FROM WAR + PEACE.

The Good Man. Pierre. Count Bezukhov.

We meet Pierre at the same Petersburg reception as we first met Boris. Pierre has been a guest of conniving old Prince Vasili and he's never been in Russia before thus at this first society reception he makes a few clangers in social behaviour but we are learning he is good hearted. Pierre is on the big side but that means clumsy and ungainly in his case. But he likes people and he tries to be kind and he has one advantage unavailable to Boris. He is the natural son of the Richest Man in Europe. Old Count Bezhukhov is dying in Moscow and though he's never met Pierre he has NAMED HIM as his Heir,thus is undevious good hearted Pierre,soon to be Count Bezhuhkov in a nest of vipers if he but knew it. Prince Vasili wants this immense fortune and has some sort of connection by which he can claim it if it's not written IN THE WILL. This fateful document is locked in a tin box in a locked cabinet and Prince Vasili has installed 3 of his daughters as the old Counts carers but really so they can watch the cabinet and see no one removes it or has access to it. There is a very funny scene when there is a most undignified tug of war between two of the Princess sisters and Borises Mum,who also has some sort of connection. Literally a tug of war to get hold of or keep the Will. But the Will gets proved and sure enough Pierre gets the inheritance and becomes The Richest Man in Europe. Prince Vasili contrives to get a good deal out of the outcome by having Pierre marry his daughter Helene. She is so beautiful and elegant and stylish that young Pierre thinks she is a fitting wife for The Richest Man in Europe but they soon find out they don't like each other and don't like even being in the same house,so most of his marriage is a sham,and certainly an irrelevance to her. He just pays the bills.

Finding the Meaning of Life is a struggle for Pierre. Just being The Richest Man in Europe doesn't do it for him and maybe that's because it was just bestowed on him by fate,and such “free” gifts can sometimes turn out malign. Our pal Boris had no struggles with finding meaning in his life because as we've learned he had to use his wits to get by and thrive. In 1807 Pierre is travelling to Petersburg and stops at a way station for the night. He's on a public coach as he likes to get about without flaunting his status too much. A fellow traveller with a gaze of conviction that disturbs Pierre as does the large Deaths Head Ring the fellow traveller wears begins to talk to Pierre. It turns out the stranger knows his identity and the ludicrous duel he recently fought and that Pierre is deeply unhappy. Pierre admits he does not believe in God. This leads to (you'll have to read the book or hear it on audible) Pierre joining the Freemasons,which makes him very happy for a while,later he starts to see how the other members of the place he belongs to are more free with talk than actual money. These are all men he now knows in the Society around him. They give money for hospitals and libraries and other useful adjuncts to life but he notices they don't actually “give freely without counting the cost” but then thinks this reader none of them were born to The Richest Man in Europe and had a fortune showered on them at age 21. So Pierre does get disillusioned with the Freemasons. His plans to free up and help his serfs in the huge Ukraine areas that are part of his patrimony don't really work either because they are badly designed and dont fit the local culture. But no one dares to tell Pierre so when he visits the local peasants,his workforce put on a show of gratitude and loyalty and ignore the useless buildings he has had planted in their villages.

All this time “the war” is rumbling on in the background as it were. While people in Moscow,Petersburg and other places are living uneventful peaceful lives - exactly like today. In 1812 having realised he loves Natasha Rostov,Pierre sees the Great Comet of 1812 …”above the dirty ill lit streets…stretched the dark starry sky…almost in the centre of it…surrounded and sprinkled by stars but distinguished from them all by its nearness to earth,it's white light,and it's long uplifted tail,shone the enormous and brilliant comet of the year 1812 - the comet which was said to portend all kinds of woes and the end of the world

Now (wouldn't you know it), Pierre is deeply into numerology. He has got hold of a French code by which you can by converting the letters of your name into the numbers on the chart,discover your NUMBER and thus YOUR DESTINY. This code enjoys some notorious fame as it shows that Napoleon is 666 and is Anti-Christ. Now Pierre (very unscientifically) has an innate idea of what destiny he wants his number to reveal for him. He “knows” it is his DESTINY to be the ONE who slays Anti-Christ and saves the world. Well look on the bright side. At least he's found a MEANING to invest in his life! It takes Pierre ages to get the requisite number from his name and he has to try numerous versions of his names including the one he grew up with in Paris before he became Bezukhov. He tries the names in French in Russian,with Count on with Count left off and at last he finds a version that works. This is it. He is the Man of History.

But being Pierre,lunch comes first,a nap,a visit to the club,it's not like assassinating Napoleon can be done RIGHT THIS MINUTE. (Note: W+P is a long and complex book but not half so difficult or incomprehensible a read as is implied,I'm leaving a lot out,the minutiae. It would be a real compliment if I did inspire someone to read W+P to find out what really happens,or more detail). Our man now has the idea to join the Russian army though it's hard to imagine what use he would be. He goes to the village of Borodino where the huge battle will be fought next day and gets his first taste of action,or rather of haring to places of cover among explosions. But he gets a bag of letters to take back to the Rostovs in Moscow. They are like nearly everyone else except the very poor preparing to leave the city and having that nightmare of packing. Natasha takes over from her fraught Mother and has all the art treasures and valuable ceramics etc that are so dear to her mother taken off the carts and left for the French to loot and just takes real neccesities like warm blankets. She is not being phillistine or cruel. She is young and the objects don't record a lifetime for her as they do for her mother. We all need someone like that now and again. And as she gives two of their carts to the Army to carry wounded soldiers they need every bit of space. When Pierre gets to his Moscow house he gets a warning that his name is on a government watch list as a notable Freemason who are held to be deeply subversive and by their oath of universal brotherhood and international harmony against Russia’s interests. At this point the story gets a bit close for comfort to our times! Pierre changes his clothes into an old peasant trousers and coat,hides the big knife with which he intends to top Napoleon,and slips out of his house the back way and from that day no one knew the whereabouts of Count Bezhukov. He is actually hiding out in a house in the outer suburbs and as all the Muscovites are leaving,except very poor people,the French troops are entering the city. Soon Napoleon will be riding in triumph through the streets and Pierres moment of action will come. But as they say life happens while we are making other plans. Two things occur, Pierre sees a poor couple crying and learns their little girl 3 years old is trapped in a burning house so he goes in to look for her,finds her,brings her out to her parents immense relief and no little danger to himself then gets caught up in a drunken brawl as some French soldiers who've been sampling too many abandoned fine wine cellars flow by him. Pierre is not brawling but he comes to their attention and the result is that he is arrested. And so comes the most remarkable part of Pierres story,his redemption via suffering you could say. Pierre has nothing on him to reveal his true identity. He has the big knife which confirms to his captors that he's a dangerous man with evil intentions ( well he was going to top Napoleon!) so they place him with the prisoners most of whom are rustic serfs like the ones on his vast ukranian estates. Men used to lifetimes of hard work with very little let up. They sense that Pierre is not the poor peasant he is dressed as but his benign kindness win them over. Pierre is not,as the saying goes,the sharpest knife in the box,but people often prefer an obtuse but kindly person to an intellectual sharpie. Pierre likes people and people respond to that. Pierre does not let it be known he speaks French so he knows what their guards are saying. Pierre makes particular friend in Karataev,he is a simple,good hearted and merry peasant and he is one of those people who can make things with ingenuity out of other things. He's a glass half full sort of man and keeps the spirits up of those around him if he can and he tends Pierres feet which are suffering terribly from all the forced marching,the frozen cold,and the inadequate footwear. But the nightmare ends. Pierre is once more Count Bezhukov. He wakes and in a surge of joy remembers that no one is going to make him walk anywhere. He has nice meals again and comfortable armchairs. And he marries Natasha and they have babies. But what about Pierres SENSE OF PURPOSE. Pierre asked “What for?” and found out the answer was “there is GOD”. Not the Intellectual Architect of the Universe of the Freemasons,not a GOD he had to impress by achievements and ‘good grades’ but God who just IS and accepted Pierre AS HE WAS. Just GOD. Just there.