Collage 645

In this scene, Petya, the youngest Rostov who has just recently joined the military, is in camp with Denisov and trying to fit in with the other soldiers. He has just heard how Tikhon killed a French soldier, and he feels uneasy. He is so young, and so reckless, wanting to prove himself.

Sitting with the officers at the table and tearing at a greasy hunk of fragrant mutton with one hand, which dripped with fat, Petya was in a rapturous childlike state of tender love for all people, and consequently of certainty that other people had the same love for him.

I used another illustration from the original text where Pierre witnesses the execution of other Russians who were accused of fire-setting. He escaped that fate for reasons unknown to him or to the reader. Unfortunately Petya has another fate. -- Lola

Lola Baltzell
from page 545-546, volume 2 of original text
collage
made 9/30/11
Pevear/Volokhonsky translation page 1044-1045