• Tolstoy’s Family Prototypes in "War and Peace"
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Tolstoy’s Family Prototypes in "War and Peace"

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Did affection for members of his family influence Tolstoy’s characterizations in War and Peace? Comparison of the novel with the writer’s family history reveals preferential treatment of those with...
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What were the consequences of Tolstoy’s unusual reliance on members of his family as source material for War and Peace? Did affection for close relatives influence depictions of these real prototypes in his fictional characters? Tolstoy used these models to consider his origins, to ponder alternative family histories, and to critique himself. Comparison of the novel and its fascinating drafts with the writer’s family history reveals increasing preferential treatment of those with greater relatedness to him: kin altruism, i.e., nepotism. This pattern helps explain many of Tolstoy’s choices amongst plot variants he considered, as well as some of the curious devices he utilizes to get readers to share his biases, such as coincidences, notions of “fate,” and aversion to incest.
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Price: $119.00
Pages: 318
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Imprint: Academic Studies Press
Series: Evolution, Cognition, and the Arts
Publication Date: 24 November 2020
Trim Size: 9.21 X 6.14 in
ISBN: 9781644694084
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:

Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900, Literary studies: fiction, novelists and prose writers, Evolution

Brett Cooke is Professor of Russian at Texas A&M University. He is the author of Pushkin and the Creative Process, and Human Nature in Utopia: Zamyatin's We and editor or co-editor of Sociobiology and the Arts, The Fantastic Other, Biopoetics: Evolutionary Explorations in the Arts, Critical Insights: War and Peace, and, recently, Evolution and Popular Narrative.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Aesthetic Kin Altruism

1. Background and Overview

2. Family Structures

3. Kin Altruism

4. Names and Family Traditions

5. Writing the Novel with the Family

6. The Problem with Prototypes

7. Genetic Allies

8. Unrelated Family Associates

9. Distant Relatives

10. Tolstoy’s Grandparents

11. Tolstoy’s Parents

12. The Parents’ Marriage

13. What about Sonya?

14. A Genetic Clash—and Inclusive Errors

15. Incest Avoidance

A. Actual Brother-Sister/Parent-Child (50% Relatedness)

B. Avuncular (25% Relatedness)

C. Cousins (12.5% Relatedness)

D. First Cousin Once Removed (6.25% Relatedness)

E. Second Cousin (3.125% Relatedness)

F. Affinity (0% Relatedness)

G. The Westermarck Effect (0% Relatedness)

16. Self-Altruism

17. Kin Altruism Reconsidered

Bibliography
Index