New Testament Reminiscence Background of L.N. Tolstoy`s “War and Peace”
https://doi.org/10.26907/2658-3321.2025.8.1.28-46
Abstract
The article is devoted to the plot and image parallels between L.N. Tolstoy's “War and Peace” and the New Testament. New Testament reminiscences in the work are considered as methods of modeling the soteriological genre content, as well as a kind of artistic exegesis. Thus, the correlations of the episode with the oak tree with the “miracle of the fig tree”, the “Epilogue” with the Gethsemane prayer and other manifestations of the New Testament figurative code are considered.
At the same time, the anthroponymic system of “War and Peace” is considered in its correlation with the Gospel onomastics. “Prince Andrei” and “Pierre” are altered names of the apostles, the name of Princess Marya is a reference to the name of the Virgin Mary. The numerical symbolism of the work also reminds us of the sacred text: the age of Prince Andrei in 1812 is 33 years old, he returns to his estate four months after the battle of Austerlitz (a reference to Lazarus, resurrected on the fourth day). The gospel theme of Father and Son resounds in the “Epilogue” of “War and Peace.” It is shown that the appellative “book”, correlated with the Gospel, corresponds to the peculiarities of sacred texts. The role of quoting the Gospel lines by the characters of the work is also considered.
About the Author
E. Yu. Poltavets
Moscow City University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Poltavets Elena Yurevna – PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor Associate Professor of the
Department of Philology of the Institute of Humanities
Moscow
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Review
For citations:
Poltavets E.Yu. New Testament Reminiscence Background of L.N. Tolstoy`s “War and Peace”. Kazan linguistic journal. 2025;8(1):28-46. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.26907/2658-3321.2025.8.1.28-46
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