Chapter 24 Chapter Twenty-Four

On the twenty-fifth of August, a fine August evening, Prince Andrew was lying on his elbows in a shabby hut in the village of Knyazkovo, on the edge of which his regiment was stationed.Through the cracks in the broken wall he saw a row of birch trees (all cut off, sixty years old) along the bottom of the fence, and a field of disturbed oat stacks, with smoke rising from them (soldiers). where they were cooking). Prince Andrei felt that, although his life was dull, miserable, and neglected, he was still as excited and restless as he was seven years ago on the eve of the battle of Austerlitz.

He has received and issued the relevant orders to fight tomorrow.At this moment he has nothing to do.But the simplest and clearest thoughts, and therefore the most terrible, disturbed him.He knew that tomorrow's battle would be the fiercest of any he had ever fought in, and for the first time in his life he thought vividly, almost with certainty, and with sheer terror of the possibility of death, which had nothing to do with the earthly Life had nothing to do with it, nor what it might do to others, but to himself, to his soul.Seen from this height of thought, everything that had caused him pain and worry before was suddenly illuminated by a cold white light, which had neither shadow nor perspective nor difference in outline.He felt that his whole life was like a magic lamp, and for a long time he looked at the contents of the magic lamp through the glass and with the help of artificial lighting.Now suddenly he saw poorly drawn pictures not through glass but in bright daylight. "Yes, yes, these are the illusory images that have excited and admired me and tormented me," he said to himself, recreating in his imagination the principal images of the magic lantern of his life.To look at these pictures now in the cold light of day, in a moment of clear awareness of death, is the clumsy portrait of what was once thought to be beautiful and mysterious.

"Honor, the happiness of society, the love of woman, even the fatherland - how magnificent and thoughtful these pictures seemed to me! And today (I feel that it has descended for me) in cold white light Turning the attention from the human subject to the unconscious structure without a subject..., all of this is so simple, pale and rough.” At this time, his attention was particularly focused on the three major misfortunes in his life.His love for women, the death of his father and the invasion of the French who occupied half of Russia. "Love! . . . that little girl who seemed to me to be full of mystical powers. How I loved her! I had conceived poetic plans of love and of the happiness of living with her. O innocent child of mine! ’ he said aloud angrily. "Of course! I believed in ideal love, and she remained true to me in my absence all year! Like the tender and affectionate dove in the fable, she must have worn away from me.—And It's all too simple to think... too simple to hate!"

"My father also built Bald Hills and thought it was his place, his land, his air, his peasants, but Napoleon came, denied his existence, and kicked him like a piece of wood from the road. Kicked him away, destroyed his Bald Mountain and his whole life. And Princess Marya said that this is a test from heaven. Since he is dead and will never be resurrected, what is the test for? He will never No longer exists! No longer exists! So who is this a test for? The motherland, the destruction of Moscow! Tomorrow I will be shot to death—perhaps not even by the French, but by one of my own people, just Like yesterday a soldier fired a shot next to me and the French would come and drag me by the legs and head and throw me in the pit so I wouldn't stink under their noses. Then the new living conditions were formed , others will get used to those living conditions, but I will not know them, I will not exist."

He looked at the row of birches, their yellow and green leaves motionless, their white bark glistening in the sun. "Death, tomorrow I will be killed, I will not exist... These things exist, but I do not exist." He vividly imagined the scene in his life when he did not exist.These gleaming, shadowy birches, these curly clouds, these smoke from campfires—everything seemed to him to have changed, to seem horrific.A shiver ran down his spine.So he stood up quickly, walked out of the shed, and wandered outside. Suddenly he heard voices behind the shed. "Who's there?" cried Prince Andrew.It was Red-nosed Captain Tymokhin, who had been Dolokhov's company commander and, for lack of officers, was now battalion commander.He walked timidly into the shed.An adjutant and the quartermaster of the regiment headquarters also walked in behind the ground.

Prince Andrew stood hastily, listened to the officers report to him, gave them some instructions, and was about to let them go when familiar murmurs came from behind the house. "Quediable!" ① a man tripped over something, said. -------- ①French: Hell! Prince Andrei looked out of the shed and saw Pierre approaching him, almost tripping over a pole on the ground. Prince Andrey was always displeased to see people of his class, especially Pierre, because it reminded him of the painful moments of his previous visit to Moscow. "Oh, it's you!" he said. "What wind brought you here? I can't think of it."

When he said this, the expression in his eyes and face was not only cold but hostile, and Pierre noticed it at once.He was approaching the shed cheerfully, but when he saw the expression on Prince Andrei's face, he became embarrassed and uncomfortable. "I'm coming... well... you know... I'm coming... I think it's interesting," said Pierre, who had unconsciously repeated the word "interesting" several times throughout the day. "I want to see how the battle is going." "Yes, yes, what do the Freemasons think of war? How can war be prevented!" said Prince Andrew sarcastically. "How about Moscow? How about my family? They have all arrived in Moscow at last." right?" he asked seriously.

"They're all here. Julie Drubetskaya told me. I went to see them, but I didn't meet them. They went to their estate near Moscow."