Chapter 7
It's been two months since the battle of Austerlitz, so I think we've gone back in time a little. Prince Andrew's body has not been found and nor is he on the list of prisoners, which means he may have been picked up as a prisoner of war and be dying amongst strangers (which is where we last saw him). Despite the diplomatic phrasing of the letter he receives, the old prince, Andrew's father, knows the Russian army have been defeated, and suspects that his son is dead. Shortly afterwards he receives Kutuzov's personal account of Andrew's charge and subsequent fall. Kutuzov is pretty sure Andrew is alive, or at least was alive when the battle ended, because otherwise he'd be amongst the lists of the dead. When Maria goes to her father that day, something in his face tells her that he is about to inform her of the worst misfortune of her life, and she guesses that it's Andrew's death. Her sobbing father tells her of Kutuzov's letter, which gives her hope. They weep together a little, but then her father tells her to go tell Lise, Andrew's wife.
When Maria arrives, Lise immediately asks her to feel the baby kicking. Maria starts crying every time she tries to tell Lise about Andrew, and Lise is too unobservant to figure it out herself. It's not until the old Prince comes to see her but leaves without saying a word that she twigs. Maria insists that it's nothing though, having resolved not to tell Lise until after the baby is born. Maria keeps hoping, but her father believes that Andrew is dead and erects a monument in the garden. He's pining away.
Chapter 8
This chapter begins with Lise going into labour and Maria going to fetch the midwife, Mary Bogdanova. The narration usually calls Maria 'Mary', or sometimes 'Masha', which might make this chapter confusing. I think Maria is prettier, so I'm sticking with it. Maria spends Lise's labour praying, which she does not find as calming as usual. Her old nurse, Praskovya Savishna comes to spend time with her.
Incidentally, today I read that this book has 600 named characters, many of which only appear for a chapter. Apparently Tolstoy felt that they all had interesting backstories and history even if they weren't relevant to this book.
Apparently there was a superstition that women in labour suffered less the fewer people who know of it, so everyone is staying quiet and pretending to have absolutely no idea of what's going on. It goes on all night and no one sleeps. A German doctor is coming from Moscow, and it's snowing, since it's only March. The old nurse is knitting and telling Maria the story of her own birth when someone they think is the doctor arrives outside. Maria rushes down to meet him - and it's Andrew! He had sent a letter but it didn't arrive. He heads off to see his wife.
Chapter 9
We're still at Bald Hills. I was a bit worried about the narrative going off to another storyline, because there are generally a few going on, and I don't understand how Tolstoy has decided to organise his chapters/parts. Lise is happy to see Andrew, but she never knew he was suspected to be dead, so she's not as happy as Maria was. Andrew calls her 'darling' for the first time ever, which is quite sweet considering her never thought of her once in that warzone. The midwife sends him out to wait with his sister. The narrative does not mention cigars, but I must assume they are present.
Andrew goes to wait in the room next to the one his wife is in, and tries to get into her when she starts screaming more loudly but he's not allowed. A few minutes later he hears a baby cry and at first he's confused because he thinks they've carried a baby in. It takes him a few seconds to realise that his child has been born and then he starts weeping. When he goes in, Lise is dead, and her face seems to say to him "I have done nothing, why have you done this to me?". She looks the same when she's buried, a few days later, and Andrew feels that he's done something terribly, awfully wrong.
The baby is christened Prince Nicholas Andreevich Bolkonski, with his grandfather and aunt as his godparents. The chapter ends with Andrew being told that the wax with the infant's hair in it floated in the font, which I'm going to google.
All of the results - for a search on "hair wax font float" - are about this chapter, but apparently it was an old tradition, and a sign of good luck. That seems a bit odd, since witches are supposed to float, but since wax naturally floats, it was probably better not to have to drown every single baby that was baptised.
No comments:
Post a Comment