Book Six, Chapters 1–7
By 1809, France and Russia have
become temporary allies—even against Austria, Russia’s former ally.
Daily life in Russia continues as usual. Andrew has been leading
a secluded life for two years, busy at his estate with reading,
writing analyses of recent military campaigns, and farm management.
His practical intelligence has served him well as a landowner, and
he has carried out the noble plans that Pierre aimed for but could
not effect on his own estates. Andrew has freed all his serfs and
made them wage-earners, one of the first examples of this social
advancement in all of Russia. However, he still feels that his heart
is old and dead.
On a household errand, Andrew dwells on his joyless mood, focusing
on a dead oak as a symbol of his emotional state. Later, he visits
the old Count Rostov on business at the latter’s estate, Otradnoe.
Andrew sees Natasha running in the fields and is struck by her cheerfulness.
Annoyed because he is forced to stay at Otradnoe, he hears girls’
voices singing on a balcony late one night, and his heart is troubled
by youthful emotions. He sees the oak again, now in bloom. Andrew
decides to go to St. Petersburg, not fully understanding the new
life blossoming within him.
Arriving in the capital, Andrew meets Tsar Alexander;
his secretary of state, Speranski; and his minister of war, Arakcheev.
The men are engaged in liberal reforms of the state. Andrew, who
has drawn up a more liberal set of military laws, has submitted
them to the tsar for consideration. Arakcheev criticizes Andrew’s
proposal, but makes him a member of the military reform committee. Andrew,
courted as a great liberal, also meets Speranski, though the two
men disagree on the question of special privileges to noblemen. Andrew
feels that honor is a positive principle by which to guide behavior,
while Speranski believes it to be a spur to superficial rewards.
Nevertheless, Speranski agrees to meet with Andrew again. Andrew
feels awe at Speranski’s vast intellect and cool logic, and he treats
the man as an equal. Andrew receives an invitation to join the committee
in charge of drawing up a new civil code.
In St. Petersburg, Pierre continues his charitable work
on behalf of the Masonic brotherhood, but he grows impatient of
the brotherhood’s passivity and dissatisfied with its mysticism.
Pierre goes to western Europe to seek illumination from other Masons
and returns to St. Petersburg counseling action. Many of his fellow
Masons accuse him of revolutionary sympathies, and Pierre becomes
disgruntled. His estranged wife, Helene, returns from abroad and
seeks reconciliation with him, as does his wife’s family. In a forgiving mood,
Pierre returns to Helene and they live together once again. Helene
had enjoyed great success during the meetings between the French
and the Russians, and has achieved an international reputation for
being intelligent as well as beautiful—a judgment that perplexes
Pierre. Pierre, while playing his role as the crank husband of a
distinguished wife, privately continues his spiritual self-investigation,
recording in his diary his struggle with a jealous hatred of Boris.
Pierre recounts his dreams of his spiritual master, Joseph Alexeevich,
and seeks fortitude to withstand the temptations of debauchery and
sloth.
Count Rostov, suffering from financial worries, decides
to take his family to St. Petersburg and seek employment there.
The Rostovs, however, are outsiders in St. Petersburg, and have
trouble fitting in to the local society. As no one proposes marriage
to Vera Rostova, she accepts an offer from Berg, who is candid about
his need for Vera’s dowry to help set up a household with her. Count Rostov
is embarrassed to say that he has little financial means to provide
Vera with a dowry, but in the end he promises Berg twenty thousand
rubles in cash, along with a promise of eighty thousand more later.
Meanwhile, Natasha, now sixteen, thinks often of Boris,
wondering whether or not his earlier offer of marriage was a joke.
Boris comes to visit the Rostovs in St. Petersburg and is struck
by Natasha’s beauty. Although aware that marriage to a girl without
a dowry would bring him failure, he cannot help visiting the Rostovs every
day, despite Helene’s anger. Natasha, for her part, seems equally
smitten with Boris.
