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Tolstoy's War & Peace - Lecture Eight (Vol. III, Part III-Vol. IV, Part I) (Patreon)

Published:

2023-03-08 21:03:03

Imported:

2026-06

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Content

'Love is God, and dying means me, a tiny particle of love, going back to its universal and eternal source.'

In today's discussion of Tolstoy's War and Peace, we are meditating upon some of the most profound passages in all of literature. We're talking about meaning, history, death, rebirth, love, and much more.

Timestamps:

0:00 iconic episodes in War and Peace
1:00 on epiphanies & dying
2:55 some meditations for you
4:20 on the difficulty of loving
5:55 where can meaning be found?
7:00 tropes in great literature
8:00 Tolstoy’s transfers of meaning
10:30 revising & refreshing symbolism
11:20 poetry as protective force
12:30 what is great literature?
13:00 appreciating the entire tradition
14:00 Tolstoy’s tomorrow & nothing
14:30 Moscow as a dying beehive
15:23 Tolstoy’s agon with Shakespeare
16:29 making old wisdom new
18:10 motion, causation, history
21:37 hindsight & cognitive bias
25:00 on going beyond reason
27:00 personal human concerns
29:00 subconscious activity & volition
31:00 ‘no event can ever have a beginning’
32:30 fire, endings, apocalypse
35:00 Pierre’s search for meaning
36:00 death as a chance to be reborn
37:40 on questions and answers
39:40 words, wisdom, scapegoats
41:35 causation vs correlation
44:30 history taking shape
45:28 Pierre struggles with trauma
48:54 on the cusp of an epiphany
52:00 Napoleon surveys Moscow
53:00 Pierre, change & the constant
54:30 ‘who had condemned him to death?’
58:00 experiencing the death of Andrei
59:00 the superpower of divine love
1:02:00 nothing becomes something
1:04:15 Andrei’s death scene
1:10:50 our next reading assignment

Our Tolstoic Journey:

Reading Assignment:

Congratulations on bringing yourselves so fully to Tolstoy's masterpiece. The next discussion will take us through to the end of the book, which means the rest of volume four and two parts of the epilogue.

Questions to Consider:

1) How can we take the epiphanies from War and Peace into our own lives?

2) What is the value of literature if it’s not to see your own reflection?

3) What has most resonated with you from your reading?

And please do share with us your impressions and favourite passages from these incredibly emotional and profound parts of War and Peace.

Happy reading, everybody!

Files

Previews only

Tolstoy's War & Peace - Lecture Eight (Vol. III, Part III-Vol. IV, Part I)

0:00 iconic episodes in War and Peace 1:00 on epiphanies & dying 2:55 some meditations for you 4:20 on the difficulty of loving 5:55 where can meaning be found? 7:00 tropes in great literature 8:00 Tolstoy’s transfers of meaning 10:30 revising & refreshing symbolism 11:20 poetry as protective force 12:30 what is great literature? 13:00 appreciating the entire tradition 14:00 Tolstoy’s tomorrow & nothing 14:30 Moscow as a dying beehive 15:23 Tolstoy’s agon with Shakespeare 16:29 making old wisdom new 18:10 motion, causation, history 21:37 hindsight & cognitive bias 25:00 on going beyond reason 27:00 personal human concerns 29:00 subconscious activity & volition 31:00 ‘no event can ever have a beginning’ 32:30 fire, endings, apocalypse 35:00 Pierre’s search for meaning 36:00 death as a chance to be reborn 37:40 on questions and answers 39:40 words, wisdom, scapegoats 41:35 causation vs correlation 44:30 history taking shape 45:28 Pierre struggles with trauma 48:54 on the cusp of an epiphany 52:00 Napoleon surveys Moscow 53:00 Pierre, change & the constant 54:30 ‘who had condemned him to death?’ 58:00 experiencing the death of Andrei 59:00 the superpower of divine love 1:02:00 nothing becomes something 1:04:15 Andrei’s death scene 1:10:50 our next reading assignment