Briggs: Pierre wants freedom, but he is full of joie de vivre and energy.
Translation:
XII.
Passed four weeks from since Pierre was captive. Despite that the French offered to transfer him from the soldier’s booth to the officer’s, he stayed in the booth in which he entered from the first day.
In the ravaged and burning Moscow Pierre experienced almost the extreme limits of hardships which a person may carry across; but, thanks to his strong establishment and health, which he was not aware of still and in particular thanks to that these deprivations approached so unnoticed that it cannot be to say when they began, he carried over not only easily, but was happy in his position. And it was in this very time he received that calm and contentment by himself, which he in vain sought before. He for long in his life sought from different parties this reassurance, the contentment with himself that so struck him in the soldiers at the Borodino battle — he sought this in philanthropy, in freemasonry, in a scattering worldly life, in wine, in the heroic feat of self-sacrifice, in romantic love to Natasha; he sought these paths of thought, and all these searches and attempts deceived him. And he, himself not thinking about it, received this reassurance and this contentment with himself only through the horror of death, through deprivations and through that what he got in Karataev. Those scary minutes which he survived in the time of execution, as if washed away forever from his imagination and memories disturbing thoughts and feelings, before seeming to him important. He did not come into thought about Russia, about the war, about politics, or about Napoleon. To him it was obvious that all this did not touch him, that he was not called up and because of it could not judge about all this. "Russia flies — the union is not," he repeated the words of Karataev, and these words weirdly calmed him. To him seemed now incomprehensible and even ridiculous his intention to kill Napoleon and his calculations about the cabalistic number and the beast of the apocalypse. His bitterness against his wife and anxiety about that his name was not put to shame, now seemed to him not only insignificant, but funny. What for him was the business of how this woman led there somewhere that life which she liked? Whose, in particular his, business was it that recognized or was not recognized his name Count Bezuhov?
Now he often remembered his conversation with Prince Andrey and quite agreed with him, only somewhat otherwise understanding the ideas of Prince Andrey. Prince Andrey thought and spoke that happiness was only a negative, but he spoke this with a tint of bitterness and irony. As if, saying this, he expressed another idea — about how all invested in us aspirations fortunately are positively invested only so that, not satisfying, torment us. Yet Pierre without every thought back recognized the justice of this. The absent misery, satisfaction of needs and owing to this freedom of choice of activities, i.e. an image of life, presented now to Pierre the undoubted and the highest happiness of man. Here, only now, for the first time Pierre quite appreciated the enjoyment of food when he wanted to eat, drinking, when wanted to drink, sleep, when he wanted to sleep, warmth, when it was cold, and conversation with a man, when he wanted to speak and listen to a human voice. The satisfaction of needs — nice food, purity, freedom — now, when he was deprived of only this, seemed to Pierre perfectly happy, but choosing lessons, i.e. life, now, when this choosing was so limited, seemed to him such an easy business that he forgot that a surplus of cleanliness of life destroys all happiness in the satisfaction of needs, but the big freedom of choice of activities, that freedom which he in his life gave formation, wealth, position in the world, this freedom makes choosing activities insolubly hard, and destroys the very need and opportunity of lessons.
All the daydreaming of Pierre now strove to that time, when he would be free. But, between that, afterwards and in all his life, Pierre with delight thought and spoke about that month of captivity, about those irrecoverable, strong and joyful sensations and, the main thing, about the full sincere calmness, about the perfect internal freedom that he felt only in this time.
When he on the first day, getting up early in the morning, got out at dawn from the booth and saw the first dark domes, the crosses of the Novodevich monastery, saw the frosty dew on the dusty grass, saw the hills of Sparrow Hills and the wriggling above the river and lurking in the lilac giving to the wooded bank, when he felt the touch of fresh air and heard the sounds flying from Moscow across the field of jackdaws and when then suddenly splashed light from the east and solemnly floated out the edge of the sun from behind the clouds, the domes, crosses, dew, distance, and river all played in the joyful light, — Pierre felt a new, untested feeling of joy and fortress of life.
And this feeling not only had not left him in all the time of captivity, but the opposite increased in him at least by how increased his difficult situation.
This feeling of readiness to all, the moral pick up, was still more supported in Pierre by that high opinion, which, soon by his introduction in the booth, was installed about him between his companions. Pierre with his knowledge of languages, with that respect which he manifested to the French, with his simplicity, gave back to all that he requested (he was getting the officer three rubles a week), with his force which he showed to the soldiers, indenting nails in the wall of the booth, with the meekness which he showed outstanding with companions, with his incomprehensible for them ability to sit still and, doing nothing, think, he presented to the soldiers a somewhat mysterious and highest essence. Those very properties of his, which in the world in which he lived before were for him, if not harmful, that shyness, — his power, neglect to the facilities of life, distraction, simplicity, here, between these people, gave him the position of almost an hero. And Pierre felt that this look obliged him.
Mentioned: four weeks, the first day
Locations: see previous chapter
Mentioned: French, Borodino, Russia, New Virgin Monastery, Sparrow Hills, Moscow
Pevear and Volokhonsky Notes: Despite the amount of privation Pierre is suffering, he is able to endure it joyfully. We get a recap of Pierre's search for meaning and happiness, with the conclusion that he has now reached peace and harmony in this moment. He no longer thinks about the political context or Napoleon and he sees his previous antichrist superstition as ridiculous.
Pierre comes to agree with a slight variation of Andrei's thought that the absence of suffering is the route to human happiness. He fully appreciates that his needs are satisfied and is able to enjoy his life because all of the distractions and superfluous has been removed. Pierre's happiness is also tied to the respect that he has earned from the people around him and fits in here more than any other place he has ever been.
Characters (characters who do not appear, but are mentioned are placed in italics. First appearances are in Bold. First mentions are underlined. Final appearance denoted by *):
Count Pierre Bezukhoi
Natasha
Karatayef
Napoleon
Prince Andrei
Abridged Versions: End of Chapter 7 in Bell.
Gibian: line break instead of chapter break.
Fuller: Entire chapter is cut.
Komroff: See previous chapter.
Kropotkin: The discussion about his views compared to Prince Andrei are removed. The chapter cuts off at "only at that time." This removes a lot of Pierre's reflections and how his skills are appreciated in this context versus in society. End of Chapter 3.
Simmons: The chapter cuts off early, with a line break, ending before the environmental descriptions and how his previous inadequacies were now seen as positives in this situation.
Additional Notes:
No comments:
Post a Comment