Tolstoy’s portrayal of women – though this was a novel from a hundred and fifty years ago (and set over two hundred years ago – at the height of the Napoleonic Wars) – is seen to be problematic. Beautiful women are presented as dangerous, and women are classed according to their appearance (whereas men are not). Also, women obsess only about love and marriage. But with little other opportunity in life, women could think of little else but being good wives and good mothers, so finding love necessarily dominated their thinking. Yet, we are getting more and more engrossed in the lives of these women, their prospects, their hopes and their fears. Whatever else about Tolstoy, he writes a gripping story full of intriguing characters, with perhaps the most interesting characters being women looking for love.

 

Wellington Reading Group