change the subject of our observation, must leave aside kings, ministers, and generals, and study the common, infinitesimally small elements by which the masses are moved.”

“A modern branch of mathematics having achieved the art of dealing with the infinitely small […] Only by taking infinitesimally small units for observation (the differential of history, that is, the individual tendencies of men) and attaining to the art of integrating them (that is, finding the sum of these infinitesimals) can we hope to arrive at the laws of history.”

this is taking a while, but im ready for it to be SUPER worth it... right? guys...

“Alpátych left the cellar and stopped in the doorway. The evening sky that had been so clear was clouded with smoke, through which, high up, the sickle of the new moon shone strangely. Now that the terrible din of the guns had ceased, a hush seemed to reign over the town, broken only by the rustle of footsteps, the moaning, the distant cries, and the crackle of fires which seemed widespread everywhere.” (10.4)

Having finished book nine, progress made toward understanding Tolstoy’s theory of history, which is worth at the very least thinking with, although inflected by his general philosophy to a degree it is hard to feel it stands on its own merits.

“The battle was fought and thousands were killed on both sides.”

just got to book two. geez

End of book eight. Great comet of 1812 witnessed! Redemptive power of love germinating.