Q 01/05

In which year was the complete novel first published?

A) 1879

B) 1889

C) 1869

D) 1899

Answer · why

C) 1869

An earlier version had been serialised from 1865; Tolstoy then rewrote the whole thing, and his wife Sophia copied out as many as seven full manuscrip...

Q 02/05

Under what title was the first part of an early draft serialised in The Russian Messenger?

A) 1805

B) The Decembrists

C) Three Eras

D) Borodino

Answer · why

A) 1805

Tolstoy disliked that version and let parts appear with a different ending before rewriting everything between 1866 and 1869.

Q 03/05

Which historical conflict provides the novel's backdrop?

A) The Crimean War

B) The Seven Years' War

C) The Napoleonic Wars

D) The Russo-Turkish War

Answer · why

C) The Napoleonic Wars

It runs from 1805 to 1820, from the first campaigns against Napoleon through the burning of Moscow to the years after the retreat.

Q 04/05

How many aristocratic families' interlocking stories does the novel follow?

A) Five

B) Two

C) Three

D) Four

Answer · why

A) Five

They are the Bezukhovs, Bolkonskys, Rostovs, Kuragins and Drubetskoys; many were modelled on Tolstoy's own grandparents and their friends.

Q 05/05

Who is the socially awkward, illegitimate son of a rich count at the centre of the novel?

A) Andrei Bolkonsky

B) Nikolai Rostov

C) Boris Drubetskoy

D) Pierre Bezukhov

Answer · why

D) Pierre Bezukhov

Tolstoy based him more than any other character on himself; he was educated abroad and returns to Russia a misfit.